Please give option to STOP CHANGING CONTROLS ACTIONS based on orientation!!

[TEMPEST]

This is in some ways an amazing game, but there are two MAJOR issues that are driving me mad.

1. That what the control inputs do, changes, depending on orientation.

That's insane. You can't do that. People have to know that up on a joystick is always up, regardless of if the astronaut is pointing down. Up is in relation to the pilots/capsules 'top'. That doesn't change, so changing how the controls works is a) confusing b) breaks UX laws and c) for people who aren't so stupid they can't work this stuff out, breaks their mental model completely, it's also not always obvious initially when you swap the controls. Again, this is insane.

If you have to have this 'dumbed down' option, even in Newtonian, then please make it an option you can turn off.


2. Not being able to move the astronauts arms in 360 degrees (like real life) which means over and across the body makes movement, navigation and grabbing overly cumbersome, frustrating and aggravating. when an arm is down by the side and you're close to a wall, you have no option but to bring it up via going away from the body and thus pushing you away from the wall you're trying to hug.

There are moments in this game that are truly amazing. I gasped when I had to take the pod out to the mining field and fly it around. I mouth was wide open in joy and thrill...

... but then once the capsule rotated more than a set amount my control inputs flipped and the whole thing became frustrating.

This is a really great game. The level design is wonderful. The artwork is brilliant... please fix the control inputs and stop making it overly dumb and confusing.

Thank you. Sincerely.

[alex2pt]

Thanks for sharing. This is a contentious issue and we recognise that our choice for the way controls work doesn't sit well with all players! While we personally prefer the camera-relative controls, a few players have flagged this as a desired feature so we'll be looking into it for our next update.

[fidelio]

Originally posted by Tempest:

1. That what the control inputs do, changes, depending on orientation.

they don't though. regardless of the orientation of the player character, pushing up on the joystick will always reach for the top of the screen. pushing right will always reach toward the right side of the screen. down, left, do the same.

alternative control schemes would be preferable to some and it sounds like they may come at some point in the future, but the controls don't change as you play.

ps - there is no "up" in space.

[Arc]

Originally posted by fidelio:

they don't though. regardless of the orientation of the player character, pushing up on the joystick will always reach for the top of the screen. pushing right will always reach toward the right side of the screen. down, left, do the same.

The controls do change as you rotate the character around, because these are camera-oriented and not character-oriented which would be more natural to some players (like me and my friend)

The problem is really apparent in coop where in order to aim "naturally" (per my gaming experience) you constantly tug-o-war over the camera.
Interestingly this creates some funny moments here and there but for the most part is tedious as you either have to fight the sub-optimal control scheme or wait for the other player to get around.

However camera-oriented controls do work for some other bunch of players, so this is basically a prime example of missing accessibility option, which is problem that's not given as much thought as it should throughout the gaming industry in general (mostly new or small dev studios struggle with this aspect a lot).

Alternatively SplitScreen with fixed camera orientation based on character rotation would achieve the same thing. Though not sure if this is even possible for Remote Play Together.

Originally posted by fidelio:

ps - there is no "up" in space.

Interestingly enough it contradicts the game as it has given "up" direction which you yourself explained above.
Even for character-oriented controls, the "up" would still be given.
Or if another plane was chosen to anchor the controls.

[Little Bunny Foo Foo]

I would like to add that the current control scheme can be HORRIBLE if you end up spinning around. During level 4, I had multiple times where I needed to go outside and reattach a thruster. this was made needlessly difficult by the fact that the pod had an obnoxious habit of starting to rotate when I did that. That meant I needed to adjust the joystick constantly just to keep my arm up. That is unjustifiably awful.

Then there is the time that I hit a meteor at high speeds and my pod opened up and launched me out. Luckily, I had a cord attached to me, but I still spent over 5 minutes trying to get back inside as I was being spun around at the end of the cord. Luckily, I managed to get back in since the last checkpoint was 30 minutes prior which I'm guessing was when I left the station and before I got 2 of the samples.

