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Key shortcuts and comfortably

N

Nathan Matthews

Guest
Hell0 Werld, I am currently making a Platform game and I would like a general discussion between people detailing their preference in Platform controls and quick keys for the following:
- Jump
- Attack
- Health Potion

Here are my current controls:
- Jump: [UP]
- Run: [LEFT/RIGHT]
- Interact/Attack: [SPACE]

Also does anyone find it comfortable to use the digit keys for selecting inventory (Mine Craft Style)?
 
Being right-handed I prefer to us the arrow keys for movement, and any other keys for things like inventory or shortcuts for other actions (spells/abilities/potions/etc). However, if the game requires use of mouse and keyboard for controls, then I would go with WASD as I would be using the mouse in my right hand and reaching over to the arrow keys with my left hand is not going to be comfortable.

Easiest option is to implement a Control menu that allows the player to map their own keys based on what they are comfortable with. You store these in variables or an array, and then you only need to check the mapped values whenever you do your input checks.
 

kburkhart84

Firehammer Games
Easiest option is to implement a Control menu that allows the player to map their own keys based on what they are comfortable with. You store these in variables or an array, and then you only need to check the mapped values whenever you do your input checks.
This....always this. The only game where I might not do custom controls would be something like browser based, touchscreen based, or mouse based. Even if it is a hybrid mouse with keyboard thing I'd still let you customize the keys and mouse buttons. I've even made an asset on the marketplace for this purpose(not going to name it, you can find it if you really want it).
 
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Yal

šŸ§ *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
If you're absolutely not going to allow keyboard customization (which is the best option), mouse+WASD+space+E+R is a pretty good standard option, but keep in mind that there are alternate keyboard layouts like AZERTY and Dvorak. The reason a lot of games still use stuff like arrows + space + Ctrl/Shift as default controls is that those keys are the same on most common layouts, and you can't even count on that with laptops since they generally have a custom Function key somewhere on the bottom row that necessitates moving around some of the dead/modifier keys to weird locations.

So yeah, keyboard customization isn't necessary just because of player taste, your layout might be completely physically unusable for some players because of their keyboard layout.
 
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