Hey Game Afternooners, This one is going to be a little bit different from previous posts. I don’t have a specific goal for this one other than to show you some really cool uses of a controller. I suppose if I was to have a goal for this one it would be to show you guys ways that we can push the boundaries of a traditional controller/keyboard and move into the future with concepts that allow us to be even more specific to our applications & games
INTRO:
Two things: First: Play station 5 controller is the best controller on the market don’t @ me. It has a great layout that is symmetrical. Don’t say anything dumb like: “Actually the Xbox controller is more ergonomic.” That doesn’t make any sense. Our hands are symmetrical so our controller should be too. I’m all about having the left thumbstick in a different position because it has a different purpose but that's not true in every game. Sometimes it does the exact same thing as the right stick. And furthermore it's up to the developer (and sometimes the user) to determine what their buttons, sticks, and triggers do.
Second: There are several games I want to reference here so I'll put just a short blurb about each of them:
- Tetris: a Russian born puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. It has been published by several companies on more than 65 platforms, setting a Guinness world record for the most ported game.
- Mario Party: a party video game series featuring characters from the Mario franchise in which up to four local players or computer-controlled characters compete in a board game interspersed with minigames.
- Skyrim: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a 2011 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth main installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
- Playdate: “It's a new, tiny handheld game system with a bunch of brand-new games. We made Playdate just for fun.” is how the makers of Playdate: Panic Inc. would describe it. I would define it as an indie console with a crank. Yes, a crank. Like what we used to use on flashlights to power them up! It's wild and a really new and creative way to engage the player in a new interaction type. At least, new for games.
THE MEAT:
Tetris
Look at that bad boy. Now that's a controller. I debated so hard if this should be first or last because there is something WILD that happened with this game, unlike every other game here the different controller grips, holds, styles, and functions were developed by the players rather than the developers. The original way to hold this controller was basic and much like how we would expect to hold this bad boy: left thumb is for the D-Pad, while the right thumb would be for our B and A buttons respectively. Recently however a new grip was invented. This new grip created by CheezFish allowed for “rolling” on the back of the controller and gave him input speeds of over 20 a second. Rolling in this context meant that Cheez would place his controller on his leg with the right half hanging off slightly, his left pointer, middle, and thumb fingers on the A button, B button, and D-pad respectively, and his right hand beneath the controller. Cheez would then roll all of his fingers on the right hand into the controller, bumping it into his left thumb and allowing him to tap into the button about 5-8 times more than the closest hyper tapper. Watch this video to see more it's amazing https://youtu.be/n-BZ5-Q48lE?si=T21GuPAx-5NQRN4D
The reason I bring this up is to highlight a really important design idea: players want to be better at their games. I want to think every time i design an interaction “What is the best way to accomplish this action, and what is the way that people will expect to perform that action?” sometimes that means a different button, sometimes a different method, sometimes a different controller. Weigh these two questions against each other. Does the need to accomplish this action more effectively out weigh the need for it to be super intuitive? And vice versa. There are methods for overcoming unintuitive controls or ineffective means to accomplish. The answers here are not always the same and should be handled case by case.
Mario Party
With each Mario Party mini game you have a screen somewhat similar to this one that explains the controls of the game. Each game has completely different controls and with different objectives for the game. Showing the controls to the players isn’t something to shy away from. In fact it can be INCREDIBLY useful to a player who may be lost or confused. And when the controls change regularly IT'S A MUST. Think about how you might do this though. Controls on the screen can take up a lot of space especially when you have a complicated game with combos or just a lot of possible actions. Use this sparingly and thoughtfully (every pixel placed should be placed on purpose and with thought for the record).
Skyrim
FINALLY a game with natural mapping! Skyrim did something truly amazing with its controller mapping, the left and right triggers are associated with left handed and right handed actions. You can change those actions to some magic spell, ability, or weapon and then by squeezing that specific trigger you could perform that action, in addition if you did both at the same time you could perform some combination of the two assuming they were compatible.
Creation of actions that match the natural location of the action makes perfect sense and allow the player to create a link to that action through that control. I haven’t played Skyrim in over ten years and yet I can perfectly recollect how those controls work. Not only does it make for a less forgettable action but it also allows the user to more quickly make assumptions for your game. Those are both very desirable outcomes from our game.
Playdate
Here is your out of the box thinking for the day. Create a game concept and think about the best way to perform the action in that game. NOW STOP THINKING ABOUT A CONTROLLER. What is the best form of movement to execute this action? Are you punching in the game? Why not punch in real life? Now how can we translate that action to a controller of some sort? Are there gyroscopes in the controller that can recognize that kind of movement? Maybe we implement the thumbstick as a way to wind up the punch and then swing it forward swinging around the left side to create a hook of some kind. Why does every attack need to be a right trigger action? This is the thinking that the playdate forces you to do unintentionally. There are obvious ways that a crank can be used to climb up and down a rope or even more simple to lower and raise a rope with a person on it. But when you get out of the specific abstraction that cranks are usually used for you start to come up with ideas that are actually fun.
Another AMAZING example of this is the concept of Skate the video game which rather than explaining I’m just going to link you to a video. Be like Skate. Skate = good.
https://youtu.be/MTCWWzZ-a3E?si=U-z50W8WgztNTXXA&t=356
OUTRO:
There is a dogma when it comes to controllers and how we use them. Every game implements the left thumbstick to look around, the right thumbstick to strafe and move forward/backward, X to jump, D-pad for equipping items and the right trigger for attacking or performing actions. STOP DOING WHAT EVERY OTHER GAME DOES ITS SO BORING. Sorry that was my inner spirit talking, there is some merit to games doing this: It’s intuitive. But when we make out controls the way they are just because every other game does this, then you need to repent and come up with a better reason. Everything should be thoughtful remember!?!? Why is your jump X? Would it make more sense somewhere else? Ask yourself these questions FOR EVERYTHING. Be thoughtful in your design and be creative! Have fun making your game. Making your game should be just as fun as playing it. That's my opinion and I’m right.
TLDR:
Be thoughtful in the design of your affordances. You should never set an action to a button just because every other game does it that way. Think about how you perform the action in real life and then find a reason to tie it to a button, thumbstick, or trigger. Not every action has to match a button with modern technology in controllers we can even use physical movement to convey an action like tilting to the right or left. Just do something new i’m bored of every jump being an X button or A button (thats me being dramatic often times it makes sense for jump to be the X or A buttons, I just love finding new ways to perform actions)
Thank you for coming to my TED Paragraph and until next week It's Ya Boi Steve Michie.
