Supposed Death of the ESC Key - Gaming GUI Ramifications

from StarControl Forums

As the board's resident keyboard guru, I was interested in today's announcement from Apple. They are removing the ESC key (and the F keys) on the MacBook Pro and is replacing them with a touch screen.

Will gaming GUIs adapt to this and start assigning other keys to menu cancellation?

Or will the GUI developers just ignore Apple and focus on the PCMR experience?

72,599 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from StarControl Forums Top

This is a tough one for me... 

I know that the ESC key isn't going away for us Windows users, but I'm trying to take a birds-eye view of the whole non-console gaming ecosystem.

 

If I had to shell out $2400 for a Mac without an ESC key, I would not be very satisfied with using a touch screen to "cancel" menus. I need that tactile sensation. I would personally bind the ESC key to the Tilde key. But for GUI design for the general I-don't-want-to-mess-with-settings Mac crowd, that is rough... 

I don't know how I would handle it if I were a GUI designer. I never thought of how important that key would be until there was talk of removing it. I think of all the times I hit ESC to close a menu in games, and I cannot think of a good replacement that is tactile.

Reply #2 from StarControl Forums Top

That's... weird (O.o)

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Reply #4 from StarControl Forums Top

Moving this out of the Founders forums.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

These are the same fucking idiots who still sell computers with a one button mouse implementation, when has the rest of the programming world ever given their abject stupidity the time of day?

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