I've been experiencing some odd behavior with my controller inputs in certain games, like in Return to Moria. When I push the controller fully up and to the right (100% vertical and 100% horizontal), my character ends up walking instead of jogging. This seems to happen specifically at that crossing point of the max inputs. As someone who's trained in software development (but not in game dev), I'm curious why these inputs don't seem to be handled correctly. Is this something inherent to the engine, or is it related to how the game itself handles input? Also, if I wanted to pursue game development in the future, what can I do to prevent this from happening? It feels like it must be a common issue or an engine flaw, or maybe I just have bad luck with my game choices!
3 Answers
From my experience, thumbstick inputs can be tricky because they work in a circular range rather than a square one. When you hit those max values diagonally, the input may not register as (1,1) but something like (.7, .7) instead. This could definitely throw off any calculations made based on keyboard inputs that expect straight up-and-down or side-to-side values. It seems like it would be a known issue, though!
It sounds like it's not necessarily an engine issue, but rather a bug in the specific game or a problem with your controller sending weird inputs. It's also worth noting that not all games have this problem, which could mean it's something unique to Return to Moria. Have you checked if other games react the same way? If it's happening across multiple controllers, it might lean towards being a game-specific bug.
Not a game dev myself, but there are often various bugs that can come up in games. Return to Moria was developed on a tight budget, which often leads to those kinds of bugs. It sounds like the inputs could be misinterpreted, given that you’re dealing with analog inputs from thumbsticks, which can be tricky. Perhaps trying out Unity or another game engine could help you see how these systems work in practice!
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