Pushing Buttons: Intelligent Solutions for Ambiguous Player Controls.

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Originally Posted by http://www.gdmag.com/homepage.htm

Pushing Buttons
By Mick West
Developers can dictate how controllers interact with their games, but they cannot control the way players play. Different styles of button pressing can lead to confusion, frustration, and an unhappy player, something every game desperately tries to avoid. How can you better plan and map your player controls for the sloppy thumb crowd?

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I'm not going to post the whole article, but it is a great peice on designing controls for the different ways gamers interact with a controller. It goes over button layouts and the two major ways gamers press the face buttons with their right hand: Sloppy and Precise.

Sloppy: The player's right hand thumb is touching all the buttons as once (using Xbox as an example), butt of the thumb on the A, tip of the thumb on the Y and the sides of the thumb touching X and B. The player shift the weight of the pad of their thumb to press the buttons.
PROS: NON-A-button press responses are much faster, as are transitions from button to button (pressing A then Y etc.)
CONS: Often the user will hit X or B when going from A to Y and so forth.

Precise: The player's right hand thumb is hovering over all the buttons or just pressing X with the tip of their thumb. As they want to press a button they move their thumb and press the button with the tip of their thumb.
PROS: Very few errant button presses while transitioning from button to button, but sometimes the wrong button is pressed.
CONS: Reaction time is slower as the thumb has to move before the press is initiated.

The article goes into much more detail and explains how to design games and tighten control with this knowledge. This was written by the guy in charge of controls for the THPS games, and those has some of the tightest control, period.

So, to make this thread more fun, which are you? Please read the descriptions above.

Oh, I'm sloppy. And check this article out if you are in a magazine section that has it. Some great pictures, graphs and it is a good read. Don't buy the mag for it as you should be getting the mag in the mail for free, but check it out.

I am a precise player I suppose. Does anybody else use their index fingers to press buttons when playing fighting games? It makes it more like the arcade, and makes it easier to pull off combos. Everybody that has seen me play that way says it's weird though.

I guess...precise? I dunno, a lot of games I played back in the day were RPG's, and if you don't have precision you're just not doing the right moves. I would say that has bled into my increased time spent with action games.

Precise, probably.

That was the first issue of the magazine that I've read. It's pretty interesting stuff.

It varies a bit. I'm usually precise, although some games work better with a "sloppy" hand position.

sloppy for sure.

same way I use a D-pad. The ball of my thumb rests in the center and rocks in the desired direction.

I'm sloppy...but on certain games I definitely change my style a bit.

The gamecube controller seems made for sloppy players.

I'm definitely precise.

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Originally Posted by animegirl

Does anybody else use their index fingers to press buttons when playing fighting games? It makes it more like the arcade, and makes it easier to pull off combos. Everybody that has seen me play that way says it's weird though.

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I've seen a lot of people do that. I'll sometimes do it on a controller with six buttons on the face (not counting Xbox); if there are four buttons I have to use my thumb or else it's kinda hard for me to hit the shoulder buttons/triggers.

Niether. I'm so used to playing games like Mario on the NES were you held B to run (with the tip of your thumb) and then jumped by flattening your thumb over A. So my thumb is usually hovering over B (NES, GCN), Y (SNES), Square (PS) and X (Xbox), etc.. I'll flatten my thumb to press "A" (the bottom button), and for the top and right buttons i'll press them the precise way.

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Originally Posted by AstroBlue

Niether. I'm so used to playing games like Mario on the NES were you held B to run (with the tip of your thumb) and then jumped by flattening your thumb over A. So my thumb is usually hovering over B (NES, GCN), Y (SNES), Square (PS) and X (Xbox), etc.. I'll flatten my thumb to press "A" (the bottom button), and for the top and right buttons i'll press them the precise way.

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I'm the same. I remember calling "A the "jump button" and B the "attack button" because so many games used that scheme... not that they had much choice, really.

Yes, this was an excellent article. I have been reading GD for about 2 years now and there is at least one excellent article per issue even if about half of the magazine is worthless to me. This link may or may not still work:
http://www.gdmag.com/freeyear

Anyways, I would have to say I am closer to sloppy although it is more of a mix. I am also one of those freaks that uses their fingers to play fighters when I have to play on a pad. I am slowly learning to not do that, but I am so use to certain fingers hitting certain buttons for combos from arcade controllers. Really it depends on the game, I would just have to say that 65% of the time it is sloppy style.

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Originally Posted by animegirl

I am a precise player I suppose. Does anybody else use their index fingers to press buttons when playing fighting games? It makes it more like the arcade, and makes it easier to pull off combos. Everybody that has seen me play that way says it's weird though.

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i play the same way. my pointer finger is on square and x and middle finger on triangle and O. i dont know how people can play fighting games with their thumb.

This article proves that when game designers look at design from a more scientific perspective, analyzing the situation and problems closely and not saying "they just dont get it" or "its art" it can lead to some fantastic results. The reason why THPS succeeded and all those damn skateboarding games coming out in 1999 didnt was most likely because Neversoft put this work and research into the control while those guys didnt.

