Thursday, October 14, 2010

Inverted Y-Axis Option And A List Of Games Without Y-Axis Support


'Normal' mapping is the case where moving the joystick/mouse/analogue stick 'up', results in the game point of view shifts 'up'. The y-axis inversion control scheme is basically the inverse of this. 'Up' points the camera 'down', and 'down' points the camera 'up'. Y-axis inversion is the way that I've learned to play any game that requires change one's point of view.

Inversion of the y-axis was never really a choice me. Like many, I learned to play like this because the first games I played were flight simulators or space combat games like Wing Commander. In real-life, airplane joystick controls by default are 'inverted'. When I transitioned to first-person shooters, the mentality of the flight simulator stuck with me through the first-person view point (as well as third-person view point games).

The way that I see it, y-axis is a valid way of thinking about pointing a camera. If you imagine your virtual character as a puppet facing away from you with a pole sticking out of its head horizontally, you can make the puppet look up by tugging the pole down, and vice versa. And a similar logic applies to the flaps of an airplane, where one pulls the joystick downwards in order to 'pull up' the plane.

Inverting the y-axis doesn't really offer an advantage or disadvantage. Rather, it's just a way that some people expect controls to work in a game. And developers know this: almost every single game that has come out in the last 10 years supports y-axis inversion. However, there are a select few titles which do not, and this is why I've created the list. I hope this is a useful resource for you. Inverted gamers unite!

List Of Shame:

Beyond Good & Evil
Inversion option inverts both y-axis and x-axis, no individual toggle. Therefore if you choose to invert y-axis, it will also invert the x-axis (which is not flexible enough for most of us y-axis players). Luckily there is a 'HD' re-release to this game being brought out soon for XBLA and PSN, and will hopefully patch in inverted y-axis control option. I am glad that Ubisoft are releasing this game again because Beyond Good & Evil was one of the most critically acclaimed games to come out in 2003, and I never got a chance to really experience it because of the dizzying control scheme.

Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus
Gameloft are appalling at updating their games properly with y-axis inversion. Their FPS released last year called NOVA for iOS took months to patch in y-axis inversion. It's shocking to see that their implementation is also extremely flawed on release. Y-axis inversion works for camera controls, however as soon as you start to fire your weapon and want to adjust, the controls will not be inverted. This is a very unprofessional and inconsistent approach to controls.

I created a thread about this on Touch Arcade here.

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Like Beyond Good & Evil, another Ubisoft title and a console port that does not support y-axis inversion correctly. Reports state that whilst the y-axis inversion option exists in the settings, the implementation is bugged and has no functionality within the game.

Silent Hill: Homecoming
This game does not have an inverted y-axis option. I've not had the misfortune to try this, but there is a good account of one inverted gamer's experience with it here.

Spore
In its second stage (the 'tribal' stage), the world view changes from a flat 2D plane to a 3D globe. At this stage, you control your creature from a third person perspective, however you cannot adjust the y-axis inversion of the camera control. This makes it completely unplayable for me at this stage, and is just another reason (on top of many) why Spore was not a well-received game. I also find it very hard to believe that a developer as big as Maxis published by the behemoth Electronic Arts didn't have the QA department to realize that there would be a serious usability issue for y-axis inverted players. And for a game that has a strong online component, I am surprised they have not patched this in, especially after all the clamoring in their forums.

Comments (7)

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Yes. I very nearly bought Beyond Good and Evil HD until I realized it still doesn't support normal x, with inverted y. Too bad. And not only that, but games on the N64 and original Xbox originally called our preferred control style "default."
1 reply · active 746 weeks ago
Hmm I was really looking forward to the HD remake because I thought they would have definitely fixed it. Looks like I'll have to wait until they may or may not patch the feature in. Very disappointing Ubisoft!
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