Tap or press?

[Slasher]

Hi

quick question:

Key movement: Tap or Press?

slasher

[selmiak]

press. tapping a button to stop moving again is stupid.

[Crimson Wizard]

That depends on how long is the way to go...

But I prefer Click.

[blueskirt]

It depends. If you're going for a ginormous tribute to Sierra parser adventure games vibe in your game, you gotta have tap. Other than that, you should go for press as it's definitely more intuitive.

[KodiakBehr]

I cannot conceive of a scenario where I'd rather see tap, other than hating my players.

[Crimson Wizard]

I cannot conceive of a scenario where I'd rather see tap, other than hating my players.

I can see a scenario where an extra control that works in tapping way could be useful - where character has to walk long distances.
Also - where character may need to perform other actions quickly while walking along straight line.

[Ryan Timothy B]

If you're so keen on either one of the two, just have the option in the menu. I'd definitely make Pressing the default though.

[Privateer Puddin']

It's all about tap.

[Scavenger]

Tap if you're using a parser, press otherwise.

Reasoning:
When you're using the tap, you are freeing your hand to type on the keyboard. If you don't, you are limited to typing one handed, which is less than efficient in time sensitive scenarios. You want to be able to type in your command as fast as possible. When you're walking across the screen, the steady pace of the character allows you to input your command as they get to their destination, as opposed to stopping and inputting the command. And if you're going to be going long distances, you don't want to have to rely on holding down the button to move, since it is fatiguing on the hand.

Pressing, on the other hand, is more precise, and if combined with a swift and active protagonist and a simple mouse interface. You reduce the amount of clicks for walking to 0, and since you don't have to type, it leaves your other hand free to use the mouse to control their actual actions. This is commonly used in 3D games, and in situations where precise positioning is more important.

Most of the reason why people hate the tap interface, I think, is that Sierra tried to use it in places where it was inappropriate. For example, in a situation where you could die if you walked off of something (usually while typing a command and not looking where you're going). And in a system where dying was slow and required saving manually, it breeds contempt of the mechanic. But the tap mechanic isn't bad in and of itself, it just was implemented in a way that wasn't playing to it's strengths at crucial points. You don't want your hands off movement mechanism mixing with twitch reflexes. That sort of thing is bad mojo.

In short: It depends on the rest of the game.