Hi dontaskme, sorry for late response but I just got here. I hope the DBP party still has a long time to go.
Years ago I came up with a way of controlling motors and other things on my C64 because I needed more than 8 outputs.
It's very simple really.
Step 1. Place a lot of white squares in a grid pattern along the bottom of the screen.
Step 2. Make a small circuit that you can find online called DIY LIGHT ACTIVATED SWITCH. I'll upload a pic of what I was doing and I hope it helps.
It's easier to put the circuits on one board and the LDR's (light dependent resistors) on a separate board that can be taped to the bottom of a computer screen.
Basically, switch a white square on and the LDR that lines up with the square will allow power through the transistor to turn something on.
I could even vary the speed of a motor by varying the brightness of the square. I did notice that the transistor ran hotter when only partially on and ran cool when fully on.
Cheers.