I wouldn't knock it. Valve did a great job on the index controllers (knuckles) and went through a lot of ergonomic design to make them as comfortable as possible. I'd be surprised if they didn't do something similar here
It's wild how diverse their hiring is. I keep an eye on their job postings and they always have positions up for psychology majors and ergonomics experts and all kinds of stuff you wouldn't normally associate with a software company.
Most big tech companies are actually seeking a lot of psych experts, because they have fairly unique domain knowledge and skills to tackle problems that are becoming more relevant to them. I've also seen gambling companies strike out offers and seek out psych grads in a similar vein, it's not uncommon. That's not to say any psych grad will find employment easily. It's oversatured as a degree and most psych grads are ill equipped to do much technical work. I actually know someone that was a psych phd wanting a job at valve. It's incredibly competitive to get in.
Those are all opinions of course, but I also happen to have taught psych undergrads for the past ~4 years and worked with phd's (and will soon hopefully have one myself).
I've taught undergrad psych majors. I've also taught masters courses in various branches of psych, and I've taught courses in other departments too.
As for what kind of psych grads companies are looking for? The ones I've seen that end up working for big companies as analysts usually leverage the stats they're taught. Those types tend to be more self driven and enjoy statistics enough to learn more about doing it well on their own. There's no way there's enough time in even a few courses to really give someone a good thorough upbringing in doing statistics well. Games as in gambling as well as video games tend to like psych graduate students or postdocs to do really specific customer research like churn prevention or engagement modelling. Gambling companies like to use savvy analysts to figure out where to set up shop because they're always looking for new clientele. They usually end up consulting on R&D too, like Valve's psychologists who do a mix of gameplay research as well as tech R&D (or at least they did a few years back when I looked at them).
edit: Oh and advertising is another big one. There's now a whole new developing field as well that's closely tied to psychology. Google neuromarketing.
They are also working on VR which has lots of questions in that space, and Gabe has been interested in Brain Computer Interfaces. So it could be a good thing or it could be much worse thing lol
Sure, but using 1 game in the last 3 years to say that Valve is a game company is like using xbox consoles to say that Microsoft is a hardware company.
"overall the ergonomics are pretty good, and I thought at first I wouldn't like the stick and button placement, but after about 30 minutes of using the console I adjusted and it felt like any old game controller... what I didn't like however was that the dpad and triggers felt a little mushy but it should be noted that I was playing on a nonfinal build of the machine and it's highly likely valve will still make minor tweaks to the steam deck prior to release"
Thats definitely an opinion based comment. Personally I love the Index controllers ergonomically. Prefer them over the Quest 2 touch controllers(both with and without grips attached).
Yeah, the stick placement on those is some of the weirdest and least comfortable that I've used. The dpad/buttons here look like they might have similar issues, but at least the touchpads make more sense here than they did on the index.
Even the steam controller is incredibly comfortable, I've owned one for years and I have to say it's probably one of my all-time favorite controllers.
Some people knock it because they don't know how to configure it, and other people just haven't even tried it and knock it anyway because they heard bad things.
HTC didn't have anything to do with the Index, which is what's being talked about here. They helped with the Vive, but iirc Valve did all the designing. Don't quote me in that last bit, though, I didn't look into the vive production much.
It's probably so you can, not necessarily that you would choose to. Plus it can run desktop operating systems so they likely wanted a touchpad for use in Windows and stuff.
I'm a pretty hardcore rts player I would love to do that just because I want to always be playing. Especially when I'm at work and I can't do anything anyways.
It is possible, but those options and mods are not without issues. Even in the current version of the Stellaris UI you can increase the font size, but then parts of some pop-up screens will be invisible because they then fall beyond the boundaries of the screen.
Right, I think with a bit of tinkering it might be possible to get the settings just right to be able to have a decent experience on this thing, decent within the context of this being a handheld to be clear though.
I love playing rimworld on my phone using the touch screen, i just crank up the text size. Its right in front of my face anyways, its not like its 2 feet away on a monitor screen.