[Solar]

Originally posted by fidelio:

Originally posted by Tempest:

1. That what the control inputs do, changes, depending on orientation.

they don't though. regardless of the orientation of the player character, pushing up on the joystick will always reach for the top of the screen. pushing right will always reach toward the right side of the screen. down, left, do the same.

alternative control schemes would be preferable to some and it sounds like they may come at some point in the future, but the controls don't change as you play.

ps - there is no "up" in space.

there kinda is an up in space cause you know if you imagine earth from space, you dont imagine florida at the top left and the north pole at the bottom or australia super high up north

[fidelio]

Originally posted by Tsunami:

there kinda is an up in space cause you know if you imagine earth from space, you dont imagine florida at the top left and the north pole at the bottom or australia super high up north

the solar system is not in line with the galactic plane, so it would depend on your approach how you initially perceived it, if you were coming from elsewhere. you might see it exactly as you described.

[SpielSatzFail]

This made me choose the "assisted" control scheme. Trying to float back to your ship in the open space was a pain in the ***.
Though I thought it was weird being able to kick yourself back this way in zero gravity by using your legs, it's the same with rowing with your arms tbh. I would have preferred to have an emergency mechanics that uses control nozzles.

[immodulated]

Originally posted by Tempest:

This is in some ways an amazing game, but there are two MAJOR issues that are driving me mad.

1. That what the control inputs do, changes, depending on orientation.

That's insane. You can't do that. People have to know that up on a joystick is always up, regardless of if the astronaut is pointing down. Up is in relation to the pilots/capsules 'top'. That doesn't change, so changing how the controls works is a) confusing b) breaks UX laws and c) for people who aren't so stupid they can't work this stuff out, breaks their mental model completely, it's also not always obvious initially when you swap the controls. Again, this is insane...

I came here to make these very points and this guy already nailed it. Having the control direction rotate as you rotate is asinine. I've been enjoying the game in spite of it, though it does feel like a form of mild torture, my nervous system constantly trying to recalibrate whenever I'm rotating even slightly in one direction or another, which is nearly all the time.

The developer said"
"This is a contentious issue and we recognise that our choice for the way controls work doesn't sit well with all players!"

I'm baffled by the concept of a majority of players apparently preferring camera-relative controls here. I would also expect that a significant percentage of players who 'prefer' camera-relative controls would actually much prefer character-relative, if given the chance.

There's also the bizarre fact that the control scheme left and right are incorrectly swapped by default. When we're viewing the character in-game we are viewing the front of the character, are we not? Unless we're looking at the back of his head, it's mapped the opposite of what it should be by default. Re-mapping arms, hands, and feet to the correct sides made the controls slightly less befuddling.

Or maybe having the controls torture the player is an intentional form of 'artificial difficulty' and is supposed to be part of what gives the game its charm, as with proper controls the tasks at hand would simply be much easier.

[TEMPEST]

Thanks @Immodulated but I'm not a 'guy'. :) Women game too! :)

[YoshiRulz]

+1 Screen-relative controls was the wrong choice for this game. And if you're going to do it, why not go all the way and have the left/right stick swap to controlling the left/right arm when oriented upside-down? I'll tell you why, it's because it would make the game unplayable (more so than it already is).
One of the principles of game design is immersion: The gamepad should be like an extension of the player's hands, and if they find themself having to think about which button corresponds to the action they've conceived, you've failed as a gameplay designer.
Choosing character-relative controls instead would allow players to build muscle memory for movement, like the breaststroke I believe you're intended to do on the harder difficulty, thereby raising the skill ceiling.

[alex2pt]

We now have a prototype for character relative and inverted controls which I invite you all to test. I'll be making an announcement this week for how to access the beta branch which has the new features. Hopefully you can configure them to your heart's desire.

[thexboxpc1]

make it available to have the current controls maybe have it under the controls tab as i like the currents scheme although something feels different in a vehicle compared to character

[SpielSatzFail]

No announcement yet?

[TEMPEST]

Originally posted by alex2pt:

We now have a prototype for character relative and inverted controls which I invite you all to test. I'll be making an announcement this week for how to access the beta branch which has the new features. Hopefully you can configure them to your heart's desire.

Doesn’t help me on PS4, where I bought it.

[EliteForceQc]

Maybe just add a option where the X button/square button is always active/press (like double tap to lock-on). So this way you caracter always face UP. Me personally i play this way, holding X/square button as I perform complexe manoeuver.

Even after 40 hour and more of gametime, my brain dont want to figure it out when im upside down or parallele to the view.

But if you can make what th OP is asking, even better.