I’m working on a top-down vehicle shooter where the player aims and shoots with the mouse cursor. For keyboard movement, I’m running into a control problem.
-
If I use A/D for steering/turning (tank controls), then when the vehicle is moving upward or downward on screen, pressing A or D feels reversed relative to the screen, which is very disorienting for players.
-
If I instead use WASD for direct 8‑direction movement (like standard twin‑stick but with keyboard), the movement is limited to 8 directions and lacks the fine‑grained turning feel of a vehicle.
I’d like to keep mouse aiming/shooting as the primary combat interaction. Does anyone have suggestions for movement schemes that work well for keyboard+mouse in a top‑down vehicle game?
For example:
-
Relative‑to‑camera steering (always turn left/right relative to vehicle’s current orientation)?
-
A hybrid where WASD moves relative to the mouse cursor’s direction?
-
Any other clever control mappings you’ve tried or seen in successful games?
I’m using Godot 4.4, but this is more about game design than engine specifics.
Thanks for any insights!