Post by JoeTermin in What will be there in Update 0.3(Obsolete) comments

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You absolutely need to improve the controls as it is a regular complaint I see on F95. The default controls make no sense (J to attack?) and there's no reason why the game could not be played one-handed, as 95% of the time we're just moving, jumping, climbing ropes and attacking with pickaxe. All those actions should be mapped near the arrows so that the game can be played one-handed.

This is how I suggest to do it, and I tested it with AHK, now the game feels really great.

- up,left,down,right : arrow keys
- attack : shift
- jump : up arrow
- crouch : down arrow
- prone : right ctrl

Since both "up" and "jump" are mapped to the same arrow, you need to add a small delay between jump and holding rope actions, otherwise it is very difficult to jump from a rope

Having simple controls is super important as many people won't try to change them and think the game is super difficult.

LAGS3 years ago(+2)

I'm waiting for update 0.3 to complete. It will be easier for me to port this game to Android with these controls settings. As soon as the game's development is complete, I'll make the controls simple with left and right hand profile. Also this option will show up when you first play the game.

JoeTermin3 years ago (1 edit) (+2)(-2)

I think you underestimate how important small things like this are, look at the reviews here:

https://f95zone.to/threads/haileys-treasure-adventure-v0-2-1-lags.82146/br-revie...

There are five reviews with rating 3/5 or less and four of those mention controls. It's really a shame because the game is exceptional, but many people will get frustrated with the controls and not play it long enough to realize. ~~They also mention the 140 Hz bug which is the 2nd thing you should prioritize imo.~~ (EDIT: you fixed it actually, thanks!).

LAGS3 years ago

Well in that case I'll make sure to update them with version 0.3. There are few new keys that will be implemented later.

AnonymousMind3 years ago (1 edit)

Thankfully the controls are remappable though... Lags, you really are such a nice dev. I actually like the W,A,S,D keys for movement. That way [shift], Q,E,R,F,Z,X,C,V and [space] can be used for other controls leaving one hand free if needed with all keys within reach of the fingers of the other hand. But that's because I'm a righty.

The arrow keys would probably be better for left handed people among the other keys. I don't know though... Need a left handed person that plays games to chime in on what they prefer for keys with one hand to know for sure.

But it never hurts to have backup keys that can have the same function on other areas of the keyboard... What ever you choose to do Lags, it's your call. I'm game either way. I already like it is lol. ^_^ As long as the controls are remappable I couldn't care less about the default controls as long as there is a manual on what the main action key is and movement keys are so I can navigate to said remap menu. Honestly it should be the first thing anyone checks when playing a game. It's just common sense to know the controls. Duh lol. Just thought I'd chime in here on my 2 cents. :)

LAGS3 years ago (1 edit) (+1)

I too prefer WASD for movement. But most H games I have played have arrow keys for movement with no options for remapping them. Maybe that's the reason people will not check for key configuration in this game too.

By giving an option to select left or right hand profile at first boot and telling that controls remappable, then people will bother to check them.

JoeTermin3 years ago

First of all, I'm fine with controls, I even wrote a AHK script to make things that are not possible in the controls screen at all, however because you and I are fine with the default controls does not mean they are fine, as said, 80% of the negative ratings mention controls, do you think it's sound to ignore that?

Second, the game is rated 4/5 on itch.io, I'm sure we both agree 4/5 is very bad given the amount of work he has put in it and controls are a very likely culprit (the other being the 140 Hz bug).

95% of people who try the demo won't waste time to remap controls, they'll just start level 1 and the first 5 minutes will be the most important to determine whether they'll buy the game or not, I can tell you how it happened for me:

1) I started level 1 to see if it makes sense and the game is worth my time

2) it took me 30 seconds to find the attack key

3) then I died by falling 5m because of the 140 Hz bug,

4) Immmediate thought: Ok, yet another 2$ buggy scam from someone who doesn't know how to code with maybe 2 sex animations, close and uninstall.

Weeks later I saw it had a few positive ratings on F95 and decided to give it another chance. And now I spent 20$ on it because I realized it was great. Then I suggested him to open a Patreon because the game is absolutely not worth 2$, then for some reason you also intervened against that. Seriously man I'm very glad you're here and being so enthusiastic about the game but you're not helping his business at all by saying that and keeping telling him everything is great.

What's more, after buying HTA, I checked his old game "Survive" and guess what, I suddenly realized I also had tried that game in the past and discarded within the first 5 minutes for similar reasons, so I bought it as well, realized it was good, and wrote him what are the problems with the game, again, no problem in gameplay, no problem in animations, just stupid things in UX/UI and first impressions. But the thing is, 90% of people will buy the game based only on these stupid things they won't care at all whether there are 10 animations or 20 animations in the game, despite this requiring 50x the amount of work for the dev. Finding good controls will take him 1 hour and will potentially be a very impactful change.

As for the reason why most games don't use WASD, probably because many countries don't have a QWERTY keyboard.

LAGS3 years ago(+1)

Hello,

The problem is none of my previous games caught people's eye to get enough feedback. I am still learning things so whatever feedback I receive during the development of this game will help me to make the upcoming projects better.