#25396 - ScottLininger - Sat Aug 21, 2004 11:55 pm
I'm working on an isometric RPG engine, and as part of my research I've been buying up commercial ISO games (well, okay, two at this point). One thing that they have in common is that the UP direction on the D-PAD moves your character to the top-right, DOWN moves to the bottom-left, etc. To actually move your character "up" in the game, you have to press the DPAD UP+LEFT.
This is driving me CRAZY! After I've played for a bit, I get used to it, but it's anti-intuitive, at least to me. Imagine how annoying Zelda would be if the controls were layed out this way?!
The only argument I can think to justify this screwyness is that some players find the "diagonal" directions on the D-PAD to be difficult. I'd like to get some thoughts from the other designers out there... Am I missing something? Should I conform my controls to this "standard"???
-Scott
#25397 - poslundc - Sun Aug 22, 2004 12:04 am
The Mega Man Battle Network series has the D-Pad matched the opposite, more intuitive way. (So to follow a diagonal path you have to push two buttons at once, unless you are walking against a wall/barrier in which case you will automatically move along the diagonal.) I personally like it well enough that way.
Dan.
#25398 - abilyk - Sun Aug 22, 2004 12:15 am
Scott, I'm the same way. Old games like Snake Rattle n Roll on the NES were pretty much useless to me because the directional mapping drove me nuts. Personally I would by default let up on the Dpad correspond to up in the game, but I'd also allow for the user to choose alternate directional mappings (Dpad up = game up-right, Dpad up = game up-left) via an options menu.
I'm a very strong advocate of letting the player customize the controls. There are a number of games I've played and dismissed immediately because I found the controls counter-intuitive and couldn't change them. I won't let that be an issue for players of my games.
#25408 - sajiimori - Sun Aug 22, 2004 2:30 am
I actually prefer the world-axis-aligned controls, but an option is probably a good idea either way.
#25409 - FireOut - Sun Aug 22, 2004 4:13 am
Landstalker for the Genesis was isometric and played just fine (for me at least).. I can't remember exactly how it did it, but I guess you can get some ideas from the game.
Like the others here, I feel like being able to choose your command setting is the best way to go, and since it is an engine (open source I hope?) it would be good to have an option like that.
#25438 - ScottLininger - Sun Aug 22, 2004 10:38 pm
Thanks guys. Letting the player set up the controls how they like 'em is definitely the way to go.
-Scott
#25661 - Miked0801 - Thu Aug 26, 2004 7:14 pm
Our "research" has shown that axis aligned controls are easier for younger kids to grasp which is why we are forced to use this method for most of our games. When we have time, we do add the agility pick your scheme though.
#25691 - phonymike - Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:23 am
last iso game I played was boktai, and it gave the option for three (I think) different controls:
dpad Up = player up
dpad Up = player up right
dpad Up = player up left
and of course the other controls matched. this game is awesome aside from the sun sensor (which I replaced with a potentiometer :)
#26927 - Steve++ - Wed Sep 29, 2004 10:39 am
How about letting the player choose the control method (gasp!)?
#26959 - sgeos - Thu Sep 30, 2004 6:26 am
| Steve++ wrote: |
| How about letting the player choose the control method (gasp!)? |
API! API! API?
-Brendan