The Joystick icon has to go

edited May 2010 in Sam & Max
Ok, I'm playing 301 and enjoying it and I can easily get used to click and drag but my God the joystick icon has to go. It's ugly and it's distracting and diminishes the scene and the graphics.

I am wondering who thought that it is necessary to see that thing? How come we don't see it using WASD? It's like a punishment for people who use click and drag. It has to go or at least give us an option to turn it off.

In absolutely no way it helps me in any way.
«1

Comments

  • edited April 2010
    Its there mostly as simple visual feedback, I found it fairly unobtrusive on my playthrough and even useful as a point of reference for making Sam run around like an idiot.
  • edited April 2010
    I like the ability to use Max, but I dont like the new inventory and lack of shooting random things, if it aint broke why change it?
  • edited April 2010
    I definitely miss shooting random things. I tried to do it so many times this episode.
  • edited April 2010
    Dage wrote: »
    I like the ability to use Max, but I dont like the new inventory and lack of shooting random things, if it aint broke why change it?

    Because change is good. It was broke, anyway. It would take me out of the game when Sam shot random things.

    Also this thread is a little ridiculous.
  • edited April 2010
    Kroms wrote: »
    Also this thread is a little ridiculous.

    Thread went from singular complaint to inanity in three posts. Is that a record?
  • edited April 2010
    How could it take you out of the game if you shot random things, it was your choice if you wanted to shoot at things or not, Sam didn't just start shooting at everything in sight for no apparant reason.
    I also agree about the joystick icon, it was my first time using point and drag and I like knowing which way I was going. When I got stuck in a corner I didn't have to start around randomly to try and get out.
  • edited April 2010
    i liked the way that wheel formed around guybrush. i would like to see that back.
  • edited April 2010
    I preferred the wheel in TOMI, but that took ages to get used to. First episode I was like wtf, mouse control stinks. Then by episode 3, it was all I was using.

    Sam and Max's icon is more self explanatory. It works, and it is kinda helpful. Still, why is it a 360 controller? When this season isn't even on 360?
  • JakeJake Telltale Alumni
    edited April 2010
    Fury wrote: »
    Sam and Max's icon is more self explanatory. It works, and it is kinda helpful. Still, why is it a 360 controller? When this season isn't even on 360?

    Haha at work I got accused of it being a Gamecube controller, so whatever. I wanted it to look like a generic sticky thumb thing.
  • edited April 2010
    Might be nice if the next iteration of the UI looked more generic and less gamepad-y, but honestly I don't really care to much. The main thing is that movement of the "virtual analog stick" should be constrained so that you can't pull the "cursor" too far away from the "stick", if I'm making any sense.
  • edited April 2010
    it's definitely a gamecube controller. o maybe N64, don't remember correctly. good choice, sir.
  • edited April 2010
    Might be nice if the next iteration of the UI looked more generic and less gamepad-y, but honestly I don't really care to much. The main thing is that movement of the "virtual analog stick" should be constrained so that you can't pull the "cursor" too far away from the "stick", if I'm making any sense.

    That's a really good idea. I'll certainly second that since I have a tendency to drag the cursor much further than normal therefore requiring a lot more mousing to get Sam to turn. Constraining the cursor to the extremes of the virtual stick would basically solve that problem on the PC.

    Edit: And its absolutely a Gamecube stick.

    Telltale V-Stick
    Gamecube Stick
  • edited April 2010
    Dage wrote: »
    I like the ability to use Max, but I dont like the new inventory

    Actually I agree with that somewhat.
  • edited April 2010
    I didn't see a joystick at all... I saw a disc. Maybe I ought to replay the game...

    Generally speaking I thought the control worked well and I have no problem seeing something on the screen as an aid. I prefer point and click though as it seems faster and requires less work from me. Oh the effort of using click and drag.
  • edited April 2010
    They should change it to one of those old school arcade circular-on-the-top joysticky thingys. You know what I'm talking about.
    The main thing is that movement of the "virtual analog stick" should be constrained so that you can't pull the "cursor" too far away from the "stick", if I'm making any sense.
    I would really love this. Alot.

    Also, I loved the inventory!
  • edited April 2010
    Well, I use WASD so I don't really get to deal with it, unless it gets stuck on the screen for no reason what-so-ever not even using it, but... whatever.

