Has the team considered implementing pointer controls for use when the game is being played with separated Joy-Cons?
This method of control works very similarly to a Wii Remote and Nunchuck, but it uses gyroscope controls as opposed to an infrared sensor bar. Games such as World of Goo have been ported to the Switch using this, and from what I’ve heard it works very well. It could allow for a level of precise control similar to the touch screen when the console is un-docked, and it worked well for the Wii ports of Telltale’s point and click adventure games.
Understandable if it’s too late to consider this, but I think it would work very nicely for this game.
Came here from Google to search a confirmation if they really left the pointer controls out of Switch version.
The old fashioned analogue tits are awkward, clumsy, slow ass method for playing point and click games (as well as many other genres as well), and when Wii came, I was SUPER happy, that it seemed to generate some p&c hype around it, and the games it got, were amazingly fun to play on a TV! While I enjoy playing P&C games with a mouse, It’s nice to play these games with friends on a big screen.
If the Switch version does not have pointer controls, what about Apple TV? I could buy the damn thing, just to play Thimbleweed Park on a telly.
I don’t know anything about the controls on Switch and Apple TV. But, what about playing the Steam/GOG version on a notebook with a wireless mouse or a trackball on the TV?
I have thought about that, and that’s not too bad, but it would just be handier to play on a console, and as with the Wii’s point&click games, there would be controllers fpr each player.
Microsoft has announced that mouse support was upcoming for the Xbox One. Though, no one knows the date for such a firmware update. It can still take long. And, up to now, mouse support for the Xbox port of TWP has not been announced yet.
Switch pointer controls are not easy. Nintendo doesn’t have a API for anything other than gyro information, so translating it to the screen as a cursor is up to the game and it’s not an easy job. I’ve used pointer controls on other hardware and it’s not fun to use after the first few minutes. Aiming is a pain and you really need to have some logic/AI to help snap and move the cursor. I worry we’d spend a bunch of time on this and it not working like everyone imagines will generate more complaints than not having it. There are games where gyro controls can be good, but I’m skeptical of games where precision pointing is important.
It’s on our list, but some more important things are above it. It will take some R&D before we decided if it’s feasible.
Thanks for the reply, and shame if you couldn’ make it worth the effort, but what comes to the opinions, they are completely opposite to my experience. And I can understand people having different opinions, don’t mind it at all, I only got a bit worried, when you just dropped those opinions sounding like they were meant to be facts.
-There is no need to have logic/AI to do snap.(on the contrary, the snapping and all kinds of AI shenanigans are used with analog nubs oftenly to help smoothen their clumsiness in aiming). My favorite pointer examples give very complete control to the player.
-Having a pointer in point and click games is fun through the whole game for those who prefer it. To me the analogue nubs are pain in every situation you try to aim anything, and breaks the deal for me. With a pointer the pointing is immediate and easy peasy.
-The beauty of the pointer controls is, it is optional:
No one complains.
(And I don’t mean to keep harping about this, I can buy this game for PC or iPad, I would just have preferred to play it in TV with friends)
What are good gyro pointer example on the Switch? The only one I’ve seen is World of Goo and it works for them due to the inherent constraints of the game play (you don’t need to be precise). I stated these things as “fact” due to talking to other devs who tried to do this on the WiiU and their feedback, plus my own experience trying to play games that have gyro pointer controllers trying to be a mouse pointer. Have to played a point and click style game with a gyro control for hours on end? Its OK for the first 30 minutes, then it’s just tiering holding your arm up.
HAHA. I wish this was true… people still bitch because they just blame us for “not doing a good job”.
Once we have some free time, we’ll look deeper into it.
Ah, my Switch ”pointer” experiences are limited to Splatoon2 and Zelda, I was rather answering to the talk about pointer controls in principle.
For Wii I had practically every point and click game.
I understand, that the lack of reference point causing drift (vs actual IR-sensor in Wiimote) is a bit of a nuisance, and the player needs to recenter the cursor manually by pressing a button, but it is still great for aiming.
I thought, that there would be API, as the Human Resource Maschine, Little Inferno, and indeed, World of Goo had implemented pointer controls so soon, but now that I checked, they are made by same team, so it made sense for them to implement the control method and divide the r&d cost between 3 games.
Pointing doesn’t strain my arms any more, than old fashioned controls, even if I played for a whole day. I rest my hand in my lap like I would do with regular controllers…in fact, because having separate controllers for both hands, I think I experience less strain compared to fiddling with analog sticks.
