I am working on a project for game interface design and would like some feedback. My focus is on how the user interacts with certain elements in the game. The concept is for a third person fantasy platformer game. The character is able to move, jump, duck, grab onto objects and fire weapons. The player must solve puzzles and will face a variety of enemy creatures. First, I would like some general feedback on controls. For this concept, assume the controls are using an Xbox 360 controller or a PS3 controller.

Do you prefer games that have standard controls seen in other games, or do you like when a game has its own control scheme?

Do you usually play with the default controls the game provides, or do you customize the control setup right away?

I would also like some feedback related to certain functions of my third person platformer game concept. Right now my thought is to control the character with the left stick and control what the camera looks at with the right stick. When the player is running around the camera would follow behind the player. My idea is to use left trigger or L2 for auto-aim lock onto enemies. Firing is done with the right trigger or R2. I image this game to be fairly fast paced with groups of enemies attacking the player so I think auto-aim would be a better option. I would like to know if you prefer auto-aim lock on or would you manually like to aim at targets. Do you think auto-aim makes a game too easy?

Next I would like your thoughts on an item quick select system. My thought is to have the D-pad hold 4 weapons/items that the player can assign for quick use. A display would be shown in the lower left corner of the screen that would have icons positioned at the four ends of the D-pad that represent the 4 weapons/items currently assigned. Holding down the D-pad would bring up a list of inventory items to allow you to reassign the button to a different weapon/item. What I want to know is if you prefer a quick select system like this or would you rather have the D-pad used for cycling between weapons and items? Something like the left/right D-pad used to get the next/previous weapon and the up/down D-pad used for the next/previous item.

Finally, an important element of platform games is jumping and exploring. My thought is to have the A/X button used for jumping, the B/Circle button used for crouching, and theX/Square button used for grabbing on to ledges and other objects. Some platform games will automatically jump when you are about to fall of a ledge and some will automatically grab when the character's hands are near something to grab onto. Do you like this style or would you rather have manual control over jumping and grabbing?

Any type of feedback is greatly appreciated.