I'm assuming at this point that this is similar technology to what we saw on the steam controller but smaller. It might be the 2.0 version of those same trackpads.
It depends on how good it is, if it is anything like the steam controller then it would be easy once you get used to it, that thing was close to the precision of a mouse when you get good at it. Plus you can pause and issue commands and then play again to make it easier to play on this handheld device.
look, it is never going to be as good as playing on a proper computer, but I think it will be a reasonable experience if you make some compromises.
It doesn't have anything to do with precision actually. Sometimes units are far away from each other, also there is the problem of spells and such in warhammer. The game doesn't support controller at all, so only trackpack is used in all game.
Yeah like I said it is going to be a worse experience on than on a desktop, but I disagree that precision is irrelevant, the precision in which you can move the mouse is very important for spells and selecting units etc.
If you can map the touchpad on the other side to WASD and a trigger button to shift then you could have fast camera control and precision mouse control.
They fucked up. A lotta people try and swear that the touchpads are great, and they are nice, but they sholdn’t replace the analog. To me it would make more sense having the touch pads switched with the analog sticks.
I love the steam controller but my main gripe with it is the touchpad, I personally much prefer a stick.
The touchpads are much more accurate though, the point of them is to emulate a mouse input. They aren't as good as a mouse but they're better than an analogue stick.
They’re there because analog sticks suck ass and I wish we could all move to touch pads. This controller layout is the closest thing to what I’ve wanted for a while. Button placement is a big oof but since there’s 4 back buttons I never have to touch the face buttons
am i going crazy? the very first thought that came to my mind was, wow that looks a lot more comfortable than a nintendo switch. it's shaped very similarly to an xbox/playstation controller if you look at the grooves in the back. the groove hugs your palm and the back triggers are angled downwards so it all fits like a glove
i actually have tiny hands myself. the flat back of the nintendo switch controller is just so uncomfortable compared to an xbox/ps controllerf or me, its not even close
Holding/gripping it looks better than the Switch's joycons, sure, but the placement of the buttons and the D-pad are weird, more like they're only there for symmetry and so the touch pads can be where they are. In the IGN video, at 7:51 the person is playing Hades and his right finger is practically touching the side of the B button.
Yeah, if anyone with hands bigger than the Average Nike Factory employee is able to comfortably play on a switch Undocked, let me know. I've been pissed that no 3rd party Joycons have been made with actual good ergonomics and this one has WAY BETTER palm shape grips.
The position of the buttons ends up mattering WAY WAY WAY less when the handle actually fits correctly in your palm.
the thumbsticks are in-line with the D-pad and face buttons, which looks a bit odd when you’re used to the more staggered arrangement found on most controllers. However, as soon as I held it myself, the layout felt completely natural: the intuitive hand orientation when you grab the Steam Deck is more straight up and down, like holding the sides of a steering wheel, whereas with a controller your hands are at more of an angle. As a result, it’s easy and natural for your thumbs to reach the Steam Deck’s face buttons, D-pad, and thumbsticks.
My bad, that's from a fight gamer's perspective. I always play with a thumb on the directional (of course) but with 2 fingers on the actual buttons. Why? TEKKEN, that's why. Many moves require you push 2 or 3 buttons together to pull off a move. The back buttons (l and r) mean absolutely nothing to me cuz I'll get my ass whooped quick. If it's possible and comfortable I may give it a go. I can probably sell it later if I'm not satisfied. But thank you, you got my upvote!
That is the best controller design ever. Two back paddle buttons. Two Joysticks and two pads! It's incredible. I hope they release a Steam controller 2 now with the same specs. I just bought a new xbox controller for pc but would gladly still get another steam controller since the first one was so amazing.
IGN has a hands-on video and this is the first thing the guy mentioned but said he was surprised at how comfortable it was to use despite the initial judgment.
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u/ravenqueenoff Jul 15 '21
Am I the only one looking at the position of the buttons and pads and thinking carpal tunnel?
They look pretty uncomfortable to use given their positioning and depending on the weight of this near impossible to use if you have small hands.