Keyboard fix on Android Freedoom

Hi there!

I'm unsure whether I've not set it up correctly and that there's something else to do, but the standard keyboard definitions for Freedoom are, in my opinion, very poor, to put it mildly.

I have circles on the screen for pointing (which I don't need, and stops when the finger stops moving, so 180-degree turns are not possible without "scrabbling" at the screen), a separate circle for combined forward/backward/strafing (why are these on the same controller?), and one for shooting. Three circles! I can't handle that.

Now, I'm old-school, and I never bothered about with strafing, and i suspect many casual gamers and newbies never cared either.

I simply want two circles:-

1) one with an x-axis that turns left or right and a y-axis of forward and back (both of which continue as long as the circle is pushed in that direction), which is a mix of the first two circles I mentioned, but without "scrabbling",

2) fire. and only fire.

The rest of the controls are fine - and I particularly like the weapon selector. But the movement controls are not workable for me, and make the game unplayable for me. I have so many fingers on the screen that i can't see what's going on!

Thanks for reading.

Hey Old Grumpy... Have you checked out Delta Touch? It is an Android fork of 4 source ports in one app and the on screen controls can be customized.

It is a paid app, but you can chat with the dev on this thread:

Here is the D Touch / Delta Touch thread.

Hello, Luci.

Yes, I did, and I found a copy of the old Eltechs one as well. They all share the same fundamental design fault - maybe they all used the same original source.

The problem is that strafe is mapped to the same control stick as forward/backward, and this certainly should not be - the keyboard controls that ID originally programmed was to turn left/right, and move forward/backward on the same adjacent four keys, for simplicity.

Ideally for me, the forward/backward joystick should be mapped to turn left/right, not strafe left/right, and with the the second joystick then discarded.

I appreciate that the strafe function is important to expereinced Doom players - but I am not, I never want to be, and I cannot introduce anybody new to the game while this mechanism is the only one. I just bounce around the walls.

Can we petition the developers to implement a switch in the settings panel to provide an "Original ID" mode option?

Thanks for reading.

Hi, yes Freedoom app is essentially my old app with Choc and PrBoom removed which is why controls are similar. 

So the on screen controls map to how modern twin stick gamepads work, this should be the default for sure. If you want I can add an option for the control scheme you're describing to Delta Touch. 

On a side note I would try for a little longer with the current controls if you can :) Honestly in the long run being able to strafe will make it much easier to dodge that Imp fireball! 

Hello, Beloko. Many thanks for joining this thread!

I will take on board your suggestion to try the different controls - frankly, I did try when I was younger with the original Doom, and I have certain hand-eye co-ordination issues that make complex keyboard movement controls very difficult for me to use. I simply cannot cope with anything that is any more complicated than one eight-way stick and a single fire button - even dual fire buttons are beyond me, so you can imagine how I freak out with beat-em-up games!

(Frankly, I always switch on God mode and Woundless-with-weapons every time I play anyway - removes any challenge, but I enjoy the mindless one-sided carnage that follows!) :)

So, yes please, I would respectfully like to ask for an accessibility mod, for those of us who are dextrously challenged and only looking for the very simplest gameplay controls. I think that there would be many more people than myself who could use such a configuration - I'd even be able to import a child-safe WAD and introduce my kids to it!

And if you do - there might even be some beer money in it for you....! ;)

Best,

G.

Bumping this up - it's been a few months, any thoughts on your willingness to make those changes?

Best,

G.

Bumping again - no interest in this topic, or too hard a challenge...? ;o)

Seriously, it would benefit the accessibility of the game very significantly, if someone could make these changes - they don't seem too hard, having seen the work of what others here are capable.

So, why no takers...?

Best,

G.

2 hours ago, Old_Grumpy said:

Bumping again - no interest in this topic, or too hard a challenge...? ;o)

 

Seriously, it would benefit the accessibility of the game very significantly, if someone could make these changes - they don't seem too hard, having seen the work of what others here are capable.

 

So, why no takers...?

 

Best,

G.

Hi

Sorry I plan to take a look at this, there were other features higher in the list 😀. Will look soon.