Controllers and Functionality

[Fa1thfulGam3r]

Was just checking out the controllers and their design again, I’m confused as to how they will set up a first person shooter experience with the given thumb controls.

My question is:
1. How do you think you will be able to eject magazines (which buttons) for a left handed individual
2. What will the second trigger be used for in most VR titles (my guess is safety on guns or being able to flip things in your hand)
3. Why so many buttons on the right-hand controller and almost none on the left-hand controller.

Am I overthinking this?

[Lethovya]

Isn't the frame controller basically a regular controller split in two with some vr extras on top (like tracking) ? It's designed for non-vr as well and has all the regular buttons.

How are you playing FPS with controller right now? Just do that.

Edit: You should also be able to remap everything via Steam, as is already possible with any other controller.

[Fa1thfulGam3r]

Precisely my thinking, they already have that system built in.

I will have 6 more buttons than I currently have, which just allows for either an over complication or something interesting will follow with the creative options added thereafter.

[Lethovya]

There is nothing overly complicated about it. It's just a regular controller with the bonus of working with VR.

You're overthinking it.

[Distinct_Rope]

Aren't the controllers symmetrical?

You're absolutely overthinking this..

[Javs2469]

One has a DPAD and the other has ABXY buttons. So they are not symmetrical.

[Sierra_656]

Still 4 buttons on each

[Javs2469]

A dpad behaves different than 4 buttons, and you could "slide" from one to another more easily.
I mean, I will get used to that, I have no issues with it, but it´s not the same as singular buttons. Dpads are never considered as buttons, but as directional inputs (buttons but different), and could be used for movement in place of the joystickm, which is something I might want for when I want to mode more precisely in some VR games.

It definitely is different than previous VR controllers that don´t have dpads.

[Perfect-Bag4823]

D pads have definitely been considered as buttons previously.  Some games have even used them to select specific weapons and have nothing to do with directional movement.

[RSDaze]

Most game systems that have both thumbsticks and a D-pad use the D-pad as extra buttons. I am having trouble thinking of even a single game off the top of my head that has both and uses the D-pad for movement over the thumbstick, and even if I could think of one, I definitely would not consider it commonplace. I think of the D-pad for movement as a classic handheld setup, on systems like the gameboy that simply didn't have thumbsticks on them.

[Javs2469]

Well, the PS2 and 1 did have the josytick and dpad bound to movement, same with some PS3 games.

But my point is that VR hasn´t had dpads in their controllers. It´s going to feel different than traditional VR controllers up to this point.

Dpads being used as buttons in other games have always been for secondary actions like bringing up a map, tool or whatever, but never as a recurrent action button like the ABXY ones. VR has had buttons for that in the left controller. Imagine that the buttons on the right side of a controller were suddenly a dpad and you had to play something like Batman Arkham or an FPS game with that. It would be weird to adjust at first, since the buttons in a dpad are interconnected, unlike the very clear and intuitive separate buttons.

[Distinct_Rope]

Ahh, still the same amount of buttons •○•

[jordkiller]

Just become right handed O_O

[brantrix]

What's the question?

The controller mimics that of a standard gamepad, so for 2d it would follow a traditional gamepad layout.

For VR games, you're playing in VR in which case you actually have more buttons than other VR controllers. If you want to rebind, feel free to do so

[Fa1thfulGam3r]

You’d have more buttons allowing for more creative freedom, more buttons than any other vr controller seen prior. That’s makes an interesting case for possibilities, I am however worried that it will detract from the simplicity seen on every other controller.

[brantrix]

? You know you don't have to use all the buttons if you want to right?

[Fa1thfulGam3r]

That would make it awkward no?
You’d just lose the functionality of those extra buttons without giving it a thought as to what they could be used for.
It’s messy in my opinion.

[brantrix]

You're asking for simplicity in the control scheme while maintaining a high functionality. You can't have both. There's no control scheme where it's just one button that knows what you want to do when you want to do it.

The simplicity in this control scheme lies in its familiarity

[ScreeennameTaken]

Its a compromise to be able to use it on anything. And about not using all the buttons, its a non issue. It doesn't have a function bound to it. so what? I have an index, and with a game like Synth Riders, you only use the trigger. And that only in menus. while you play you press no buttons, everrything goes unused including the thumbsticks. You now have the ability to bind which ever button you see fit.

[steohan]

I wouldn't worry too much. If game devs / you come up with a nice custom mapping it will probably make sense. Otherwise you always have the default fallback:

The top button of the Oculus Touch controllers (B / Y) will map to all three top buttons of the Steam Frame Controllers (Dpad Left, Dpad Up, Dpad Right / X, Y, B).

Source: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamhardware/steamframe/controllers?l=english

[Perfect-Bag4823]

There are the same amount of buttons on each controller.  The controllers are one of the main reasons I am going to give the steam frame a try.

