DonutKing wrote:I used the keyboard for forward/back and the mouse for turning or strafing.
I use the keyboard for forward/back and strafing. In fact, I usually don't even have any keys assigned to turning. Then I use the mouse for aiming.
DonutKing wrote:As for Descent I actually preferred to play that with a joystick...
I tried playing it with a joystick, but couldn't get used to it. I grew up with Atari style joysticks where you can hold the stick close to the base and just tilt your hand to move. I don't particularly like the large, flightstick style joysticks where your hand sits an inch or more above the base. There's nothing to rest your hand on, so it's hard to keep your hand steady, especially with your arm getting tired. Plus, most analog joysticks tend to feel "mushy", rather than really springing back to the center.
However if you played the original DOS version, I can see why you would prefer the joystick. For some reason, mouse control in the DOS program is really sluggish. When I played it, I used a source port, that didn't have that issue. Plus it also gave higher resolution graphics, 3D acceleration and easier installation.
MaxWar wrote:Rekrul wrote:If anyone ever invents time travel, I want to use it to go back and smack these authors up side the head and tell them to use the freaking mouse! Well, that and to kill whoever invented the idea of left-handed gamepads.
Left-handed gamepads?... You mean with the D-pad at the right???
No, I consider all gamepads with the D-Pad or analog stick used for moving on the left to be left-handed.
I believe that the dominant hand should be used to control the most complex aspect of the game. For most games, especially arcade type games, movement is the most complex part of the game. For example in a scrolling shoot 'em up, you have to constantly move in up to eight directions to avoid enemy fire, avoid crashing into the scenery and line up your shots. The other hand just has to pump the fire button, or occasionally release a smart bomb or switch weapons. Or take a game like Resident Evil; The movement controls are used to steer the character around the screen, often from a backwards perspective (if the character is facing the screen, you need to pres the opposite direction from the way you want to go) while the buttons fire the weapons, and activate objects.
Yet, all these games expect you to control the movement with your left hand and relegate the right hand (which is the dominant hand for most people) to simple button pushing.
When playing an FPS game on the computer, right-handed people usually use the mouse with their right hand, since aiming takes precision and their right hand has finer control. The left hand is mostly only used for moving. Yes, I realize that this somewhat mimics the use of a game pad, but the difference is that the right hand is controlling a much more complex task than just pressing buttons.
MaxWar wrote:Anyway, ever noticed how on gamepads and arcade controls the direction stick/pad is on the left and on a keyboard, we used to play those platformers with direction arrows at the right.
With a few exceptions, I never played most games using the keyboard. I never had a DOS system, I was a C64 user, and then moved on to the Amiga and always played action games with an Atari compatible joystick. The main exceptions were Karateka on the C64 and Prince of Persia on the Amiga. Both designed by the same guy and both with kind of crappy joystick control. I also played the classic Tomb Raider games using the keyboard, as well as Prince of Persia 3D. In my opinion, a keyboard is not an arcade controller.
MaxWar wrote:Yet, if feels ''right'' this way.
Not to me it doesn't. My left hand is the least coordinated one and I can't make precise movements in games with it to save my life. It's like asking me to write left-handed, or to use the mouse with my left hand. It feels completely wrong to me.
Back in the 8-Bit era, Atari compatible joysticks were either designed for use by either hand, or they were made to use your right hand on the stick and your left hand for the buttons. Look at the Epyx 500XJ; It's made to be held in your left hand and you work the stick with your right.
MaxWar wrote:Then i would use right hand too on a flight sim joystick but left hand on arcade style joystick... Then i never knew from which side to grab a guitar. Sorry for the off-topicness 😜
Left-handed joysticks are one of the reasons I never played that many arcade games. Also, the fact that all the game pads have the movement controls on the left is one of the reasons I never felt the desire to own any game system after the Atari era. I like a lot of the games, but hate the controls. Playing "cross-handed" is not a valid playing style, it's a work-around for a backwards control setup!
I recently found a complete Playstation in the trash and I borrowed a bunch of games to test it out. Even though the dual shock controllers have two analog sticks, you can't use the right one for anything. There may have been a couple games that made use of it, but for 99% of the games, it just sits there collecting dust. Wouldn't it have made sense to activate it and allow a person to use whichever stick they wanted? Instead, they force you to use the left one, even though the right one isn't being used. Needless to say that I royally sucked at all the games and got quite frustrated with it.
I've actually though about getting a spare controller, opening it up and rewiring it to swap the sticks and the D-Pad with the four buttons. I mean, both sides have an equal number of contacts, they only differ in how they're arranged. There's no reason that the buttons couldn't function in place of the D-Pad and the D-Pad in place of the four buttons.
Of course I have to wonder why they force you to use preset control setups instead of simply allowing you to define the controls, like virtually every DOS/Windows game does. You can't argue that they didn't think of it because games were doing that long before systems like the Playstation came out.
