I also rebound the bottom back paddles of my Xbox elite controller to L3/R3 because I hate having to press down the sticks. Honestly the back paddles make a lot of sense, I wish they were a standard feature in every controller
I strongly suspect that the Xbox controllers are not designed by humans. As a human, I have four buttons and one stick for my right thumb, but no buttons at all for two fingers on either hand (and the shoulder buttons and triggers are high enough that I usually use the same finger for both, making it three unused fingers per hand).
I think they are designed for a symmetrical hand with three fingers and three hands.
Yeah, I find myself having to do the weird claw grip to e.g. run while moving the camera in Dark Souls (because run is bound to B and it’s on hold, not toggle). There’s way too much stuff going on in the thumbs and nothing on the back.
I have also backed GLYDR, which is a (yet unreleased) foot controller that you can assign a lot of actions to. I’m really into weird input methods :)
I guess that I’m the weirdo that likes using L3 to sprint. Honestly, I hate when games bind any OTHER actions to L3. In my experience, if I press the left stick forward for more than about three seconds, the controller will register that as having pressed L3. It makes sense for sprint, since I’m obviously moving toward some target. Any other bind just wastes some ability while I’m moving.
As some context that I’m suddenly realising might be relevant, cerebral palsy limits the mobility of my left arm and I may be holding the controller differently than other players.
Same here. It feels natural to me. “Move forward” is “tilt”, “sprint forward” is “tilt harder”. I think maybe different controllers might make this more or less annoying. The post implies there is some sort of angling but I don’t feel like I have to be careful about angling when I sprint.
This seems so obvious I wonder why game developers keep doing it. “Push joystick down in the Z axis while also holding it at max Y axis” is obviously awkward. Interesting that the physical design just makes it worse.
I’ll note the controller the author is using has Hall effect sensors which are different from the cheap potentiometers who bought and dissected. May well be the same design for the L3 button, dunno.
my ps2 controllers would always break because I pressed the left stick too hard, ever since I’ve always been worried about sprinting too aggressively lol
I’ve always wondered if there could be a better engineered way, like instead of pushing downwards you could push further forwards (or in any direction) past an actuation point where the pivot would “click” and activate the L3 control. though tbh I like games like Assassins Creed or Stray where R1 is your sprint. Just please not tapping X like in GTA/RDR!
It’s worse if you’re speedrunning. For example, I run both Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. Optimal movement in HZD is to press Circle in a regular rhythm with a several-frame window, with steering on left stick in-between button presses. Optimal movement in HFW requires frame-perfectly clicking L3 and then Square in a lopsided rhythm while steering with left stick the entire time. It feels like the developers deliberately wanted to punish speedrunners; if one tries HZD’s optimal movement in HFW then Aloy enters a staggering stunned animation. (I blame Ted Faro.)
I eventually reconfigured sprint to one of the bumper/trigger buttons in FPSes, but not for any of the reasons described in this post; at least not directly. It was simply because you have to sprint so often in some FPSes that the L3 mechanism, or even the plain left stick input itself, would wear out and start to become unreliable (work only intermittently, or send the wrong input, etc.). I would instead map L3 to something infrequently used, such as throwing a grenade.
What are the popular left stick to sprint games people are playing? I’m gaming all the time across Switch, PS5 and PC and I can’t seem to think of any. It feels very FPS specific, but I refuse to play those with a controller so I may be getting lucky here.
I also rebound the bottom back paddles of my Xbox elite controller to L3/R3 because I hate having to press down the sticks. Honestly the back paddles make a lot of sense, I wish they were a standard feature in every controller
I strongly suspect that the Xbox controllers are not designed by humans. As a human, I have four buttons and one stick for my right thumb, but no buttons at all for two fingers on either hand (and the shoulder buttons and triggers are high enough that I usually use the same finger for both, making it three unused fingers per hand).
I think they are designed for a symmetrical hand with three fingers and three hands.
From memory, I think that might fit Idirans and Homomdans?
So you’re saying that the Xbox is an enemy of Culture?
Yes, except for the Zetetic Elench … my goodness; I’ve always wanted an excuse to type those words.
You can’t invade us, we’re the Peace Faction!
Yeah, I find myself having to do the weird claw grip to e.g. run while moving the camera in Dark Souls (because run is bound to B and it’s on hold, not toggle). There’s way too much stuff going on in the thumbs and nothing on the back.
I have also backed GLYDR, which is a (yet unreleased) foot controller that you can assign a lot of actions to. I’m really into weird input methods :)
I think they were patented which is why they disappeared from controllers made by the major manufacturers. Valve were sued by the parent owners iirc.
Off-topic(-ish), but the various pages on the author’s website are delightfully styled. It’s so nice to see.
I guess that I’m the weirdo that likes using L3 to sprint. Honestly, I hate when games bind any OTHER actions to L3. In my experience, if I press the left stick forward for more than about three seconds, the controller will register that as having pressed L3. It makes sense for sprint, since I’m obviously moving toward some target. Any other bind just wastes some ability while I’m moving.
As some context that I’m suddenly realising might be relevant, cerebral palsy limits the mobility of my left arm and I may be holding the controller differently than other players.
Same here. It feels natural to me. “Move forward” is “tilt”, “sprint forward” is “tilt harder”. I think maybe different controllers might make this more or less annoying. The post implies there is some sort of angling but I don’t feel like I have to be careful about angling when I sprint.
This seems so obvious I wonder why game developers keep doing it. “Push joystick down in the Z axis while also holding it at max Y axis” is obviously awkward. Interesting that the physical design just makes it worse.
I’ll note the controller the author is using has Hall effect sensors which are different from the cheap potentiometers who bought and dissected. May well be the same design for the L3 button, dunno.
my ps2 controllers would always break because I pressed the left stick too hard, ever since I’ve always been worried about sprinting too aggressively lol
I’ve always wondered if there could be a better engineered way, like instead of pushing downwards you could push further forwards (or in any direction) past an actuation point where the pivot would “click” and activate the L3 control. though tbh I like games like Assassins Creed or Stray where R1 is your sprint. Just please not tapping X like in GTA/RDR!
great post!
It’s worse if you’re speedrunning. For example, I run both Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. Optimal movement in HZD is to press
Circlein a regular rhythm with a several-frame window, with steering on left stick in-between button presses. Optimal movement in HFW requires frame-perfectly clickingL3and thenSquarein a lopsided rhythm while steering with left stick the entire time. It feels like the developers deliberately wanted to punish speedrunners; if one tries HZD’s optimal movement in HFW then Aloy enters a staggering stunned animation. (I blame Ted Faro.)I eventually reconfigured sprint to one of the bumper/trigger buttons in FPSes, but not for any of the reasons described in this post; at least not directly. It was simply because you have to sprint so often in some FPSes that the L3 mechanism, or even the plain left stick input itself, would wear out and start to become unreliable (work only intermittently, or send the wrong input, etc.). I would instead map L3 to something infrequently used, such as throwing a grenade.
What are the popular left stick to sprint games people are playing? I’m gaming all the time across Switch, PS5 and PC and I can’t seem to think of any. It feels very FPS specific, but I refuse to play those with a controller so I may be getting lucky here.