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Space Sims - It is NOT a real Space Sim without Joystick Controls as an option...
Worf
Member Posts: 264
Imagine going to the Military of any major country trying to sell your Leading Edge Aircraft and all you have to control the Jet Fighter is a Mouse and a Keyboard.
You would be escorted out of their offices so fast that you wouldn't know what hit you!
So why do game developers NOT put in Joystick controls in a Space Sim? Perhaps it is pure laziness... Perhaps they don't know about open source code that lets one add in joystick controls in less than a week... most often it can be done in a day. There are open sourced games like Freespace 1, Freespace 2, Descent 1, and Descent 2 that have excellent joystick controls and excellent joystick configuration code to pull from. Code Project web site has several great examples of Joystick controls as does the DirectX SDK's in the last 12 years or so.
Sadly ANY Space Sim that doesn't have the option just doesn't seem like a real Space Sim to me... It boils down to becoming a MMORPG in 3 dimensions with horrible turning controls for me.
Many years ago Freelancer came out... but alas it did NOT have built-in Joystick Control Options.
You should NOT have to use an external program like "JoyMouse", etc to fix what should have been built-in into the game in the first place.
I have played a lot of Space Sims and trust me, they work a ton better for this now 56 year old when it comes to steering. You can't duplicate a corkscrew maneouver with a mouse (and keyboard) like you can with a joystick (and keyboard)!!!
Star Trek Online is a mouse and keyboard game... it is decent but you still cannot turn as fast or as well as if you had a Joystick as an option!
* Rant Over! *
>:(
Comments
http://chroniclesofthenerds.com/nerdfight/
Y U NO FLIP TABLE?!?!?!
In Star Trek Online (as well as EVE) ur MOSTLY captaining capital ships the size of an aircraft carrier or a small town, not a fast, nible single-seat fighter. I wouldnt wanna ''pilot'' a capital ship like the Galaxy / Sovereign class with a flight stick, lol (but thats just me).
Besides, unless you include apps for mobile phones etc, nowadays not many ''space sims'' are being made anymore (som indie companies are trying to fill in the void, though).
So, while I WOULD like to have a cool space sim with fighters etc (like freespace 2 and so on) with a joystick option, I will be happy ENOUGH if one of the triple-A companies decide to release a space sim title after a decade AT ALL lol
Time for a revival of this awesome peripheral device
Playing a space sim with mouse+KB is beyond pathetic, kids these days don´t know what they are missing.
Games are more popular than sims, that is kinda the issue. This is why Rockband was so popular.
Is it possible to do something similar for the "space sim" genre, maybe, but evidence suggests no.
http://chroniclesofthenerds.com/nerdfight/
Y U NO FLIP TABLE?!?!?!
True, but for example (unlike X-wing vs Tie Fighter games, etc) Wing Commander Prophecy and Freespace 2 were both ''joystick games'' and IMO neither one of the games were much of a simulator, at all. (Alot more action / ''gamey parts'' than an actual simulation of what it would be like to fly a fictional space craft into combat situations
)
So what Im trying to say is, just because a ''game where u pilot a space-fighter makes use of the flight stick doesnt necessarily mean that its a sim by default''.
If memory serves, there were quite a few games back than which made use of joysticks, taken Place at the cockpit of a spacecraft, and still managed to be popular,
Alas, times have changed, and I nevertheless have to agree with your predicament that nowadays such games aint so popular no more ....
I understand what you are saying and I partially agree. The difference lies in the mechanics themselves. Those games that had more game than sim still relied upon the tactile response you got from the flight stick to pull you into that empowering role. You see similar things done today in first person shooters versus third person shooters.
http://chroniclesofthenerds.com/nerdfight/
Y U NO FLIP TABLE?!?!?!
European Air War, not a space sim but still a flight sim, was one of the funnest games ever. It had plenty of action, plenty of pvp, and it still used a joystick.
The thing I remember about a joystick though was that, as more buttons and controls were added to games, they became cumbersome because you had to operate the joystick with one hand and use the keyboard with the other. I kind of think that is what actually phased them out. And I can't tell you how many coffee's were spilled on how many keyboards in my house because those suction cups that they used to put on the bottom of the so-called "good one" broke loose.
"Bogey on your six! Bogey on your six! Bank left! Bank LEFT!!!.......DANG!!!........dudes I gotta log, just spilled coffee all over the place"