[casual_games] Res: Use of keyboard on casual games

[Stephen Triche]

Which goes back to what Todd was saying, controls for "power users".

It some (perhaps narrow) sense, it is also up to us to increase literacy
for control schemes our user's are not currently familiar with, by
releasing AAA games that utilize them. By the same token we shouldn't
alienate them by not also including control schemes they are already
familiar.

Now granted, it would take a very specific design to do this well. It
needs to be playable with a mouse, but easier to master with keyboard
controls.

This is not a new issue, nor is it specific to casual games. Mice didn't
exist in early PCs; PC gaming started with the keyboard. Somehow, games
convinced us that the mouse worked well, perhaps better in certain
circumstances.

I think a very good comparison can be made to the first FPS games. I
played games like Wolfenstein and Doom fully with the keyboard, arrows
keys, ctrl, alt, and shift. I saw people playing with the mouse, but it
looked too hard, I was happy with the keyboard. I also saw that they
consistently kicked my...well, they won a lot :). By the time Quake came
around I got the message.

Now granted, it's not a perfect comparison; the early PC gaming audience
isn't necessarily the same as the early casual gaming audience. But, at
some point, both demographics are still human beings, so certainly there
have to be some behavioral similarities.


-Stephen Triche
Yatec Games
www.yatecgames.com


-----Original Message-----
From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org
[mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of Hal Barwood
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 6:01 PM
To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
Subject: Re: [casual_games] Res: Use of keyboard on casual games

I think it's worth thinking about keyboard vs. mouse for a moment to 
understand why people (developers and players alike) view UI as such an 
important issue.  Everyone uses a mouse to click on things and little 
else, so the input literacy is well-established.  Most people are 
comfortable clicking keys as well -- at least in a word processor, where

literacy is also well-developed.  The ambiguity arises for casual gamers

because the keyboard lacks a standard set of cursor keys available to 
right-hand mousers:  the arrow keys are on the right side of the 
keyboard.  So keys that usually do one thing (type an "A" or "S") are 
used for something else (go left, go down, whatever), and this is 
ever-so-slightly confusing.  I expect this ambiguity to slowly disappear

as developers throw in keyboard commands without worrying overmuch about

accepted practices.

My advice is the same as several others in this thread:  do what the OS 
people have learned to do:  multiple sets of controls -- the mouse will 
do it all, but keyboard commands will also work.