Thoughts on the PS4 controller's touchpad

Gameplay
#1

There’s been a random mention or two of this in various threads (I think, mostly by me) but I wanted to toss up a post devoted to ideas for how the touchpad might be integrated into the PS4 version of KCD.

I know it’s early in the life of this system but I’ve seen the touchpad used in a few different ways, mainly with map navigation and selecting some options for a companion unit in Killzone.

By the time this game is out, I’m sure we’ll have seen a variety of uses for the touchpad itself but I like its potential as a way of enhancing gameplay while being an option for gamers rather than something that’s forced.

In AC4 it can be used to move around the map, but I find it a bit too sensitive, like a mouse pointer that slides around way too quickly for how much effort you’re making to actually move it. But, the same use could potentially be included.

Another thought I had related to menu navigation. I obviously don’t know yet how they plan to make navigation work within the inventory and menus on consoles compared to, say, a PC mouse, but again - the touchpad could be an alternative to using a control stick if there’s a pointer within the console version.

As for it being something that could factor into actual gameplay, something similar to Killzone might work if you’re looking at swapping weapons, but for anything more than that it’d take some definite testing and QA to make it viable for much more.

I don’t think the touchpad has a future of simply being a gimmick and I do hope game developers find interesting ways of incorporating it. Anything you think it could do well in relation to KCD?

I guess as another part of this, the controller in general can do some interesting things with the color bar and sound. Obviously some games can have the color bar change relative to your health, but Outlast has it white or green depending on whether or not you’re using night vision with your camcorder.

There’s also a speaker built into the controller, which has been used as a way to add a little extra audio to games like Resogun and Knack.

All of this stuff is optional and KCD would still work just fine without any of it factored in, but I’ll be curious to see what might be considered and tested.

3 Likes
#2

Finally found a post that questions the potential of the various abilities of the new PS4 controller, cheers to you. I have an idea of sorts that I have posted to two other posts to try to see what everybody’s thoughts and inputs on my idea. Here it is:

If KC: D ends up being Oculus Rift compatible, then I suppose that they will have independent head movement for people who do not own or play with the Rift. That is simple to implement into the PC elite hamster race because we have many buttons on the keyboard. What about the PS4 and Xbone? I know that the PS4 controller has a good gyroscope in it, I don’t know too much about the Xbone’s controller, but that gyroscope can be used and implemented into the game for independent head movement.

For PC elite hamster race, we can just hold the alt key, like in Arma. For the console peasants, the head can be moved independently from the body by holding both shoulder buttons or something while moving/twisting/turning the controller around in real-time space dimension.

A fairly decent example of this is in BF4. When you are in some certain vehicles, and you have motion sensor enabled within the settings, you can look around inside the vehicle by physically manipulating your controller while holding a button.

1 Like
#3

head movement would be a cool addition for a first person game with large battles like this. I think the best way would be though oculus or the kinect and ps4 camera. The war thunder devs are using the ps4 camera for head tracking and said it works great and was easy. I also like the gyroscope idea if it is accurate enough. Using buttons might be to slow to be used as realistic head movement in battles unless say r1 turns your head fully right but maybe it would work how you described it

#4

Did the War Thunder devs use the PS eye like the TrackIR? I think that Warhorse should use the cameras to their fullest extent that they can be used, but remember that people who have PS4s don’t necessarily have the PS eye because it is not part of the PS4 bundle. They would sort of be wasting some money developing the tracking for the PS eye for this reason.

Even though the Xbox One controller has no gyroscope or sixaxis capabilities, the kinect comes with the Xbox. The controller has IR LEDs which the kinect picks up. This works in place of the gyroscope, but I don’t know if it is on par with the accuracy and such.

I think that if they want to implement independent head movement into the game using these different features, they will have to work with the PS4s sixaxis controller. For the Xbox One, they will have to use the kinects ability to track the controller in real-space via the IR LEDs. For the PC, they would just have to implement the Rift. For people without the Rift, just bind it to the alt key and use mouse movements.

The gyroscope works like a charm by the way.

#5

Yeah, I have no real need or purpose for the PS Eye at this point.

#6

Since the Xbox One and the PS4 have different pacakages/bundles, I think that they should use the different abilities of each. I doubt that Micro$oft will ever remove the kinect for a cheaper Xbox One only bundle. The PS4 comes with a standard package without the PS eye, and the controller is much better than the PS3s.

My point is that Warhorse shouldn’t use the cameras to track human head movements like the Track IR, but to use each different platforms controller tracking. The movement of the controller in actual space dimension.

#7

i think outputting dialog through the DS4 speakers could a cool idea, i liked how in Killzone SF you could listen pretty well the audio logs you found in the game

now if devs cant find a good use to it then dont force it either, like in Tomb Raider is just an extra speaker for general audio of the game which made it annoying so i disabled it (and any motion crap)

#8

A touchpad on a controller? I thought Valve’s going to be the first one to come up with that. Now if you tell me it’s controlled using a thumb like 90% of the buttons, I’m going to punch someone.

#9

General info on the touchpad, for anyone unfamiliar with it.

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