Game is let down by the controls

[Carth]

It is a shame because the concept of this game is great. It's really fun and addictive, and difficult in a good way (or at least, it would be if it wasn't for the controls). Games shouldn't be made difficult by bad controls/input. Games should be difficult due to the difficulty of the gameplay, but the controls themselves should be seamless such that you don't notice you are using them. This is not the case with Super Hexagon.

The controls are not exact. They are jerky. It seems like there are a limited number of places that you can move to, so it's made awkward.

I've turned V-Sync off and tried using the left and right mouse buttons instead of the keyboard, but this doesn't change the fundamental issue of the little triangle you control not moving to exact locations smoothly. I don't know how to explain it, except imagine if intead of being able to move 360 degrees around a circle you can move in 15 degree increments, so one little bit too far doesn't take you 1 degree too far, it pushes you 15 degrees over. It's not exact and it's not smooth.

As a comparison, Audiosurf is a a twitchy game that got the controls just right. The keyboard controls aren't great - one keypress moves you one lane, so it can be slow. But with the mouse you can freely and smoothly move within lanes and extremely fast from the far left lane to the far right lane. I was really hoping Super Hexagon would have mouse controls like this (as in, move the mouse to move the little triangle anywhere fast, rather than use the keyboard or buttons to move the triangle and hope that you didn't hold it fractionally too long or too short, which punishes you disproportionately since it's not exact).

[hyperbolic nut chamber]

It's all about timing... the controls are perfectly tuned you just have to have incredible timing, that's what adds difficulty to the game.

[Seras]

If you play the game for more than five minutes, you get used to the controls. You'll be able to stop exactly where you want to stop.

[nickwithtea]

Originally posted by a sneaky fat cat:

It's all about timing... the controls are perfectly tuned you just have to have incredible timing, that's what adds difficulty to the game.

No they aren't, it's the same issue that VVVVVV had, it's a "slippery" feel and causes over-turns. If the game had a very tight extremely responsive control the handling would be much better. Also another gripe for me is the game is only outputting @ 60fps, so I just leave it windowed mode so I can stay in 120hz

It is a good game though

[Shadowspaz]

Originally posted by ezekel:

Also another gripe for me is the game is only outputting @ 60fps

lolwut

Regarding controls, though, I'm not sure how it's "slippery." You hold left to move left, you let go to stop. The only delay in input is from the moment you start depressing the key, to when it's fully depressed and registers. It moves fluidly enough; just quickly. It really is a game of timing, and you get better, quickly. I think that fractional input lag might be the only problem for you.

Try it out on a smartphone. There is no input lag at all, and it makes a noticeable difference.

[Fargoth]

Controls work fine for me on the PC.. Same with VVVVVV..

[nickwithtea]

Neither of you seem to understand, it's not an instant feeling of input. Sort of like playing a game with a mouse filter compared to playing a game that reads mouse on a hardware level, it's more responsive, there's less delay, and it's bypassing any type of in-game filtering.

It's nothing huge, but it's slippery instead of a very tight and responsive feeling. Of course you can complete the game with the current setup, it would just be better if it responded to input quicker.

The problem most likely lies in openGL, the reason why openGL isn't really widely used is because it doesn't respond with hardware fast enough. DirectX responds much quicker to input compared to openGL. You can feel free to read all about it on google and what not.

Anyway regardless it's a good game.

[Damntry]

I dont think what you are experiencing is normal. It might be a hardware/software issue. Happens on my android phone too but not on other phone or my PC.

OpenGL doesnt have functions for input, you need another library to do that. DirectX does.

[Fox]

I understand where youre coming from, I feel the same, i dont like the controlls all that well, but as some of the other people have said, its about getting used to it, once you get used to it, it feels like its not really there

[Carth]

To all the people who claim it doesn't have this issue, either you are wrong or it works differently on my hardware.

Try this: go into the game and press the key or mouse button for the shortest amount of time you can. See how far the triangle moves. Now move back. Do that a few times. The smallest amount you can move is too great. It's by definition inexact, and it's nothing to do with my lack of skill.

Now of course, you can adapt to this and still win, but the game would be better if the controls were more exact and responsive.

[Daid]

It's your hardware then, as for the "stairs" (as I like to call them) in Hexagoner you need to move very exact in rapid succession. I do this by timing and get it right every time.

I find the controls much more responsive then the odd mouse or button press audiosurf things.

[Carth]

There are some places that you simply cannot move to because the smallest distance you can move is too great.

There is no way the controls can be described as more responsive than Audiosurf. In Audiosurf I can move pixel perfect by moving the mouse. So if my mouse has high sensitivity, with micro movements I can move to exactly where I want to. In Super Hexagon, you cannot move that exactly.

I guess the point is, if you practice enough, you can always stop in the right place. But if you are a fraction of a second too long, you get punished more than you should because the next position you can stop at is much further than would be expected, and you can't do micro adjustments of your position with taps, because as I've described above, the smallest amount you can move is quite big.

As a comparison, it's like comparing a relatively modern FPS where you look around with the mouse, to Wolfenstein 3D where you look around with left and right cursor keys. You cannot describe the latter as more exact than mouse movement, which allows pixel perfect aiming. The cursor keys aren't as exact, but in the particular case of Super Hexagon, you cannot do small movements. You couldn't move one or two pixels left. If you pressed the left button for the shortest amount of time possible, you would jump about 15 degrees left.

[Fox]

Originally posted by Carth:

There are some places that you simply cannot move to because the smallest distance you can move is too great.

There is no way the controls can be described as more responsive than Audiosurf. In Audiosurf I can move pixel perfect by moving the mouse. So if my mouse has high sensitivity, with micro movements I can move to exactly where I want to. In Super Hexagon, you cannot move that exactly.

I guess the point is, if you practice enough, you can always stop in the right place. But if you are a fraction of a second too long, you get punished more than you should because the next position you can stop at is much further than would be expected, and you can't do micro adjustments of your position with taps, because as I've described above, the smallest amount you can move is quite big.

As a comparison, it's like comparing a relatively modern FPS where you look around with the mouse, to Wolfenstein 3D where you look around with left and right cursor keys. You cannot describe the latter as more exact than mouse movement, which allows pixel perfect aiming. The cursor keys aren't as exact, but in the particular case of Super Hexagon, you cannot do small movements. You couldn't move one or two pixels left. If you pressed the left button for the shortest amount of time possible, you would jump about 15 degrees left.

thats the point to games like this, to be way too hard, and to cause rage, and a sense or reward when you do finally get further.
Most of the object dont need very precise movment, you just neet to get the arrow triangle thing into the beam coming from the face of whatever polygon happens to be in the center, you dont need to be perfectly in the middle, and the other ones {stairs or whatever you called them} are more timing than anything else... at least thats my feeling/opinion

[Shadowspaz]

If winning or losing is determined by that miniscule a movement, then you're cutting it waaay too close. I still think part of the responsiveness is coming from the fact it's a non-mechanical keyboard. Try in on mobile.

As for the input lag on Android, disable the powersaving mode. It'll run a lot smoother.

[Kraven42]

THB initially I thought the same thing, however once I got on the harder difficulties I just totally forgot about it, If you have to re-adjust its game over.

Also if you look at some of the youtube videos I dont think lag is a problem given how quick and exact they need to be.

[Rapti]

I don't really agree to this. The controls are perfectly fine and I haven't had any troubles using them.