[maybe invalid] Turning wheels - very hard without cursor...

**hiben** · 04-25-2011, 12:56 AM

I'm not sure if this is more a technical problem but maybe it is more a question of design.

So I just played the Amnesia Demo and I am always dying because I can't turn wheels in the game - took me ages to open the floor in the refinery. It just says 'make a circular movement' but how if there is no cursor to close the feedback loop ?

Either there is supposed to be a cursor or this is just a bit weird - sure it makes your heart go faster... Big Grin

The problem might be that I am using a Trackball for years now - successfully moving your thumb for interaction depends on seeing what your actions do.
How is this for 'Mouse-People' ?

By the way: I also played through all three Penumbra games with this device without problem. I can't remember exactly but I believe there was a hand showing when you turned things.

This is something that makes me consider not buying Amnesia - I am not going to buy a mouse for a single game...

I mostly would like to get some Feedback or Tips for my situation with this post.
What do you think ?

*edit*
marked this as invalid - see my last post

*edit*
changed mark to 'maybe invalid' because I am really confused right now...

**Malth** · 04-25-2011, 02:07 AM

There's a hand that shows up in Amnesia too...?

The controls in Amnesia have been refined quite a bit compared to Penumbra

**hiben** · 04-25-2011, 02:30 AM

Hmm... good to know. so it is a technical problem... I though it was some novel game design to make you feel even more exposed to your hostile environment... Blush

Well - after getting past blue and green shadows when triple buffering was on I'll find a way around this... I hope... :-| (At first I thought these shadows were some lightning strikes from outside... Wink

)

As you might have guessed by now: I'm using Linux... Tongue

p.s.
Now at least I hope the horror in the water is supposed to be invisible - unlike that door in black plaque... Rolleyes

**Droopy** · 04-25-2011, 03:07 AM

You may want to turn these issues into the technical support subforum if you haven't already

**dph314** · 04-25-2011, 06:10 AM

(04-25-2011, 12:56 AM)hiben Wrote: I'm not sure if this is more a technical problem but maybe it is more a question of design.

So I just played the Amnesia Demo and I am always dying because I can't turn wheels in the game - took me ages to open the floor in the refinery. It just says 'make a circular movement' but how if there is no cursor to close the feedback loop ?

Either there is supposed to be a cursor or this is just a bit weird - sure it makes your heart go faster...

The problem might be that I am using a Trackball for years now - successfully moving your thumb for interaction depends on seeing what your actions do.
How is this for 'Mouse-People' ?

By the way: I also played through all three Penumbra games with this device without problem. I can't remember exactly but I believe there was a hand showing when you turned things.

This is something that makes me consider not buying Amnesia - I am not going to buy a mouse for a single game...

I mostly would like to get some Feedback or Tips for my situation with this post.
What do you think ?

When turning a wheel or something like that, you get the best results by going in a complete circle a little bigger than the wheel you're turning. It'll depend on the mouse sensitivity level you have set in the game. But you can just start up the game and when you're at the main options screen when you first start, practice doing circles, because there's a cursor there. Just remember how big of a circle you have to do and practice at the menu screen where you have a cursor and can get the feel of the in-game mouse sensitivity. I don't have a track-ball mouse so I'm not sure if this helps or not, but I thought I'd give it a shot. Hope it helps. And a cheap mouse will be worth the cost to play Amnesia. It's a great game. I still can't decide if it's scarrier than Penumbra, because I really enjoyed both, but borrow a old laser mouse from someone if you have to, it'll definately be worth it Exclamation

**hiben** · 04-25-2011, 11:44 AM

I created a new post in the technical support forum since this is not an intentional design issue.

Thanks for the circling tips - but I doubt I can keep the mental discipline to make a nice circle without feedback while being chased by things... Wink

**Doctorcheese** · 04-25-2011, 12:37 PM

Well, I placed a box right infront of the wheel and stood on it while I turned it so that the monster couldnt get me. I'm like Amnesias Bear Grylls Big Grin

**hiben** · 04-26-2011, 09:01 AM

Hmm... the guys in technical support disagree with you - or I did not understand you in first place.

Having no cursor while interacting seems to be intended... so back to the circling tips I guess... Wink

**dph314** · 04-26-2011, 03:39 PM

Yeah the cursor will disappear. What did you not understand?

**hiben** · 04-26-2011, 05:17 PM

(04-26-2011, 03:39 PM)dph314 Wrote: Yeah the cursor will disappear. What did you not understand?

I was mislead by these two reactions to my post. The first one sounded to me like 'On my system there is a hand. You system is not working properly.' and the second one seemed to confirm it. (I'm not blaming anybody for this; Communication via electronic media is tricky...)

(04-25-2011, 02:07 AM)Malth Wrote: There's a hand that shows up in Amnesia too...?

The controls in Amnesia have been refined quite a bit compared to Penumbra

(04-25-2011, 03:07 AM)Droopy Wrote: You may want to turn these issues into the technical support subforum if you haven't already

Anyway... I'm looking forward to getting to my gaming machine as I created a little SDL hack that might allow me to get a cursor... computer science for the rescue! Big Grin

Gonna write about it when it works. If it fails I'll just deny it... Tongue