Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Steam Controller

store.steampowered.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 370 posts

Re: Steam Controller

#321

Post by ibrahima »

nacs wrote: post #284
dfrey wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Civilization is a turn based strategy game. The "RT" (real-time) part is what really makes gamepads unsuitable for RTS. I play Starcraft 2 and I can't imagine how you could possibly select individual units and pull them back when they are taking damage. Show me someone doing blink stalker micro with a gamepad and I will eat my words.

>I play Starcraft 2 and I can't imagine how you could possibly select individual units and pull them back when they are taking damage You're not really arguing whether the Steam controller is bad -- you're simply saying any gamepad would be bad for Starcraft/RTS. This is likely never going to change -- unless an RTS is designed from the early stages of development to be usable on gamepads, no gamepad will ever be acc…

You know, as a 80APM mid level player I wonder if this will be usable for me. I love Starcraft but I'm pretty sure the fast wrist movements are seriously screwing up my wrists, and I don't even play that much, so it would be worth it to me to try out an alternative interface, even if it's a little slower, if I can not fuck up my wrists before I turn 30. Though I have tried playing with a trackball and it also sucks so dunno if this can be any better, but I'll probably give it a try at least. Hmm... probably not really going to work with control groups and spells and the like, but maybe I could play team games with it lol.

Re: Steam Controller

#322

Post by ibrahima »

blktiger wrote: post #156
BrianEatWorld wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say I am optimistic as well because, having been a dedicated "Big Picture" user for the past few months, it is clear Valve has put a lot of thought into this transition. However, what bothered me about the controller is that it doesn't seem to actually be that different. I don't see how this markedly improves over current controllers and their integration. The key genres for which the current controllers don'…

It sounds to me like you would be able to use the trackpad regions as either "joysticks" or "trackpads" which means for an RTS game you would be no worse off than using a trackpad over a mouse. Other games might be better using them as joysticks where the input re-centers if you lift up from the control surface. Seems like a pretty big improvement over traditional controllers without any significant downsides.

Hotkeys are pretty important for RTSes too (at least SC2). I will definitely try this out for ergonomics reasons but I don't know if they'll have enough hotkeys to make it playable at a reasonable level. But maybe if buttons are context sensitive or something it could work out.

Re: Steam Controller

#323

Post by ibrahima »

hackula1 wrote: post #175
blktiger wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds to me like you would be able to use the trackpad regions as either "joysticks" or "trackpads" which means for an RTS game you would be no worse off than using a trackpad over a mouse. Other games might be better using them as joysticks where the input re-centers if you lift up from the control surface. Seems like a pretty big improvement over traditional controllers without any significant downsides.

> which means for an RTS game you would be no worse off than using a trackpad over a mouse. Just about anyone who plays RTSs would agree that trackpads are completely unacceptable for input. For a game like SC2, you might as well not even play, because you would be lose so badly at against anyone at a similar skill level.

I agree, though I think a thumb trackpad probably gives you a little more precision than a regular trackpad. That might be the difference between unplayable and barely playable. I guess you might be able to play against someone a league below you or something, which might not be too bad if you just want to relax for a bit.

Re: Steam Controller

#324

Post by nickik »

kibwen wrote: post #116

Are those buttons on the back of the controller? I'd be ecstatic if that's the case. I've always suspected that having buttons on the back would allow for a more natural grip than shunting buttons onto the shoulders. It may have made sense for the SNES' flat bone controller, but not in the age of controllers with thick, ergonomic palm grips.

Good old Z Button on the N64 was always the best to shoot stuff. Goldgun walk around the conrner Z, dead.

I generally like more buttons instead of all these other things consoles use, you can easly have four buttons on the back, maybe more. The PS always used to have two shulder buttons, witch I did not like because you either had to us your index finger for both. I imagen something where they are just in the back where my fingers naturally would be.

Re: Steam Controller

#325

Post by nickik »

georgemcbay wrote: post #99
Osiris wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking on innovation, the Xbox 360 came out with a brand new controller, but the Xbox One has practically the same controller? It's like they didn't take any time to re-evaluate the controller with the new console. For that matter, the PS4 controller is the same except with a small touchpad in the middle.

"the Xbox 360 came out with a brand new controller, but the Xbox One has practically the same controller" Calling the 360 controller "brand new" is a big stretch. It wasn't that much more different from the old Xbox Controller S than the Xbox One controller is from the 360's. In terms of technology the One controller with trigger-specific haptic is actually a bigger change than the Controller S->360 which was pretty…

Yeah. I agree. I always liked the Xbox controllers and the Xbox One Controller seams like a nice evolution.

They have done nothing revolutionary of course but nice stady evolution.

There first controller was complet BS of course but after that it was pretty good, better then sony in my mind.

Re: Steam Controller

#326

Post by nickik »

BrianEatWorld wrote: post #295
baq wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i'd bet some dollars on dota 2 and tf2 working at near-mouse+keyboard efficiency - those are their main money printing machines right now (...besides the cut sales) and they can't afford to segment their player base by controller, so they must have something in store.

DotA was the main title I was thinking about. If they can make DotA playable with this then I think they are on to something special. DotA is intimidating enough using K+M, if they break down the hotkey barrier with an intuitive controller, they stand to gain a lot.

As somebody that played a lot of dota, specially in W3 Dota, if they can pull of dota with a pad I would be shocked.

The only games that are even harder are very fast RTS like Star Craft 2.

I cant imagen that it will work well, but Im open to beeing suprised.

Re: Steam Controller

#329

Post by nekopa »

jlgreco wrote: post #172
nekopa wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

? > mouse. Do you really think that the mouse which was invented in the 60s (mother of all demos) is the pinnacle of technology regarding input? It is for now (I do agree with your premise for my own personal reasons) but such a bold expression seems a little, how should I put this, small minded. I feel this is an interesting direction to experiment on.

> Do you really think that the mouse which was invented in the 60s (mother of all demos) is the pinnacle of technology regarding input? The joystick was invented in 1908, but it is still in fighter jets today, isn't it? Who gives a shit how old it is?

Ok, you all misunderstood what I was trying to say, which means I said it badly.

What I was hinting at is that though the mouse is currently the best form of input for a lot of games (ANSI the reason why I don't have a console, I don't like gaming without a mouse), does that mean we should stop trying to find other forms of input device?

I didn't mean the age statement negatively, just to point out we've had this tech for a while, so maybe it's time to look for other ways to go, instead of 'building a faster horse'.

In 2060 who knows what will be the top form of input for gaming. It might be this controller, it could still be the mouse or it may be something we haven't even dreamt of yet.

Post reply on HN