Controls for arcade spaceflight

I’ve been struggling for a while with the controls for Star Maverick.

I want them to be easy but also fun and expressive. I was fighting with the fact that I have 2 analog sticks and 2 analog triggers (5 axes) but 6 degrees of freedom which all feel at least somewhat important.

Also I wanted to keep Right Trigger for firing your weapon as face buttons preclude using both thumbsticks at once.

So I found this compromise. Left stick is always pitch and yaw, for arcady steering and bread and butter easy control. Right stick is roll for cinematics and re-orienting the camera. But you can now hold Left Trigger to cut all forward speed and this will also switch out the right stick to be Heave and Sway (strafe up/down and left/right).

This allows a lot of flexibility and allows for nifty maneuvers (might be useful in boss fights etc) but I think it keeps an easy learning curve as you can just use only the right stick. Good for beginners or kids or less ‘hardcore’ gamers. I want to be somewhat inclusive to kids and grandparents etc.

Will be deploying a new build to testers soon.

Please hit me up at beetlefeet@gmail.com if you are interested in testing the game.