Control Scheme Conundrums

Posted by Sheppard on May 11, 2012, 12:53 p.m.

There usually comes a time in every game progress when you ask yourself if the control scheme is correct. I am at that phase. I have been working on the examine system for the game. When you approach something interesting a '!' will appear above your head, you then press a button and can examine it. In the first dungeon this can be used to talk to prisoners in their cells. See below-

But I currently have this examine control to CTRL and to read through the conversations you press space. I KNOW this needs changed. What's throwing me a bone in this lot is that Space is the bottun for attacking. Normally I would set the attack and examine/talk to the same key, but this game is different sense you'll be moving quite a bit and it would essentially mean you can't attack if you were standing on a place where you can examine something.

So what do you guys think?

I'm thinking this-

Arrows=Walk

Space=Sword

CTRL=Examine/Talk/Read Through Conversations

Enter=Inventory

Should I use the class Z & X format perhaps? Input is much appreciated!

Also, I'm looking for a music composer. I'm thinking a soundtrack that would be a cross between 'The Last of The Mohicans' soundtrack and Ronnie James would be ace :) Actually that mashup is giving me goose bumps already!

Beta should be out soon BTW, I wanna finish the prison level completely. And all I've really got left is the boss battle!

Comments

Juju 12 years, 6 months ago

Using space for any common action seems really silly to me.

Iasper 12 years, 6 months ago

I dislike using space in general. Also, some people may like WASD to move instead of the arrow keys, so you can add support for that too.

Juju 12 years, 6 months ago

WASD MKL might be nice.

Don't forget to check how your control scheme works out on foreign keyboards - ZXC doesn't work on German keyboards (I think? Citation needed).

tower07 12 years, 6 months ago

What's wrong with space?

I always sort of see it as the "General Use" key.

Juju 12 years, 6 months ago

It's loose, floppy and hard to press quickly in conjunction with other keys since you have to use your thumb.

JuurianChi 12 years, 6 months ago

Use the letter "E" for stuff that happens often.

Most games are afixed to that key anyway.

Castypher 12 years, 6 months ago

The spacebar breaks when used in conjunction with other keys. Mostly the arrow keys. So while it's okay to use it as, say, a jump key in WASD controls, it won't work if you're holding two arrow keys at the same time.

Juju 12 years, 6 months ago

Thanks SpecNec.

Toast 12 years, 6 months ago

The answer is to stop being lazy and make the control scheme adjustable.

JuurianChi 12 years, 6 months ago

Toast wins the "Helpful Comment of the week" Award.