What set of default keys do you use to play keyboard games?

[Samwise]

Struggling a little bit for an interesting new topic, but what keys do y'all use for game-playing and why?

Q,A,O,P,Space (Spectrum)
Z,X,*,?,Return (BBC Micro)
Z,X,/,',Enter (PC equivalent of BBC)
A,Z,,,.,Enter (BBC Chuckie Egg / Planetoid-ish)

and my personal fave ...

;,Q,Z,-, Enter

Exercise left for the reader to determine why this isn't as mad a combination as it sounds!

Any other unique ones and where did they originate?

[retro_junkie]

Z,X,*,?,Return (BBC Micro)

Always, if possible (I always redefine Chuckie Egg for example). It always takes a while to get used to other keys... especially swapping hands for up/down and left/right!

As for your choice... big hands? Small keyboard?!

[Cybershark]

;,Q,Z,-, Enter

you got me stumped with that one. maybe for some isometric game? very chubby fingers?

ugh... Chuckie, yeah that always got a speedy redef from me too. i was a little upset to see that recently unearthed site with the Java versions on didn't have an option to change 'em.

i think from the book type-ins i started with i originated on Z,X,P,L
moved on to * and ?...
i occassionally opt for Z,X,F,C ever since i played Icarus (with its 2player support) although that's a little keyboard-clashy. most of my MAME games are now configured to use one of those old favourites

a funnier topic would perhaps be: worst default keys for a game
Felix In The Factory? SabreWulf? Dunjunz?

[jonwiththewind]

Elite was "back-to-front" for BBC users wasn't it?

s x up/down
<> left/right
a fire

[retro_junkie]

worst default keys for a game
Felix In The Factory?

That is one of the ones it takes an age to get used to! Who ever thought of that?! Having jump BETWEEN left and right? It makes it virtually impossible to play on an emulator as well!

[Cybershark]

first commercial game i ever bought! so i kinda had to stick with it for a while and it's never likely to be forgotten

[guesser]

;,Q,Z,-, Enter

Exercise left for the reader to determine why this isn't as mad a combination as it sounds!

Easy peasy!

Dvorak Keyboard!

[Samwise]

Heh. I knew if I left it long enough, some enterprising fellow would be along ...

Sam.

[Moist_Mog]

Definitely Z, X, *, ?, Return - I thought of Felix in the Factory and it's bizarre, non-editable keys before I even opened the thread!

I did kinda get used to it though...

[alchresearch]

Z,X,P,L was common on the Commodores but as soon as I went over to the Spectrum it was Q,A,O,P.

[aferenbach]

Just had a thought - in this day of emulators and so forth

what's to stop you changing crazy key setups by reconfiguing the user keyboard mapping? then the original key setups become irrelevant!

[billcarr2005]

Using the disc version

http://www.stairwaytohell.com/bbc/archi ... actory.zip

*LOAD FACTORY 1100
?&19E5 = &B7 (* - up)
?&19F6 = &97 (? - down)
?&1A11 = &9E (Z - left)
?&1A22 = &BD (X - right)
?&1A64 = &B6 (RETURN - jump)
*SAVE FACTORY 1100+3030 8023

I still don't know how to play it

I think John the one, in the high score table was a renowned hacker from a computer club i used to go to!

[Beeby]

How to play Felix in the Factory:

You have to keep the factory supplied with power by grabbing the oil can (the purple thing) and taking it to the generator, which is the blue thing you start from at the bottom-right corner. You pick things up by jumping next to them. If the generator runs too low, the lights start to flicker and you will die shortly thereafter.

You can use the pitchfork to kill the baddies, but it won't kill the rat. To kill the rat, get the rat poison (the yellow bag-like object), drop it somewhere (by jumping while carrying it), and hope the rat scoffs it. Once you drop the poison you can't pick it up again.
If you fall over on the conveyor belt, you stand up again after a few seconds, but have to keep away from the side of the screen.

I went through a phase of being quite obsessed with this game. There's something innately satisfying about running through monsters with the pitchfork! (hence my little avatar). And yes, the key layout is completely daft, although you do get used to it after a while and the game becomes quite addictive. I've seen a few shoot-em-ups that use the Caps Lock as left and A as right, which is even more bizarre.