I was wondering how much you are using your Steam Deck? And did the games you play on it change since you bought it?

I find that I used it a lot when I first got it, but my usage has gone down in the mean time. That’s mostly because I play games that are not a great fit for the Steam Deck (strategy, building, etc.) and I prefer to play those on my PC.

  • Fedop@slrpnk.net
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    5 months ago

    You can play BAR on the steam deck!? That’s awesome! But how are the controls? Playing without keyboard/mouse?

    • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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      5 months ago

      gyroscope input to supplement joystick controls, see my comment here

      https://sopuli.xyz/comment/9301831

      local copy of ^ comment

      BAR is already so brilliantly designed with every single damn command in the game being able to be shift clicked to make it into a series of tasks for a unit or factory… that you don’t honestly need to do much. It is basically just:

      What button do you want shift (as well as ctrl and alt and to a lesser extent spacebar) to be bound too? This should be comfortable and easy to press as shift clicking is at the core of BAR and TA. The back buttons L5 L4 R4 R5 are good for these controls

      What button do you want gyroscope to be toggled on and off by? You don’t have to use gyro but I really recommend giving it a thorough go, if you hold your device comfortably than it will be still and thus you can just focus on the joysticks or trackpad and let your subconscious brain begin integrating gyro. Personally I always leave gyro on when playing and just use the toggle to turn it off for navigating menus

      What buttons do you want zoom in and zoom out to be bound too? I recommend to bind zoom in and zoom out to the bumpers on the deck, the normal WASD and mouse template for the Steam Deck comes with this binding as the default if I remember correctly. Using a radically new control scheme can feel claustrophobic or constricting, having intuitive buttons for zooming in and out is critical to combating that in my experience Common All You Need For A Minimal Setup Ctrl, Shift, Alt and SpaceBar commands, Screenshots and Manual Links included!

      Now, you can go so much farther than that obviously. For example I found a great BAR control scheme that looked like someone put a lot of care and time into it called “BAR perfecto” but it didn’t fit my conception of how I wanted things so I just started from the factory default WASD and Mouse template.

      I hesitate to build up this crazy complicated control scheme and then recommend it though, because most potential fans I can poke and prod enough to try BAR on the deck probably feel the same as you. So honestly at this point I would rather point out that just starting with the default WASD and Mouse control template and making those three choices/keybindings will get you to a point where you can genuinely play BAR and feel like the control scheme can actually work and feel good after a bit of adjustment time. From there you can add as much complexity and power as you want.

      If you get frustrated or overwhelmed, take a deep breath and remember people have been figuring out how to make RTS games work well with a mouse and keyboard for decades, if it doesn’t click immediately that isn’t because mouse and keyboard is just better end of story.


      touchpad + gyro works too!

      I play against the Barbarian hard AI and can hold my own fine, I dont expect to crush Total Annihilation vets using $2000 gaming computer setups with mouse and keyboard, big monitors and absurd framerates tho… but so what?

      I am enjoying playing BAR co-op online with my bro while I lounge on the couch.

      The BARbarian AI is genuinely dynamic and fun to play against, it is extremely impressive especially for a community developed game!

      I feel like I could hold my own in a casual game of BAR against humans but even if I couldnt I could care less, I can play BAR wherever I want on the deck and it is a blast!