I''m a big fan of ESDF myself. It gives me quick access to a lot of keys but still keeps me close enough to the left side of the keyboard that I can still reach the Ctrl, Alt, Shift, and Tab keys.

The_Ethernopian

WASD is the current standard for a reason -- for most its the most comfortable and controllable position. It keeps your left hand on the left side of the keyboard where it belongs, and there are plenty of keys within easy reach to use for various actions. Additionally, because ASD is the natural position of your fingers when your pinky is on the Ctrl key, its very easy to find WASD without looking at the keyboard, which can be important when you''re in the middle of a firefight and you have to take your hand off the keyboard for some reason (you drop your bowl of ramen noodles, for instance, which happens to me more often than I care to admit). ESDF is more difficult to find without looking at the keys.

IMHO anything that takes your left hand away from the left side of the keyboard is all wrong. And since Mouselook is the irrevocable standard of FPS''s, your right hand is a bit pre-occupied.

WASD is the standard, don''t mess with it. People like you who prefer something different can configure it the way you like, but the vast majority are going to assume WASD is going to get them somewhere, and they''re going to get annoyed if it doesn''t.

****************************************

Brian Lacy
ForeverDream Studios

Comments? Questions? Curious?
brian@foreverdreamstudios.com

"I create. Therefore I am."

I''d want to supply several default setups with my game, so that the user can quickly choose one that matches one of several common games, as well as create their own and save it.

[ MSVC Fixes | STL Docs | SDL | Game AI | Sockets | C++ Faq Lite | Boost
Asking Questions | Organising code files | My stuff | Tiny XML | STLPort]

Seems i''m the only one using:

Forward - Right Mouse Button
Strafe Left - S
Strafe Right - F
Backward - D
Jump - E

It confuses the hell out of most other people

My personal favorite setup is WASD for movement plus mouselook, control for crouch, space for jump, r for reload, g for drop weapon, f for flaslight, y and u for pub/team chat, mouse1 for fire, mouse2 for secondary, mouse3 and e both for use, and v/c/q/x/z/b (in that order) for other options depending on the game/mod

really the standard counter-strike config except for mouse3 being use

I''ve tried a few other setups but I find most of them uncomftorable. WASD is right where my hand is when my elbow is on my chair''s armrest.

I agree that you should have multiple presets and allow a player to pick one or create their own. The one that is selected by default should definitely be the standard wasd imo.

Well, the way I''m doing it, the player has to select their start config before playing the game, and I just mapped it to WASD. How /anyone/ can play with that is beyond me, but I''m a freak and proud of it.

a: strafe left
s: jump
d: strafe right
f: flash light (or something similar)
w: activate/use/ect...
space: back
left shift: sprint/walk (or something similar)
c: crouch
x: lay down
left mouse button: fire
right mouse button: move forward
right, side mouse button: reload
middle mouse button: alt fire
scroll: weapon selection

mouse look on... with a sensitivity set really high (ex: in HL it''s around 15)

Those are pretty much the basics of what I use. and they are superior. period. that''s it. mine are better. don''t even try to compete.

The greatest advantage by using WASD-like configs are that you have direct access to chatting. If you use something strange as a numpad config you have to move your hand very far. That delay will quickly make people angry, they will never want to play the game again if all they do is move their hand forth and back.
With WSDA you simply press ''t'' or equivalent(I use ''y'', ''/'' for my IRC hack, t for teamtalk, and u for special teamtalk :D).
There is still a problem though... you have to move your mousehand to the keyboard if you want to write something more than "lol" or "hacker" or "n00b". You probably already have shortcuts for these common phrases though. Or maybe you have learned them well enough to write them in your sleep.
Uhh.. whatever. And about SEDF(I just press the keys, ok?): I can''t really reach Ctrl with my pinky I feel that I would press the [M$WIND0W$z] key more often then. I never do when I use WASD.
Hmm.. I might as well list my entire config for a certain game called Half-Life. I''m playing a certain "modification"(a new set of rules and stuff, basically) called "Team Fortress Classic"(or actually "Team Fortress 1.5", but that is only for newer players). The controls are pretty much like another mod(short for "modification") called "Counter-Strike"(It''s quite popular, see Counter-Goat.net for more information and screenshots). "Team Fortress Classic" depends more on movement and bold moves though.
Anoo.... here''s my config:

W - Move forwardA - Strafe leftS - Move backwardsD - Strafe rightSpace, Mwheeldown(bunny >) - JumpQ - Secondary fire(My mouse3 did not work for half a year or so... )E - UseMouse1 - FireMouse2 - Grenade stuff >Mouse3 - I don''t know

Now I''m tired...

Yeah WASD is the common setting used in most games. I just love it :D
My standard config:
W - Forward
S - Backward
A - Strafe left
D - Strafe right
Q - Crouch
E - Use
R - Reload
Z - Crawl/Lie down
X - Lean left
C - Lean right
T - Team Speak
Y - Global Speak
1, 2, 3.... Grenade, smoke, flash etc....

Very easy, very cool