I’ve been playing Ziggurat 2, which I picked up in a Fanatical bundle that I think is still going? It’s my second FPS on the Deck, but Super Hot isn’t in real time, so this is the first time I’m struggling with aiming accurately at speed. It’s hard!
I have gyro controls enabled to help with fine-tuning aiming, but I’m really struggling. I just realized as I’m typing this that I haven’t tried touch controls for aiming, though… I’m an idiot. I keep forgetting the touch pads exist. That will probably be a lot better!
I also played Luck be a Landlord. The first run I lost, but in the second run I already beat the game so hard that endless mode has absolutely no challenge since I scale faster than the endless mode difficulty increases. I can’t really recommend it for that reason, especially since there’s absolutely no challenge once you’ve figured out a strategy and get your combo pieces.
And more Stardew Valley. I’m in Spring of Year 2 for the first time. I’m thinking of going for Perfection in the file, now, since most of the game is incredibly easy now with sprinklers and the greenhouse. Then I might start over with mods if I’m still not tired of the game.
I have gyro controls enabled to help with fine-tuning aiming, but I’m really struggling. I just realized as I’m typing this that I haven’t tried touch controls for aiming, though… I’m an idiot. I keep forgetting the touch pads exist. That will probably be a lot better!
It depends, I think gyro + joysticks is way more natural and fun. I recommend leaving it always on with a button you can hold to temporarily disable it. Don’t use the gyro for most movements, that is what the joysticks are for. Hold the steam deck nice and still in a comfortable position and progressively integrate slight movements to fine tune your rough joystick aim. Gyro aiming is both for fine adjustment but also for snap reactions, so sensitivity shouldn’t be too high but it shouldn’t be too low so it can also be used in knee jerk reaction situations where it can most immediately benefit your FPS competitiveness.
Here is a short video I uploaded (to a peertube instance) of me playing a very fast paced FPS with gyo + joysticks as an example. Except for the flicks and quick reaction shots it isn’t necessarily obvious I have gyro on at all and am constantly using it, I myself am not even really conscious of it while I am doing it. In a way my brain is instructing my hands to aim using the joysticks while my hands are subconsciously/automatically fixing my fine aim through small subtle gyro adjustments.
I do flick shots the way people imagine gyro+joysticks works before they have tried it, I just literally aim the steamdeck/controller at the target, but the rest of the time it is totally subconscious. I grew up playing shooters with an xbox controller, I love playing shooters especially shooters with vehicles using joysticks. That makes me well aware that without heavy autoaim there is a serious fundamental limitation to how accurate joystick input can be, specifically for small aim adjustments where joystick input will just keep hopping back and forth over the target because it is nearly impossible to make a minimum distance movement with a joystick (especially when you have to have a decent deadzone to counteract stick drift).
For me, gyro solves this almost magically because I intuitively know very well at this point what happens when I bring my aim onto a target with a joystick. I either successfully bring my aim right on target or I end up having moved my aim a little too far or too little short. I am controller-throwingly well aware of the serious problem I face when the result happens to be my aim is almost on target as that is the most difficult position to get on target with joystick input (even more than a position 180 degrees away). I intuitively know what the problem feels like extremely well (one would hope so after all those hours lol…) so I can just give my subconscious that well defined problem and let my hands intuitively work out how to make the problem disappear from the perspective of my conscious mind.
I don’t really perceive “joysticks+gyro” as two simultaneous inputs, I perceive it as “magic joysticks”.
I’ve been playing Ziggurat 2, which I picked up in a Fanatical bundle that I think is still going? It’s my second FPS on the Deck, but Super Hot isn’t in real time, so this is the first time I’m struggling with aiming accurately at speed. It’s hard!
I have gyro controls enabled to help with fine-tuning aiming, but I’m really struggling. I just realized as I’m typing this that I haven’t tried touch controls for aiming, though… I’m an idiot. I keep forgetting the touch pads exist. That will probably be a lot better!
I also played Luck be a Landlord. The first run I lost, but in the second run I already beat the game so hard that endless mode has absolutely no challenge since I scale faster than the endless mode difficulty increases. I can’t really recommend it for that reason, especially since there’s absolutely no challenge once you’ve figured out a strategy and get your combo pieces.
And more Stardew Valley. I’m in Spring of Year 2 for the first time. I’m thinking of going for Perfection in the file, now, since most of the game is incredibly easy now with sprinklers and the greenhouse. Then I might start over with mods if I’m still not tired of the game.
It depends, I think gyro + joysticks is way more natural and fun. I recommend leaving it always on with a button you can hold to temporarily disable it. Don’t use the gyro for most movements, that is what the joysticks are for. Hold the steam deck nice and still in a comfortable position and progressively integrate slight movements to fine tune your rough joystick aim. Gyro aiming is both for fine adjustment but also for snap reactions, so sensitivity shouldn’t be too high but it shouldn’t be too low so it can also be used in knee jerk reaction situations where it can most immediately benefit your FPS competitiveness.
Thanks for this! I’ll give that a shot. (No pun intended.)
Here is a short video I uploaded (to a peertube instance) of me playing a very fast paced FPS with gyo + joysticks as an example. Except for the flicks and quick reaction shots it isn’t necessarily obvious I have gyro on at all and am constantly using it, I myself am not even really conscious of it while I am doing it. In a way my brain is instructing my hands to aim using the joysticks while my hands are subconsciously/automatically fixing my fine aim through small subtle gyro adjustments.
I do flick shots the way people imagine gyro+joysticks works before they have tried it, I just literally aim the steamdeck/controller at the target, but the rest of the time it is totally subconscious. I grew up playing shooters with an xbox controller, I love playing shooters especially shooters with vehicles using joysticks. That makes me well aware that without heavy autoaim there is a serious fundamental limitation to how accurate joystick input can be, specifically for small aim adjustments where joystick input will just keep hopping back and forth over the target because it is nearly impossible to make a minimum distance movement with a joystick (especially when you have to have a decent deadzone to counteract stick drift).
For me, gyro solves this almost magically because I intuitively know very well at this point what happens when I bring my aim onto a target with a joystick. I either successfully bring my aim right on target or I end up having moved my aim a little too far or too little short. I am controller-throwingly well aware of the serious problem I face when the result happens to be my aim is almost on target as that is the most difficult position to get on target with joystick input (even more than a position 180 degrees away). I intuitively know what the problem feels like extremely well (one would hope so after all those hours lol…) so I can just give my subconscious that well defined problem and let my hands intuitively work out how to make the problem disappear from the perspective of my conscious mind.
I don’t really perceive “joysticks+gyro” as two simultaneous inputs, I perceive it as “magic joysticks”.
Thanks for posting! I appreciate it.
I think I need to increase my gyro sensitivity by a lot. I’ll try that next time I play!