How is the game with a controller?

[thebugmancometh]

The only reason I ask is that I don't actually have a desk to sit at (my PC is hooked up to the TV in the living room), and so use a trackball mouse, which is horrendous for shooters in general, but especially top-down "twin-stick" shooters.

I noticed that in most gameplay videos, the crosshairs have unlimited mobility across the screen. Is this done away with when using a controller? (Meaning, do they travel only a set distance from the character then stop?)

I can't help but think that I'm not explaining this correctly, lol.

Let's compare it to Geometry Wars for a second. When using a controller, the analogue stick directly affects the orientation of the ship, rather than a separate crosshairs. Is it the same with this game?

[Ludic]

Originally posted by thebugmancometh:

The only reason I ask is that I don't actually have a desk to sit at (my PC is hooked up to the TV in the living room), and so use a trackball mouse, which is horrendous for shooters in general, but especially top-down "twin-stick" shooters.

I noticed that in most gameplay videos, the crosshairs have unlimited mobility across the screen. Is this done away with when using a controller? (Meaning, do they travel only a set distance from the character then stop?)

I can't help but think that I'm not explaining this correctly, lol.

Let's compare it to Geometry Wars for a second. When using a controller, the analog stick directly affects the orientation of the ship, rather than a separate crosshairs. Is it the same with this game?

To answer your crosshairs question, there are no crosshairs when using a controller; you just fire in the direction you're holding the analogue stick.

That said, I play this game (as well as most twin-stick shooters I play) with a controller, and it works very well. Well enough for me to get flawless runs, set speedrun times, or beat the (spoiler hidden final boss) on several consecutive playthroughs at a time, anyways.

[thebugmancometh]

Excellent, thank you. That pretty much sold me on it. :)

Been considering picking it up for awhile, but I've had to pass on several good games in the past because I don't / can't use a regular mouse and pad.

[w00se]

The direction you point the stick in is where your character points, it does not move a crosshair freely around the screen. So yes, like geometry wars.

There is the option to turn on the crosshair when using a controller but it stays a fixed distance away from the character just to serve as a visual indication of what direction you are pointing, it doesn't change the way you aim.

[thebugmancometh]

Originally posted by w00se:

The direction you point the stick in is where your character points, it does not move a crosshair freely around the screen. So yes, like geometry wars.

There is the option to turn on the crosshair when using a controller but it stays a fixed distance away from the character just to serve as a visual indication of what direction you are pointing, it doesn't change the way you aim.

The first poster answered nicely, but thank you. It's also nice that there's an option like that. Pity more developers don't go that extra distance when providing support for multiple control options.

[ExaltedDuck]

I have over 100 hours playing with a controller and I quite enjoy it. The auto aim assist is a bit aggressive at times (mouse aiming doesn't have any) but it is adjustable to preferences, all the way to completely off. And some items don't work the same as they woudl with the mouse ( Origuni and red bandana come to mind, both of which track to the crosshair with the mouse).

One of the first things I did was turn on the crosshair the previous poster mentioned. It's basically just a direction indicator, though. Things that track tot he mousepointer do not track tot he joystick crosshair.

I also had to install a calibration app to increase the deadzone on my aging 360 controller (I use jstest-gtk and I'm sure something equivalent is avilable for windows if necessary, assuming that's your environment).

[thebugmancometh]

I've put a handful of hours in over the last couple days using the Xbox 360 controller and so far it seems to work really well. (Made it to the fourth chamber on my second run :p ).

I could see where the extra precision from a mouse would come in handy, but on the other hand, it's hard to beat moving around with a joystick as compared to using WASD.

*Shrugs* Having a blast (haha) either way. Glad I decided to pick this little gem up. Was never a fan of Isaac's aesthetics / visuals, so EtG fills that slot quite nicely for me. (Plus dat menu music!)

[ExaltedDuck]

same here. Isaac definitely appeals to me, but I just don't care for the art style or weird shot momentum thing. I love gungeon, though. It's #2 in hours in my steam account, now.

[Father Doug]

I only use a controller. I did use M&K first, then a steam controller set to analogue stickm mode, steam controller broke and now using a 360 controller. Way better than M&K imho and I play most games with keyboard.

For the bindings I set

Right stick click for blank.
LB RB change weapon.
Left stick click to use item.
Back (select) for map.
LT Roll.
RT shoot.