I guess i am precise but i have a pretty small hand and sometimes i change the way i grab the controller

Sloppy usually with a tendency to switch to precise when needed.

depends on the game. Sloppy for stuff that needs quick changes in button presses, mostly racers. Precise for adventure games and slower paced stuff.

I find most of the time my right thumb rests on the right analog stick to control the camera in most of my games, or to aim in FPS. From there I suppose I'm a mix and precisie depending on the situation like say when you need to jump and reload at the same time it just makes sense to hit both weapons with one finger rather than hitting them one at a time.

D

I vary it based on the game. 2-d Fighting games and shooters, I'm precise even on the pad. 3-d fighters, I'm sloppy on control pads. NES platformers I play like Astro Blue. I think I usually start with precise and then change as I find it doesn't get the job done.

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Originally Posted by animegirl

I am a precise player I suppose. Does anybody else use their index fingers to press buttons when playing fighting games? It makes it more like the arcade, and makes it easier to pull off combos. Everybody that has seen me play that way says it's weird though.

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How do you press the L and R buttons? i used to config the controllers on SNES fighters with Weak punches and kicks on the LR, but then i realized that this are far more important than Mediums, so i switched them.

They're all important. Jabs and shorts for ticks and to lead into supers, strongs and forwards to two-in-one into combos and supers, fierces and roundhouses to punish, combo from, etc.

If there are six face buttons, playing like animegirl makes total sense. If not, you're fucked.

When I played SF2 and what not on my SNES, I dont even think I used the weak buttons.

I think I lack the part of the human brain that allows people to be good at fighters.

It's funny you say that, I do too. For some reason, I cannot bring myself to use all of the buttons in fighting games.

I really couldn't say what I am; the only game I've really played for the last few months is Halo 2, and my thumb is on the right analog stick untill I need to hit a button. But I would probably be closests to a sloppy gamer though, I always tend to actually push a useless button (like holding down jump when I'm not jumping) while play platformers almost out of instinct.

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Originally Posted by AstroBlue

Niether. I'm so used to playing games like Mario on the NES were you held B to run (with the tip of your thumb) and then jumped by flattening your thumb over A. So my thumb is usually hovering over B (NES, GCN), Y (SNES), Square (PS) and X (Xbox), etc.. I'll flatten my thumb to press "A" (the bottom button), and for the top and right buttons i'll press them the precise way.

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You must hate playing GBA games on DS, where that style would require you to contort your right hand into a very uncomfortable position.

As for me, I guess I would fall into the precise category, although for some odd reason I have one hell of a time using a keyboard without hitting more than one key at once.

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Originally Posted by AstroBlue

Niether. I'm so used to playing games like Mario on the NES were you held B to run (with the tip of your thumb) and then jumped by flattening your thumb over A. So my thumb is usually hovering over B (NES, GCN), Y (SNES), Square (PS) and X (Xbox), etc.. I'll flatten my thumb to press "A" (the bottom button), and for the top and right buttons i'll press them the precise way.

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I do this too. It just makes more sense this way, unless the game pretty much requires precise control. In Bangai-O, precise control is where it's at.

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Originally Posted by diffusionx

This article proves that when game designers look at design from a more scientific perspective, analyzing the situation and problems closely and not saying "they just dont get it" or "its art" it can lead to some fantastic results. The reason why THPS succeeded and all those damn skateboarding games coming out in 1999 didnt was most likely because Neversoft put this work and research into the control while those guys didnt.

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That exact thought came to me, too.

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Originally Posted by diffusionx

I think I lack the part of the human brain that allows people to be good at fighters.

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Funny enough, it took guilty gear to teach me how to play street fighter. Because there are no "weak buttons", i finally figured out fighting games with it.

Note: I used to use only Heavy attacks period. I mean, the dragon punch looked so much cooler, why would I use the half-assed one.

I know this is an old thread, but the "Pushing Buttons" article by Mick West is now available online:

http://cowboyprogramming.com/?p=17

Is this spam?

I'm probably the precise button pusher--I usually rest my finger on whichever button I'm most likely to use (jump button in some games, attack button in others), then hover over to whichever button I need next. Definitely hover in fighting games, especially on arcade sticks where you need to press buttons in such rapid succession with zero mistakes that the sloppy method just wouldn't work.

I rest my thumb on all the buttons but I slide my thumb over on top of the button I want before pressing down, so I guess that counts as precise.

My thumb is too thin to rest on any more than two buttons. In fact, the SNES pad's buttons are too far apart to be comfortable for me. I have no choice but to use 'precise' controls.

Apparently a lot of y'all have bitch hands.

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Originally Posted by AstroBlue

Niether. I'm so used to playing games like Mario on the NES were you held B to run (with the tip of your thumb) and then jumped by flattening your thumb over A. So my thumb is usually hovering over B (NES, GCN), Y (SNES), Square (PS) and X (Xbox), etc.. I'll flatten my thumb to press "A" (the bottom button), and for the top and right buttons i'll press them the precise way.

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That's exactly how I am - when playing a lot of games, anyway. If I'm playing something like a fighting game I'll take a more precise approach, I guess. But usually it's more of a mix.