I''m working on a new game and it works alot better with the standard 6 button control pad. the keyboards abit awkward. Is it keen to write a game now adays that emphasize using a joypad for pc? (i did an informal poll and not many people have joypads for pc..do you?)

I have a gamepad which I use frequently, and I''d definitely say: go for it. We need more games that are designed to use a gamepad!

Make sure you allow people to configure the keys so those without a joypad can use the keyboard. For the ''keyboard default'', I would suggest WASD for up, left, down, and right (and QEZC if you need seperate diagonal keys), and 7,8,9,4,5,6 for the 6 buttons.

12 buttons + direction on my pad.
Somehow some games don''t support all buttons, which I find pretty bad, cause they can be very usefull.

I like to control most functions through a common interface.
Something that really annoys me is some operation that cannot be controled from the standard interface.

In NWN for example you cannot control who you attack with the keyboard, but you can move your character and control the camera with it, use shortcuts...
I find it pretty lame.
Also you can''t close some windows, and the windows can''t be moved around.

Avoid that kind of poor GUI as much as possible, and PLAY TEST your game. Your testers will report to you all those boring operations which MUST be removed.

-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-

thanks for the suggestions, so i guess i''ll move forward with favoring the joypad and use a configurable keyboard setup.

This is probably a bit to heavy on implementation, but what you could do is create a set of virtual input toggles in the same mindset at Quake2 with its keybindings. For example, lets pick a couple of names.

UP
DOWN
LEFT
RIGHT
PAUSE
ACTION
CANCEL
OPTION
MENU
ROTATECAMERALEFT
ROTATECAMERARIGHT

Then, allow the player to pick which keyboard and gamepad buttons correspond to which toggle. This should provide enough of a standard input for all of the different types of gamepads.

quote: Original post by Inmate2993
This is probably a bit to heavy on implementation, but what you could do is create a set of virtual input toggles in the same mindset at Quake2 with its keybindings.

DirectInput provides profiles that accomplish the same thing.

I have two joysticks and a gamepad and I must say that not nearly enough games utilize them. I''d love to see more gamepad-run games.

My current project allows key assignations, but it''s easier to play if you have a mouse, too. :D



"Ph''nglui mglw''nafh Cthulhu R''lyeh wgah''nagl fhtagn!" - mad cultist, in passing

quote: Original post by Inmate2993
DirectInput provides profiles that accomplish the same thing.

yeah just last night i got to speed on action mapping (hohum) and got that working in the game. it comes with a free config screen!



[edited by - quack on March 28, 2003 3:16:28 PM]