THQ's Homefront 2/Controls

## Control Scheme Overview

**Document Status: Green [Updated with latest SP & MP controls] [Date: 6 Dec. 2012]**

Goals

* To examine the control scheme used in Homefront 1 and identify any playability issues
* To propose early console and PC control schemes for infantry, ground and flying vehicle gameplay in both the single and multiplayer of Homefront 2
* To clearly call-out the elements that are new to the series and will need further design and / or code support (so can’t simply be taken across from HF1 or Crysis 2)
	+ Elements in *italic blue* fall into this category

### Infantry Controls

Homefront 1 Analysis

* Infantry controls in HF1 mirrored those of Call of Duty, a recommendation for HF2 also
* The PC version had unique control options over the consoles (chat, battle chat, issue order and squad browser)

Suggested Changes / Notes for Homefront 2

* On-the-fly weapon customisation is being added as a control for the Homefront 2 scheme
* Vaulting is being added as a context-sensitive overload to the jump button
* To help declutter the HUD objective icons (and potentially the minimap) could be button toggle reminders in single player (similar to Gears of War 3)
* ‘Spotting’ is being provisionally added as a control option in multiplayer
* “Southpaw” sticks and “Southpaw” buttons were two options for left-handed players in HF1
* Disability-friendly controls have been touted as a big thing in the COD games (includes setting iron sight to a toggle so it doesn’t need to be held)
* We’ll need an option to switch the shoulder buttons around on PS3 (we had to patch this on C2)

### Vehicle Controls

Homefront 1 Analysis

* All vehicles in HF1 controlled using the Halo scheme (camera rotation would also turn the vehicle)
* There was an option for turret vehicles (LAV and tank) to have controls camera or chassis relative (in the latter the left stick would rotate the vehicle)
* The PC version contained multiple helicopter control options: ‘rookie’, ‘veteran’ and ‘ace’

Suggested Changes / Notes for Homefront 2

* Rather than the Halo controls used by vehicles in HF1, for accessibility a more standard scheme is suggested (with accelerate and brake on shoulder triggers)
* HF1 had individual invert options for ground and air vehicles
* HF1 lacked a first person cockpit vehicle camera option (the console version was 3rd person only, the PC version had a bonnet camera option) – it would be good to add an actual cockpit camera for HF2
* In HF1 only the Humvee had a horn – would this be a useful player communication feature for other vehicles?
* Some Battlefield games have done interesting things with vehicle radios (“Ride of the Valkyries” playing from helicopters, etc) – would HF2 benefit from something similar?
* Vehicles only have primary fire in HF1 – would we ever need primary and secondary fire in HF2?

## Control Interface Discussion Notes

**Document Status: Green [Implemented. Design has evolved since] [Date: 27 Jun. 2012]**

### Player Interface - Current Implementation

HOW IT WORKS:

* Pressing d-pad left, up or right displays and navigates a menu of equipment and abilities
* The player must highlight an option then press LB to use it

PROBLEMS:

* Awkward to navigate with lots of options to cycle through
* Requires a two-step process to activate any option (d-pad to navigate and select an option, then LB to activate it)
* There’s no way to get out of the menu once entered (player must wait for it to time out)
* There’s a limit in terms of the number of items / abilities we can fit on-screen

### Proposal for HF2

#### Goals

* To outline a new alternative player interface that:
* Is simple to understand
* Caters for all currently designed gameplay features
	+ Is future proof
* To keep the overall control scheme ostensibly similar to other titles in the genre like Call of Duty and Battlefield

#### Player Core Actions

* The current system  feels a little clumsy and unintuitive
* To try and build a better system all of the currently designed player actions and abilities have been identified and broken down into three categories:
	+ **Category 1:** Those that the player may want to perform at any time (such as bringing out the camera)
	+ **Category 2**: Contextual actions (such as picking up an object or hacking a terminal)
	+ **Category 3:** Weapon attachment or piece of equipment the player can select from an inventory (such as the drone trap)
* This breakdown is as follows:

(AVAILABLE ANY TIME) | 2. ACTION
 * PHONE MENU ACCESS
* CAMERA
* OBJECTIVE REMINDER
* STOW WEAPON
* SWITCH TO HACKED DRONE
* WEAPON CUSTOMISATION
* CHANGE WEAPON FIRE MODE
* TOGGLE RADAR
* SCAVENGING
* PICKUP / INTERACT
* GRENADES
* IED’S
* GAS MASK

##### Category 1: Any Time Actions

Accessing these abilities

* For the actions identified in category 1 (those which need to be available to the player at any time), instant joypad shortcuts are required
* Taking into account the positions of all standard player controls (shown in grey below), the available button assignments for these actions are:

Camera Access

* When using the Camera a further set of options need to be available:
	+ **Standard Camera Mode** (the default mode)
	+ **Drone Control** Mode
	+ **AR Mode** (showing vision cones etc)
* When using the camera ‘LT’ will allow the player to zoom, and ‘RT’ will take a picture
* When the player has hacked a drone the camera will default to the Drone Control Mode when the player access it, with additional screen information showing the battery life of the drone and d-pad ‘up’ and ‘down’ switching between direct and remote control
* The Camera options are shown via a cycling menu (something like the mock-up right), with ‘LB’ and ‘RB’ switching between them

##### Category 2: Contextual Actions

Accessing these abilities

* All contextual actions (such as opening a door, entering a vehicle, picking up an object and hacking a computer terminal) are mapped to holding the ‘X’ button when near those objects
* This conforms with control schemes used in similar titles (Call of Duty etc)

##### Category 3: Weapons/Equipment

Accessing these abilities

* With crafting opening up opportunities for the player to build lots of different equipment (including drone traps, IED’s, various grenade types, etc), the player could potentially have access to a large number of items
* These items can be broken down into 3 main groups:
	+ **Grenade Types** (Frag, Smoke, Flash, Chemical, etc)
	+ **Equipment** (IED’s, Gas Mask, Proximity Mine, etc)
	+ **Weapon Attachments** (Drone Trap, etc)
* Weapon attachments are equipped via the Weapon Customisation interface (hold ‘Back’), and switched to via a “Toggle Fire Mode” option on the d-pad (d-pad ‘down’)
* As in Homefront 1 (and all similar titles), grenades are mapped to ‘RB’ (and “cooked” by holding the button)
* Homefront 1 mapped non-frag grenades to ‘LB’ but, for HF2, we’d like to instead map Equipment to that button (so IED or Gas Mask etc)
* For choosing the items assigned to the ‘LB’ and ‘RB’ buttons we’d be keen to investigate the possibility of an Equipment Wheel menu

Equipment Wheel Menu

* Pressing and holding ‘LB’ would display the equipment wheel
* To the left of the wheel are all of the players’ **Equipment Items** that can be mapped to the LB button
* To the right of the wheel are all of the players’ **Grenade Types** that can be mapped to the RB button
* Using the left analog stick and ‘A’ the player can choose the items assigned to those buttons
* Releasing ‘LB’ at any time exits the menu

Representing Equipment Choices on the HUD

* Control-wise the ideal implementation would see the selected ‘LB’ and ‘RB’ equipment items shown in some fashion on the HUD, with the player then at any time able to press the respective buttons to use that item
* However an alternative would be for the Equipment Wheel selections to be automatically equipped upon leaving the menu (if the player highlights the IED, when they leave the menu the IED is in their hands, etc), with ‘LB’ then using those items