I always find this topic to be really interesting since there’s no objectively correct answer, and it tends to be something people have experience with.
Obviously, the best answer is “let the player pick”, but personally, I’m 100% in the inverted camp (both y and x axis, because apparently some maniacs only invert one). I have no idea where I picked up inverted controls, but I’ve favored them as long as I remember playing games, so I figure some early titles I played had inverted by default, which checks out since I played a lot of vehicle-based games.
For me, one of the worst experiences is realizing a game I really want to play only supports uninverted camera (or in the case of a couple, only supports inverted y), because it totally demolishes my ability to reasonably play the game with any degree of skill.
You’re the first person on earth I’ve ever heard of to invert the X axis, I can’t even think of a game that let’s you do that.
I’m pretty boring, I like my sticks neat unless I’m flying an aircraft, then I need vertical invert.
Now tank control schemes I could argue about for a while, what numbskull wants to drive in the exact direction they’re firing?
You’re the first person on earth I’ve ever heard of to invert the X axis, I can’t even think of a game that let’s you do that.
Think of it like moving the camera as a separate entity in the game world. You use the stick to move the camera, and the camera is always on the opposite side of the sphere as where you’re aiming
Inverted y for anything first person. I grew up with a joystick for flight sims, and that felt natural to me when I later played FPS games on controller.
Inverted x makes no sense to me (and yes, I read your explanation below), but I can ignore that setting just fine, so every game should have it.
For me, one of the worst experiences is realizing a game I really want to play only supports uninverted
FYI, the steam deck allows you to customize all that shit even if the game doesn’t support what you want.
The problem with configuring that stuff outside the game is it doesn’t distinguish between parts of the game
Never happens to me, but is that like if a game you’d override outside the game and play inverted it’d be fine 90% of the time but then it doesn’t make any sense in some menus or maybe the map or whatever?
You have a few options.
On the deck, just use the joystick for one and the trackpad for the other.
Or use either mode shifting or action layers (I never remember which is which) so that behavior changes when you hold another button.
Think kinda like tab vs alt tab, but with like… anything on the controller. Want the joystick the behave differently when holding the left trigger or whatever?
I prefer uninverted purely because that is what I grew up with. On the og xbox there weren’t many options to change controls, so you had to put up with what the game gave you. I can play with inverted controls, but it feels like writing with my left hand.
Yeah, playing older games is really a crap shoot as to whether or not it has the controls you’re used to since actual choice is relatively recent.
With a controller I need invertY or I can’t do anything right.
No invert with a mouse though, unless I’m playing a flying game.
Oh god, the idea of inverted camera on mouse is something that hadn’t even come to mind.
One of the earliest 3D games I remember playing was Falcon 3.0, haha.
Non inverted, keyboard and mouse.
The only games I play inverted are flight games on a controller where I invert Y, only because I’m too cheap to buy a flight stick setup and whenever I go doyen that rabbit hole I start overthinking it and not buying anything.Yeah, I hadn’t even considered the idea of inverted keyboard mouse until someone else brought it up.
