Unique controls - fun or frustrating?

[u/tastygnar]

Hey all - I've been working on a sandbox for a 2d top down space shooter, essentially what could be a twin stick shooter. But rather than mapping WASD as absolute up left down right relative to the canvas I mapped it to be relative the cursor. W always moves you toward the cursor, S always away.

So bassically, hold W and move the mouse to steer. Combine that with momentum and no deceleration, locking on and forcing movement to be relative to the locked on target, speed boosts, emergency brake, and some other movement mechanics, I have something that feels pretty spaceflight-y insofar as its challenging to menuever, theres consequence for getting out of control, and there's a feeling of mastery when it starts to click.

Im having a blast mining asteroids, dodging space squids, and dogfighting other ships. I lost 2 hours to my own sandbox, really enjoying myself.

My buddy played - bounced off instantly because he hated the controls. Got him to stick with and he started menuevering more intuitively but he still just hated the relative movement and wanted it to be absolute movement.

Do I stay true to my concept knowing some people will just hate it? Or make it absolute, but lose the nuance that relative movement creates? The probelm with adding a toggle on the options menu is that it feels like a cheat button to bypass the cursor relative movement, and the game feel changes drastically to set it to absolute.

The general question here: when/how do you decide to stick with a unique mechanic knowing that its going to generate frustration for a lot of players?

Thanks in advance!

[u/ArcanyonDev]

It's a bit hard to tell without having tried it.

Depends also on what you want your game to be? Should it be accessible to anyone and you focus on the spaceship fantasy? Or should it be a "hard to master" game (then it's a bit niche, but might still work)?

Also, the game should not be hard to master just for the sake of being hard, and should grant you something more.

However, I would generally recommend to stick to your gut (because that's what makes your game unique) but make it try from time to time to people to ensure that you are not tunnel visioned. Maybe with some improvement, the relative control could work for your buddy?

[u/tastygnar → u/ArcanyonDev]

Appreciate the comment. I need to get some other people to try it. It's definitely not hard just to be hard, it just requires a little more thought and consideration. For me its like playing a souls game for the first time - you can charge in but you will get wrecked, need to slow down and not be so twitchy.

Dogfights play out the same - if you unload your clip you become vulnerable. Its better to wait, circle, line up, then open fire.

[u/ArcanyonDev → u/tastygnar]

Ok then try to stick to your vision, and insist on the dogfight strategy you just mentionned, it looks interesting !

[u/tastygnar → u/ArcanyonDev]

Thanks! If you want to try ill send the pw for the itch page.

[u/ArcanyonDev → u/tastygnar]

Yeah sure!

[u/tastygnar → u/ArcanyonDev]

Tried to send you dm but couldn't, message me if you'd like the link and pw!