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[The Translocator]

What makes controls good or bad?
Is it possible for multiplayer controls on a keyboard not feel cramped?
Are customizable controls important if the game controls well?
Is it bad for menus to use the mouse if the rest of the game uses mainly keyboard (or vice versa)?
Should be an interesting topic.

[ThemsAllTook]

Are customizable controls important if the game controls well?

Always. Accessibility is important. Even if it controls perfectly for a person in one situation, it may not for someone who's left-handed, or has a differently shaped keyboard/controller, or some type of disability, or who simply has different preferences.

Good controls give immediate clear feedback that inputs have been received. Even a frame or two of input latency can noticeably degrade the game experience. Actions don't necessarily have to be instant, but some form of feedback needs to be.

[Laddo_D]

Is it bad for menus to use the mouse if the rest of the game uses mainly keyboard (or vice versa)?

This is such a huuuge annoyance to me. If I have to move my hands around, I'll just stop playing the game completely.

[valrus]

Is it bad for menus to use the mouse if the rest of the game uses mainly keyboard (or vice versa)?

Yes, and this is also bad for accessibility reasons; it can mean situations where you're entirely able to play the game, but can't start it, or get out of the pause menu.

(And it's not just for "accessibility" in the sense of special-needs accessibility.  If I'm using a Win8 tablet, and your mouse-driven app occasionally requires keyboard input in menus, but doesn't give me a way to use the on-screen keyboard, I might not be able to play.  Organ Trail had this problem, to name an example off the top of my head -- you could play the game if only you could start it, but you can't start it.)

[cliffclavin]

The mouse menu thing is kind of strange.  It's very annoying when you have to use the mouse and jump back to keys quickly but depending on the layout of the menu there could be an advantage to having a mouse alternative to navigate the menu in a non-linear fashion.  I think it depends on the type of game, IIRC the big sponsors for flash games prefer menus to be both mouse and keyboard accessible followed by a control splash before the game. 

[J-Snake]

What makes controls good or bad?

potentially good if:

- good control design: no input overhead to express an action

potentially bad if:

- bad control design: input overhead

- vsync

- low framerate

- suboptimal fixed timestep loop

- additional implementation lag

[ThemsAllTook]

potentially bad if:

- vsync

vsync causing significant input latency seems to be a Windows-only phenomenon from what I've been able to tell. On other platforms it does fine. I've always wondered why, but never really dug into it.

[J-Snake]

I remember you have mentioned it previously and I hope it holds true. Have you tried Linux and Windows on the same monitor or different ones, to count the monitor factor out.

[Danny Hayes]

Yes. The mouse/keyboard thing in menus is annoying. Also annoying is when you're using keyboard/gamepad in a menu and the mouse pointer is still on screen. It feels a little conflicting.

[Gatlink]

Something I find interesting is when controls, while still using the mouse or a gamepad, mimic the thing they're supposed to represent. I don't have an exemple in mind that I played recently, but I heard that Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons does that (one stick controls one brother apparently), and Infamous: Second Son, which asks you to shake the pad when you're doing graffiti.

I think it's an interesting idea, even if it can make things horrible if done wrong.

[cliffclavin]

even if it can make things horrible if done wrong.

ex:Wiggle the joysticks to free yourself in generic scenario.

[Elzy]

Is it possible for multiplayer controls on a keyboard not feel cramped?

I actually remember a really old kart game on the pc that I would play with my dad. One person used the num pad and the other used wasd.

It was alright, but only because you only needed 5 buttons total. Really, it is something that you might be able to do on most games that don't require a mouse, and have rebindable controls. If you want to test it that is.

[Eadow]

The trick is to make the controls as simple as possible so that you don't need too many buttons, and then let the player decide their button layouts. You don't actually need to have only one function in each button, some actions are only done sometimes and it's okay to put them on a key that already has another function. Just don't do what Watch Dogs did and put commands like 'Run' and 'Vault' in the same keys, as players will probably keep jumping from buildings when they just want to run upstairs(and the game didn't even let you change the keys for these actions separately).

[vinheim3]

Aside from accessbility, it's always good to think about the mechanics of the game and what kind of actions you use most often, as well as which mechanics you use in combination. Then think about what are commonly used button combinations that people are used to, especially for that genre, and apply the buttons that are used often/in combination as such.

Aside from that, give the option to configure controls and in more complex games, provide the ability to configure controls for shortcuts.

[TacoBell_Lord]

Input & Physical Response; it could make or break a game, if the animation/feel doesn't respond to the character or isn't polished, it has a clunky/amateur feel.