Comment by joemanaco | Hacker News Reader

Comment by joemanaco | Hacker News Reader

Author here: Last weekend I participated in the Ludum Dare Game Jam (#44, Theme was "Life is your currency") and did a game from scratch in 48 hours:

TIME ZONE

How to play?

Arrow Keys Left/Right: Move left/right Arrow Keys: Up: Jump X: Shoot

Instructions: Try to reach the exit before your life counter reaches zero. You can earn valuable time by collecting Life Capsules. When you destroy an enemy they will drop Life Capsules. But be careful: Each shoot costs you time.

Play at itch.io: https://joemanaco.itch.io/timezone

Source code: https://github.com/JochenHeizmann/timezone-ld44 (will add Readme/Build Instructions later on when I got some more hours of Sleep)

Soundtrack: https://soundcloud.com/jochenheizmann/timezone-ludum-dare-44

Ludum Dare Game Page: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/44/timezone

I did everything from scratch (Code, GFX, Audio, Level Design). I've used Monkey (which transpiles to Javascript) to code it, Photoshop for the pixels (Artwise I was inspired by Downwell, which I tried to mimic, but I suck at art) and Logic and Renoise for the Music and Sound FX.

why not support WASD? we've been using our left hand for directional controls since at least 1981

http://www.sextonsmusicandgames.com/80s-classic-arcade-games...

probably want to make jump / shoot right-hand actions as well, like in most games

I really like the concept and wanted to play the game, but as it stands the controls are too annoying for me

> why not support WASD?

because of the AZERTY keyboards. You can't detect AZERTY keyboards in a browser, so he would have had to create menus to allow players to choose the keys.

That makes no sense. Just bind Z and Q as well

And if every other game out there can manage it, by definition it's not an insurmountable problem

You fix it then, the code is on github...

Why WASD and not ESDF? People have been touch-typing with their left hand in that home position since the late 1800s. (Or do you actually operate WASD with your pinky, ring, and middle fingers when gaming?)

Don't be dense. WASD is the most common layout, but sure, if you're that opinionated make it ESDF then. My point still stands. Left and right hand controls should follow a common sense approach

Maybe I'm weird, but being right-handed (like most people), I prefer directional controls on the right hand and action buttons on the left. Your characterization of the former as "left-handed" and the latter as "right-handed" controls seem backwards to me. So, to be honest, I don't even use WASD (or ESDF).

WASD is an incredibly common movement control scheme for video games. I'd go so far as to say it is the predominant four-directional control scheme for video games made in the past 20 years that were made to be played with a QUERTY keyboard.

> being right-handed (like most people), I prefer directional controls on the right hand and action buttons on the left.

It is right-handedness that led to this because it was used in conjunction with a mouse, so all those right handed players had a mouse in their right hand, meaning their left hand was on the keyboard.

If you, as a right-handed person, use a mouse in your right hand and the arrow keys in your left hand, you are very much in the minority. Even for games that don't use a mouse, this convention (and muscle memory) is so established that it makes sense to use WASD, even for right-handed players. However making it configurable is always desirable to accommodate the minority of players who might not want to use WASD for any reason.

If you're not an avid gamer or primarily gamed before keyboard + mouse was common, this might indeed seem strange. But for anyone who's gamed consistently in the past 20 years it is very normal.

Why not ESDF? I don't know why initially but today WASD is established convention.

> Even for games that don't use a mouse, this convention (and muscle memory) is so established that it makes sense to use WASD, even for right-handed players.

A further argument for movement from the left hand comes from consoles, which starting with the NES if not earlier have consistently (always?) had the d-pad on the left. I remember having some trouble reversing that learning for the PC platforming games that used the arrow keys for movement.

Tell that to the vi people.

ASDF used to be an option on first person shooters when they were first coming out.

How's vi relevant? I use it daily, but certainly not for gaming.

How are the first FPS games relevant?

He was commenting on esdf instead of wasd to keep the fingers on the home row. IMO, it's the same issue as vi choosing hjkl for movement instead of jkl;.

For gaming, using WASD makes sense because the LHS modifiers are much easier to hit with your pinky than Q/A/Z

You’d think by now PC keyboards would have standardized dedicated gaming keys on the left side.

Retrofitting alphanumerics for game controls is such an ugly, kludgy hack, even if it’s very convenient (especially in games where you can text chat with other players.)

Feels like a carry-over of the PC’s “wannabe”ness as a gaming machine since the 1980s/90s.

Why not hjkl? People have been using Vi since the 1700s.

I really prefer movement controls for arcade-ish games on the right hand, but I guess it's a matter of taste. Haven't decided yet if I want to go further with this project, but will definitely added support for a custom scheme if I continue with it. Thanks for your input!

Any links on monkey? All the ones I have found so far were spam and the term is close enough to spider monkey ... Not a language I have seen before.

google: monkey lang

https://github.com/prologic/monkey-lang

EDIT: NVM, that's not it either.

Thanks!

http://monkeycoder.co.nz/

Monkey is a language by Mark Sibly. Unfortunately the original language is abandoned since Mark started to work on Monkey-2 (But Monkey-1 still available at: https://github.com/blitz-research/monkey).

This is the new language by Mark Sibly, but haven't really used it yet: http://monkeycoder.co.nz

Really cool animations and sound

Have you ever tried using phaserJS?

Yes, I know phaser. But I don't like Javascript and also prefer to use my own custom stuff (especially for simple things) instead of Frameworks. (No offense, just my personal preference).

Source code is missing a license as well, FYI.

Yes, will add it. I will put it into public domain.

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