First use of WASD for game control

Status
Not open for further replies.

exar

n00b
Joined
Jul 14, 2004
Messages
19
My office mate and I were having a discussion today, and came up with a
question:

What is the first computer game to utilize the "WASD" keys as directional
keys, as the standard? It's driving me crazy and thus far I'm not getting
the answer from Google.

Thinking logically, the WASD interface was used to replace the arrow keys,
for the primary reason of enabling the simultaneous use of the mouse. This
interface is almost certainly born from the "First-Person Shooter"
genre....so lets start there.

If you think back to Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, those games were still played
with the keyboard only. No free-look, no jumping. Arrow keys were used for
movement. This would be the same for early games like Hexen.

One of the first games in the first-person perspective that I can remember
jumping was Ultima Underworld. I believe a mouse was used too. So that's
one option.

I find it harder to believe that the original "Quake" was the first to
implement these controls. I could have sworn that one of the first games
utilizing the ability to free-look was "Sin".

There is also Duke Nukem 3D, which had some similar features, but I can't
place it in the timeline.

You guys are all smarter than me...any thoughts?!?! It's going to drive me
crazy now.
 
I recall being a put a bit out of joint by wasd when it showed up. The first game I remember HAVING to do it with was the first star wars FPS where you could look up and down. Except that tends to imply there was something out before that I could work aorund using WASD on.

That's about all I can contribute on the subject.

[ok apprantly my memory sucks. according to http://keycardhq.de/index2.html which seems to list a bunch of cheat sheets for games.. however, it has a number of things that differ from my WASD recollection, so it may be wrong. WASD may have jsut been one of the top players preferred configs that just sort of osmosised it's way to the default. ]
 
First game I used it for was Unreal. Back on the Voodoo3. Man that game rocked.

Funny: At first, I used WASD with my RIGHT hand and used an INVERTED TRACKBALL with me left! Ah!
 
IIRC, I think Tribes was the 1st game to utilize WASD.
 
I think descent used wasd, but its not a fps so I dont know if it counts
 
Screw WASD, I finally gave up using arrow keys in BF:Vietnam. Ahhhh, so many wasted minutes reconfiguring keys.
I am still stubborn on one setup, mouse right = jump. I think it was tribes that introduced me to this button, and I have NEVER played a game using the spacebar to jump. Feels way too awkward IMO. It was fantastic when Tribes:Veng came out and jump was default mouse 2.
 
C'mon guys. I'm talking about old games here (circa 1995 or older), since I'm certian it has to be a pre-Doom game. The games you've suggested are way to new. Think back to when you couldn't remap the keys to the way you preferred. Then you're in the right era.

Descent counts...this is not constrained to FPS only...but I don't think that's even old enough. Someone else at work thought that it might be Tetris, but I think the default controls were the keypad so you could control everything with your right hand.

There were also the quaint few that thought it'd be a good idea to use L ; ' P as the controls so you could control with the right and command with the left...but I digress...
 
hmmm, not sure. i ditched keyboard-only and started using a WASD type config around duke nukem 3d, but im sure some doom players had it.
 
damn you tribes!! because of tribes i learned jump as right mouse button, which really made games hard later when i tried to strafe and alt-fire, just never felt natural. and i hated remapping keys all the time. descent was the first game i played, had to remap the keys away from wasd. that was 1996 right? it could be the first, but i was only 13 then, could be before my time.

ima youngin...


:(
 
I'm pretty sure that WASD predated the FPS KB+mouse controls. Think back to two-player games using just the KB as input...
 
I remember playing JEDI KNIGHT with WSAD, but I dont remember if it wast he default setting.
 
I was thinking the EXACT same thing. I remember 2 player games on the same comp, one person using wasd and one using the arrows.
 
Sin? what the heck that was a game made using a modified Quake2 engine and I remember using WASD to play Netquake and then QW.
 
I'll take up the cause. The stipulation is that WASD has to be the default keyboard configuration. Being able to change it, doesn't count.

I'll have an answer in 24 hours for you.
 
Quake 2 multiplayer might not have been the first...but it was the first FPS that actually forced me to use the mouse + wasd :)
People would duck and start shooting and until you started using the mouse, you just ducked and shot too...but you'd die cause they started first. Then I started using the mouse and strafing around their ducking assess while shooting down at them :).
 
The first game to use it as the default configuration was HL. I clearly remember thinking it was cool to finally have a game use it as the default configuration. Quake 2 still had the arrow keys mapped for movement.
 
I really don´t think HL was the first. There tend to be a lot of myth going on with Valve and Blizzard games. I think someone just claimed Half Life was the first and then all the rest accepted it.

It was probably a crappy fps game that noone heard about that was first.

It´s like people say rts was born with Dune 2. However it was an anonyme title that really was first :).

As for Descent yeah I seem to remember it may have had that as default but can be wrong. However quite sure that wasn´t first either.
 
Bumrush said:
The first game to use it as the default configuration was HL. I clearly remember thinking it was cool to finally have a game use it as the default configuration. Quake 2 still had the arrow keys mapped for movement.

Your joking...right?

EDIT: decent definitely had it. It was like my first pc game and was 1 of 2 games I ever used the wasd settings for. The other game being dark forces.

