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Controller Support

Hello :) I hope you will consider adding controller support to expand accessibility. While some players prefer mouse and keyboard, controllers allow more people to enjoy the game comfortably, including those with disabilities.

Controller support is now standard in many PC games and MMOs. It would be inclusive to implement such an option from the start, rather than trying to haphazardly add it later. Millions of PC gamers use controllers from PlayStation and Xbox on a regular basis.

By supporting different control schemes, you have the opportunity to welcome more types of players into your community. This can help the long-term health and growth of the game. I encourage taking the time to ensure your gameplay is accessible and enjoyable for people of all abilities. An open, diverse player base is beneficial for everyone.

Please take this positive feedback and make the game available to the widest audience possible for everyone to enjoy how they like. Controller compatibility from the start is a small investment that could pay off significantly in goodwill and new players. :)
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Comments

  • SmaashleySmaashley Member, Alpha Two
    I wonder how they will put 21 skills on controller buttons 🤔
  • IskiabIskiab Member, Alpha Two
    Yea, controller support I'd say is a nice to have, but think it's unlikely with how many buttons the game has. A controller would need some crazy mapping so it wouldn't work well.
  • SongcallerSongcaller Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited August 8
    I designed a controller with 32 buttons. Too bad Microsoft hadn't been made aware from my emails. 😞
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  • George_BlackGeorge_Black Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    These accounts keep popping up. Everybody wants to advertise something.
  • Binding 48 spells to a controller isn't impossible, FF14 does it just fine. It would be pretty silly if they didn't add controller support at some point.
  • George_BlackGeorge_Black Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    ItsNoGood wrote: »
    Binding 48 spells to a controller isn't impossible, FF14 does it just fine. It would be pretty silly if they didn't add controller support at some point.

    Ff14 doesnt have PvP (just an afterthought added years later). Ff14 doesnt require re-action or judgement. Every class has ONE rotation of skills which players have performed 10k times on a mostly static boss, and all they have to do is walk out of the incoming aoe dmg zones.

    It's a very static game which allows for the slow usage of combination buttons on a controller. Another bad example of an mmo.
  • patrick68794patrick68794 Member, Alpha Two
    ItsNoGood wrote: »
    Binding 48 spells to a controller isn't impossible, FF14 does it just fine. It would be pretty silly if they didn't add controller support at some point.

    Ff14 doesnt have PvP (just an afterthought added years later). Ff14 doesnt require re-action or judgement. Every class has ONE rotation of skills which players have performed 10k times on a mostly static boss, and all they have to do is walk out of the incoming aoe dmg zones.

    It's a very static game which allows for the slow usage of combination buttons on a controller. Another bad example of an mmo.

    FFXIV absolutely has PvP. It doesn't matter if it was in at launch or not. PvP is PvP. It also 100% requires reactions and judgement lol what an ignorant post.
  • George_BlackGeorge_Black Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    ItsNoGood wrote: »
    Binding 48 spells to a controller isn't impossible, FF14 does it just fine. It would be pretty silly if they didn't add controller support at some point.

    Ff14 doesnt have PvP (just an afterthought added years later). Ff14 doesnt require re-action or judgement. Every class has ONE rotation of skills which players have performed 10k times on a mostly static boss, and all they have to do is walk out of the incoming aoe dmg zones.

    It's a very static game which allows for the slow usage of combination buttons on a controller. Another bad example of an mmo.

    FFXIV absolutely has PvP. It doesn't matter if it was in at launch or not. PvP is PvP. It also 100% requires reactions and judgement lol what an ignorant post.

    Ok....
    So here we have an mmo, ff14, which was designed for PvE, with the boring static rotation based gameplay and controller support from day 1 and no PvP in the horizon

    and you want IS, which is the opposite to design AoC with controller support in mind?

    No to controllers.
    They lower the design quality of combat to fit with their limiting function.
  • Taleof2CitiesTaleof2Cities Member, Alpha Two
    edited August 8
    FFXIV absolutely has PvP. It doesn't matter if it was in at launch or not. PvP is PvP. It also 100% requires reactions and judgement lol what an ignorant post.

    I wandered into the FFXIV Subreddit and did a Subreddit search on "What is PvP like?"