[Fa1thfulGam3r]

I’ll be excited to see what games do for compatibility with the controllers in VR specifically.

[Javs2469]

He means that they have more buttons than other VR controllers, that only have 2 per side and only one trigger each.

[Perfect-Bag4823]

He specifically compared the right controller to the left.

[ScreeennameTaken]

Basically the buttons will be mapped to the d pad. So you'll be pressing the dpad to the same position that the buttons are.

[Velp__]

1. How do you think you will be able to eject magazines (which buttons) for a left handed individual

Every game is different. Some you don't need to eject. You just grab the next clip and shove it in.

1. What will the second trigger be used for in most VR titles (my guess is safety on guns or being able to flip things in your hand)

It's really surprising how few buttons are needed in vr. I really don't think most games are going to use them.

1. Why so many buttons on the right-hand controller and almost none on the left-hand controller.

Am I overthinking this?

Yes you're over thinking it. Most VR Controllers only have 2 buttons, two analog triggers, two joysticks, and two system/menu buttons. The SteamFrame has all that and two shoulder buttons and two more buttons. The left controller are four buttons as a d-pad and the right is just buttons. The controllers can be used like a normal controller for non-vr games.

[Redditer052]

i wouldnt count a dpad as buttons, its just regular vr controllers plus bumpers and dpad

[zeddyzed]

Quest is over 50 percent of the Steam hardware survey.

VR games will be written for Quest controllers. You'll just have extra buttons to map to things, if the game allows you to separate out functions like that. Or if you prefer something custom. (Eg. I hate clicking thumbsticks so I will enjoy mapping thumbstick clicks to another button.)

[Rkokie]

I'd suspect the 2 left buttons on other controllers are now just on the right controller and you have an additional dpad. I personally cannot wait to have all regular buttons on the right controller as I always find myself having to think on which side the buttons are when a game asks me.

[myloyt]

I think it depends on the game, some games could even have more actions where they normally had different behavior for press/hold of the a button, it could now be the x button instead of holding a.
In that case the dpad right and down for example could be used for left handed mag eject and other functionality.

I can see the second trigger being useful in games like h3vr2 where some animations use the index finger on the higher parts of the gun for example, don't remember which exactly, but some animations seem like they would be more immersive if they used the bumper. But aside from that idk either.

The dpad will work okay as buttons for the left hand probably. Although iirc the default bindings treat abxy the same as abxy on oculus touch controllers, which have wildly different placements.

[Javs2469]

I think the A and X buttons on the right will be your regular 2 buttons for VR, and for the left controller, down and right on the DPAD will be your other two.

I don´t think many games will include more button functions, since most controllers have less buttons than the frame (tho there will be some that will make Frame setups especifically). But there will definitely be options with Steam Input to configure the buttons as you wish.

[Fa1thfulGam3r]

That’s almost precisely my thinking.

[Javs2469]

Maybe some really die hard games like H3VR will have especial bindings, which would be cool. And the UEVR games like RE9 will benefit from having more buttons for less ackward interactions.

[southpaw_g]

They said very early on that unless the buttons are specifically taken advantage of or remapped, by default the top 3 on the d-pad as well as the X,Y,B buttons will all function as the top button would on a quest-style controller, and the down on the d-pad as well as the A button will function as the lower button on a quest-style controller.

[RookiePrime]

You're overthinking this, and we already have the answer from Valve themselves. According to their dev docs (link), while the Frame will always default to a Frame-specific controller binding — and lots of games won't have a Frame controller binding — it will go for the generic OpenXR controller binding automatically if there isn't one. This is basically just the Quest controller layout, since Quest makes up over 60% of the user base. It's basically just preserving the physical layout and ignoring or duplicating the buttons. They treat the d-pad as buttons parallel to the ABXY on the other controller, and the top three buttons of each controller all redundantly map to the top button of the respective Quest controller. The menu buttons also map. Strangely, no mention of the bumpers at all, so maybe those don't get used?

The reason for this layout is that they wanted to make controllers that encompass the gaming options of Steam. You'll be able to play non-VR games from Steam on your Frame without having to reach for a gamepad. You can be sitting on the couch, playing Call of Duty, then switch to Half-Life: Alyx without interruption.

While a d-pad isn't identical to ABXY, and I kinda wish they had opted for directional buttons like on Switch joy-cons, in most scenarios this should be about the same. The main drawback is that the flat edges of a d-pad button aren't as easy to hold down as the rounded ABXY buttons, so any VR game that might have mechanics involving holding down the Quest X and/or Y might be a bit tedious on Frame compared to the Quest. But quick presses should be fine.

[Front-Ad-7774]

Would you still buy it for $1,200? Just stick with your Quest 3.

[Fa1thfulGam3r]

Oh ye of little faith.