keyboard masking and ghosting related problem
Hi,
In my game, the player has to press up to 3 keys at the same time to perform some actions. The problem is that some key combinations cause ghosting and/or masking. I'm planning to make the key controls fixed i.e. the player can't change keys to perform certain actions, to prevent the player from setting keys that ghost/mask.
I would like to know your comments and suggestions about the above. If you know of a web site or web article that talks extensively about this subject then I would appreciate if you pointed it out.
Thanks.
Yeah, I would like the player to reassign keys. I guess it would be as simple as checking the first 2 assignments then the 3rd assignment has to be a key that won't cause masking/ghosting. The $1,000,000 question is how can I know such keys?
You can't do it reliably. It's all dependent on how the keyboard if manufactured. There's no way you can detect the problem - the only thing you can do is to let the player reassign keys so that he can work around the problem if it arises.
Thanx,
Between letting the player wrestle around with keys until they find a good combination and me setting the keys permanently, which one is better? If the player is the avarage guy who visits gamedev then I think allowing the player to reassign keys would be OK, but think of an average Joe, all he did is change a few keys and now he is wondering why the game character isn't moving as it was earlier, then I'll start receiving a tonne of e-mail about this problem that I can do nothing about i.e. I can't fix people's keyboards.
Between letting the player wrestle around with keys until they find a good combination and me setting the keys permanently, which one is better? If the player is the avarage guy who visits gamedev then I think allowing the player to reassign keys would be OK, but think of an average Joe, all he did is change a few keys and now he is wondering why the game character isn't moving as it was earlier, then I'll start receiving a tonne of e-mail about this problem that I can do nothing about i.e. I can't fix people's keyboards.
Get the cheapest keyboard you can find, and work out a control scheme that works reasonably well and set it to be default. Put the customization options in a separate menu so that they're easy to get to, but don't have to be touched.
People who want to play around with these things usually know enough (if only from past experience) to know that some key combinations just don't work right. If you want to be paranoid, you can include a note on the configuration screen, and/or on a FAQ page on the game's distribution website.
People who want to play around with these things usually know enough (if only from past experience) to know that some key combinations just don't work right. If you want to be paranoid, you can include a note on the configuration screen, and/or on a FAQ page on the game's distribution website.
It's a bad idea to assume that your user's keyboard will exhibit masking in the same way yours does. So to be safe, you should assume that if any three keys can mask one another, that they will.
The cleanest solution would be to make sure the user doesn't need to use three buttons simultaneously. If this is unreasonable, try to make sure that shift, alt and ctrl are the only modifiers used. The only circumstance under which you can be sure exactly which four keys are pressed is when three of them are shift, alt and ctrl. Also bear in mind that the mouse is available. If the 'action' button can be shifted to the mouse, you'll potentially save your users a lot of frustration.
Regards
Admiral
The cleanest solution would be to make sure the user doesn't need to use three buttons simultaneously. If this is unreasonable, try to make sure that shift, alt and ctrl are the only modifiers used. The only circumstance under which you can be sure exactly which four keys are pressed is when three of them are shift, alt and ctrl. Also bear in mind that the mouse is available. If the 'action' button can be shifted to the mouse, you'll potentially save your users a lot of frustration.
Regards
Admiral
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement