What is your preferred keyboard button layout for playing fangames?

[gamester]

Everyone who makes a game has to decide which buttons are going to be used to play it. For most MFGG games, the buttons typically include the following:

-Arrow keys
-Shift (do you want to turn on sticky keys?)
-Ctrl
-Alt
-Spacebar
-Letters - 'Z' , 'X' , 'C'

We are well beyond the point where if you don't like the control layout, you can change it using code, keyboard mapping apps, pc controllers, etc.

But since we are discussing the keyboard:

What is your preferred layout?
Do button actions (run, jump, start, pause, etc.) feel most natural in a particular layout?
Any layouts that you dislike?

(This post may or may not be valuable for the current generation of fangame creators)

[Vert]

Arrow keys, Z to run and X to jump. C to do some other thing I guess.

Some people got really mad at me for making that the default for my game's demo, as we hadn't implemented remapping yet. I was really surprised by that as that's practically the standard for emulators.

[Luigibonus]

I often add control customization in my games within the settings as I think that's always a good idea, but by default it's usually:

Z: jump
X: run
C: other action, e.g. spin or spinjump
Space: something scenario-specific, e.g. using power-up

← / →: move
↑: look up / enter door
↓: duck

Personally I don't like using Ctrl and Shift for controlling the character, but that's just my preference I think they're fine for some other actions tho, like releasing the reserve item or bringing up an inventory.

[VinnyVideo]

Basically, what @Vert said. When I make platformers, I typically use Z as the default for running/shooting, and X as the default for jumping. On a QWERTY keyboard, most people will use their left hand for the action buttons and their right hand for the movement keys. This means you'll have your left index finger on the X key and your left middle finger on the Z key. The index finger is more dexterous than the middle finger, and in a Mario game, you'll be pressing the jump button more frequently than you'll be pressing the run button. In some levels in some games, you'll be holding the run button pretty much nonstop.

I'm also OK with the Shift-Ctrl-Space-Enter scheme. Of course, it's extra-awesome if you include a keyboard configuration menu in your game.

Course clear! You got a card.

[DJ Coco]

Z/X, even on a German keyboard. I'm a masochist.

[OssieTheOstrich]

It kinda depends on what is the console style of the game.

If it's a NES/Gameboy styled experience, it's probably like:
Z: Run
X: Jump

If it's a SNES styled experience, then it's:
S: Run
Z: Jump
Z: Special (like spin jumping or something)

That said I do think that allowing the player to customise their controls is really a must have feature, as this thread obviously shows, people have different preferences for what is comfortable for them.

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List of projects I eventually plan to finish after the indefinite hiatus is over, assuming I don't abruptly cancel them:

Spoiler

Mario's Rather Unusual Trilogy (Mario's slightly unusual Boss Rush (Completed), Mario vs. Some Unusual Foes (In development), Mario's VERY Unusual Final Frontier (In development))
Sonic's Foray into Random/Unusual Zones (spin-off of Unusual Trilogy, in development)
Angry Birds Slingshot Frenzy (In development)
Super Mario Flashback: Really Good Edition (In development)
Super Hilda DX (In only conceptual phase)

Yes, I am aware that I have about 6 or so fangame projects currently in development at the same time. And yes, I am also aware that all of this is very ambitious.

+ List of projects I'm helping out with in some small capacity during my hiatus:

Spoiler

Super Mario Bros Dimensions 2 (as a spriter, only for Mario's sprites)
MFGG Community Fangame Project 3 (as a spriter)
WordGirl ReWired (as a artist)

[Vert]

Z/X, even on a German keyboard. I'm a masochist.

Remember when Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair just put its actions on H, K and O because using Z, X and C wouldn't work on German keyboards and they didn't bother to program in key remapping support? Effort lol

[Gate]

Control + Shift here but since the release of the eighth installement of GME, configurable controls are a thing now.

"shy guys are wall plugs confirmed" - Vitiman on Club Saturn Ex

[gamester]

Control + Shift here but since the release of the eighth installement of GME, configurable controls are a thing now.

I never got around to learning how to do that in GME. From the other replies it seems that the Z, X, C layout is naturally the most comfortable for platformers. This layout also naturally places your thumb on the spacebar and your pinky on the shift key.

[newredstone02]

In AZERTY keyboards X is better suited for jumping because when you use a game controller the jump button is always in the bottom
I used to just use shift for jump and Ctrl for Running/interact because I disabled the sticky keys message box
nowdays i use Z for jumping and X for Running/interact but i give the option to inverse for AZERTY/QWERTZ keyboards or remap

if you make a fangame

Be creative.

[Q-Nova]

Long ago, my games used the Z/X button layout (Z for jumping, X for other actions like shooting). I believe I sometimes used just the space bar if there's only one action (aside from movement). By the time I started releasing games on MFGG, I switched to the Shift/Ctrl button layout, thanks to Clickteam fangames. I initially disliked the Shift/Ctrl button layout because of the whole Sticky Keys thing, but after I figured out how to disable that annoying pop-up and then played tons of games using said layout, I've grown to appreciate it. I consider the layout an iconic part of a bygone era of fangames, when Clickteam products were the norm. I use the Shift/Ctrl layout because of that -- to pay tribute to the old fangames, and also because I think it's cool. It's similar to why I keep using the 4:3 resolution to this day (though, part of that is because I want my games to playable in CRT monitors). If I ever make another game, however, I definitely should let players reconfigure the controls. I implemented that in Bob-Ball vs. Toads, but it never came out. I considered putting it into Go! Go! Gooble!! but I never bothered with it, even though I set variables for the keys early on. I like how Clickteam games have control reconfiguration by default.

As for playing games, I just stick with the defaults provided, unless they're too uncomfortable. If a game has no defaults and instead forces me to choose the keys, I'd probably do Shift/Ctrl/Z or Z/X/C, depending on whatever I feel like. When playing DOS games, I always like using Ctrl/Alt/Space.

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