Me 
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My printer needs ink, and I don’t have any soot or gasoline.
Didn’t those ones match the first letter though? I feel like those ones were more logical but maybe that was just coinkidinks.
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It’s in my shrink-wrapped box… I hope… Could be empty too…
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The number of lines is pretty limited, so I kind of feel like someone probably already did it somewhere. 
yes @patrik3dspacek, probably
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Am I the only one who buys multiple boxed copies… to rip them all open?
The other way around is more problematic:
- Is P Pull or Push?
- Keys would be all over the keyboard instead of grouped together.
- You can easily guess the correct key location just by looking at the verbs on the screen.
- Horrible translation issues.
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In some of the games they match some of the first letters of the verbs. The qwert/asdf/zxcv scheme is potentially a touch more disorienting in the beginning but ultimately more efficient imo. (I mean, I’m not sure I was actually familiar with that scheme until TWP and I had some real getting used to it issues but it’s language-independent and all that.)
This is from Fate of Atlantis:
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Looking at the scheme I was used to for years, for example, it’s like this:
- Press P
- Hm, P isn’t push… what now?
- ???
- ???
That wasn’t a problem for me anymore, but think of being new at this.
By contrast, in TWP/Maniac Mansion/Zak, it’s like this:
- Press key for action.
- Oops, wrong key.
- One to the left/right.
Even though I mess up much more (especially in MM/Zak which don’t have the regular six verbs, less of a problem in TWP) the messing up plus correction takes less than a second.
Except for that annoying Switch verb.
For a heated discussion check out this blog entry: I’m Just Going to Write
Grid layout FTW!
Or this: comment by B
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Yeah, those things had occurred to me. I think I’d just got used to doing it the other way. The point about translation is a strong case for not doing it like that. And it makes more sense now I know why they’re mapped like that - I’ll no doubt remember them better now.
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That right there shows very well why the MM New Kid verb had me occasionally fuming. The Zak Switch verb is less bad by being at the very edge, but New Kid is right there in the middle of the one to the left/right action.
But anyway, since you can assign the TWP keys to whatever you like it doesn’t really matter as long as you’ve got at least one sensible default.
That blog post also has a comment with this excellent UX prototype: http://cyrus5.co.uk/VerbSelectionTest
(That’s how the d-pad is used in many games so it’s hardly new.)
I don’t really remember having issues with the Switch verbs although I’m sure it happened to me too sometimes.
Although this:
Currently my best idea is if you hold two opposing keys you get the centre item
is a bad idea since it will break controllers 
I think the idea is to make a Talk To DLC/Mod first!
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Maybe it’s because TWP is the first game with grid layout I consciously remember playing, so the way I got used to it is as described. Mostly half-fumbling (i.e., with quick minor corrections) until I properly got the hang of it. NB That never fully happened in MM, with borderline single-use verbs like Fix. In TWP there was never any worry of accidentally triggering Switch without being able to correct to the verb you actually wanted.
But yeah, it’s just inconsistent. If all verbs immediately executed an action it might be different (read: worse!), but all the others only select an action which you subsequently still have to confirm. With Switch, your ability to correct by quickly pressing the key right next to it is taken away.
No one said the controls need to be exactly the same. But yes that scheme would work better with five verbs. The numpad is likely better anyway; it’s only for the old excessive verbiage games that it’s not.
Numpad is not a good idea because even many PCs today don’t have it anymore (laptop or other minimalist keyboards).
That’s almost an exact replica of the controller argument from before.
Just because some people have to use an inferior part of the keyboard out of necessity doesn’t mean the numpad shouldn’t do anything at all by default. I’d say the most obvious thing to do is something like numpad disabled = cursor, numpad enabled = verbs in the form of simple duplication.
I think I broke the game 
I fixed it by making him walk to the left and off-screen.
Yep. I was controlling the alien!
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What was the problem in the first place?
The problem was, it’s not Al McAlien and the Alien Mindbenders. You’re not meant to control Al. So when the game decided to let me, after he let Zak out of the cell, Al didn’t have any verbs to use. And in an adventure game, having no verbs might be a bit of a problem!
(that’s AL with an L, not an I)
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Don’t worry, it’s normal.
Just wait.
Are you sure??? Clicking the mouse makes the guy in black move, NOT Zak!