    The top result with the most upvotes said:

    It exists. Population waxes and wanes. Don't get into this game for the pvp, though. It has other strengths, and pvp is kinda just a side thing.

    If you can avoid being triggered by George's abrasive spirit, it looks like he has a point.

    Getting back to the topic, though, controller support is going to be additional scope creep that Intrepid doesn't have time for.

    After launch? Maybe. If the issues mentioned by the above replies can be overcome.
  • KilionKilion Member, Alpha Two
    They could do that and maybe their will, but there is a reason why many action based games do not mix those two. A FPS player using keyboard and mouse will outperform those using controllers. Additionally, a lot of developers add support systems to improve aim for players with controllers. Also I don't see any games with this many active abilities offering controller support.

    So while I get why some people would wish for it, this doesn't seem like a huge technical addition to the development, that Intrepid cannot afford (at least for now) because it is out of scope and the time line is already stretched and kinda messy.
    The answer is probably >>> HERE <<<
  • No to controllers.
    They lower the design quality of combat to fit with their limiting function.

    I agree that they should not design the combat specifically around controllers.
    What makes you think they would have to in order to add basic controller support though?
    Getting back to the topic, though, controller support is going to be additional scope creep that Intrepid doesn't have time for.

    I don't think that adding controller support is particularly time consuming. UE supports controllers out of the box. Most of the work would be deciding on default keybinds and making a couple of UI-elements for indicating things like which button you have selected or which hotbar you have active assuming they go with hotbar-swapping like FF14.

    I'd also like to add that hotbar-swapping isn't the only solution, you could also take a trick from fighting games and allow for binding sequences of buttons to abilities.

  • daveywaveydaveywavey Member, Alpha Two
    As always, the wiki is your friend: https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Controller_support

    "Controller support will likely be something we work on closer to launch.[4] – Steven Sharif"
    This link may help you: https://ashesofcreation.wiki/


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  • George_BlackGeorge_Black Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    ItsNoGood wrote: »
    No to controllers.
    They lower the design quality of combat to fit with their limiting function.

    I agree that they should not design the combat specifically around controllers.
    What makes you think they would have to in order to add basic controller support though?
    Getting back to the topic, though, controller support is going to be additional scope creep that Intrepid doesn't have time for.

    I don't think that adding controller support is particularly time consuming. UE supports controllers out of the box. Most of the work would be deciding on default keybinds and making a couple of UI-elements for indicating things like which button you have selected or which hotbar you have active assuming they go with hotbar-swapping like FF14.

    I'd also like to add that hotbar-swapping isn't the only solution, you could also take a trick from fighting games and allow for binding sequences of buttons to abilities.

    https://forums.ashesofcreation.com/discussion/59622/controller-support-ideas
  • MyosotysMyosotys Member
    edited August 8
    I have read somewhere that there will not be possibility for controller. And it's better like that.
    ItsNoGood wrote: »
    Binding 48 spells to a controller isn't impossible, FF14 does it just fine. It would be pretty silly if they didn't add controller support at some point.

    Imo it's silly to play with controller. Lots of time and money wasted to adapt the game for controller. It will impact the game for Mouse + Keyboard users. At the end no one will be happy and your inclusive will be exlusive.
  • patrick68794patrick68794 Member, Alpha Two
    edited August 8
    ItsNoGood wrote: »
    Binding 48 spells to a controller isn't impossible, FF14 does it just fine. It would be pretty silly if they didn't add controller support at some point.

    Ff14 doesnt have PvP (just an afterthought added years later). Ff14 doesnt require re-action or judgement. Every class has ONE rotation of skills which players have performed 10k times on a mostly static boss, and all they have to do is walk out of the incoming aoe dmg zones.

    It's a very static game which allows for the slow usage of combination buttons on a controller. Another bad example of an mmo.

    FFXIV absolutely has PvP. It doesn't matter if it was in at launch or not. PvP is PvP. It also 100% requires reactions and judgement lol what an ignorant post.

    Ok....
    So here we have an mmo, ff14, which was designed for PvE, with the boring static rotation based gameplay and controller support from day 1 and no PvP in the horizon

    and you want IS, which is the opposite to design AoC with controller support in mind?

    No to controllers.
    They lower the design quality of combat to fit with their limiting function.

