Quality of Life suggestion

[Crossie]

I feel like this is a pretty trivial ask but can we make this game console capable as well as cross platform enabled?  I'd like to play it from my couch.

 

Thank you for your consideration on this matter.

[Enamel_32]

If you want to play from the couch, you might want to look into a wireless mouse and keyboard like you'd use for a home theater PC setup, or one of those newer game streaming consoles. I think some players have even had success using a controller as well, you should be able to find some threads around here on that.

 

Cross-platform support is usually one of the hardest things to do as a game developer for design, technical, monetary, and even legal/regulatory reasons, so thinking outside the (console) box is probably the solution. I'd of course love to be wrong here!

[Troo]

I play from my couch on a giant screen TV with a controller through a PC.

[Crossie]

Just now, Enamel_32 said:

If you want to play from the couch, you might want to look into a wireless mouse and keyboard like you'd use for a home theater PC setup, or one of those newer game streaming consoles. I think some players have even had success using a controller as well, you should be able to find some threads around here on that.

 

Cross-platform support is usually one of the hardest things to do as a game developer for design, technical, monetary, and even legal/regulatory reasons, so thinking outside the (console) box is probably the solution. I'd of course love to be wrong here!

Ya but then I would  need to get a wireless mouse and keyboard.  I feel like just making this PS5 / Xbox accessible with cross platform functionality would be easier.  It's also tough to lay down and type.  I'm not about that life. 

[Wavicle]

23 minutes ago, Crossie said:

Ya but then I would  need to get a wireless mouse and keyboard.  I feel like just making this PS5 / Xbox accessible with cross platform functionality would be easier.  It's also tough to lay down and type.  I'm not about that life. 

 

I just want to think about this for a minute. You think it would be easier for the dev team to program cross platform functionality than for you to go get a wireless keyboard and mouse?

[Crossie]

4 minutes ago, Wavicle said:

 

I just want to think about this for a minute. You think it would be easier for the dev team to program cross platform functionality than for you to go get a wireless keyboard and mouse?

I would say it's tentative on perspective but in a certain vantage point, for sure! Are they not hero's?  I spend all day and night patrolling the streets.  Even hero's need hero's!

[El D]

There is no easy method for cross-platform integration on a 20+ year old niche MMO managed by a volunteer dev team. Matter of fact, there's no difficult method for it either, because that implies there being an existent method at all for that to take place. As for it being a 'trivial ask' - if that were at all true, doesn't it seem a bit odd that it hasn't been done already? The servers don't have a neglected, dusty 'Enable Cross-Platform Gaming' switch on them that the devs just choose to ignore year after year.

[srmalloy]

4 hours ago, Crossie said:

I feel like this is a pretty trivial ask but can we make this game console capable as well as cross platform enabled?  I'd like to play it from my couch.

Euuuuw. I also play ESO, and it's very apparent that its control setup is hugely console-controller centric, with its restriction to five selectable abilities plus an 'ultimate' on each of the 'front and back bars', with only the currently selected bar's slotted abilities being usable, and any active powers switch off when you switch to the other bar. I have CoH characters with five or more full bars of abilities that are continuously available; having to cram fifty or more abilities into the button set available on a console controller is like trying to fit a quart of soda into a teacup.

 

Even if you're restricting your idea to game consoles with attached keyboards, you have the fundamental problem of not having the correct graphics libraries -- and this would involve having to rewrite parts of the game engine to hook into the graphics libraries in the console, a much deeper and more involved process than simply recompiling the code to the new platform. 'Trivial' it is not.

Edited yesterday at 01:47 AM by srmalloy

[biostem]

4 hours ago, Crossie said:

can we make this game console capable

IIRC, the process for bringing a game over to a console isn't just a matter of uploading some files;  You'd need programmers that are familiar with each console's unique architecture, and there are probably fees associated with having a game on a console's online market, even if it is for free.  I'm sure some people would enjoy this, and I'm not against the idea in general, but I don't think it's as simple as copying over some game code and hitting launch...

Edited yesterday at 01:51 AM by biostem

[lemming]

iirc, there was an idea of porting to a console, but that got shelved.   (Way back in the early part of the game)

 

There are some programmable controllers out there, that might work.

[keyguardactive]

Also, I suspect there would be a license problem. Like, they would have to get the ok from Sony, and Microsoft, and Nintendo to make that happen, and I can't imagine the deal to keep the game online covers putting it on consoles. 

[Super Atom]

10/10 post

[Troo]

2 hours ago, srmalloy said:

having to cram fifty or more abilities into the button set available on a console controller is like trying to fit a quart of soda into a teacup.

 

We are only limited by our imagination. I have access to all trays on my lowly PS2 wired controller. Movement and targeting with the controller is pretty great.

 

-----  -  ------

 

Is the original suggestion possible? Not likely, but it never hurts ask (even for the impossible).

 

Folks have ported the game. I remember someone getting it working on a switch or maybe steam deck... anyone else remember something similar?

