Hello. I'm thinking about a point of game mechanics and keyboard control. In my game project you can walk around in 2D, jump, and pick up items. I want you to be able to drop and throw items too. That in itself will be easy to add, but how should the controls work? What I was thinking for a default control scheme was: Hand placement: Left hand on WASD, right hand on arrow keys WASD: Movement Left: Use item in left hand / Grab if hand is empty Right: " in right hand / Grab if hand is empty Left+Up: Throw item in left hand Right+Up: " right Left+Down: Drop item in left hand Right+Down: " right Space: Jump Something else: Status screen, system menu etc. I'm trying to go for a simple but powerful control scheme like those in the Zelda games: few buttons that do many things depending on context. Does the above scheme sound reasonable? Can you suggest something better other than demanding that players buy gamepads? An added wrinkle is the weird behavior of keyboards. Certain combinations of keys, on some keyboards, don't register properly. Apparently that's due to the way keyboards register keypresses. I had trouble with some combinations of arrow keys on my keyboard, for instance. I've also thought about the possibility of distinguishing between tapping vs. holding a key. Or even WASD with one hand for movement, mouse with the right for grabbing/dropping/throwing.

How about making things configurable? Giving players the ability to choose a controls layout that suits them is a good idea imho. Some will prefer the mouse buttons for using and throwing items, others may want to use a typical action button such as Ctrl or Alt. Some people prefer wasd for movement, others want the arrow keys.

Having that said, having different buttons for the left and right hand sounds complicated. Do you really need to be able to control this yourself, or can you automate it, so that the character grabs something with one of his hands, and the next time you grab something, he'll use his other (free) hand?

A good way I've found to do just that is to make it that if the character is moving/running, they throw the item, and if they're standing they drop it. Might not work in the context of your game, but it could be much easier than 2-key combinations for the player.

Re: manual configuration, that's a good idea.

Re: automatically picking a free hand, I'm not sure. Since you might have different items in each hand, you kind of need to have "left hand" and "right hand" buttons. Simplifying dropping vs. throwing based on whether a character is moving might work, though.

Hmm, good point.

How about having a single throw (and/or drop) button, and a switch button, so players can select which item is currently 'active'. A bit like most weapon cycle systems: you can select the things beforehand, in a peacefull moment, and once the action has begun, all you need to do is fire a single fire button. I think the advantage here is that you won't get confusion about which throw button to use, because as long as you can clearly see which item is active, there's just one throw button.

I think your system sounds fairly reasonable, but 4 buttons (+ 4 directional buttons) for this functionality is a bit too much imo.
Of course I don't know how your overall design looks like, but I think you could consider eliminating the "drop" function alltogether, cause throwing away an item would lead to the same result (loss of item). So if throwing items hurts objects (and you want to include "dropping" as a way of losing an item without hurting something), a player could just throw the item in a direction, where he wouldn't hit an object.. you would therefore have the same functionality and outcome as if he dropped it.

If the placement of the item is that important, the idea to couple dropping and throwing an item to a status of the player character (standing still/ moving) also sounds lika an excellent idea.

So you'd only have 3 buttons now, but I'd maybe go one step further and couple throwing an item to the amount of time a button (left or right hand button) is pressed. Let's say you just tap the button, you'd use the item in hand, but if you hold it down, you either thor or drop it (depending on if you move or stand still).

Like this you'd only have to use two buttons for your current control scheme.
You also talked about your concerns regarding keyboards and problems when too many buttons are pressed simultaniously.
This problem does exist, mainly on older keyboards (I don't know any details, sry..) but using only 6 keys instead of 8 would be an option to minimize the problem.
I wouldn't mind at the end I guess, cause nearly everyone nowadays has a controller/joypad which would negate the problem.


PS: I recommened taking a look at "River City Ransom", an old NES game and one of the defining 2D brawlers that utilized only two buttons (+digipad), but managed to squeeze an astonishing amount of functions out of them.
Here's the manual in text form:
http://www.gamersgraveyard.com/repository/nes/manuals/manuals/river_city_ransom.txt

[Edited by - Chris B on July 8, 2007 1:49:34 AM]