    It would work fine lol in fact if Intrepid doesn't add controller support (which it sounds like they will be) then I would be willing to bet that within a few weeks of full release that people will be using controllers perfectly fine through one method or another, just like with almost every game that exists that doesn't have native controller support
  • patrick68794patrick68794 Member, Alpha Two
    ItsNoGood wrote: »
    No to controllers.
    They lower the design quality of combat to fit with their limiting function.

    I agree that they should not design the combat specifically around controllers.
    What makes you think they would have to in order to add basic controller support though?
    Getting back to the topic, though, controller support is going to be additional scope creep that Intrepid doesn't have time for.

    I don't think that adding controller support is particularly time consuming. UE supports controllers out of the box. Most of the work would be deciding on default keybinds and making a couple of UI-elements for indicating things like which button you have selected or which hotbar you have active assuming they go with hotbar-swapping like FF14.

    I'd also like to add that hotbar-swapping isn't the only solution, you could also take a trick from fighting games and allow for binding sequences of buttons to abilities.

    They wouldn't have to change the design of anything to add controller support, it's just dumb "elitist" crap lol
  • Smaashley wrote: »
    I wonder how they will put 21 skills on controller buttons 🤔

    It’s very possible and has been done many times 🙂
  • Iskiab wrote: »
    Yea, controller support I'd say is a nice to have, but think it's unlikely with how many buttons the game has. A controller would need some crazy mapping so it wouldn't work well.

    It works well in other mmos they simply only need to try. And it lets people know they do care about not only one type of playstyle
  • ItsNoGood wrote: »
    Binding 48 spells to a controller isn't impossible, FF14 does it just fine. It would be pretty silly if they didn't add controller support at some point.

    Correct and There’s other mmos and also rpg who’ve done the same they only need try . Being able to have your game accessible to more people and play styles is always a plus in my opinion 🙂
  • Myosotys wrote: »
    I have read somewhere that there will not be possibility for controller. And it's better like that.
    ItsNoGood wrote: »
    Binding 48 spells to a controller isn't impossible, FF14 does it just fine. It would be pretty silly if they didn't add controller support at some point.

    Imo it's silly to play with controller. Lots of time and money wasted to adapt the game for controller. It will impact the game for Mouse + Keyboard users. At the end no one will be happy and your inclusive will be exlusive.

    That’s just selfish basically it has been done before and for many games. It does not diminish a game to have it be able to be enjoyed by people with different playstyles

  • ItsNoGood wrote: »
    No to controllers.
    They lower the design quality of combat to fit with their limiting function.

    I agree that they should not design the combat specifically around controllers.
    What makes you think they would have to in order to add basic controller support though?
    Getting back to the topic, though, controller support is going to be additional scope creep that Intrepid doesn't have time for.

    I don't think that adding controller support is particularly time consuming. UE supports controllers out of the box. Most of the work would be deciding on default keybinds and making a couple of UI-elements for indicating things like which button you have selected or which hotbar you have active assuming they go with hotbar-swapping like FF14.

    I'd also like to add that hotbar-swapping isn't the only solution, you could also take a trick from fighting games and allow for binding sequences of buttons to abilities.

    They wouldn't have to change the design of anything to add controller support, it's just dumb "elitist" crap lol


    I don’t understand the elitist stuff why do people want to gatekeep games that can be shared and played by people who prefer a different method of interacting with them it’s very sad
  • SongcallerSongcaller Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Last I heard Steven and the devs said platform Aquison will be consoles after launch. Thus, controller support should also be available on pc.
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  • SmaashleySmaashley Member, Alpha Two
    Seems like it would be harder to be a good player with a controller. So if I can beat them all easily with my mouse and keyboard because they play with controller, I would cheer up adding controller support. :smile:
  • OrbificatorOrbificator Member, Phoenix Initiative, Hero of the People, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    At the very least, allow controllers to be natively detected and used as inputs. let us controller people do the work if need be.
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  • George_BlackGeorge_Black Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    edited August 8
    Smaashley wrote: »
    Seems like it would be harder to be a good player with a controller. So if I can beat them all easily with my mouse and keyboard because they play with controller, I would cheer up adding controller support. :smile:

    They would have to simplify combat for all of us to accomodate controllers. Would you still be happy?






