in my game i want there to be lots of things that you can have the character do.
-jump
-flip
-sumersault
-toggle between run and walk
-pick up objects
-grab hold of fixed objects
-climb
-etc
how could i make it quick and easy for the player to access all of the skills without cluttering up the keyboard?

Do like Zelda or the Harry Potter games and make it all contextual. Essentially you have your basic movement controls and an 'action' button. Depending upon what you're doing, standing in front of etc. the 'action' flips to the relevant one for the situation (ie jumping if there's a gap in the floor ahead, grab if there's an object etc.)

i want the player to be able to jump, sumersault and flip at all times, then i want the player to be able to climb almost anytime they are next to an (outside) wall

I'm not sure what movement you are referring to with "flip", but you could join the jump and sumersault actions in a key by adding key combinations such as "D" for jump and "D+down arrow key" for sumersault, or something like that. The climb could be done by holding "jump" and arrow key towards the wall. To toggle between run and walk, I'd suggest Caps Lock to avoid having the player hold a key to run. Also you could set the Pick up object, grab hold of fixed objects, activate, etc. to a contextual "action" key.

K.I.S.S.

contextual fluidness is the best way. "flipping" while jumping is merely a graphical niceness. Now as for climbing a ledge, that is a contextual thing and you should look for being close to an ledge, facing the ledge in a certain amount of degrees, is the ledge high enough/low enough, and whether you want them to even be able to climb such a ledge. From the programming point of view, it is a lot to check for, but for the users, make it as simple as possible and limit the number of keys hey need to use. A third person shooter should not be a flight simulator.

skyhawk Wrote:K.I.S.S.

Agreed- those controls you have listed can all be (and have all been) performed on a NES controller. (A d-pad plus A, B, start, select buttons.) Anything more than that is too much when mapped to a keyboard.

Another possibility is to consider mapping some controls to the mouse. Most mice offer at least two buttons plus a directional control, and are all more engaging than having two hands on the keyboard.

what is K.I.S.S? this is the second time I've heard of it today.

Keep It Simple Stupid

Zwilnik Wrote:Do like Zelda

Yes.

Zelda does all of those things with, what? 3-4 buttons? Dicsounting the C-buttons for items of course.

Try Lugaru

Hehe, a little bit of self-advertising there david?

Anyway, simple is better though. I hate it when games have so many controls I never learn them all. Live by the "Simple to learn, hard to master" philosophy.

Alex

I thought Max Payne did a decent job of this. Rolling and diving was simple and context-sensitive, and it actually aided you in beating the game...

However shameless David may be in his self-promotion, he is right. Play Lugaru, and Prince of Persia.

-jump: space
-flip: shift, and only if player is moving forward
-sumersault: shift, if player is not moving forward
-toggle between run and walk: some other hold-this-to-run
-pick up objects: right- or control-click
-grab hold of fixed objects: same as pick up
-climb: space, if near something climbable

And that covers all of your bases, using only the mouse, shift, space, and your standard movement keys. And control, if you're a pansy and only have one button.