This custom Final Fantasy 14 Controller uses real paint on canvas to control the Pictomancer.

Pictomancer, a new character in Final Fantasy 14, caused quite a stir when it was released along with the Dawntrail expansion. I've heard nothing but praise from my paint-loving friends about the game, and its damage is noticeably higher than the magic DPS competition despite its raid buff. It allowed a streaming to 1v1 Susano though, so I wasn't too upset.

Do you get the right feeling of artistry when you use the Pictomancer without using a palette, canvas and paintbrush? Is a rotation expressive if it isn't accompanied by a piece of abstract art at the same time? Auteur SuperLouis64 offers a solution by allowing you to do that.

This thing, which is known for his harebrained controller setups like a Scholar controller, where you have to write in a book to cast spells - takes it a step further, by keeping track of the paints that are set on your brush and translating them into stored inputs. (These can be repeated). This is done by a device that scans the colour of the brush to select the spell. Then, by pressing down, the user can cast the spell.

SuperLous64 shared an image of their "duct-tape build" in which I can see a splatter or acrylic getting into the circuitry.

It's clear that this is still a work in process. They can access the basic Pictomancer combo, which rotates between Red Green and Blue paint attacks, while using scanned colors for larger spells such as Holy in White, which uses white paint to bypass the usual cast time, allowing them to dodge mechanics. To be fair, I'm not certain how SuperLouis64 will move their Warrior of Light with a paintbrush. It's likely to be similar to the analogue stick that was on his pencil when he played scholar.

The physical mess that is created by the entire operation could be the biggest obstacle. SuperLouis64 will be muddying his canvas and brush quickly, as dungeons last between 15-30 minutes in FF14. I wonder if too much paint mixing will cause mis-inputs, aside from accidentally getting paint all over your circuitry or monitor.

This thing is still awesome--and considering SuperLouis64 has a Gunblade Controller, as well an Astrologian Yu-Gi-Oh Duel disk, I know they'll figure out a way. Now I want to see Elden Ring's bosses smashed with this thing. It's the logical next step after the time-honoured tradition in that game of dancing your enemies to death.