Day 3 - Learning The Shortcuts
Progression is coming on nicely, I'm starting to gain an understanding of the map. How and when to use my ultimate properly and chasing down and finishing champions. Confidence levels are growing as I can feel in myself a growing understanding of the mechanics of the game... Well I mean, I'm still not the best but I understand what is going on.
[ In-game footage - Friends teaching me how to use shortcut binds ]
My friends were showing me how to use shortcuts to help save time and put me into good gaming habits straight away. These are similar to habits formed in Counter-Strike like when I used to use "Q" to quick switch between weapons or change my settings so that if I ran over a more powerful gun it didn't come out automatically (that can be super annoying when someone is trying to rush you and it takes you a few seconds for your gun to be drawn). It's cool, I'm trying to take down similarities from what I am used to and apply them in this sense, being able to understand how the game works.
One thing I find interesting about League is the movement and Camera focus. Coming from a predominately FPS background, it's in my nature to move around using "WASD", leaving the mouse free for looking around, where by League is more about locked screen (Y) or using space to follow. and using the mouse mainly to move around. I appreciate that is the norm, but learning movement when I play with a low sensitivity* sometimes gets a bit annoying for me. I mean, I know it isn't practical at all... it's just a nice home comfort that I have been using for years which I will have to definitely change. My muscle memory won't be happy but I'm sure my fingers and hands will be! RSI is a thing amongst hardcore gamers and it sucks. I remember "crouching" too much in a game (pressing CTRL) and then after a few months my little finger on my left hand would become locked in that position. So making sure your settings are "comfortable" for you is hugely important, even if a game has default settings always look to use ones you're most happy with first.
*Sensitivity (Low sens vs. High Sens):In case you're wondering,.. low sens is used on slower style shooters to ensure aim is consistent, games like Quake require a higher sens due to more fast-based game approach where you constantly need to spin and turn, in slower FPS games lower sens is often used to control recoil patterns and use stability and consistency in aiming.) RPGs and MMOs often follow that similar to quake as people often need to move, change direction and focus on attacks from different directions.
Today has been pretty awesome in terms of gaming, I stayed up till around 1am playing and reaching my daily goal, I've managed to hit Level 15 which is half way. Tomorrow should be awesome as after hitting level 15 it's recommended to play PvP games in order to gain more XP. So no doubt I will get owned at the start but the learning curve and understanding is slowly making sense. I mean I still have to learn what to buy properly... but that will slowly come.
[ In-game footage - Friends teaching me how to use shortcut binds ]
My friends were showing me how to use shortcuts to help save time and put me into good gaming habits straight away. These are similar to habits formed in Counter-Strike like when I used to use "Q" to quick switch between weapons or change my settings so that if I ran over a more powerful gun it didn't come out automatically (that can be super annoying when someone is trying to rush you and it takes you a few seconds for your gun to be drawn). It's cool, I'm trying to take down similarities from what I am used to and apply them in this sense, being able to understand how the game works.
One thing I find interesting about League is the movement and Camera focus. Coming from a predominately FPS background, it's in my nature to move around using "WASD", leaving the mouse free for looking around, where by League is more about locked screen (Y) or using space to follow. and using the mouse mainly to move around. I appreciate that is the norm, but learning movement when I play with a low sensitivity* sometimes gets a bit annoying for me. I mean, I know it isn't practical at all... it's just a nice home comfort that I have been using for years which I will have to definitely change. My muscle memory won't be happy but I'm sure my fingers and hands will be! RSI is a thing amongst hardcore gamers and it sucks. I remember "crouching" too much in a game (pressing CTRL) and then after a few months my little finger on my left hand would become locked in that position. So making sure your settings are "comfortable" for you is hugely important, even if a game has default settings always look to use ones you're most happy with first.
*Sensitivity (Low sens vs. High Sens):In case you're wondering,.. low sens is used on slower style shooters to ensure aim is consistent, games like Quake require a higher sens due to more fast-based game approach where you constantly need to spin and turn, in slower FPS games lower sens is often used to control recoil patterns and use stability and consistency in aiming.) RPGs and MMOs often follow that similar to quake as people often need to move, change direction and focus on attacks from different directions.
Today has been pretty awesome in terms of gaming, I stayed up till around 1am playing and reaching my daily goal, I've managed to hit Level 15 which is half way. Tomorrow should be awesome as after hitting level 15 it's recommended to play PvP games in order to gain more XP. So no doubt I will get owned at the start but the learning curve and understanding is slowly making sense. I mean I still have to learn what to buy properly... but that will slowly come.
Usability Takeaways:
- Settings menu has good information hierarchy, most games screw this up. Items in settings such as keyboard and game settings are grouped correctly and hence are easy to find and easier to apply changes. Some areas (such as the video above, my friend having to tell me what it is) there is no explanation of what they do, from a Usability perspective, using a tool tip or a learn more link would help one understand their settings better with an example.