itch.io

My issue isn't the automatic mode switching. I actually think that idea is quite safe.
My issue is that the keyboard mode lacks a kind of "purity".
In keyboard mode, the game retains bits of controller code, which will be imposed on devices, no matter how generic they are.

I did test with an official Xbox One controller, and that worked perfectly. However, if you use any other kind of controller, the game will stay in keyboard mode (which is fine) but D-pads and Button 1 (whatever it is) will still have moves forced on it.

It's up to you what you do with this information. I've seen many games that I would call "Xbox controller-only". I don't like the label, but when the game is high-quality, I can still be happy about that.

Where is personal information stored?

Have you run your games through a profiler like JoyToKey?
It's not true that this game is controller-incompatible.
In fact, it's far more controller-friendly than many other Itch games.
It's so flexible, that if I hold an SNES-USB controller sideways (like a Wiimote) and put W on the left D-pad button, I can still cleanly play the game that way. I am glad the game has that level of liberty.

Oooooooh, I am one inch away from saying that this is one of the best racing games I've played on Itch. There is one small thing in the way : these 4 steering wheel settings. I don't mind seeing these in the game - the problem is that I can't disable them.

I look for studios that implement Xbox/PS plug-and-play, in a clean way.

The game is categorized as "Keyboard/Mouse". I wish that were true, rather than running tests and finding out that left analog stick movement works on some screens, but not others.

I tried this recently too. It's a shame that the game is so short, because the quality of the presentation is quite good, and (technically) the game will cleanly work with hundreds of controllers, even though it doesn't feel like it.

I played it, and I have good news.
It would've been safe for you to include the "Gamepad (Any)" label on this, because this game will cleanly work with hundreds of controllers.
The control list I came up with is slightly longer than what's posted, but that's not a big deal.

The game looks and sounds great, but there's something that bothers me.
This is categorized as "Keyboard/Mouse". In a sense, that is true... for the worst possible reason. The game imposes some of its keys on controllers, and not others. There's nothing wrong with Xbox plug-and-play, but that's not what's being used here.
I can't help but wish the game really did have nothing to say about controllers. That would actually make it more controller-friendly.

I tried it some more. The mouse wheel does allow for a bit of zoom-in, but it's not much. I was able to collect some balloons, although they're quite small, and the gameplay is rather slow. It would nice if there were more zooming options like you'd see in Star Wars 1 Racer, or any 3D F-Zero game. I do like the idea of Itch.io having its own version of Pilotwings.

I tried it out. I think it looks good. I love to see Godot games automatically going fullscreen (finally).

The Controls section of the main menu is overreaching, because it'll force a layout on a controller, no matter how it's set. Putting the numbers 1-5 in the Control Pad column will not cause the game to keep its controls to itself.

Steering the plane with a Namco NeGcon. This whole idea worked. Overall, I liked it, but I wish there was a mode that allowed the plane to take up more of the screen.

Controller profiler software makes it easy. In order to make a PC game controller-incompatible, you'd have to go out of your way for that.

I love this. It's not really a game. It's more like a psychological tool.

: D

For something that was made in 24 hours, it's a good foundation. I had to face the fact that any button could become the Jump button, so ultimately, I didn't dislike the control scheme. I chose a controller with nice, clear, convex buttons, and thank goodness you didn't generically impose the controls.

Well, all of the games in the Toge collection are really good-looking. I've tested about 4 of them (including this one) and I would say that these games do a good job of avoiding generic controller imposition, except in a few places.
In other words, there are certain places where movement is forced on left joysticks, and other times, it's not. It would be nice if you found a a way to disable all the generic impositions, and then added Xbox plug-and-play support, if you wanted that.

Button image prompts are far more valuable than a remapper.

I'll "put my comment back" for you.
I like the fact that the game includes Xbox plug-and-play support, but not in a way that bleeds out into generic controllers.
As a result, the game isn't merely compatible with 1 or 2 controllers - the correct number is more like 500.
There isn't a way to switch to an "actual move mode" where I'll see the actual names of moves, rather than Xbox button images. But...... I can get by.

If you take the keyboard defaults, and put them into a profiler (like JoyToKey) will the game cooperate with it?
If so, I'd be happy to buy the game, and endorse it.

The whole thing looks and sounds professional-grade.

As you'd probably predict, I don't think this falls under the "Gamepad (any)" category, since there's no way to disable the Xbox controller preoccupation.

Hey there, I tried the game out, and I like its cinematic value, and its approach to controls, but there are a few changes that would take this from great to amazing.
- There's no music or ambience in the opening sequence.
- You list the controls as WASD and Space. However, the game also uses Esc, as a skip move. It's great that the game doesn't impose the keyboard defaults on controllers, except that Esc is imposed on Buttons 1 and 2.
- I don't know if there's a way to exit the game, other than with Alt+F4.

I like your input approach. Attaching the keyboard defaults to a Genesis controller was easy. It was a little annoying that I still saw Xbox button images, rather than the actual names of moves, like "Interact" and "Special" but I did get used to it. I'm not sure if there's a way to exit the game, other than Alt+F4.

It's not that I can't see controls - I can see them and also sense them, when they're imposed.
Like, if I set Player 1 to Key1 mode, and then find out that some button will pause the game, I can tell that menu navigation controls are still being imposed, even though every character is in Key mode.

A lot of developers want to include keybinders in their games. I'm not a proponent of that, because every new keybinder is something I have to learn, and the more of them there are, the more likely I am to run into a frivolous shortcoming.

That being said, when Pacman games gradually get better on Itch, I'll acknowledge it, and that has indeed happened.

