I've already built some arcade CPs and I'd like to share my theories on how to build the perfect universal button layout.
Let's assume we will use 6 or 7 button for each player. The objectives are to achieve a design that allows comfortable gameplay with games that fit in these groups:
-1- games using 2 or 3 buttons (platform, shmpus, 2.5D fighting, etc)
-2- games which require 6 buttons in 2 rows (Street Fighter, etc)
-3- games which require 4 buttons in a row (Neogeo, etc).
I will not take into consideration games with rare layouts such as Mortal Kombat or classic old games, because they could be easily reconfigured to fit in a universal layout.
For group 1 we need to use 2 or 3 fingers which, for fast and comfortable gameplay, should be able to be used all together without changing position. I will name the fingers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 (starting from the thumb). We will use the 2nd finger for primary action (fire, punch, etc), the 4th for secondary, such as jump, and the 5th for some special function, although we can also use our 1st finger instead. For anatomical reasons, the 3rd finger remains idle. It's too close to the 2nd and 3rd fingers and the buttons cannot be placed that close! The 3rd button is not used very often in some games (magic, bomb, etc), but there are many other examples which require the 3 buttons to be accessible all together because the 3rd button has a very primary function. Remember for instance Eco Fighters, where I use the 2nd and 5th fingers for rotating the directional fire and the 4th in the middle for firing. Another example is Virtua Fighter, where we can configure controls to use either our 1st or 5th finger for the 3rd button. This also applies to some fighting games which use punch, kick and block, or punch, jump, block, etc.
Some people like the traditional layout with 2 straight rows of 3 buttons (layout 1), although, since not all fingers are of the same length, I find interesting the idea of lowering the button for the 2nd and the 5th finger (layout 3). The point is to get an angle between buttons. The other reason is that the natural position of the hand is not perpendicular to the panel, but slightly rotated. Rotating the traditional layout to the left will achieve the angle between the 2nd and 4th finger (layout 2), but there are still problems with the 5th finger. These are solved with layout 3, a very common configuration in Japanese CPs.
For the 2nd group we can use layouts 1 and 2, the later better for the rotated position of the hand. The layout with lowered buttons for 2nd and 5th fingers will work great with games ala Street Fighter if we're used to click with our 5th finger, thus controlling 3 buttons without changing position. This is not possible with the classic layout of 3 straight rows, because the 5th finger is too short, unless we're used to contract each finger in a different way. The advantage of layout 3 is that it's good for Street Fighter games, for 2 or 3 button games, but also for 4 button games (eg Neogeo), because it creates a curve that allows the use of four fingers (1st finger included) at the same time and feels very natural. This is the layout that I use in my CP at the moment. The only problem is that the button for 1st finger is a little to close the rest. For the design, we have to find a good balance between comfort with the curve of 4 button games and not altering the 3 rows layout too much.
For Neogeo games some people prefer 3 buttons in a row and a lowered button for the 1st finger (layout 1). I suppose they will not use the 5th finger, but change the position of the hand for clicking instead, or curve their fingers in a strange way. Also, the position of the button for the 1st finger is not very good, but maybe players don't use this finger either! This layout with 3 straight rows and a 7th lowered button is very common (Hotrod SE), but I don't find it interesting because if these issues.
For my future CP I'm considering 2 new layouts (4 and 5). I'm adding a 7th button and, as you can see, the position of the button for the 1st finger is better. In both cases, we keep the curve for 4 buttons in a row and the 6 button layout, which is these cases is improved over layout 3 because I keep the vertical alignment of the rows, so I guess 6 Street Fighter will play even more naturally. I still have to print these layouts to test them out myself.
There are other possibilities (6), altering the classic straight layout, in this case moving the lower row of three buttons horizontally so as to find a good place for the 5th finger, but I don't think they're very interesting because it's impossible to find a result that is totally satisfying in any case.
Home
Help
Search
Login
Register
Send this topic
Print
Topic: A study on the perfect universal button layout (Read 3443 times)
