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Thread: Run buttons: A Non-Discord Topic for Your Consideration

  1. Run buttons: A Non-Discord Topic for Your Consideration

    I am always holding B.

    But if I'm always holding B, why not make run the default condition and save B for the rare moment where you want to walk instead of run? Isn't always holding B waste? Isn't waste bad?

    This is what Sonic the Hedgehog thinks. Sonic doesn't ask you to always hold B because it knows you always want to Go Fast; it realizes Fast should be the unmarked, neutral condition and bears that out in its control scheme. Why ask you to have to hold a button to do the thing you always want to do? Seems like a legitimate gripe!

    But here's the thing: it doesn't feel as good. Running in Sonic just doesn't have the weight or significance of running in Mario and I think its more pragmatic, more ergonomic, and by those measures better control scheme is why.

    So here's what I do: I hold B* in Sonic anyway. I am always holding B. It's the ultimate waste, but it feels good. Why? Why is the extra, unnecessary press so gratifying here and unwelcome everywhere else?

    Related: There's no reason not to always be shooting in the Soldier series. This can be said for most pre-chain, PCE-and-earlier shooters. Radiant Silvergun didn't inaugurate the shift away from Always Be Shooting, but it certainly communicates that shift. But would you want to play Soldier Blade with auto-fire turned on? Not turbo (hold the button for rapid fire); auto (rapid fire happening independent of pressing anything). A more ergonomic Solider Blade: your ship is shooting by default. If there is a moment where you don't want to shoot, you could, in this auto-fire version, press a button to withhold shooting for as long as it's held. It would be the shooter version of Sonic control philosophy: recognizing shooting as the unmarked, neutral condition you want to be in and reserving a button press for the rare moments in which you want to deviate from that condition.

    Functionally, there would be no difference. It would accomplish the same thing with fewer interactions, which is what ergonomics and good game design wants. So why, then, is the thought of an auto-fire Soldier Blade completely disgusting?

    I am always holding B. Do you like run buttons? What kinds of wasteful game things do you like? Or are you a Sonic the Utilitarian feat. Miles "Tails" Pragmatist who wants to remove all waste always?
    Last edited by A Robot Bit Me; 04 Apr 2018 at 01:45 PM. Reason: * figuratively & literally. Jumping w/ C = Cool. with B = Bad stuff-liker. With A = sociopAth

  2. Mobile shmups, by default, is always shooting. I like it.

  3. Always hold B to run, it's the way the world should always be.

    Also, if it's an open world, I better have a fucking jump button so I can hop constantly.
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  4. The run button makes sense if running depletes stamina or locks you out of some other action.
    I don't mind holding down the right mouse button to run in classic Doom, though.

  5. Now it's been a long ass time since I sat down and played a classic Sonic game, so if I'm off here, I apologize. I think one of the reasons the holding b to run feels better than just always running is that you have the option. In Sonic, least in the classic ones from what I remember, there's no real maintain walking speed, it's just building up to the run. In something like Mario, where you hold the button to run, you have that option of walking and making adjustments before a jump or what ever at a slower speed. So while you may be running 90% of the time, having that option is the key. Maybe it gives you more of a sense of control and that's why it feels better. I don't know just a rambling thought. Perhaps Sonic needed a walk button.
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  6. I think you get used to whatever you learn on. There's no point in a run button with an analog stick, though.
    Why don't we have joysticks on the right and buttons on the left? I'm not really convinced by the argument that it was intentionally switched to slow down arcade players.
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  7. I play "sloppy"; that is, I hover over buttons (on the XB pad, my thumb is always on X/A). So yes, I always "hold B".

  8. #8
    I never liked having to hold a button to run although I have accepted it since SMB1. Having run be the default and holding a button to slow down makes more sense to me. I think Genesis Sonic is pretty much perfect for controls and physics. It's easy to slow down in platformers if you need to. NES Ninja Gaiden is fast paced but it doesn't need a run button for speed variation to work.
    Last edited by NeoZeedeater; 04 Apr 2018 at 05:00 PM.

  9. In Super Meat Boy the run button had a good 'throttle' function, you'd let it off to get more precision movement.
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  10. #10
    Sonic slows down if you take your finger off the d pad or switch direction. There is probably some sort of nonlinear acceleration equation in that series. Because you can walk with him if you just lightly tap the d pad. If you hold down right or left he builds speed.

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