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IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0024887AI War 2Gameplay IssueMay 14, 2021 10:02 am
Reporterkmunoz Assigned Todonblas  
Status assignedResolutionnot fixable 
Product Version2.905 Alien Homes 
Summary0024887: Default control bindings for unit selection include first position keys that are already in use
DescriptionSpecifically, key combos that have T in the first position will open the Tech panel in addition to selecting the unit.

Although the order of operations for the key bindings is unimportant for the intended result (you can hit E + T or T + E for the same effect), players will not generally know this, and they will see strange behavior if they use a binding that includes a key that is already attached to another event *and* they hit that key first in their control binding "chord."
TagsNo tags attached.

Activities

Chris_McElligottPark

May 12, 2021 9:39 am

administrator   ~0061528

Yep, there is no way to solve this, when you're talking about keydown. It's a logical trap.

Either things trigger on keyup (key is released), but that feels laggy, or you have no way of knowing that a key combo is incoming until it's too late. Player fingers are going to hit one key versus the other sooner, usually, and that will register as a lone keydown generally a frame before there's even a second key under consideration. Sitting there in the code, these two events are completely indistinguishable, because they are "far apart" in time (fingers are slow; it might be 50-100ms later, which means it might not be the next frame, it might be like 10 frames later).

The only other solution for this with keydown is to build in delays, but once again this feels laggy. Player fingers are slow, but eyes are fast. We notice when things don't respond in a timely fashion.

A lot of action games have "coyote time" and things of that nature to deal with this sort of problem, but that involves really specific button presses (usually around jumping, but not always), and things that can be reversed and that take months of study to figure out how to make "feel" just right. In our case, we just changed which sidebar is open, and that's already done, so shutting it again would just give you a strange flash on the left of the screen.

TLDR: yeah, don't bind keys like that. If that happens, then rebind the core one. But I don't feel like fussing at players about it is the way to go, because for one thing I can't tell which ones are okay to be together and which ones are not (modifiers sure, stuff in different parts of the game sure, stuff that is context sensitive, sure. But there's no generalized way to know these things at the keybinding screen for us, so it would be either overly restrictive or overly permissive. I went with the latter, after having done the former on certain other games in the past and having problems with that.

kmunoz

May 12, 2021 12:21 pm

reporter   ~0061533

> yeah, don't bind keys like that

I agree - the problem is that the default control bindings in the game, if I'm not mistaken, *do* bind keys like that.

Chris_McElligottPark

May 13, 2021 10:04 pm

administrator   ~0061558

Oh!? That's something I try hard to avoid.

The unit selection stuff you mention... what ones are those? These may be some additions from a volunteer.

kmunoz

May 13, 2021 10:37 pm

reporter   ~0061562

Yes, one or more of the unit selection controls defaults to having the T key in the first position (second position in the settings window, but first position in the tooltip in-game).

Chris_McElligottPark

May 14, 2021 10:02 am

administrator   ~0061571

Donblas, I'll get this at some point if you don't, but I wonder if this is one of your new ones?

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
May 12, 2021 12:37 am kmunoz New Issue
May 12, 2021 9:39 am Chris_McElligottPark Assigned To => Chris_McElligottPark
May 12, 2021 9:39 am Chris_McElligottPark Status new => closed
May 12, 2021 9:39 am Chris_McElligottPark Resolution open => not fixable
May 12, 2021 9:39 am Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0061528
May 12, 2021 12:21 pm kmunoz Note Added: 0061533
May 13, 2021 10:04 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0061558
May 13, 2021 10:37 pm kmunoz Note Added: 0061562
May 14, 2021 10:02 am Chris_McElligottPark Assigned To Chris_McElligottPark => donblas
May 14, 2021 10:02 am Chris_McElligottPark Status closed => assigned
May 14, 2021 10:02 am Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0061571