    Just here to comment on the inventory, I really like it, but maybe we could do with a bit more space between 2 items (or a slight reducement of the size of the icons), since I tend to get the "get" icon from the icon to the right of the item I want too often for my liking.
  • edited April 2010
    i WASD myself everywhere if im in bed, but at my desk i use the joystick and it annoys me. i like hoy you can click the mouse wheel to access the inventory, but i miss the days of the ol' box tipping over and letting my stuff loose. i guess they needed the new inventory to allow room for the new interface icons (the "use" "read" etc, like squeezee doll icons and sams hand)
  • edited April 2010
    The main thing is that movement of the "virtual analog stick" should be constrained so that you can't pull the "cursor" too far away from the "stick", if I'm making any sense.

    You mean like this?

    You are right, and it seems to be an oversite caused by all the controller changes on the different ports. Such as the iPad not needing constraining, but the PC version should.

    At the risk of going off topic, has anyone tried the mouse options? The third option allows you to use click'n'drag without holding down the button. Just, click,drag,steer then click again to stop moving. A lot of people were asking for this. I prefer to just click,n,drag but this shows TTG is listening.
  • edited April 2010
    Avel wrote: »
    Thread went from singular complaint to inanity in three posts. Is that a record?

    Some post starts with insanity right away!
  • edited April 2010
    Might be nice if the next iteration of the UI looked more generic and less gamepad-y, but honestly I don't really care to much. The main thing is that movement of the "virtual analog stick" should be constrained so that you can't pull the "cursor" too far away from the "stick", if I'm making any sense.

    This post is Pale Man approved.

    (And a good example of constrained click and drag is the way it worked in TMI, just replace the giant ring around Guybrush with the virtual analog and it's golden)
  • edited April 2010
    I liked the joystick over the ring of ToMI, found it less intrusive.

    Also, in the inventory box, I recognized the squeezed doll hand from the original Sam & Max Hit the Road! Awesome!

    Finally, the helpscreen showed a controller and lots of buttons, one of which didn't have an equivalent on the PC keyboard: 'Show Selectable Objects'. Well, come to think of it: I already finished the game without it, so ...
  • edited April 2010
    I didn't find the joystick obstructive. It did its job.
    barchetta wrote: »
    Also, in the inventory box, I recognized the squeezed doll hand from the original Sam & Max Hit the Road! Awesome!

    I knew I had seen it before. Thanks.:rolleyes:
  • edited April 2010
    The new click'n'drag thumpad icon is a port back from the iPod. I'm sure it looked cool on it, and I don't think it looks too bad on the PC. Also because you can't hula Max in physcic mode, the new icon worked great for it.

    For the PC though, they need to constrain the mouse to the thumbpad icon size and remove the mouse/hand pointer.

    I do prefer the TOMI Hula, though. It gave you a better feel of player control, then having to look away from the player to see the joypad position.

    I wrote a script to constrain the mouse to the thumbpad. This helps to not have to look at the mouse/hand point position to the thumbpad. Even though I no longer needed to look at the thumbpad to know how to move, I still found myself looking away from Sam because the thumbpad is on screen.

    My suggestion is to add an option to the mouse options giving us the ability to select:
    Click'n'Drag Icon: Hula, Thumpad, None.

    This would please most people, but add to code complexity. Also in Max mode, it would have to use the Thumbpad instead of the Hula.
  • edited April 2010
    Are you kidding? I loved the improvements over ToMI:

    - The circle around Guybrush looked out of place and could be quite a moodkill

    - Because the mouse pointer got invisible, it was impossible to tell, where it actually was in relation to the "center", which led to annoying pirouettes.

    I'm not saying that there isn't room for improvement (actually, I mostly played the episode with a 360 controller, which was quite smooth), but I think the current solution is a big step up from ToMI.
  • edited April 2010
    Derrick wrote: »
    the new click'n'drag thumpad icon is a port back from the ipod. I'm sure it looked cool on it, and i don't think it looks too bad on the pc. Also because you can't hula max in physcic mode, the new icon worked great for it.

    For the pc though, they need to constrain the mouse to the thumbpad icon size and remove the mouse/hand pointer.

    I do prefer the tomi hula, though. It gave you a better feel of player control, then having to look away from the player to see the joypad position.

    I wrote a script to constrain the mouse to the thumbpad. This helps to not have to look at the mouse/hand point position to the thumbpad. Even though i no longer needed to look at the thumbpad to know how to move, i still found myself looking away from sam because the thumbpad is on screen.

    My suggestion is to add an option to the mouse options giving us the ability to select:
    Click'n'drag icon: Hula, thumpad, none.

    This would please most people, but add to code complexity. Also in max mode, it would have to use the thumbpad instead of the hula.

    this!
  • edited April 2010
    - Because the mouse pointer got invisible, it was impossible to tell, where it actually was in relation to the "center", which led to annoying pirouettes.

