I've been thinking about making up controller ideas for shooter games for the fun of it for a while but the one thing that is bothering me, the melee attack. I would like to know what do you think it is better.

So far, I have come up with 4 methods of melee attacking in our games, which one do you think is better.

1 Click RS : Commonly found in modern shooters like Call of duty, Far Cry 3/4, and Battlefield. Most of the time, you just stab with a knife, then quickly re equip your current gun.

2 -Tap RB : Found in Later halo games like Reach and Bungies latest game Destiny. Very convenient because you don't need to remove your thumb off the right stick to press B.

3 -Pull RT if close to an enemy: This method is very rare but very interesting . In games made by Rockstar Studios like GTA 5 and Max Payne 3, you can gunbutt enemies only by moving in front of them as opposed to shooting at point blank range. Mass effect 1 does this for some reason as well. I do not think there is a dedicated melee button in these games.

4- Equip melee weapon in order to melee: To hit something, equip a melee weapon then use your fire button. Commonly found in old school games like Doom but a common tactic in Counter Strike. Very challenging to use.

Funnily enough, I was discussing this with someone just yesterday.

Her complaint was against the that controllers are made for bigger hands, and she has difficulty reaching the trigger-buttons or shoulder-buttons when it's quickly needed during action, because her fingers aren't resting on the trigger buttons (this would be solved if she got a more compact controller that better fit her hand).

My complaint was that while having the movement sticks also be buttons is an innovative idea, I have difficulty clicking them in the heat of action and have a higher rate of misclicks (both false positives and false negatives) with clicking down the sticks. Sometimes I'd be moving and accidentally clicking them alot, other times I'd be trying to click them and fail to fast enough. Even worse when the movement-sticks need to be held down for some purpose (like remaining crouching or sneaking), because then I accidentally release them too early. This might possibly get solved with better manufacturing and implementation of the physical controller mechanisms.

Personally, I prefer triggers or dedicated buttons. I've never heard of the "using the firing trigger when in close range", but that seems like an interesting idea that I might like.

Personally, I prefer triggers or dedicated buttons. I've never heard of the "using the firing trigger when in close range", but that seems like an interesting idea that I might like.

If you have a copy of mass effect 1, or gta 5 , you can experiment with this tactic. Just so you know i had a difficult time trying to gunbutt somebody in gta 4 because of the strange controls. Not sure if its better in gta 5.