Hey there. I tested the game with an Atari controller for Player 1, Genesis controller for Player 2, and GameCube controller for Player 3. I'm glad that you listed the keyboard controls right on this Itch page. Taking a snapshot of them with my phone was really easy, and transferring the controls to JoyToKey was a success.

Being able to put the characters in "Key 1, Key 2, Key 3 mode" was extremely helpful. It was a little annoying that, even in key mode, the game still imposes Enter and Esc on various buttons. But overall, I was really pleased with the results.
This is one of the better Pacman games for Windows.

See above.

I would recommend getting rid of the built-in controller code, because the current input model is as coercive as can be, and the results aren't pretty.
I ran a test in which 3 controllers were plugged in. I was hoping that (perhaps) the Xbox One or Atari controller would "absorb the imposed controller layout". But.... they didn't. The game forces its layout on all 3 controllers, so I can't create a JoyToKey profile for any of them.

I downloaded this game (followed by Sameboy emulator) and I had a good time with it. Getting a controller to work was quite easy - Sameboy wasn't too coercive. I'm not sure if the Select button is used anywhere.

The mini-games were pretty cool. I'm not sure how many there are, but that's a reason to keep playing!

If I find a program that makes a controller appear as an Xbox device, will I be able to choose where buttons go?

I think it's way easier to just plug keyboard keys into JoyToKey.

It's true that I don't expect PC games to have built-in generic Gamecube controller recognition. Why include that when there might be over 600 PC compatible controllers?

PCs shouldn't recognize Gamecube controllers as Xbox controllers... because they're not.

Most PC games don't need built-in controller support. I can take a list of keyboard defaults, plug them into JoyToKey within 1 minute, and make a game work with hundreds of controllers, using a layout that I explicitly consented to.

When you say a controller is required, you may actually mean "only official Xbox controllers". A Gamecube controller with a USB end (for example) won't work.

I wouldn't call it awkward - it's more like mundane. PDFs feel like a work tool, akin to emails, Google searches, and Excel spreadsheets. Having to read a PDF for a game feels too similar to troubleshooting.

There's definitely a part of me that likes instruction booklets. In the past, I have found them charming. However, when it comes to the idea of getting one in PDF form, I find that almost all the charm is lost in translation. PDFs make the act of setting up a game feel like being at work.

I liked how, with your Transformers game, the control information was immediately visible on the Itch page.

PROS

- The game goes fullscreen on the first launch, without me having to use Alt-Enter, F11, or always having to click on a maximize button.

- The pause menu buttons are nice and large, so they're easy to read.

- The visual perspective is on-point, and there's also good sprite scaling. Some of the more obviously 3D shots (like behind the stadium) look quite good.

- The developers have shown signs of hard work. The right-click menu shuffles through a few different modes, and when you click on different things in different modes, you will indeed get different results.

- The gameplay isn't glitchy, as far as I tested.

CONS

- The game's keyboard and mouse defaults are not listed, either on the Itch.io page, or in the game itself. This means that I have to actually play the game, before being able to connect a controller. Moreover, even if I do discover some of the controls, there's no way for me to really know that other keys won't be needed later. Does Esc work right away? Great. But what if I need to also start using Z and X later in the game? Should I have to go into a controller profiler multiple times, to update a layout?

- Every time the character "dies" you have to start all the way from the beginning, with the title screen, and opening text.

- The speech boxes are kind of "all over the place". Some of them are in the center. Others are on the lower-left side. Some have no backdrops. All of these differences make the game's interface look messy.

- The music stops playing once the game actually starts.

- The game's engine doesn't support a wide color palette, so when colors like yellow and magenta are combined, in makes scenes appear sickly.

- Some of the black lines (like around tables) are abnormally thick. There doesn't seem to be any special reason for it.

- It's difficult to determine what can be inspected, and what can't. If everything can be inspected, I could end up clicking on everything, and wasting a bunch of time. Since the characters don't start talking about Eric right away, it's hard to get a sense of when I'm making good progress, or whether I'm just focusing too much on a dead-end area.

CONCLUSION

- The game's engine is very humble. It doesn't give the developers very many options. I think it would be better suited for platformers, or some other kind of game that has a single playing field.

I tested the game with an official Xbox controller, and the plug-and-play works correctly.
This game's approach to inputs is fantastic. Xbox controllers work automatically, and for all the rest, I can still create my own layout.

I mostly like the game's atmosphere. It feels a little nauseating, but I can accept that. The game doesn't impose a layout on generic controllers - that's a very nice thing. The perspective on the buildings (on each side) does not match the perspective that the rest of the content has, which does it correctly. It would be nice if there was a larger purpose to collecting the gold.

Thank you for listing the keyboard defaults. I plugged them into JoyToKey, and I want to say that it's not true that "gamepads work in theory".

All Windows-compatible controllers will work with this game, in fact.
You could include Xbox controller plug-and-play, and a built-in keybinder, but you don't need those things for this to be broadly controller-friendly.

I can find out myself. Thanks for making this possible!

I enjoyed it. The amount of pit area in the first level is pretty intense, but it will still fun.
The game (in its current form) is compatible with hundreds of controllers, but setting up a controller is a challenge, since neither this Itch page (nor the game itself) lists the keyboard/mouse defaults.

If you pursue built-in controller support, I would recommend an Xbox-specific model, rather than a generic one. If you'd like me to test for you, I'd be happy to do it.

I've never played Odama, but I did know about it, when it was new. I wouldn't necessarily claim that it's a proper source of inspiration, only that it has things in common with this game.