Interview Anito trials and tribulations at Gamer's with Jobs

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Anino Entertainment; Anito: Defend a Land Enraged

<a href="http://www.gamerswithjobs.com">Gamers with Jobs</a> has posted <a href="http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=676&mode=flat&order=0&thold=0">an interview</a> with <b>Luna Cruz</b>(No, I'm not making that name up) of <a href="http://www.aninoentertainment.com/">Anino Entertainment</A> about <A href="http://www.aninoentertainment.com/anito.html">Anito: Defend a Land Enraged</a>. Here's a bit on the control scheme:
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<blockquote><b>Q: Let's talk about the battle system. The game features 2D/isometric view, however, the player is controlling his character via WASD/mouse scheme. How does that actually work? How do you aim? </b>
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LC: You move your character using FPS controls (WASD), not through clicking the mouse where you want to go. Besides examining / interacting with items and people, the mouse is used for attacking (melee and ranged) during combat. When you're using a melee weapon, left-click is for the primary attack and right-click is for the secondary attack of that weapon. If you're using a ranged weapon like a bow or a gun, holding left-click will aim and releasing it will shoot. The right-click is for quick melee attacks when an enemy gets too close to you. During combat, the player will always look in the direction of the mouse, so you can scout the area around you.
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It may sound confusing at first, but it's pretty intuitive once you start playing it </blockquote>
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It's been pretty damned confusing in all the games that have used that kind of system in the past.
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Spotted this at <a href="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</a>

 

[EvoG]

Whats confusing there Saint? We grew up playing games where you control the characters movement with one joystick and shooting with either directional button presses or another joystick ( Robotron, Ikari Warriors ). Unless you have zero motor skillz or never played a 1st/3rd person game, I can't see how you'd find this problematic. You have a cursor on screen, which you move around to interact and fight, and the character always faces the direction of the cursor. Isn't it intuitive to walk down the screen if you press DOWN? WASD is perfectly fine ( or arrow keys if you will, assuming there's key config )

Which other games are you referring to that had used this system in the past? I can't think of any in recent memory ( NWN doesn't count as its not an action game ).

Cheers

 

[Astromarine]

Tip: Styles can be applied quickly to selected text.

I must say, saint, that EVNova for example is more or less like this and I find I can play it no problem.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I knew these Filipinos couldn't design a GUI for shit. EV Nova is something else - it's like Subspace, Solar Winds, Zone 66 and every other space trading RPG. Don't fix it if it ain't b0rked.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Re: Tip: Styles can be applied quickly to selected text.

I must say, saint, that EVNova for example is more or less like this and I find I can play it no problem.

EV Nova is NOT like that. They're talking about using WASD and using the mouse to aim. There's been a few games to do this. The one that comes to mind first is a game called Trans, where you played transformable robots and it had RTS elements. It would have been a really neat game, but the WASD + Mouse Aiming system was awful. I doubt you can buy it anymore, since the company that made it, WizCom, kinda crashed and burned after it's release.. But here's a link where you can try the demo:

http://www.demo-files.com/view.php3?365

 

[Markman]

Does CrimsonLand count? http://crimsonland.reflexive.com/crimsonland/
Its a cool little game.
Better than Lionheart.
It has WASD+mouse controls.
Even Zax, Reflexives previous top-down shooter had controls like this.

For me, this is a good thing. Its much better and more interactive than just clicking the mouse and hitting the SHIFT button from time to time.
I think even Restricted Area is gonna have controls like this, and you can also play just with the mouse like in Diablo.

 

[Zetor]

fwiw, System Shock 1 had a WASD+aim-with-the-mouse control scheme... it was surprisingly easy to get used to back in the day, but nowadays [with everyone used to mouselook] it's just painful.

-- Z.

 

[EvoG]

System Shock 1 was first person, this Annito is top down but I think you mean that you can serperate the movement of the cursor from the movement of the camera, which then yea, I agree.

Anyway yes, pre-WASD, I liked its control ( or more accurately Ultima Underworlds control ) with the onscreen arrows for all movement and analog control of speed with the cursors distance from the center of the screen.

Back on topic : One games ( and an obscure game I might add, sheesh ) poor implementation of this control does not make for a bad control scheme. This Trans is 3D as well, so you're dealing with the 3D camera on top of movement and cursor...so unless they tied the cursor movement with the rotation of the camera, I can see this potentially being a problem. You have no camera to deal with in Annito, so its not an issue. Besides, its all in the execution, and again I say, this isn't even a remotely unusual concept, as this has been how a LOT of games have been played growing up with games.

Cheers