Game Mechanics WASD-only shooting mechanics (Is it feasible?)

I'm experimenting with something of a side-scrolling adventure/exploration-style game with (maybe) an arc-based shooting mechanic. The challenge is I'm trying to limit the controls to STRICTLY WASD/Arrow keys. (no mouse or any other keys or buttons.) Basically I want this to be playable one-handed. Where I'm having trouble is how (or even IF) I should implement the shooting controls.

A/D would move the character left and right, press D/Up once to draw your weapon, and again to fire, or S/Down to cancel. The character would be stationary when aiming, which at least frees up A/D if needed.

I've tried a lot of different styles which, while all fully functional, are a little awkward and counter-intuitive for what I'm trying to do, depending on the circumstances. Example: if you're suddenly attacked by a swarm of enemies and need to react quickly, having to do any kind of complex key combination just to raise your gun and shoot is obviously going to be a nightmare.

Although, I am aiming for a more defensive game pace where you want to tread lightly and NOT try to fight hordes of enemies at one time, or only do so from fortified positions. Taking your time and calculating your shots would be encouraged over frantically spamming projectiles, but I don't think the latter should be completely unfeasible.

I know this is asking a lot from just four keys. Doable? Absolutely. Feasible? Well, that's what I'm asking here.

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What I'm toying with now is:

A.) An aiming mechanic similar to Yoshi's Island (SMW2), where a cursor moves up and down and you simply fire when the cursor is where you want it.

B.) Manually aiming your cursor up and down with W/S while using A/D/Left/Right to fire, or I could swap it the other way around. This feels mechanically intuitive enough, but I'm worried how awkward it would be to use Left/Right controls for shooting OR aiming. Doesn't really feel right either way.

C.) A sort of lock-on system where your character simply targets the closest or most appropriate enemy, and the trajectory is calculated for you. Maybe use left/right to switch targets. In terms of gameplay, probably the simplest and would work for MOST cases, but again, if your met with a swarm of enemies and want to target a specific one, cycling to the correct one might become tedious.
 
A little of both I guess. Sorry, I'm actually trying to answer in most subtle way I can...

In any case, I've been looking at this game Kingdom / Kingdom: New Lands, which is kind of what I was drawing inspiration on. I'm not trying to make a clone, but the simplicity of that game is kind of what I was going for. It only uses WASD/Arrow keys, but of course that's because it's so simplistic it only needs three buttons. You move around and buy stuff with W/Down, and that's it.

So yeah, I guess the main reason is a simplistic feel, in which case I guess a complicated shooting mechanic kinda defeats the point.
 
K

Kyle Ecker

Guest
Instead of pressing it once to draw the weapon and again to fire, maybe you could just hold it to go into the aiming/shooting mode, and release to go back to moving.
 
Instead of pressing it once to draw the weapon and again to fire, maybe you could just hold it to go into the aiming/shooting mode, and release to go back to moving.
Hm. Yeah. There was some reason I thought that wouldn't work, but now that I've actually tried that out, it does feel pretty good. I think major downside though is it'd be more awkward to cancel shooting. Like if you decided you didn't want to shoot for risk of aggro'ing too many enemies. S/Down would be awkward to hit while holding W/Up. Could just use A/D for it, it's just they don't feel like the keys you would use for that.
 
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Kyle Ecker

Guest
You can have the gun constantly firing while W/Up is held, and use A/Left and D/Right to rotate the angle (Right for clockwise and Left for counterclockwise).

Unless your game has limited ammo, in which case the player would need more control over the firing rate, so here's another idea:
While W/Up is held, a cursor appears, which is controlled with A/Left and D/Right. When the cursor is over an enemy, you automatically fire a single shot at that enemy, without having to press an extra button.
 

Jezla

Member
I think, from a player's perspective, using just WASD would be frustrating. The spacebar can be easily reached by the thumb, so why not do this:

1) A-D moves left and right, W-S to jump and crouch if desired.
2) Press space once to draw the weapon.
3) Use W-S to aim the weapon; press space again to fire, or resume movement with A-D to cancel aiming and holster weapon.

It still allows for one handed play without binding too many controls to the same keys, while retaining flexibility.
 
Yes, this is correct, haha. X'D
Unless you have a good reason besides "another game did it," I'd lose it. It sounds like it doesn't match your game.
Well like I said I do have another reason, just not sure how to really say it here... lol

Any case, I actually think I'm going to work with Kyle's original idea. It definitely feels intuitive, at least to me. It makes taking snap shots almost as simple as just pressing W once and shooting. Not complex; just one button and done. And it has this kind of Wild West quickdraw feel.
 
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