Wed May 28, 2003 8:32 am
Let''s Find Statements made by FL developers that might have
--First was the so-called interactive HUD which they claimed necessatated a mouse-only interfacte. This is not necessarily the case. Many other space sims had more HUD and ship management functions (WC and Freespace come to mind). Yet they managed to do fine by have the functions assigned to hotkeys, just like 99% of the functions of the HUD are in FL. Therefore a mouse driven interfact is not the only way.
--Second is that to be able to shoot anywhere on screen, a mouse interface is necessary. Not true once again. I remember a ship from WC3 or 4 (not sure which) that had turreted main guns. It fired at the lead indicator of the targeted ship rather than straight ahead of your ship. It was also more realistic than the arc used in FL. The arc sometimes conflicts with gun placement and ship design. I.E. you would be shooting your hull if you guns could fire in as large an arc as they do in the game. I admit mining would be much more taxing if one did not have as large an arc.
This is not a biased interface post. I'm just trying to point out that the developers aren't totally honest in their statements of why the game would ONLY work with a mouse. It would have been much more honest to simply say that "to appeal to the larget number of potential customers, it was decided that a streamlined mouse interface would be implemented and that because of the tactial advantage of this interface over the clunkier joystick and keyboard interface (in multiplayer), it was also decided to not waste time implementing joystick support since we feel no one would use it anyway."
I however feel that combat in Freespace 2, with all its clunkiness is much more challenging and rewarding than that in FL.
Edited by - kx100pro on 28-05-2003 09:32:45
--Second is that to be able to shoot anywhere on screen, a mouse interface is necessary. Not true once again. I remember a ship from WC3 or 4 (not sure which) that had turreted main guns. It fired at the lead indicator of the targeted ship rather than straight ahead of your ship. It was also more realistic than the arc used in FL. The arc sometimes conflicts with gun placement and ship design. I.E. you would be shooting your hull if you guns could fire in as large an arc as they do in the game. I admit mining would be much more taxing if one did not have as large an arc.
This is not a biased interface post. I'm just trying to point out that the developers aren't totally honest in their statements of why the game would ONLY work with a mouse. It would have been much more honest to simply say that "to appeal to the larget number of potential customers, it was decided that a streamlined mouse interface would be implemented and that because of the tactial advantage of this interface over the clunkier joystick and keyboard interface (in multiplayer), it was also decided to not waste time implementing joystick support since we feel no one would use it anyway."
I however feel that combat in Freespace 2, with all its clunkiness is much more challenging and rewarding than that in FL.
Edited by - kx100pro on 28-05-2003 09:32:45