Hello there.

My game has mechanics somewhat similar to Terraria and Starbound, although the most similar game is probably Dig or Die. At the moment I'm trying to come up with a simple scheme for gamepads, but I can't really decide what would be the best default mapping, and I couldn't find a similar game that supports gamepads to steal some ideas :P.

Basically as I mentioned the mechanics are the same but the action is going to be like a twin-stick shooter, the problem is since it's a side scroller there's no good way to have the jump/jetpack controls and the building/shooting, because since you have to use both thumbsticks you've only the triggers and bumpers left for the important actions players should be able to perform promptly:shooting, digging, placing blocks, switching weapon and jumping.

I would like to have a dedicated button to dig, but switching to the digging tool could also be an option if it makes sense. The problem is unless that also changes the button for placing blocks it's the same amount of keys unless the digging tool is just like one of the weapons.

I thought about this:

RT: Shoot
RB: Switch Weapon
LT: Dig
LB: Place

But then there's no good button for jumping. Maybe switching weapon could be done by one of the analogs, but I think digging and placing blocks should be on the same side of the controller, I don't know. I would like to avoid having separate build and combat mode.

So, do you guys have any suggestions or know other games that did that right that I could check? Thanks in advance.