How to decide on what user input fits your game best

Hey everyone,

I started this thread to get some feedback and discussion on how you should go about picking what kind of user input your game should have.

I have been working on a game that is based on the Warcraft3 map "Warlock", now since this is in Warcraft3 which is an RTS, obviously it uses point and click to move your characters. Upon starting my game, I decided to make the movement WASD instead of point and click. I didn't put much though into this, It just came naturally. I have posted my game on the WIP forums for some feedback and one of the first questions was "Any reason you went with WASD instead of Point and Click?". Somehow I hadn't even considered it being point and click until that point, even though the game I'm basing it on is point and click.

I started a poll to get peoples preferences but what I really want to know is whether there is any solid method of determining what input best suits your game, playtesting it myself only confirms that I do like WASD, but I may even like Point and Click more if I give it a try.

Also, is it a good idea to allow players to choose their input style? I don't think this would be hard to implement but it may cause confusion and/or balance issues.

 

The issue with choice of input is a similar issue of cross platform play (in the world of competitive multiplayer). Chances are that one choice has advantages over the other. This creates an uneven play-field and undermines the competitive nature of the game. A few games have tried in the past, and some still do, but adding an input choice adds another layer of complexity on the balancing side of design.

Maybe the choice would work for some games, but for competitive multiplayer I would almost always side towards holding players to the same input. But I'm also an old competitive FPS player, so I may be biased

As for a method to determine what is best, there are 2 clear avenues in my mind:
1. It's your game, make it the way you want it. Your baby, your rules.
2. Let the people decide. Listen to your community. Get the game in the hands of others, you are the worst judge of the game.

Neither is right nor wrong, and there is a balance to be struck.. If you want a competitive community, I would err towards choice 2.

 

I definitely want to cater to the community, I agree that balance would become an issue in competitive multiplayer. I could always make a console and pc version with different controls. I don't mind Point and Click at all, I really enjoy MOBAs and other games that implement this method and I'd like to have similar experiences in my game. That being said, playtesting with WASD seems really good and natural to me and I can imagine it being a lot of fun with either input. I guess it's really up to what the community prefers

 

Playtest. Playtest. Playtest.

Build your game in such a way that the input module can be swapped out. Test the gameplay with point and click. Test the gameplay with WASD. Test it with a bunch of other input systems. Pick the one that works best.

 

And recruit as many "kleenex" playtesters as you can. These are playtesters who haven't touched the game before, so they don't have any preconceived notions about how the controls should work.

If you can, video record them instead of watching over their shoulders. This way you can't subtly direct them by, say, unconsciously clearing your throat when they're about to use your input "wrong".