 

 

Edited yesterday at 04:47 AM by Troo

[biostem]

31 minutes ago, Troo said:

We are only limited by our imagination.

Indeed;  You would have to implement a sort of "favorites menu" to map your most used powers to some buttons, then maybe use an L or R key to move between power trays, then perhaps L2 or R2 could move from active control (where you directly move the character with analog stick movements), to making a cursor appear and move much like a traditional mouse.  They'd probably also have to implement an on-screen keyboard, which would make entering binds or macros cumbersome, but doable...

[DoctorDitko]

The only reason modern games are trivially easy to port to consoles is that modern design and build tools (Unreal, Unity, &tc.) are set up to do that. And it still takes extra work.

A game built without the benefits of those tools will be very difficult to port.

 

On the other hand, it runs well on Linux, so should work fine on a Steam Deck.

Captain Fabulous even helped me get it running on my phone.

[UltraAlt]

14 hours ago, Crossie said:

I feel like this is a pretty trivial ask but can we make this game console capable as well as cross platform enabled?  I'd like to play it from my couch.

 

So, I'm assuming that means you want to be able to play it with a game controller .... (make sure to read through the whole thread as I updated things over time and eventually included an ASC II post of the game profile toward the end of the thread)

 

 

You aren't going to be able to play this game 100% without a mouse and keyboard, but my setup means - for me - that I can play about 90% of the time with my hands staying on the game controller.

It is only going to give you access to 2 trays without touching the mouse unless you add an additional tray flip (I do that with another macro in tray 2 if I'm running a dual form Kheldian).

 

You'll have to use a keyboard for chatting, unless you use Discord without a push-to-chat - which I find is very obnoxious.

 

Of course this is dependant on the set. If you need to use the mouse to place where a power is going to go off, you will still need to use the mouse.

You will need the mouse to click selections sub windows.

If you need to use the fast teleport system, you'll still need to use a mouse.

However, with a long enough cord, and a little creativity, you could still use a mouse .... from your couch ... but I guess that depends on how you are sitting on your couch and your body's orientation to the screen you are viewing the game on.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 11:47 AM by UltraAlt

[Skyhawke]

While we're at it, I'd like to play this on my Amazon Echo. 

 

"Alexa...target nearest enemy and use Thunder Kick"

 

<you were defeated>

 

"Alexa...blame the Tanker and Defender"

[mistagoat]

If we don't port it to a TI-83, what are even doing here????

[Stormwalker]

17 hours ago, DoctorDitko said:

The only reason modern games are trivially easy to port to consoles is that modern design and build tools (Unreal, Unity, &tc.) are set up to do that. And it still takes extra work.

A game built without the benefits of those tools will be very difficult to port.

 

On the other hand, it runs well on Linux, so should work fine on a Steam Deck.

Captain Fabulous even helped me get it running on my phone.

 

This is pretty much the correct answer.

 

When I first read the original post, my initial reaction, honestly, was "wait, what?  That's a trivial ask?"  And I had that reaction because I'm an old guy.  And once upon a time, porting games between PC and console was extremely difficult, especially if you didn't plan to do that from the outset of designing the game. 

 

But then I remembered what DoctorDitko pointed out here - that modern game development tools are designed to produce games which are inherently portable, limiting the amount of work required to port them from one platform to another.  So what would have once been a downright comical ask seems much more plausible these days.

 

Unfortunately, City of Heroes hails back from the older days of my memory, before those tools existed (or at least before they were fully mature), and back in those days the only company that made a console-portable MMO* was Square-Enix with Final Fantasy XI... and that game was designed from the ground up to be console-friendly.  Even then, there were still significant issues related to console support over the history of the game.

* Before anyone mentions Phantasy Star Online, that wasn't an MMO, that was a co-op action game with chatroom lobbies.  Lots of fun, though.  I spent a lot of time playing that.

[Techwright]

On 3/17/2025 at 5:20 PM, Crossie said:

I feel like this is a pretty trivial ask but can we make this game console capable as well as cross platform enabled?  I'd like to play it from my couch.

 

Thank you for your consideration on this matter.

 

On 3/17/2025 at 5:42 PM, Crossie said:

Ya but then I would  need to get a wireless mouse and keyboard.  I feel like just making this PS5 / Xbox accessible with cross platform functionality would be easier.  It's also tough to lay down and type.  I'm not about that life. 

 

I'd also like it console capable.   In addition to the PS5 and Xbox, please make it compatible with my Atari 2600.  It will need to do everything via the 1-button joystick of course, or possibly also using a couple of the toggle switches like Activision figured out how to do back in 1980.  

 

Please and thanks!

[Crossie]

6 hours ago, Techwright said:

 

 

I'd also like it console capable.   In addition to the PS5 and Xbox, please make it compatible with my Atari 2600.  It will need to do everything via the 1-button joystick of course, or possibly also using a couple of the toggle switches like Activision figured out how to do back in 1980.  

 

Please and thanks!

Well that's just outrageous.