Add Steam based universal default keybindings for games

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bluesteel 11 hours ago

The Problem

For every game I download the first thing I do is go over the keybindings. I have some universal keybindings for every game I play: e = use, f = map, c = voice chat, v & b = item/ability 1 & 2, mouse 4 = ult/ability/item 3, mwheel = ping etc. This often takes considerable time. This results me being reluctant to try new games. Having to do the hassle every time only to maybe like the game.

My Suggestion

Allow us to create a Steam account specific universal default keybindings to be used in games. I use the above keybindings I listed in every game and I find it working very well. Sometimes I have to use different key for an action. For example I can't use scroll wheel for abilities that allow hold down functionality. But I just use different keybinding for that game and it's a non issue.

The way it would work is the user creates an universal default keybindings in Steam like the above I listed. The game e.g. first time being launched will ingest the keybindings and maps them automatically. Any game specific actions/bindings will use the game specific defaults, and the ones that overlap with the Steam bindings would use the alternative options defined by the game or prompts the user to bind them. Any game that supports this feature would get a sort of certificication badge to be displayed for the users to recognize the feature. This way the user would be able to just start the game, have minimal hassle and simply start playing the game.

Yeah it's pretty far fetched idea but I believe experimenting with it isn't a bad idea. My inspiration for this comes from the time when I used to buy physical games. At that time I didn't play with mouse + keyboard, the controls for every game were pretty simple and universal, and I didn't have tens of years of muscle memory. I don't really experience that anymore which contributes to the reason I end up playing the mostly same 1-3 games from year to year.

For the record, I recognize there are a lot of players that pretty much simply use the defaults for any game and don't experience any issues. This feature isn't for them.

Bonus

I would extend this feature to more settings like mouse sensitivity, but let's keep this simple for now.

Last edited by bluesteel; 10 hours ago

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Showing 1-15 of 26 comments

Thermal Lance 10 hours ago

I just dont understand how a universal keybind would fit in something that is anything BUT universal... But, then it's getting late for me so I might just not "get" it at the moment.

bluesteel 10 hours ago

Originally posted by Thermal Lance:
Not every game works the same way when it comes to control configurations. It can change by engine, developers, individual games (even within the same franchise) and so on.

How do you expect expect your "universal" keybinds to work with a system that is anything BUT universal?

Are you saying games cannot take inputs/parameters from Steam?

Thermal Lance 10 hours ago

Originally posted by bluesteel:
Originally posted by Thermal Lance:
Not every game works the same way when it comes to control configurations. It can change by engine, developers, individual games (even within the same franchise) and so on.

How do you expect expect your "universal" keybinds to work with a system that is anything BUT universal?

Are you saying games cannot take inputs/parameters from Steam?

Yeah I deleted and reposted my brain basically broke for a moment I'm just tired

bluesteel 10 hours ago

Originally posted by Thermal Lance:
Originally posted by bluesteel:

Are you saying games cannot take inputs/parameters from Steam?
Yeah I deleted and reposted my brain basically broke for a moment I'm just tired

I'm open to trying to explain anything and also would like if someone can make a point why this would not work in theory.

Thermal Lance 10 hours ago

Also what I mean by that is that there is a lot but a lot of ways games store Keybinds. Sometimes it's not even consistent within the same franchise. That's what gets my head scratching.

I don't know. It just sounds like work to me for something people usually do by themselves anyway.

I don't hate the idea. But something tells me it's going to need to be a bit more involved than slamming a script against the video game

Thermal Lance 10 hours ago

Well I mean yes it's a script. But it would be kind of a lutris kind of script.

That means each game will need one unless they share exactly the same key binds in the same place in the same config file.

I mean it's not impossible but I doubt there will be a lot of publishers that will even bother with these sCripts

bluesteel 10 hours ago

Originally posted by Thermal Lance:
Also what I mean by that is that there is a lot but a lot of ways games store Keybinds. Sometimes it's not even consistent within the same franchise. That's what gets my head scratching.

I don't know. It just sounds like work to me for something people usually do by themselves anyway.

I don't hate the idea. But something tells me it's going to need to be a bit more involved than slamming a script against the video game

Like I said in OP the game could get the bindings only once during the first time launch, and then map them and store them normally. This was just one idea to work around that.

Work to you as a game dev or a player? Because the idea of this is to reduce the work for the player like me. More work for a game dev for sure, but it's just another non game dev work to make your game potentially more appealing just like accessibility settings.

Thermal Lance 10 hours ago

Originally posted by bluesteel:
Originally posted by Thermal Lance:
Also what I mean by that is that there is a lot but a lot of ways games store Keybinds. Sometimes it's not even consistent within the same franchise. That's what gets my head scratching.

I don't know. It just sounds like work to me for something people usually do by themselves anyway.

I don't hate the idea. But something tells me it's going to need to be a bit more involved than slamming a script against the video game

Like I said in OP the game could get the bindings only once during the first time launch, and then map them and store them normally. This was just one idea to work around that.

