Why do developers keep adding virtual cursors to console games?
It just feels lazy to me, like the developer couldn't be bothered adjusting the UI for consoles so they copied the PC interface and bound the mouse cursor to a stick. Some games do both at the same time, having menues navigable both with buttons and a cursor, but usually that makes all menus unreliable and unprecise as hell.
Wait? Console players feel like devs just copy the PC interface? Us PC players always feel like they copy the console interface and just slap a cursor on it. Buttons are huge, excessive amount of tabs, very few things visible at any time, etc. Oh and those "wheels" ugh.
Both things happen. It depends on what the game was originally designed for.
I don’t think Hogwarts Legacy was designed for PC primarily and it’s full of cursor control on console.
But it also limits me to 4 spells at any given time even on PC, instead of giving me a bigger hotbar. So I guess devs just make middle-of-the-road interfaces that don't please anyone these days.
The only game I can think of is Minecraft.
No Man's Sky's UI is almost entirely through cursors, drag and drop etc.
Even choosing between a couple dialog options used to require moving a pointer over buttons but they finally fixed that at some point. Now with a controller you can just select the answers right away.
spiderman-pointing-at-himself.jpg
By "wheels", do you mean pie menus? What don't you like about them?
They are often very blatantly designed for a controller and a far-away screen. Take up the whole screen a lot of the time despite very few possible selections. Often they don't even include a cursor and you just drag a highlight from the centre of the wheel.
I mean, they work, but no one can say that they're designed for M+KB imo.
Same reason they make menus that can only be navigated with arrow keys in PC games (looking at you Skyrim & Dragon's Dogma)
I've been using skyui so long I forgot the menu was awful.
Why is Skyrim on that list? It's menus are navigable with full normal mouse support. It's the scaling and layout that's irritating.
They're technically mouse-navigable, but they're awful at it. The currently-click-selected option is not always obvious.
SkyUI is one of my must-have mods for that reason.
They're navigable with full mouse, but that just means that certain mouse buttons were bound to the controller buttons. The UI is still horrible compared to one which is actually designed for a mouse
As a former developer in the game industry, I would say it’s just cost saving. Actual devs know it’s not optimal, but that’s the requirements from the guys paying them.
The first game I ever saw it used in was Destiny. After that, since it didn't seem that people complained, other companies followerd suit.
Also, funnily enough, the first Destiny game was a console-only release.
Nevermind didn't complain - that UI won actual awards. And despite OP's disdain for the concept (which, admittedly isn't always implemented very well in other titles), Destiny's implementation of it was really good. (It still is, but it was, too.)
GUIs are a science of their own. Think The Last of Us, how unintrusive, but at the same time intuitive is the UI in this game? Somebody spend months designing that and fine tuning it to the gameplay. A simple selection cross mapped to the D-Pad. Crafting accessible by shoulder buttons or quickcrafting directly from cross selection. Thats the majority of your gameplay needs met.
Now think Zelda: Breath of the Wild, how dogshit is the UI? Pressing the Switches tiny + and - buttons a million times, scrolling through pages of clutter to get where you want, quests being on a completely separate menu than the map, etc. I could literally go on for hours on how bad that UI is, but thats not the point I'm trying to make.
The point is, that both examples are topshelf game devs. Being an experienced dev doesn't protect you from bad decisions. Prioritizing, investing effort and understanding the connection between gameplay and UI is what makes it good. And some devs just skip that part and make due with something on of their designer came up with on a lazy Tuesday.
Also, not everything is always arranged in a neat grid, and one thing more infuriating than a cursor on console, is the selection never jumping to where you want it to.
I think the primarily reason is that uniform UI is cost and time saving.
The virtual cursor is easily replaceable by a mouse and at th same time allows you to design a cursor driven UI for console.
It's not the best for either, but usable for the timw invested.
Dead by Daylight on console is a good example of how terrible it can be. Either too slow so it feels sluggish or too fast so it doesn’t land on a button. Juts laziness
I'd rather have a curser to navigate a menu or character page than use arrows that arbitrarily go somewhere in the next column when clicking left or right.
You just said it: it's laziness.
Edit: since I can't respond to the person who replied, for some reason: Get off your high horse, and stop putting words on my mouth.
In this context, obviously everybody involved in the entire project counts as the "developers," including the literal developers, their managers, PMs, and the dipshits up top.
On the other hand, I would know because I'm a lazy developer/tech lead.
Lol laziness, typical Gamer™ response. Like the devs just sit back, relax and twiddle their fingers all day in the office. No it’s management who doesn’t give a fuck and don’t allot time and money to the devs to create a better UI. Because they rather have that money paid out as a bonus for themselves.
First time I saw this it baffled me. Hundred devs and not one person thought it was a dog shit system. As this kept happening in other games I realized they just don’t give a fuck.
Bungie even got a award for this type of GUI in Destiny
a lot of people defending lazy devs in here..