Tank Controls: Difference between revisions

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Controls in a video game (usually from the Playstation era) that don't allow you to turn and move forward at the same time, much like a tank.

At one time, turning a tank meant putting the treads on one side in neutral or reverse while the other side continued forward. Because of this, tanks couldn't really move forward while ~~turning -- they~~ had to stop completely, rotate, and then continue on their way. Modern tracked vehicles have largely overcome this with gearing that lets the treads to run at slightly different speeds, which allows for graceful turns, but sharp turns typically still require the tank to stop moving forward.

At one time, turning a tank meant putting the treads on one side in neutral or reverse while the other side continued forward. Because of this, tanks couldn't really move forward while turning—they had to stop completely, rotate, and then continue on their way. Modern tracked vehicles have largely overcome this with gearing that lets the treads to run at slightly different speeds, which allows for graceful turns, but sharp turns typically still require the tank to stop moving forward.

Humans, obviously, do not need to do this. We can go any of 360 degrees while going forward, backwards, sideways, whichever way we please. In early three-dimensional third-person videogames, developers had to deal with the camera for the first time. While directional motion seems simple enough, if the camera is locked in the direction that the character is facing, then a problem develops. Pressing left on the D-pad causes the character to face left, which causes the ''camera'' to face left. Since the user may still be pressing left, what left means ''now'' has changed, which will cause the character and camera to face left ''again''.