One of the first feedbacks about Shootski was from a long time player, that he didn’t like the gamepad setup. Having to hold the shoot button to charge, and still jumping wasn’t good for him. Since he has played so many DrinkingNails games, his feedback was the inspiration to finally create a gamepad rebind system for the game, and the platformer engine going forward.

The vast majority of DrinkingNails games have always had keyboard rebinds. Some players need it, especially for German keyboards which switch the Z and Y position. Keyboards are different though, because there are more keys than things to control in most platformers. It’s easy to make a short list of what needs to be done in game, and then press the key to set them to. AquaNimble has gamepad rebinds, and they work similar to that method.

WHY USE A GAMEPAD VISUAL

For Shootski, one of the early criticisms was, “the menus aren’t visual enough, you’re playing a video game, why is the menu all text?” With that in mind, something more visual would be created. A generic modern gamepad with lines pointing to each element, and a word explaining what each does. Players change what each gamepad element does by just holding it down. Then they select from a short menu of everything that can be done in game. Shootski is an intentionally basic game, so there’s not much to the menu selection.

The generic gamepad was used since different gamepads have different icons for each button. It’s just easier to consider a gamepad’s right -side to have north, south, east, and west buttons. The left-side’s directional pad becomes the left-side’s north, south, east, and west buttons. Thumb sticks cannot be rebound, and will always be used for movement. If one of the games ever ends up on a specific console, it would be a more specific gamepad.

MENU HINTS EVERYWHERE

At the bottom you’ll see a hint on how to back out of the gamepad rebind menu. One of the criticisms about AquaNimble was, “how do I even use the menu?” A player recommended having on screen visuals for the menu. In this case, the game can detect if a player is using the gamepad or keyboard. You’ll note for the screenshot, that it was done with a keyboard, so it is ESC for the escape key. Some players get overwhelmed by a keyboard, and having on-screen instruction helps. Other players wonder why there’s no mouse support for a PC game menu. That’s why you let them know about up and down arrows as well.

With AquaNimble’s gamepad rebinding, the early versions created issues, because even the confirm, and back buttons for menus could be rebound. The directions used by menus could also be rebound. The easy solution was, don’t use rebound buttons in menus. Simple.

LET PLAYERS KNOW ABOUT GAMEPAD SUPPORT

Since there was a gamepad graphic, the finishing touch was to add the graphic as the first thing players see when the game starts. With the first few DrinkingNails games, several players were surprised to discover a game has gamepad support. How would they know to use a gamepad? No one is sitting next to them to let them know.

LET PLAYERS KNOW THE CONTROLS

If the player can rebind keys, and now rebind buttons, it’s important to have a consistency in game. Any mention of a jump key or button in game needs to reflect what key or button is bound. In this case, a player can have a dozen buttons to shoot, and they all need to be reflected in game when the shoot is mentioned. In the case of Shootski, there are a few early tutorials that reference jump, and shoot buttons. The game will make an array of what buttons (or keys) the player is using for shoot, and then write them all out.

IN CLOSING

While Shootski might be basic, this gamepad rebind system can be used going forward for more complex games. With feedback from the game, the future games can be better, and more accessible to everyone’s needs. I once heard “you can tell a lot about a game’s quality by the menus,” and this is just one more menu to making the game look, and play better.