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[LazyWaffle]

Having diagonal movement with the standard arrow keys or WASD on a keyboard seems pretty awkward at times. Can anyone think of some good alternatives?

[TheLastBanana]

You could expand a bit on WASD and use QEZC, each corresponding to a diagonal direction. That leaves you with a bunch of space between the keys, though, so you could use QWAS or something, although that seems like it would be even more awkward and cramped.

[shadowdim]

arrow keys for isometric is not a problem. Just let the player choose if he wants to set the up arrow as northwest or northeast, and so on for the other directions. I think final fantasy tactics advance had this option, and it was great.

[JoGribbs]

I prefer WASD, but if you can put in a couple of different ways (QWAS, & WASD + QEZC as LastBanana suggested), then the player can make their own choice.

[Bander]

I have thought about this too.
I think analog stick is the best with directions corresponding directly.
On a keyboard though... hmm... try INSERT HOME DELETE END (or any other group off four diagonally aligned keys),
im thinking i could play with that.

Although the way i see it, the right answer is ALWAYS to allow complete customization of controls.

[Christian Knudsen]

I'd just use the arrow keys and have the up arrow move the character forward, while the left and right arrows rotate him.

[SirNiko]

You can also leave the arrows to move the player up and down without shifting the directions to diagonals (Megaman Battle Network does this). You just have to design the game in such a way that the player doesn't have to be precise with their diagonal movement.

Create the game world in 3d and allow the player to rotate the camera as desired. The player may choose isometric or non-isometric views as desired.

[Sir Raptor]

I'd suggest using a Super Mario RPG style play, where you can move in regular fashion with the arrow keys, and holding two directional keys lets you move diagonally. I always found WASD to be preferable this way, in my opinion.

[Carrie Nation]

WASD + 8 direction movement seems best to me.

@chrknudson
Do you know how many sprites you'd have to make to have that work? This would only really be practical if you were working with pre-rendered 3d art.

[starsrift]

I have thought about this too.
I think analog stick is the best with directions corresponding directly.

 

[Christian Knudsen]

@chrknudson
Do you know how many sprites you'd have to make to have that work? This would only really be practical if you were working with pre-rendered 3d art.

Why would you have to make more sprites? When you press the left or right arrow keys, the character just rotates to the next/previous direction out of the 8 possible directions.

[s0]

What about the numpad? Or a Diablo style mouse-based interface?

[Sir Raptor]

Don't be hating on laptop keyboards, Sinclair.

[Hempuli‽]

The diablo-style would be by far the most intuitive of these. Especially the QEZC idea seems quite hard for the hand.

[LazyWaffle]

QWAS seems to work the best for me. Index finger on S, middle finger on W, then your ring finger for Q and A. It still seems a little awkward, but it seems more natural than arrow keys or WASD.

7913 on a numpad might also work, but it's pretty much the same as QEZC.

[increpare]

I'm giving my vote for analog or mouse.  None of the others ever really work for me.

[Player 3]

I'm seeing an 8-directional-WASD easier like it is in most top-down shooters.