I must be misremembering, then. I can’t think of another non-driving game with analog trigger usage lol I guess that’s my point
perfect dark zero uses it for granular aim/zoom on the left trigger. also RSI-inducing, truly horrific control scheme, legendary
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there’s also super mario sunshine - fludd is pressure sensitive when spraying water. not really RSI-bad, probably one of the more decent implementations out there, makes emulating the game properly kind of annoying
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Destiny 2 puts the Sparrow’s acceleration on an analog trigger, which is annoying on the Elite 1 because it means you have to leave one trigger with full throw to get it to accelerate all the way. I am sure there is a way to adjust this, but I never bothered.
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Hey maybe Nintendo was on to something when they made the triggers on the switch pro controller digital
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In a shooter I don’t know why vehicles wouldn’t just use the left stick for everything unless fine vehicle control is a main feature.
Left move, right look, just like when you’re running around.
Another scheme I feel like would benefit a shooter would be to use a face button for go and one for brake. Then when you aren’t pressing anything it just rolls at the current rate of speed. Freeing you up to like shoot and aim.
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Halo uses left thumbstick but it only feels good on the ghost IMO, because it’s a hovercraft capable of strafing so it plays out like normal FPS on-foot except with more gradual acceleration/deceleration. Meanwhile I’ve never enjoyed driving the warthog that much, feels finicky
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Nightmare.
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The only good use of L3 was Dark Souls 2 jumping because it replaced the even more finicky thing where you let go of the dash face button and press it again right as you approach the cliff edge
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I think it’s hugely important to separate vehicle controls from walking controls because of the experience the game is trying to convey. An analog stick control scheme implies a solver that causes the vehicle to accelerate and turn in response to player intent. A scheme that directly maps a steering wheel to a stick and throttle pedals to analog trigger mimics the controls of a real vehicle and is a simulation of an out-of-body interface - perfect for conveying the physics and limitations a vehicle will have.
Our abstracted schemes for human bodies take as a starting point that they can’t convey any fine motor skill or proprioceptive feedback and assume the character will be compensating for our actions. Assassin’s Creeds magic parkour solver is this philosophy taken to its extreme – and it loses any fun in body control or platforming, but it exposes the logic underlying all those control schemes going back to Pitfall.
Of course, reversing that logic and putting mechanical controls behind human bodies gets us QWOP, and isn’t that a great thing
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the funny thing is destiny 2’s guns are actually analogue as well, they all have different actuation points
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People love the warthog and it just uses “go where I look” tech.
shooter vehicles are always complete nonsense in every way anyway. So I don’t think it matters at all.
Like stick steering:
Ive never seen a game with 1/1 stick to steering mapping for good reason. (though you can set it up if you want to in Live For Speed) Direct steering is twitchy, undriveable and potentially has some weird physics implications. Most virtual steering wheels (that Ive paid any real attention to) catches up to the stick with acceleration of that steering determined by the stick’s movement and its current position vs the position of the virtual steering wheel and its absolute position from center. There is also some amount of vehicle slip angle compensation calculated in to allow for emergency corrections and maybe drifts. Ive seen a few games skip all this logic by dialing in huge speed dependent understeer, like old arcade games (SF Rush does this).
If it you are ACTUALLY trying to make a control scheme feel like driving a vehicle gas and brakes should all be on one the right stick anyway as most drivers aren’t left foot braking their cars. And (At least in right lane driving countries) the dominant steering hand is the left as the right gets the gear shift or hamburger.
I dont think the reversing of the logic works as the actions taken in driving a car (esp in a shooter) are far less continuous / more stateful than walking.
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but have ever tried driving any of the vehicles in an earth defence force game?
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Yeah, there are definitely abstractions left in mapping vehicle controls to a controller, but I don’t think anyone’s happy with thrust on the right stick.
There are plenty of terrible vehicles in shooters and I think a lot of the problem isn’t just the vehicle tuning but the terrain setup – they have to exist in a world built primarily for foot traversal. Tons of gaps too small for the vehicle, obnoxious dips and bumps, and varying-length flat straights for acceleration.
At any rate, I feel strongly enough that about vehicle control schemes that I’d gladly sabotage a game’s popular appeal for a better control metaphor. Wait…
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Yeah I got really good with the helicopters in a couple of them and it ruled.
i suspect it would actually work really well if you have a specific thrust slider instead of using the right stick, like that old micomsoft analog genesis controller - make it stay on the value you leave it instead of snapping back and i think it works! right-stick throttle isn’t terrible, i’ve been enjoying it in Moto Racer for PS1 and i didn’t hate it in Gran Turismo 4 either. but yeah it isn’t exactly ideal
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Works really nice in a flight thrust model, like Flight Simulator, where you’re encouraged to set-and-forget it.
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yeah this is what i referring to with “old micomsoft analog genesis controller”
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Ah crap, spaced