Pop test: do you use a joypad

#1 I have one with 2 analogue sticks, a d-pad, reft and right buttons, a throttle in the top right and 6 buttons that are pretty much the same layout as a PS2 but with 2 more on the end (plus a start button).

I use it for multiplayer split screen games with friends (what litle exist :D) and sometimes racing/flight sims. Also Tony Hawk's Pro Skaters.

#2 I have one crappy gamepad. It does not have a stick, but a d-pad on one side, and it does have buttons on the other as well as buttons on the grip edges.

I never use it. It sucks. I don't even know why I bought it, but I don't play games that would tend to use it.

Oh now I remember why I bought it. I bought it because I bought the Spiderman PC game which was practicly a direct port to the PC from a console and so used the EXACT same control scheme on the PC as it did on the console (Game makers take note.. THAT SUCKS TO NO END) so I bought the gamepad to work with it. Both the game and the gamepad now sit collecting dust on the shelf.

#3 I have a gamepad (Logitech Dualpad) with two sticks, a d-pad, and 12 buttons; four in a diamond, one above each stick, and the rest on the frontside above the grips.
I've used it for some games but have yet to find a decent in-game implementation. (Apart from Konami's Solid Metal Gear 2?, that is, which I recall being fairly-decent).
I mostly use the gamepad when the games key-combos are convoluted or a key requires furious bashing in a frantic hack&slash situation. And ironically, even then I prefer using joy2key - which generates the keys for the game.

#4 I don't own a gamepad (except on my Dreamcast, of course ;) and I have a feeling most computer gamers, especially the sort who by from Garage Games, fall into that category. Requiring a special piece of hardware as an indie game developer is a very tough sell.

A blue-sky suggestion, though: if your game is really a quality product, you might want to contact some joypad manufacturers and see if you can arrange a pack-in deal. GG might be able to give you a hand with this.

#5 No joypad here. I've only ever even used my nice joystick for one game: Mechwarriors 4. I've not tried it with Lore, but I'd imagine it would be useful there.

#6 Hell ya! I bought a gamepad just for Mutant Storm and I love it.

#7 I have about four joypads for my Win PC, which I never use. I have an old gravis gamepad which might have a diamond formation. The one that's not in a box in storage is a Microsoft gamepad - it doesn't use a diamond formation for the buttons. Instead, it resembles the old Sega-style controller (with two rows of buttons, the top roll smaller than the bottom, arranged diagonally). It doesn't have an analog stick. I don't think any of my gamepads do. All of my gamepads came out in the 1990's.

I do have some analog joysticks, mind you... I am a flight simulator buff.

In my experience, VERY few PC gamers have gamepads. There was a push for a while (and Microsoft was doing some of the pushing) to make the PC more of an alternative console. Needless to say, when Microsoft decided to do the X-Box, they pretty much gave up on that.

For the purposes of developing games... whatever you do, do NOT require the use of a gamepad, and make sure your game remains as playable as possible without one. But if you can support and encourage the use of one, do it... if for no other reason than the coolness factor.

#8 I have a PS1-style gamepad (I hate sticks) and use it primarily to play emulator games - new pc games never seem to be designed for gamepad control.

#9 Some interesting stuff, the bundling idea especially is pretty cool.

I've got both an N64-PC and GameCube-PC adapter, because I personally think that they're the pinacle of joypad design: the N64 pad is very versatile and pretty original too, not to mention good Goldeneye associations. And the GC is just the best "feeling" pad I've ever used.

I'm not an MS fan in the slightest, but the idea of a unified PC joypad design appeals to me: some games just work better with an analogue pad.

Ian

#10 I have a wireless saitek gamepad - d-pad, dual analog sticks (which are also buttons), 10 buttons including 4 PSX style buttons, 2 x-box style buttons up and to the right of the diamond, a start/select button, a red glowy button, and two shoulder buttons.

It's rechargeable and has a nice docking station.

I love it to pieces, really easy to hold and play. Been using it for Zap and it works _great_.

#11 2 home built DDR pads, two 6 button + 4 direction joypads, then the Thrustmaster "Top Gun", and two SNES pads (with a home-brewed parrallel connector). And the only thing that really gets used is the DDR pads - to me, the pintacle of joysticks was the Wico "Boss" joysticks for the Atari 2600. Indestructable (I've still got two of them, though I never build an adapter for the PC - but I do use them on rare occasions that I pull out the C-128 or C64 SX), very responsive, and I hate joypads in comparion. Only problem is they only have one button, way too few for most modern games.

Input device of choice: Keyboard + Mouse ;-)

#12 I have a Gravis dual analog joypad. The game I'm working on supports both keyboard+mouse and dual analog joypads. The controls are functionally equivalent, but the joypad is more fun!

#13 I use either a wingman rumble pad or xbox controler on my PC. But if its a FPS or RPG I am most likely to use keyboard and mouse. Only use a gamepad for simulation type games and some sport and driving games.

#14 I use a Nostromo N50 Speed pad from Belkin catalog.belkin.com/IWCatSectionView.process?Section_Id=2071. I use it for Tribes 2, Torque and Wolf: ET fps games. Best gamepad I have ever used for PC.

#15 Xbox - PC. Only way to drive on a PC. Or play Jazz the Jack Rabbit

#16 The Nostromo rocks for FPS'.

#17 I'm using a PS2 pad, but I also have:

Microsoft sidewinder PC pad
Gravis pad
A few other random pads
About 5 gravis sticks
Force feedback Joystick

All of these are semi-esoteric apart from the PS2 pad, which I use all the time to test my game (along with a few joysticks).

I've noticed that a few of the sticks, like the gravis TBird, only give one input at a time.. so be aware, maybe the cheaper pads will too.

I'd not REQUIRE the thing, definitely, but have a mode that caters especially to it. For instance I'll have a PS2 pad mode for DSL that has ship on the left analogue, and head (camera) on the right analog..

#18 I use a USB Logitech WingMan Rumble Pad (most often without the Rumble ;)) : two analog sticks, one gamepad (for POV by default, but can be toggled to replace left analog stick, which then becomes the POV "key"), one throttle slider, 6 buttons + 1 "start" button and 2 triggers.
I love it, 'cause it does a decent to excellent job at controlling all sorts of games, and is really cheap.
FPS is still mouse and keyboard for me, thanks to Classic Quake ;)

#19 Someone gave me a PC gamepad, but I've never even plugged it in. I would use it, but I have something else hooked up to my USB port.

#20 I have about 80 USB joypads (don't ask), varying from 4 way digital with 2 buttons, to PS2/Xbox converters, to PC ones with multiple analogue sticks. They're great, do support them!