Controls For new shmup

A place for people with an interest in developing new shmups.
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orlando.correia
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2020 2:16 pm

Controls For new shmup

Post by orlando.correia »

Hello, I am developing a new game, this is one of my first games, but the first Shmup I am developing.

What is your opinion about using:
Using WASD to move the ship + 3 keys to shoot the 3 different weapons + other specials less used keys for special functions
Using the mouse to move the ship + 3 mouse buttons to shoot the 3 different weapons + a few special functions on the keyboard.

What are your ideas about those two options?

Thanks you very much.
Ixmucane2
Posts: 760
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:26 pm
Location: stuck at the continue prompt

Re: Controls For new shmup

Post by Ixmucane2 »

Support arrow keys, allowing WASD (or arbitrary keys) as an alternative (particularly if you have two players at the same keyboard).
Mouse control is so different from keyboard or joystick control that the choice affects very basic design parameters.
For example, dodging quickly in small spaces is basically impossible with a mouse: quick mouse movements need to be large and coarse, whereas a key or a joystick can be activated both briefly (to limit movement) and with precise timing.
orlando.correia
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2020 2:16 pm

Re: Controls For new shmup

Post by orlando.correia »

Ixmucane2 wrote:Support arrow keys, allowing WASD (or arbitrary keys) as an alternative (particularly if you have two players at the same keyboard).
Mouse control is so different from keyboard or joystick control that the choice affects very basic design parameters.
For example, dodging quickly in small spaces is basically impossible with a mouse: quick mouse movements need to be large and coarse, whereas a key or a joystick can be activated both briefly (to limit movement) and with precise timing.
Thank you for your feedack, I didn't think about those details.

The problem is taht the game is a browser game and using arrow keys creates an annoying bug, the page scrolls when I press up or down (something I can't fix/control), the only option I have is using WASD and a few other keys for controlling shooting and changing the weapons.

Any suggestion?

[EDIT]: I will try to find ways to get around the problem about the page scrolling up and down. I think I can find a workaround.

Thanks
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schleichfahrt
Posts: 141
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 12:50 pm

Re: Controls For new shmup

Post by schleichfahrt »

Ixmucane2 wrote:allowing WASD (or arbitrary keys) as an alternative
If you go down the WASD route, it's important to offer rebindable keys, since some non-English keyboard layouts are different in that corner (for example the French and some others use AZERTY instead of QWERTY). This leads to tears, if WASD is hardcoded.
When you ruin some enemy, add to score points.
orlando.correia
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2020 2:16 pm

Re: Controls For new shmup

Post by orlando.correia »

Thanks for your information. I will take it into account for my controls.
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heli
Posts: 585
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2019 3:58 pm

Re: Controls For new shmup

Post by heli »

Many times with a keyboard if you press more then a certain number of keys, it will jam.
You need to implement joystick for sure.
TheReloader
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:26 am

Re: Controls For new shmup

Post by TheReloader »

Mouse control sounds great! You should check out Jamestown, Sky Force Reloaded, and Bullet Heaven 2 on Steam. They have great cursor-based mouse movement implementation.
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