Action button labels

[_wb_]

[.]  [:]  [.:]  [::]  [:.:]  [:::]

. : .: :: :.: :::

[o]  [8]  [o8]  [88]  [8o8] [888]

o  8  o8  88  8o8 888

Associating meaning to generic labels like numbers is also a problem. If the meaning is derived from the button position, then the label does not matter, but if the meaning of the button corresponds to the button label, it's nicer to have something more than D1-6 to work with.

D1-6 works just fine, you're just making something out of nothing.

What buttons would you assign to CONFIRM / CANCEL? What would be the natural/logical choice?

Or say I want to make a game which has the following 6 main actions (just a hypothetical example, I'm not actually making such a game):  JUMP, PUNCH, FIRE, INVENTORY, CAST SPELL, DROP BOMB. How would you assign them to the D1-D6 buttons in a way that is easy to remember?

Compare:

Δ  JUMP


Ω  PUNCH


X  FIRE

Π  INVENTORY



Ψ CAST SPELL

Φ DROP BOMB

 

or

 

⚀ JUMP

⚁ PUNCH

⚂ FIRE

⚃ INVENTORY

⚄ CAST SPELL

⚅ DROP BOMB

 

[Granitehead]

Symbols tend to be easier to associate with something than numbers. I might associate the number 8 with the numbers 2, 4 and 3, but usually not with something not numbers.

 

[_wb_]

I also made a suggestion earlier which was completely ignored:

What about point/circle, line/X, triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon? That would be a more or less mathematically logical sequence (one corner to six corners).

I could very well imagine that that's how the Playstation buttons came into existence. "What about point, line, triangle, square?" "No, point and line are no good... But what if we make the point a circle and the line an X?"

Good suggestion and would be a good compromise! The only minor issue I can see is that pentagon, hexagon, and circle can look too much alike. Also X is a weird substitute for line. And I don't know if Sony would be fine with a clone of their labels (especially if they are in the same positions).

 

[Granitehead]

I agree X is a bit far fetched. I'll try to think of something better. The abstract logical arrangement would be to start at the right with the circle and then go against counter clock wise with increasing edge counts.

 

[Tenka]

[.]  [:]  [.:]  [::]  [:.:]  [:::]

. : .: :: :.: :::

[o]  [8]  [o8]  [88]  [8o8] [888]

o  8  o8  88  8o8 888

Associating meaning to generic labels like numbers is also a problem. If the meaning is derived from the button position, then the label does not matter, but if the meaning of the button corresponds to the button label, it's nicer to have something more than D1-6 to work with.

D1-6 works just fine, you're just making something out of nothing.

What buttons would you assign to CONFIRM / CANCEL? What would be the natural/logical choice?

Or say I want to make a game which has the following 6 main actions (just a hypothetical example, I'm not actually making such a game):  JUMP, PUNCH, FIRE, INVENTORY, CAST SPELL, DROP BOMB. How would you assign them to the D1-D6 buttons in a way that is easy to remember?

That depends not on what each button looks like at all, but on what order and which positions the buttons are placed in; FIRE won't be the button that looks like a gun.  I'll come up with a preference though.  If I assume the order of the buttons will be a Sega style

 88  8o8 888

  o     8   o8

then I would feel comfortable assigning o JUMP, 8 PUNCH, o8 INVENTORY, 88 FIRE, 8o8 CAST SPELL, 888 DROP BOMB.  I'm used to jump being under my thumb all the time and I start at the bottom left, beside jump is punch because it's the simplest thing, so I'll be doing it as frequently as jumping.  Inventory is to the very right because I won't be pressing it as often, and it's different enough to be on a side.  88 is fire because that's probably another one of the buttons used frequently enough to keep under my thumb, and it shares the top row with cast spell and drop bomb because all three of those buttons are projectiles.  Although the order of drop bomb and cast spell depends on which is more useful, I'm just guessing that bombs are more rare due to spells tending to run on MP.

 

[_wb_]

^ If you choose button assignment purely based on button location, then the labels are irrelevant.

Here's an attempt to make something like T4B's suggestion, mixed with dice symbols and Greek letters:

 

[Caine]

I also made a suggestion earlier which was completely ignored:

What about point/circle, line/X, triangle, square, pentagon, hexagon? That would be a more or less mathematically logical sequence (one corner to six corners).

I could very well imagine that that's how the Playstation buttons came into existence. "What about point, line, triangle, square?" "No, point and line are no good... But what if we make the point a circle and the line an X?"

The rationale for the playstation buttons was the following, according to the linked page:

"The triangle refers to viewpoint; I had it represent one's head or direction and made it green. Square refers to a piece of paper; I had it represent menus or documents and made it pink. The circle and X represent 'yes' or 'no' decision-making and I made them red and blue respectively. People thought those colors were mixed up, and I had to reinforce to management that that's what I wanted."

Regarding the D1,..,D6 notation. I'm not a fan of that as I read it as a short-hand for 1D1,...,1D6. Which is not an indication of a number but of the outcome of a dice roll, i.e. a range of numbers.

 

[Neelix]

Perhaps instead of dice faces, wireframe images of gaming dice, d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20?

- Neelix

 

[Caine]

You know, if all what we are trying to achieve is to disambiguate the buttons from the keyboard, then we can just underline them. E.g. the A button vs the A button.

