Why WASD is evil

Posted by Xemrel on April 28, 2006, 9:42 a.m.

Warning : This is a bit of a rant…

Don't hard code WASD controls. If you're making something purely for your own use, then go right ahead, but remember that not everyone's keyboard is alike. On my keyboards, the W, A, S, and D are nowhere near each other. The keys that are in the positions normally assosiated with "WASD" are ",AOE" instead. Arrow keys are typically better to use. I can say for sure that thare aren't, but I've never seen any keyboard layouts that move them. I don't suspect there are any.

The point is, though, you can't always assume how other people's computers are set up. If you want to use WASD controls, then at least allow the user to change the keys. Additionally, try not to use the number pad, as most laptops don't have them. You can typically enable them by forfeiting some of the other keys temporarily, but that's obviously not good for a game.

Anyway, yeah… Back to attempting to study for a midterm I have to take in… 23 minutes.

Comments

neonut99 18 years ago

Ya good point. There is a dvorak keyboard and that is not suited for WASD

Xemrel 18 years ago

Dvorak is teh great! ^_^

gamehawk 18 years ago

What type of keyboard do you have?

SleepinJohnnyFish 18 years ago

<a href="http://64digits.com/games/index.php?cmd=view_game&id=94">Korberos's KeyMapping Example</a>

Keymaps, people… keymaps!

Amarin 17 years, 7 months ago

I hate WASD because I'm left handed.