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 ago

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

Iasper 12 years 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 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 ago

What's wrong with space?

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

Juju 12 years 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 ago

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

Most games are afixed to that key anyway.

Castypher 12 years 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 ago

Thanks SpecNec.

Toast 12 years ago

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

JuurianChi 12 years ago

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