   Y   Z
A   B   C
   X

 

[NoeleyC]

You know, if all what we are trying to achieve is to disambiguate the buttons from the keyboard, then we can just underline them. E.g. the A button vs the A button.


Y Z


A B C


X

Or else simply put brackets around them so we know we mean the (A) button? (Looks buttony to me anyway! )

 

[Neelix]

Except (again) that that's only a visual disambiguation. In conversation it would still be ambiguous.

- Neelix

 

[Tenka]

"Press underlined A!  Goddammit press underlined A!  No not underlined X, underlined A!"

Differentiating them from other symbols isn't the only reason though, other half is we're each trying to suggest why something looks cooler.

 

[PokeParadox]

Or just say A Button and A Key... *facepalms*

 

[Fzero]

[.] [:] [.:] [::] [:.:] [:::]


. : .: :: :.: :::


[o] [8] [o8] [88] [8o8] [888]


o 8 o8 88 8o8 888

Associating meaning to generic labels like numbers is also a problem. If the meaning is derived from the button position, then the label does not matter, but if the meaning of the button corresponds to the button label, it's nicer to have something more than D1-6 to work with.

D1-6 works just fine, you're just making something out of nothing.

What buttons would you assign to CONFIRM / CANCEL? What would be the natural/logical choice?


Or say I want to make a game which has the following 6 main actions (just a hypothetical example, I'm not actually making such a game): JUMP, PUNCH, FIRE, INVENTORY, CAST SPELL, DROP BOMB. How would you assign them to the D1-D6 buttons in a way that is easy to remember?


Compare:


Δ JUMP


Ω PUNCH


X FIRE


Π INVENTORY


Ψ CAST SPELL


Φ DROP BOMB


or


⚀ JUMP


⚁ PUNCH


⚂ FIRE


⚃ INVENTORY


⚄ CAST SPELL


⚅ DROP BOMB

Personally, exactly the same method no matter what type style of buttons used, I'd remember them as top-left, top-middle, top-right.. bottom-left...etc


It would soon be easy to me to remember that bottom-right button drops bombs.


Wouldn't matter if that was a 6-dot-dice-icon, a hard-kick icon, a [F], a red button... Whatever... I'd learn it easy enough

 

[Rivaan]

Another suggestion that I just thought about (which may have previously been mentioned by someone else), is the following letters and colours:

[G][P][O]
[R][Y][B]

As some probably realise, it's based on primary and secondary colours. The layout of the colours themselves is chosen based on the complemetary colours concept.

The buttons themselves can be black or whatever the default colours are, while the letters are coloured differently (or vice versa with the button faces being the primary/secondary colours and the letters being black). When referring to the buttons, you could call them by their colour name: Press Red to fire, Yellow to jump, Blue to check inventory, etc.. I think colour association is probably easier to establish than pattern/symbol/location association, though I've done no research to back that assertion.

 

[Caine]

A Playstation inspired approach (but using different symbols to avoid trouble) and extended to six keys.
      ⌂      
  ⚇   ←
≡   ✗
  ✓

Legend:

home : ⌂   view   : ⚇   menu : ≡    back  : ←  yes     : ✓   no      : ✗
 

Another alternative is to use remote control keys, e.g.:

    ■                    stop                         
    ⏯         rewind   play/pauze
⏮  ⏭      prev   next
                forward
Hmmm...these seem to be missing from the font.

Correlation to keyboard mapping: stop ~= delete, play/pauze ~= insert, rewind ~= pageup, forward ~= pagedn, prev ~= home, next ~= end

For media applications these actions would be found to Fn+key.

 

[Fzero]

I'd thought of colours accompanied with letters too, but had only thought of typical letters A/B/C D/E/F ...or 1/2/3 4/5/6.


I like the idea of using the letter that suits the respective button colour though.


This is probably the best option imo.


...I think I'd prefer all black buttons too, with the letters on them in their colour.


Like PS4 pad is, though with their symbols of course

 

[Kiga]

         Φ                      Φ                      Φ                      Φ                      Φ                      Φ                      Φ                      Φ                      Φ                      Φ

     Δ      ψ             Δ      ψ             Δ      ψ              Δ      ψ             Δ      ψ             Δ      ψ              Δ      ψ             Δ      ψ             Δ      ψ             Δ      ψ

 Π     Ω              Π     Ω              Π     Ω               Π     Ω              Π     Ω              Π     Ω               Π     Ω              Π     Ω              Π     Ω              Π     Ω

     Χ                      Χ                      Χ                       Χ                       Χ                      Χ                        Χ                      Χ                      Χ                      Χ

 

[PokeParadox]

A Playstation inspired approach (but using different symbols to avoid trouble) and extended to six keys.

      ⌂      


  ⚇   ←


≡   ✗


  ✓

Legend:

home : ⌂   view   : ⚇   menu : ≡    back  : ←  yes     : ✓   no      : ✗

Another alternative is to use remote control keys, e.g.:

    ■                    stop                         


    ⏯         rewind   play/pauze


⏮  ⏭      prev   next


                forward


Hmmm...these seem to be missing from the font.

Correlation to keyboard mapping: stop ~= delete, play/pauze ~= insert, rewind ~= pageup, forward ~= pagedn, prev ~= home, next ~= end

For media applications these actions would be found to Fn+key.

Your Yes and No need swapping, but otherwise I like it...

 

[Caine]

Your Yes and No need swapping, but otherwise I like it...

I was expecting that one I have no strong preference for one or the other.