I've come here to propose a couple small changes to immensely improve gameplay for those using gamepads. I will assume use of an xbox controller throughout this thread.
Currently, there are some features of the gamepad that make it very good, as well as some that make it very, very bad. On a whole, it ends up being rather awkward.
Here's what's good:
Single button access to all 4 spell-casting options, as well as block/attack/interact, rivals that of keyboard and mouse
Movement with the left analog stick as opposed to click&drag is superior, too
And here's what's bad:
8-Element select system is WTFBBQ bad, slow, awkward, etc
Aiming with the joystick is extremely difficult due to precision needed
So, here are my two fixes proposed:
A new, more efficient way to select elements with the speed of a keyboard player
A radial target reticule for aiming (mouse players get their pinpoint accurate cursor, why not gamepad players?)
Now for the details.
THE SHINY, NEW, GOBLIN-FREE ELEMENT SELECT SYSTEM!
To save dev time, this could merely be a change in the coding of the gamepad control setup (tutorial text would need to be changed, too). The graphic interface showing the elements could remain untouched. The idea is simple: 4-directions from the right stick still correspond with the 8 elements. Whether the left trigger is pressed or not decides which of the two elements will be selected when one moves the joystick in one of the 4 directions. I'll elaborate with an all-inclusive scenario analysis:
Left trigger is no longer AoE cast; Left Stick (which controls movement) is pressed for AoE cast
Left trigger is now the alt-element activater
X represents a number
The 4 default elements are the clockwise ones, going by the radial image already in-game
The 4 alt-elements are the counterclockwise ones, going by the radial image already in-game
X Up-stick presses= X Arcane
Up-stick followed by X Left Trigger clicks= Arcane + X Life
Left trigger followed by X Up-stick presses= X Life
X Left-stick presses= X Water
Left-stick followed by X Left trigger clicks= Water + X Lightning
Left trigger followed by X Left-stick presses= X Lightning
X Down-stick presses= X Earth
Down-stick followed by X Left trigger clicks= Earth + X Shield
Left trigger followed by X Down-stick presses= X Shield
X Right-stick presses= X Fire
Right-stick followed by X Left Trigger clicks= Fire + X Cold
Left trigger followed by X Right-stick presses= X Cold
When the Left trigger or the right stick is released, nothing is activated.
Hopefully that isn't too confusing to decipher- I tested all the button combos, and it is indeed a faster way to activate elements than the current control setup (input would be appreciated here). An alternative, which could be present concurrently with my above fix, would be to have the right stick pressed down to choose alt-elements, keeping the 4-directional movement intact.
THE RADIAL TARGET RETICULE:
The idea is to have a cursor pointing where your character is aiming, set at a static distance away from the character (about halfway from the character to the top of the screen, if the character is in the middle). The distance away from the character would diminish as the character approached the sides of the screen/map.
Could use the current cursor icon, but this icon would have to be made to rotate around the character as well as revolve.
What would be difficult about implementing this is that the cursor is very dynamic, and is not determined by raw input. Having a raw input cursor may help, but would not be very effective with the gamepad's joystick. This radial target reticule (cursor) could be a modified image of the current cursor, with an invisible shaft connecting it to the character, allowed to rotate around the character as he/she aims. If the cursor could not be made to get closer as the character approaches edges of the screen, it would be okay to have it simply disappear off the side of the map.
If you've actually read all the way through this, you've earned a cookie (go find one yourself, i can't be bothered). I sincerely hope that some changes are made to remedy the gamepad player's inferiority to keyboard/mouse players in terms of being able to aim and quickly selecting the 8 elements!
Currently, there are some features of the gamepad that make it very good, as well as some that make it very, very bad. On a whole, it ends up being rather awkward.
Here's what's good:
Single button access to all 4 spell-casting options, as well as block/attack/interact, rivals that of keyboard and mouse
Movement with the left analog stick as opposed to click&drag is superior, too
And here's what's bad:
8-Element select system is WTFBBQ bad, slow, awkward, etc
Aiming with the joystick is extremely difficult due to precision needed
So, here are my two fixes proposed:
A new, more efficient way to select elements with the speed of a keyboard player
A radial target reticule for aiming (mouse players get their pinpoint accurate cursor, why not gamepad players?)
Now for the details.
THE SHINY, NEW, GOBLIN-FREE ELEMENT SELECT SYSTEM!
To save dev time, this could merely be a change in the coding of the gamepad control setup (tutorial text would need to be changed, too). The graphic interface showing the elements could remain untouched. The idea is simple: 4-directions from the right stick still correspond with the 8 elements. Whether the left trigger is pressed or not decides which of the two elements will be selected when one moves the joystick in one of the 4 directions. I'll elaborate with an all-inclusive scenario analysis:
Left trigger is no longer AoE cast; Left Stick (which controls movement) is pressed for AoE cast
Left trigger is now the alt-element activater
X represents a number
The 4 default elements are the clockwise ones, going by the radial image already in-game
The 4 alt-elements are the counterclockwise ones, going by the radial image already in-game
X Up-stick presses= X Arcane
Up-stick followed by X Left Trigger clicks= Arcane + X Life
Left trigger followed by X Up-stick presses= X Life
X Left-stick presses= X Water
Left-stick followed by X Left trigger clicks= Water + X Lightning
Left trigger followed by X Left-stick presses= X Lightning
X Down-stick presses= X Earth
Down-stick followed by X Left trigger clicks= Earth + X Shield
Left trigger followed by X Down-stick presses= X Shield
X Right-stick presses= X Fire
Right-stick followed by X Left Trigger clicks= Fire + X Cold
Left trigger followed by X Right-stick presses= X Cold
When the Left trigger or the right stick is released, nothing is activated.
Hopefully that isn't too confusing to decipher- I tested all the button combos, and it is indeed a faster way to activate elements than the current control setup (input would be appreciated here). An alternative, which could be present concurrently with my above fix, would be to have the right stick pressed down to choose alt-elements, keeping the 4-directional movement intact.
THE RADIAL TARGET RETICULE:
The idea is to have a cursor pointing where your character is aiming, set at a static distance away from the character (about halfway from the character to the top of the screen, if the character is in the middle). The distance away from the character would diminish as the character approached the sides of the screen/map.
Could use the current cursor icon, but this icon would have to be made to rotate around the character as well as revolve.
What would be difficult about implementing this is that the cursor is very dynamic, and is not determined by raw input. Having a raw input cursor may help, but would not be very effective with the gamepad's joystick. This radial target reticule (cursor) could be a modified image of the current cursor, with an invisible shaft connecting it to the character, allowed to rotate around the character as he/she aims. If the cursor could not be made to get closer as the character approaches edges of the screen, it would be okay to have it simply disappear off the side of the map.
If you've actually read all the way through this, you've earned a cookie (go find one yourself, i can't be bothered). I sincerely hope that some changes are made to remedy the gamepad player's inferiority to keyboard/mouse players in terms of being able to aim and quickly selecting the 8 elements!
