Quick Tips: Controls and why they matter more than you think.

Developing your game, there are points you will think are granted and should not be a whole lot of trouble. Well if it is not your first game, you know that is a blatant lie. If it is your first game, you might want to keep reading. 

Let’s take the controls for example. Mapping the controller buttons and assigning them should not be that complicated, right? RIGHT? 

Well… yes, and no. There are conventions you need to follow and some difficulties you may not have foreseen. 

Starting to map them, many questions will come to you. 

Do you put Shoot on the trigger? On X? The fast attack on RB? On X? And what about the keyboard? 

And if you get it wrong, the backlash will be brutal. Players will get confused. Veterans of the genre are used to a certain layout, changing that will trigger their muscle memory and hinder their first contact with your game. They may quit the game altogether. 

Sounds daunting doesn't it? No need to panic. There are solutions to this problem.

First would be using the standards. 

Most likely you will not create a new genre. If you do, props to you and, please send me a message, I want to try your game. But more realistically it will fit in a genre, and other developers will have made the mistakes for you and come with a standard layout to use. Use that. The wheel was invented and it works. 

Also use recent standards. A layout used in 2007 may not be optimal for today’s games. Same goes for controllers. There are a few different types, make sure you include at least the most common ones. 

That's a good one to include.

And don’t forget PC players. Not everybody will have a controller, so keyboard support will be close to mandatory. And both in game AND in the menus. There are weirdos out there that will play sports games on their keyboard. Don't ask.

I recently tested a game where the controls in game were fine, but once you accessed the menus, nothing made sense. One screen required to cancel with B the other needed to be closed by clicking on an icon. One feature needed to be validated with A, next screen with B. To the point I had to switch to my keyboard and mouse in the menus.

Which was made possible because I could hot swap between the two schemes. Don’t be this developer that doesn't allow it. 

There also will be genres where you will need to make do. Let’s take Baldur’s Gate 3 for example. Fully playable on a controller but way smoother on keyboard and mouse. 

You can’t choose for the player. So offer both schemes. And if you can’t offer an ideal solution remember one thing: Rebind. 

So many keys for activities!

Offer this option to the players. Some games don’t and I still wonder why. Players will be able to do as they pleased and one less reason to complain! And bonus point, it improves your accessibility at no extra cost! 

Final tip will be : playtest your game. If the controls are not up to par you will have the feedback pretty quickly. And testers are creative and some are even nice to propose solutions! (But... Who would do such a thing, you ask me?)

Here you go. This should prevent you from putting jump on a trigger, next on the Dpad or mapping your game to a N64 controller. 

And if you still have doubts, you know where to find me.