Work to you as a game dev or a player? Because the idea of this is to reduce the work for the player like me. More work for a game dev for sure, but it's just another non game dev work to make your game potentially more appealing just like accessibility settings.

Yeah but accessibility settings actually bring more player. Your suggestion on the accommodate current players.

I'm yet to hear a single person on this planet telling me they won't buy a game because the game won't autobind their things since you know that's something that isn't a thing yet.

Again I don't hate the idea I'm just not really sure it will catch on

bluesteel 9 hours ago

Originally posted by Thermal Lance:
Originally posted by bluesteel:

Like I said in OP the game could get the bindings only once during the first time launch, and then map them and store them normally. This was just one idea to work around that.

Work to you as a game dev or a player? Because the idea of this is to reduce the work for the player like me. More work for a game dev for sure, but it's just another non game dev work to make your game potentially more appealing just like accessibility settings.
Yeah but accessibility settings actually bring more player. Your suggestion on the accommodate current players.

I'm yet to hear a single person on this planet telling me they won't buy a game because the game won't autobind their things since you know that's something that isn't a thing yet.

Again I don't hate the idea I'm just not really sure it will catch on

I'm sure this this feature won't be a decisive factor. One thing I can say for sure is that if I know for a fact that a game I buy features intuitive controls out of the box and doesn't try to handicap me I personally would be buying way more games. This idea is realistically as far as platforms like Steam can influence things and a step closer to my ideal state.

Ben Lubar 9 hours ago

I'd like to see keyboard support for Steam Input, but I don't think it's feasible to make a cross-game input scheme that works in every game. You'd need to start by creating a list of every action you can take in any game, and there are way more of those than there are keys on a keyboard. Then you'd have to figure out how to handle cases where games have multiple distinct versions of a given action, like multiple kinds of "move forward" that are distinct.

It's something you can't really solve in the general case. You need to know about the specific game you're designing the input scheme for in order to design a good input scheme.

#10

bluesteel 9 hours ago

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:
I'd like to see keyboard support for Steam Input, but I don't think it's feasible to make a cross-game input scheme that works in every game. You'd need to start by creating a list of every action you can take in any game, and there are way more of those than there are keys on a keyboard. Then you'd have to figure out how to handle cases where games have multiple distinct versions of a given action, like multiple kinds of "move forward" that are distinct.

It's something you can't really solve in the general case. You need to know about the specific game you're designing the input scheme for in order to design a good input scheme.

I already pretty much addressed this in my OP. Why add support for every action in any game? Just add support for the most popular bindings. And in the game use only the bindings that are included in the feature. If a game has too unique of movement for example to make use of this feature then simply don't use it. 99% 3rd person character movements probably use 4 buttons (wasd) movement anyway.

Last edited by bluesteel; 9 hours ago

#11

nullable 7 hours ago

Originally posted by bluesteel:
Originally posted by Ben Lubar:
I'd like to see keyboard support for Steam Input, but I don't think it's feasible to make a cross-game input scheme that works in every game. You'd need to start by creating a list of every action you can take in any game, and there are way more of those than there are keys on a keyboard. Then you'd have to figure out how to handle cases where games have multiple distinct versions of a given action, like multiple kinds of "move forward" that are distinct.

It's something you can't really solve in the general case. You need to know about the specific game you're designing the input scheme for in order to design a good input scheme.

I already pretty much addressed this in my OP. Why add support for every action in any game? Just add support for the most popular bindings.

You make it sound trivial, but something being easy to say doesn't make it true.

How does Valve track that to determine what's the most popular?
Invariably some of your preferred keybinds are not popular.
You might be shocked to find that most people just use the defaults, so when the defaults are the most popular binds and you always want to change them? What then?

Originally posted by bluesteel:
And in the game use only the bindings that are included in the feature. If a game has too unique of movement for example to make use of this feature then simply don't use it. 99% 3rd person character movements probably use 4 buttons (wasd) movement anyway.

How does Valve determine that? Again, being easy to say doesn't make it easy to do.

It really seems like a lot of effort for very questionable benefit. Like I'm sure what you're imagining is probably great. I think the the reality would be a huge disappointment for you.

Last edited by nullable; 7 hours ago

#12

Hikari Light 6 hours ago

Pretty sure having a universal key bind wouldn't work as not all keyboards around the world are the same design.
Heck I can say for a fact there are at minimum 2 different keyboards that exist.

So a universal key bind would not work due to that alone.

Last edited by Hikari Light; 6 hours ago

#13

bluesteel 4 hours ago

Originally posted by Hikari Light:
Pretty sure having a universal key bind wouldn't work as not all keyboards around the world are the same design.
Heck I can say for a fact there are at minimum 2 different keyboards that exist.

So a universal key bind would not work due to that alone.

Completetly irrelevant to my suggestion. Did you even read my OP?

#14