I'm an old console gamer. I don't have much experience playing computer games.

I'm working on a platformer (inspired by classics like mega man and metroid), and I don't know what is the best way to map the controls for the keyboard.

So far, I'm using the arrow keys for movement, space bar for jump and enter for shoot. I also have a menu that allows you to equip/unequip various items that give you various abilities. There are 4 equipment groups (helmet, torso, arms, legs) and each equipment group has 4 ability subclasses that can be equipped.  Now what I need is the best way to active the equipped abilities to make it easy for the player to use them without compromising the ability to jump, move, and shoot. I want at least 4, one for each equipment group. Should I use ASDF? Number keys? Maybe the left edge? (shift, caps lock, tab, ~) Function keys? Should I make a clickable on screen menu?

I'm searching specifically for opinions from people that have played platformers on pc, and what control scheme seems to work best for them, what is the easiest and most enjoyable.

Arrow keys and space bar mappings are fine, but I would change your fire button to something like CTRL. Enter should be reserved for confirming choices and navigating menus.

As for the equipment groups, it's a bit hard to imagine without a screenshot, but the number keys would probably be your best choice. Most PC gamers are going to associate number keys with inventory slots.

Also keep in mind that if you are planning on developing your game for release in foreign countries, the keyboards may be laid out differently (usually the letters).

I have seen several games use arrow keys + ZXCV.

If your game demands holding some keys, consider using left Ctrl / Shift / Alt.

I would say aside from a few weirdos WASD for movement, Space bar for jumping, and Esc for the menu is the standard for default keybindings.

Action keys on the other hand tend to be all over the place. Personally I prefer to bind them to the arrow keys, because those are nice and far apart so it’s less stress on the shoulders, but that piece of wisdom hasn’t reached the market so far. “M” for mute or the Map. Tab is also commonly used for the Map. Crtl or shift for dash. “F” for “use” or healing potion. Or “H” for healing potions when “F” is already in use. I commonly see “Q” and “E” for stuff you would bind to the R- & L-shoulder buttons. (Maybe they could be used to cycle through equipment?) Alt is awkward to reach for human hands when using WASD. I can’t remember seeing “Enter” being used for anything in the last decade, but that might be due to bad memory or instant rebinding.

So thus, my personal suggestions would be: WASD for movement. Space for jump. Arrow keys for the 4 Abilities (people might like it). Shift for toggling autofire - because why would I want to hold down a button 97% of the time. “F” for some kind of panic key, should you later need it.

Mirroring what 40wattstudio already said: A screenshot or two would be helpful for giving better advice.

Also: There are QWERTZ as well as QWERTY keyboards out there, so making Z/Y a default key for anything is a terrible idea. Have a look to see what other keys differ: Wikipedia.

Other than that… Don’t forget mouse support for the intro and ingame menus. (Especially with the way you described equip/unequip items.)

Lastly I would like to point out that the lack of an option for rebindable/remappable keys or blocking the arrow keys from rebinding had made me refund games in the past. For some reason, there’s still “potential for growth” in that area since the era of flash games ended.

Hope at least part of this helps.

For now I've set the action keys to number.

I suppose I could make remappable keys but that seems like an incredible amount of work, and I don't see it happening any time soon.

As a compromise, I might have some control options:

• on screen controls toggle on/off for mobile
• maybe a left handed and right handed keyboard scheme with a toggle switch

I've been using M for the menu. The map will be accessible from the menu so maybe that works? (no maps yet)

My idea (if it's a good one?) is to try to keep the controls as simple as possible. I could bind each option and ability to a key, but...

1.  more key mapping is more work for me
2. no way to reproduce it for mobile
3. players using a joypad may not have enough buttons for each key binding

So I want to handle the game controls, if possible with directional keys, 2 main buttons (jump/shoot), and 4 inventory buttons for special equipped abilities. Everything else I want to handle on the menu screen.

I do like the idea of using ctrl/shift for a fire button.

Dash is set to double tap. 

I set the equipped abilities to 1-4 number keys, for whatever ability is equipped to each piece of equipment.

As requested, here's  a couple screen shots. Please bear in mind this is very very early in development. I've been working on it about 3 weeks.

and the menu