RE: RE: [GD-Design] FPS console controls

[Garett B. <gt...@st...>]

I think the best way to reproduce mouse-like yaw control on a console would
be to dedicate a single stick to yaw, and return yaw values as an angle. In
this case, whenever x^2+y^2 > 0.8 or so (ie. only near the outer ring of the
stick), dtheta = arctan (y0/x0) - arctan (y1/x1), yaw = yaw + s*dtheta,
where "s" is some variable scalar for sensitivity.  This allows players to
turn and stop on a dime, which is the greatest advantage of the mouse.
Unfortunately, now you need to use another axis entirely for pitch.  Perhaps
pitch and strafe on the second stick?

It was mentioned several times that the pitch control in Halo is less
sensitive than the yaw control.  This seems like a step in the right
direction, but I'd suggest mapping the stick's maximum positive y value to
looking straight up, zero y to looking straight ahead, and maximum negative
y to looking straight down, ie. pitch = y*i*2pi, where "i" is +1 or -1 to
allow invertibility.  Perhaps the axis' granularity is too course to allow
this, providing only a few discrete values between zero and max?

With regard to the conventional, single-axis yaw approach, I'd suggest
raising the axis input to the 3rd or 5th power before feeding it to the
camera control.  This would result in a wide range of sensitive control near
the center of the stick, and maximum turn rate near the extremeties (eg.
0.1^3 = 0.001, 1.0^3 = 1.0).

Once again, this may not be possible due to low input granularity.  Maybe
the analog sticks are not effectively analog as much as they are multiply
digital.  I'd really like to see a dual stick controller that could produce
at least 10 discrete outputs between zero and one in each direction, ie.
0.0, 0.1, 0.2, ...1.0.  While I'm dreaming, how about a console controller
with one stick and one trackball?