Controller sharing

[Siolfor the Jackal]

I have several ideas for simple local multiplayer games rattling around in my head. A few of those are simple enough that you only need controls for moving.
I was considering the idea of sharing controllers instead of needing controllers for every player. For instance, I could have two players with one Xbox controller, with an analogue stick each to control their characters. Or to the extreme, you could have 4 people sharing one controller, with two people using a stick each, one person on the Dpad, and another using the face buttons as directional inputs.
I only considered this because I have been in situations before where we didn't have enough controllers for everyone and it kind of sucks sometimes. And I guess this opens up the amount of players you can potentially have in simple games.
Any thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

 

[The M]

It's an interesting idea. I remember playing Brothers: a tale of two sons that way with my brother and it was fun, if a bit awkward. Passing the controller around is another option that can work well for certain games (wario ware: smooth moves for the wii comes to mind)

 

[O.Stogden]

Micro Machines on the N64 also allowed this for 8 player games.

Never tried it, but I imagine it can work well if the controls are simple enough (analog plus 1 or 2 buttons)

Micro Machines on N64 did it by having 1 player use the N64 d-pad on the left side of the controller, and 1 player use the C buttons on the right side of the controller. Acceleration was done automatically, although they could have let the players use the L and R buttons to accelerate.

Not sure 4 on one controller works, unless they all sat uncomfortably close to each other.

 

[Siolfor the Jackal]

I had completely forgotten about Micro Machines on N64. I did in fact play that quite a bit and even tried that mode once!
4 on one controller may be a bit excessive, yeah. But 2 is looking like a good option to include.

 

[NazGhuL]

I shared keyboard with 2 or 3 friends a lot of time.(Many years ago)Sharing a controller... hum... Not anymore. Unless for a short period of time. (Like a boss fight)

 

[Siolfor the Jackal]

Sharing a keyboard is problematic due to key ghosting. As a teenager I would regularly play games with friends on a keyboard andit would be frustrating whenever an input is skipped because of ghosting.

 

[O.Stogden]

Yeah, just 2 players on a keyboard presents problems unless you get the setup right to get your keys on different circuits.

I used to play Jazz Jackrabbit 2 with 2 on 1 keyboard, one using WASD and the other the numpad, and quite often you'd lose an input.

Another option for this that I use for my game is making an Android/iOS controller app that networks with your game over LAN, and has virtual keys that can control the game from your phone. Everyone has a smartphone pretty much, so can be a good solution if your game works with it.

 

[Siolfor the Jackal]

That sounds like a pretty cool idea. I'd love to learn more about integrating mobiles into desktop games. Probably a bit out of my skill level at the moment but I can imagine some great use for something like that.
Do you have any playable examples that do this? I would love to check them out.

 

[Khao]

I remember one of the Gamecube Mario Parties (I think it was 7?) did this for 8-player game sessions.

It was not comfortable.

But it was ridiculously fun. Minigames were cooperative, with each pair of players sharing a controller forming a team. Also minigames either required only movement, a single trigger, or both. But never more complex than that.