LOL during those days I use to use the arrow keys as the mouse.
 
i remember playing Quake 1 and using the arrow keys to move around, then people started talking about a better config using wasd.. dont remember who standardized it though
 
Naldo said:
I think descent used wasd, but its not a fps so I dont know if it counts

Descent used A to go forwards and Z to go back. Arrows were used to turn/tilt up or down
 
Quake 2 or 3. Whichever had them by default. Duke 3d I believe had the arrows by default.
 
Magic Carpet was my first introduction to wasd+mouselook. Is also what caused me to be an invert Y FPS player ever since :(
 
the first game to use wasd and mouse look by default was Raven Software's CyClones.
 
I think the first WASD default was marathon. . .


I personally haven't used WASD until fairly recently (Tribes and on). My brain still thinks pinky=jump and I switch back and forth depending on how the game works. I played HL2 with WASD, though.
 
BioPort said:
the first game to use wasd and mouse look by default was Raven Software's CyClones.

Sorry BioPort, but this is straight from the Cyclones Readme.txt:

We at Raven Software feel that the default key configuration is the
best all-around setup for easy movement, centered around the keypad.
KP 1 = Slide Left (Keypad) ENTER = Select (Right-click)
KP 2 OR 5 = Back up (Keypad) 0 = Fire
KP 3 = Slide Right Page Up and (Keypad) * = Look up
KP 4 = Rotate Left Page Down and (Keypad) / = Look down
KP 6 = Rotate Right
KP 7 = Forward and Left
KP 8 = Straight Forward
KP 9 = Forward and Right

However, some people find it awkward to use the right side of the
keyboard when the mouse is directly to the right of it as well. So, here
are a few remapping suggestions that we have found to our liking:
Left side of the keyboard for movement:
A = Turn Left
D = Turn Right
S = Back up
W = Move Forward
Q = Slide Left
E = Slide Right
In this setup, Z and X, 1, 2, 3, and TAB all make excellent
keys for other game functions. The "Forward and Left" and
"Forward and Right" keys can be duplicated by holding down
both the forward and the left or right keys.
 
Sorry...off-topic..but I just wanted to say that WASD sucks. :) YGHJ is much better, because it allows easy access to nearly every key on the keyboard.

I've never met a game where I couldn't map every single function to a key that I wouldn't have to find by looking, or where I would have to move my hand off the primary movement keys. In some games, it's necessary to use modifier keys to map every single function, so I use the Alt key which is conveniently located under the thumb.

I'm also a player that always uses the right mouse button for jumping, which started from the netmech (mech2) days. I designed my keyboard layout so I could maximize the number of functions I could perform simultaneously depending on the importance of different key combinations.

You want to be able to do a lot of different things without ever taking your fingers off the primary movement keys. The pinky and thumb have lots of keys available to them while the other fingers control movement.

WASD is extremely limiting in my opinion.
 
hmm i guess CyClones wasnt the first game to use wasd by default, but it WAS the first game with mouse-look.
 
I really don't know, but I'm going to agree with the original Half Life. This link mentions the default controls in the game.
To my recollection games before that had to be programmed in the control options to use those keys.
 
I don't know what you are really asking but I like the discussion.
Most games including Doom, Quake, Unreal, Decent, Duke Nukem 3D, etc all defaulted to the arrow keys. It was mainly personal preference that people switched to WASD like you said to utilize the mouse (or some people used a joystick with Decent). I don't think it was until the last year or 2 that people started shipping games with WASD as the default movement keys (and don't think half-life shipped that way initially). I can remember using a mouse and WASD in Doom and Decent and Duke Nukem. I had one of those big fat Logitech 3 button mice (this was before scroll wheels). I remember in games like Wolfenstein that I just used the arrow keys because no one told me any different.
 
I believe the first game I EVER saw it on was ...

Rampage

The old arcade turned pc game where you control a large ape, wolf or lizard to pummle buildings while eating innocent victims. I've tried to think back farther then that, but have failed.
 
The first game I ever noticed that had WASD as the default was Half-Life. I remember this clearly because it was the first game that I didn't have to edit the controls to get WASD. I'm not saying that it was definitely the first retail game to have WASD as the default, but it was the first one I encountered that did. I mentioned this in the WASD vs. ESDF thread.
 
After exaustive research of my computer desks drawers I have findings. My findings are that the oldest game i have w/ default "wsad" controll scheme is "Virtua On: Cyber troopers" Its stamped 1998. kewl eh?
 
I've played games on a computer without arrow keys, sometime at the dawn of civilization. [1] Sadly, I can't remember the keymappings, but it was not WASD, for what it's worth.
(Just another data point.)


[1] I'm not really that old, it was already an old machine when I got it.
(Z80-based ABC80. Basic-in-ROM, monochrome, the works.)
 
I'm back on the case. I had to take care of a few others things before I could take time to research this. Anyway, the first thing I came up with in 5 minutes is that Outlaws in 1997 had a default of WASD movement. I still have quite a bit to look at before I can come up with a definitive answer.
 
Wasn't it Thresh that got everyone hooked on using WASD becasue of his Quake config?
 
exar said:
I find it harder to believe that the original "Quake" was the first to
implement these controls. I could have sworn that one of the first games
utilizing the ability to free-look was "Sin".
Quake1 had mouse look, you just had to turn it on.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top