what's the deal with dpads? It's like you wanted to make a crispy 8 directional joystick, but decided in advance that you are going to fail...
here is how you do it properly
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=zAT4YzVoAqU
you mount the buttons sideways, press them by pushing a lever around and get proper feedback when changing directions, especially from axial to diagonal. I'm pretty sure I had a tiny knob version of this on a flight stick, much smaller than most dpads.
Laying them flat is cheaper? Sure, but then stop gluing them together and pretending you made a stick.
wow these bozos were quick to cash in on MY IDEA
https://battlebeavercustoms.com/products/ps4-d-buttons
who would by that though, are PS4 dpads made of adamantium or something?
this actually worked, feels and plays better than any dpad I ever tried, and that's for any type of game, other than maybe some hypothetical no tolerance rhythm game where you'd need to develop muscle memory for quick and precise diagonals. The shape and the position of the buttons is really important, but them being a one piece is just defective design.