    These people keep repeating "it worked on other mmos". They dont listen to the facts:
    Other mmos have small hotbars (eso nw)
    Other mmos have slow combat (ff14).

    Elitist and gatekeeping? You dont see me complaining about console games not being available on PC. Why? Because they are designed for consoles and preserve their quality.
    Any ports are an afterthought, without changes to the design. To PRESERVE quality.
    Stop being a victim while at the same time you demand a "yes" to everything you ask...
  • These people keep repeating "it worked on other mmos". They dont listen to the facts:
    Other mmos have small hotbars (eso nw)
    Other mmos have slow combat (ff14).

    Okay, let's take a look outside of the MMO genre then if you need more examples. Fighting games have extremely fast-paced reaction-based combat with sometimes hundreds of different moves and they work just fine on any input device you can think of.
  • George_BlackGeorge_Black Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    Ok a game designed for consoles. Left punch right punch left kick right kick.
    Got it....
    Too many moves. I just managed to count to 4.
    All you do is change the sequence and the fighter changes move sets. Can you do that in an mmo hotbar? No.

    Let me give you a better example.
    Age of empires 4 recently introduced controller support and made 0 changes to the games design.

    Any match against a controller player (you can see it with an icon) is an auto-win.

    To give controllers a fair chance against PC players (in a game made for pc), age of empires would have to be simplified
    Or create a dedicated controller only queue. IS cant do any of that for AoC.


    I played DS and Elden Ring on PC. I have the disadvantage against controller enemies. I dont demand changes to those games to accomodate me.
    Same for racing games vs controllers or steering wheels.
    Same for fighting games. I wanna start tekken 7 and 8 on my PC but right I cant be bothered. When I do I will get a controller, which I havent done for DS and Elden Ring.

    Studios like amszon and bethesda got greedy, ruined their games for larger customer base.
    Square enix just makes ff games. Mmo combat wasnt the experience that drew you to that game. And so a lower quality combat and no pvp at launch meant you could enable controller support.

    I am done talking about controllers for mmos with proper hotbars and manuevarable/higly mobile ability combat.
  • Ok a game designed for consoles. Left punch right punch left kick right kick.
    Got it....
    Too many moves. I just managed to count to 4.

    There's a character in Tekken 8 that has 197 moves and the lowest move-count character is still at 77.
    All you do is change the sequence and the fighter changes move sets. Can you do that in an mmo hotbar? No.

    No, that's not how it works in any fighting game. A sequence of buttons is tied to a single move. This is an alternative design to FF14's implementation of hotbar swapping.
    Any match against a controller player (you can see it with an icon) is an auto-win.
    That's fine. I'm not advocating for controller players to be on an even playing field. I just want people to have the option. Besides, the skill gap between keyboard and controller for an RTS is massive compared to an MMO like AoC where you control 1 character and can make a build that primarily uses tab-target spells. Even if controller is far too unviable in PvP or the open world, why not let people who want to hang out in a tavern and chat with guild mates for 3 hours do it from their couch?

  • George_BlackGeorge_Black Member, Intrepid Pack, Alpha Two
    No problem if nothing changes, as I have said in older topics. As linked..
  • daveywaveydaveywavey Member, Alpha Two
    ItsNoGood wrote: »
    Ok a game designed for consoles. Left punch right punch left kick right kick.
    Got it....
    Too many moves. I just managed to count to 4.

    There's a character in Tekken 8 that has 197 moves and the lowest move-count character is still at 77.
    All you do is change the sequence and the fighter changes move sets. Can you do that in an mmo hotbar? No.

    No, that's not how it works in any fighting game. A sequence of buttons is tied to a single move. This is an alternative design to FF14's implementation of hotbar swapping.
    Any match against a controller player (you can see it with an icon) is an auto-win.
    That's fine. I'm not advocating for controller players to be on an even playing field. I just want people to have the option. Besides, the skill gap between keyboard and controller for an RTS is massive compared to an MMO like AoC where you control 1 character and can make a build that primarily uses tab-target spells. Even if controller is far too unviable in PvP or the open world, why not let people who want to hang out in a tavern and chat with guild mates for 3 hours do it from their couch?

    You don't need to worry. Steven's indicated that it'll be in-game. George isn't in charge, you're all good.
    This link may help you: https://ashesofcreation.wiki/


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