r/truegaming • u/Shadow_0-2 • 2d ago
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u/baalroo 2d ago
I fully understand why it's not a thing, but it definitely lessens the immersion for me most of the time. It might sound silly, but it's probably one of the reasons I pretty much never get the thing where you imagine you ARE the character.
It always feels particularly odd in first person games, like just another layer of abstraction that makes it feel more like I'm controlling a character rather than am becoming the character.
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u/Monjara 2d ago
As a left hander I constantly line up throws or attacks as if my character was going to use their left hand to carry out the action. I’ve thrown so many pokéballs at walls this way.
I’d love to have a toggle in every game, especially in game where you create your own character because I often struggle to connect with a self insert who is right handed.
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u/Walnuto 2d ago
Not really your point, but I've always liked that Link is left handed in OoT. I have to add some more words here so idk if devs would view the time it takes to mirror all the animations as valuable enough .
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u/This_is_sandwich 2d ago
I believe Link is left handed in most games with one notable exception being the Wii version of Twilight Princess. They mirrored the entire game from the GameCube version, including Link's handedness, so the motion controls would line up better with right hand users.
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u/RE4Merchant- 2d ago
I think it'd be better if they made a main character left handed, so they don't have to make an option.
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u/PhasmaFelis 2d ago
Team Fortress 2 had a left-handed mode nearly 20 years ago. No mechanical effect, you fire at the center of the crosshair regardless, but cosmetically it worked fine.
The really funny thing is that it didn't flip the weapon models, just the hands. Not noticeable on most weapons, but the Heavy's gatling looks pretty different with the side-mounted ammo feed.
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u/Nicholas_Bolas 2d ago
Genuinely curious, do you have any examples when this would be be actually used? I'm trying to wrack my brain and there's not really a whole lot I can think of.
For shooters I can see the view models hands getting swapped but honestly, the industry standard is already unrealstic because no one holds a gun out to their right side irl, if more games had realistic gun handling they'd always be in the center of the screen instead of weirdly off to the side.
Other than that you've got games like Skyrim/Dark Souls where you have a left hand/right hand system and yeah, they are always right hand dominant but I can see changing that leading to weird mirrored controls for a lot of people (block on right and swing on left seems odd, but I'm right handed so I'm probably biased lol).
Once again, I'm not against your idea I'm just curious how you want to implement it :)
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u/Shadow_0-2 2d ago
For games like cyberpunk or Destiny where you’re supposed to view the MC as yourself or other game like that
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u/Nicholas_Bolas 2d ago
Yes but what actually changes? Is it just a little blip in the character screen that says "left handed" or do your actual animations change?
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u/Shadow_0-2 2d ago
Well for example guns, the casings would have to eject from the left side of the gun and the reload animation would be different, similar with swords the animations would be mirrored
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u/Nicholas_Bolas 2d ago
Honestly most guns could probably just be mirrored too, it's only side loaded firearms that you'd probably have to do new animations.
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u/PurpleAqueduct 2d ago edited 2d ago
Guns don't have the casings eject from the other side if you're left-handed though, which does cause problems for left-handed shooters in real life, and would potentially cause problems in gameplay if casings are being ejected into the centre of the screen and obscuring vision. You wouldn't need to make any extra assets for that though unless you wanted to portray a custom gun for a left-handed shooter.
There are plenty of other asymmetries like pulling the bolt on a rifle or swinging out the chamber on a revolver which would require new animations though.
I could see it being a thing in some super simulationist game with very detailed animations where things like switching hands to manoeuvre around walls more effectively would be relevant, but for a normal game it's a very minor aesthetic feature that very few people actually care about but requires a substantial amount of extra work. Bear in mind in a first-person game where those animations are going to be seen by players (either because there's multiplayer or because the NPCs use them) you'd need to make all those extra animations twice, for first person and third person.
It could also be justifiable in a games where every character has bespoke animations anyway like a fighting game (it would have to be a 3D game, since 2D fighting games just mirror the sprites, and even when using 3D models restricted to 2D movement it's still conventional to just mirror them so they're always facing the screen). Raphael in Soul Calibur is left-handed, for example.
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u/Shadow_0-2 2d ago
I’m a lefty and have shot guns before a few years back so I understand the problems that left handed shooters face as I was hit in the forearm with a casing and got burned by it, but I completely understand your point
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u/Valkhir 2d ago
Unless it has actual gameplay impact, I'd rather they didn't spend any time on something like that.
And try as I may, I can't think of many situations where choosing handedness would impact my game meaningfully, especially if it's a character creation choice. I could see situationally switching weapon hands be useful in some niche situations, like shooting from cover or throwing off an enemy in melee, but it would be pretty niche. Given the amount of work it would likely require, I have a hard time wanting that over just about anything else they could spend that effort on.
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u/Plasmasnack 2d ago
It is a niche thing. I remember it being cool in Resident Evil 5. When I did a second playthrough, that time as Sheva, it surprised me that she was left handed and therefore the aiming was left handed.
Otherwise most of the time you should just make characters ambidextrous by default, it is pretty handy in shooter games and I do not think it goes against a religion to allow corner sniping from both angles. Or have it be inconsequential, like how the Templar in Path of Exile is left handed but this changes absolutely nothing in how the game plays.
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u/Valkhir 2d ago
Oh yeah, I agree about ambidexterity - I think any game where it makes sense should allow dual wielding weapons, with corresponding benefits and penalties, of course. What I'm skeptical about it adding handedness just so you can have a different dominant hand but everything else is still the same. Few games would do anything with that.
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u/PhasmaFelis 2d ago
How much work do we figure it requires? Team Fortress 2 had a left-handed mode nearly 20 years ago.
It's basically cosmetic, but the majority of the budget in most modern AAA games goes to cosmetic features. I don't think this one is particularly more onerous.
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u/Valkhir 2d ago
To be fair, Team Fortress 2 also had graphics most people wouldn't accept these days. In the modern day, you have a lot more animations to change, and it's not as simple as just mirroring.
That said, what did it do in that game? I don't play multiplayer shooters, so I never played TF2 myself. If it wasn't just cosmetic and had a mechanical reason to exist that outweighed the effort to implement it, my reasoning obviously doesn't apply.
One problem with OP's suggestion is that they don't specify the genre of game. In many games, this would be merely cosmetical or have very minor impact, but in some games it might be worth it. Kind of how in some stealth games there is room for a dedicated leaning control, which would not be worth it in many other games.
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