    FWIW, the hula gave more info then most people notice. The arrow on the hula gave the direction from center. It also would slowly fade out as you moved closer to center. Slowly move the click'n'drag the mouse around in TOMI and watch the arrow closely.
  • edited April 2010
    Derrick wrote: »
    FWIW, the hula gave more info then most people notice. The arrow on the hula gave the direction from center. It also would slowly fade out as you moved closer to center. Slowly move the click'n'drag the mouse around in TOMI and watch the arrow closely.

    I noticed the arrow, but never the fade out. Still, just having the pointer visible seems a lot easier to follow.
  • edited April 2010
    I didn't really use the screen joystick much but, there is a bug with it where it can stay on the screen, even through cutscenes.

    I think you have to manage to click something while using it to make it stay up, and it stays up until you use it again. Not completely sure about that though.
  • edited April 2010
    barchetta wrote: »
    I liked the joystick over the ring of ToMI, found it less intrusive.

    I didn't mean to imply that I wanted the ring back, I just want the cursor to be constrained to the joystick while you're using it rather than free-roaming.
  • edited April 2010
    I liked the joystick icon. It looked good, and was easier to use than the circle around Guybrush. It didn't really bother me that the cursor wasn't constrained to the joystick.
  • edited April 2010
    Zodler wrote: »
    Ok, I'm playing 301 and enjoying it and I can easily get used to click and drag but my God the joystick icon has to go. It's ugly and it's distracting and diminishes the scene and the graphics.

    I am wondering who thought that it is necessary to see that thing? How come we don't see it using WASD? It's like a punishment for people who use click and drag. It has to go or at least give us an option to turn it off.

    In absolutely no way it helps me in any way.

    Well. No. No. [wags finger] Bad Zodler. Bad.

    Time for a typical Secret Fawful post. I like the joystick icon. Why? Because I'm not a little bitch. You might as well complain about the inventory, Max, and pointer icons while you're at it. And yes, while I didn't really care about the ring in TOMI, I do like this better.
  • edited April 2010
    You might as well complain about the inventory, Max, and pointer icons
    No, why should I? This thing is different. Please again tell me telltale, why do we need the joystick icon? Why do we need it?
  • edited April 2010
    Zodler wrote: »
    No, why should I? This thing is different. Please again tell me telltale, why do we need the joystick icon? Why do we need it?

    I can't believe you're making an issue out of something as trivial as this. It's the same thing as being bothered by the pointer being shaped as Sam's (or Max's) hand.
    Anyway, I know I'm not gonna worry about it, since the people who are bothered by something as unobtrusive like this is obviously a minority.
  • edited April 2010
    I think the new way of dragging is better, since the one in ToMI never was in a right angle to be able to steer Guybrush as intended.
    I personally don't use this dragging that much, since I prefer the WASD, and this control scheme needs its refinement as well. Since we only have four buttons to direct Sam with, and Telltale are convinced to constrain the movement on PC this way, I would rather see they could constrain all the way. That walking goes by a predetermined path or something.
    In a perfect world we would still be pointing and clicking, though.
  • edited April 2010
    Well, when I think about it, I guess there really is no reason for the pointer to be there. Still doesn't mean crap.
  • edited April 2010
    But but... teh stick breaks the immersion of the cartoon, I mean game!

    Well, if there was any immersion. You let yourself enter Sam and Max's world AT YOUR OWN PERIL. Also I use WASD so bleh to you complainers!
  • edited April 2010
    Well, when I think about it, I guess there really is no reason for the pointer to be there. Still doesn't mean crap.

    Actually the pointer currently needs to be there to let you know how far you overshot the onscreen joystick. The pointer should go though, and the mouse constrained just like it was in TOMI. The pointer is there due to the needs of normal mouse control and it is just an oversite that it works the way it currently does in click'n'drag mode.

    The whole joystck thing was designed for the iPad and back-ported to the PC. It makes sense to have it on the iPad for visual feedback, but it is not really necessary to display on the PC. It is needed for an introduction to click'n'drag on the PC, but you should be able to turn the joystick display off.
  • edited April 2010
    Controller were excellent imo. Clear upgrade from ToMI. Smooth and easy.
  • edited April 2010
    Anyway, I know I'm not gonna worry about it, since the people who are bothered by something as unobtrusive like this is obviously a minority.
    On the contrary it is obtrusive. Have you actually tried it? Try it first. When you are walking and exploring the world and you are supposed to be immersed in the game, you have a big ugly icon in front of your view, blocking your view.
  • edited April 2010
    I liked it, made it easier to steer Sam and better than that halo thingy in ToMI. It's nice and small and unobtrusive. Thinking back, I'm surprised at how often I switched between WSAD movement and click & drag movement, so seamless the transition.
Sign in to comment in this discussion.