Keyboard Driven Games
September 22, 2015 7:55 PM Subscribe
Looking for computer games that are exclusively or primarily keyboard driven. Difficulty Level: Mac. Snowflakes inside.
I've got some business travel coming up, which means I'm going to be spending about 24 hours on planes over the next two weeks. Fortunately I'll have my high end work laptop along for the ride. But there are two difficulties: Firstly, it's a mac, which limits my gaming choices, and secondly, in the cramped quarters of the plane, I find that there's no room for an external mouse, and heavy use of the trackpad has my wrists aching inside of 20 minutes. Keyboarding is generally much more bearable for extended periods of time. Can you recommend games that will keep me sane and not give me carpal tunnel?
Requirements:
-Primarily or exclusively keyboard controlled (or at least playable with only keyboard controls)
-Preferably playable on mac (I could fire up a VM, but that would require significant set up ahead of time to make sure I've got everything wired up)
-Playable completely offline
-Nothing I would be embarrassed to have a complete stranger watch me play. (I once had an uncomfortable conversation with a seatmate who had to be reassured that I was only playing with a WarGames-esque simulation of a nuclear exchange between the US and the Soviet Union, not actually commanding one from my plane seat.)
-I'm not a big fan of anything too twitchy, or anything that revels in its own difficulty. When I'm underslept and trapped on a plane, my reaction times and tolerance for frustration are both at all-time lows.
-Strategy and RPG are my usual genres, but I'm open to anything. 4X games used to be my go-to for long flights, but that was when both I and my wrists were young enough to use the trackpad for hours.
-Finally, while I'm wishing for ponies, something that could easily be played in ~half hour chunks wold be perfect.
Thanks in advance for your recommendations, looking forward to what the hive-mind comes up with.
I've got some business travel coming up, which means I'm going to be spending about 24 hours on planes over the next two weeks. Fortunately I'll have my high end work laptop along for the ride. But there are two difficulties: Firstly, it's a mac, which limits my gaming choices, and secondly, in the cramped quarters of the plane, I find that there's no room for an external mouse, and heavy use of the trackpad has my wrists aching inside of 20 minutes. Keyboarding is generally much more bearable for extended periods of time. Can you recommend games that will keep me sane and not give me carpal tunnel?
Requirements:
-Primarily or exclusively keyboard controlled (or at least playable with only keyboard controls)
-Preferably playable on mac (I could fire up a VM, but that would require significant set up ahead of time to make sure I've got everything wired up)
-Playable completely offline
-Nothing I would be embarrassed to have a complete stranger watch me play. (I once had an uncomfortable conversation with a seatmate who had to be reassured that I was only playing with a WarGames-esque simulation of a nuclear exchange between the US and the Soviet Union, not actually commanding one from my plane seat.)
-I'm not a big fan of anything too twitchy, or anything that revels in its own difficulty. When I'm underslept and trapped on a plane, my reaction times and tolerance for frustration are both at all-time lows.
-Strategy and RPG are my usual genres, but I'm open to anything. 4X games used to be my go-to for long flights, but that was when both I and my wrists were young enough to use the trackpad for hours.
-Finally, while I'm wishing for ponies, something that could easily be played in ~half hour chunks wold be perfect.
Thanks in advance for your recommendations, looking forward to what the hive-mind comes up with.
Rogue-like games are great for keyboard interaction, can be played in chunks and are turn-based.
I recommend Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.
posted by demiurge at 8:26 PM on September 22, 2015
I recommend Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.
posted by demiurge at 8:26 PM on September 22, 2015
Dwarf Fortress. You'd only need a mouse if you want to use Dwarf Therapist to assign labors.
Duskers. Control drones to scavenge derelict spaceships for the supplies you need to stay alive. Entirely keyboard driven through a faux CLI.
posted by nathan_teske at 8:53 PM on September 22, 2015
Duskers. Control drones to scavenge derelict spaceships for the supplies you need to stay alive. Entirely keyboard driven through a faux CLI.
posted by nathan_teske at 8:53 PM on September 22, 2015
BTW contrary to what their web site says, Duskers is actually out on Mac. Find it on Steam.
posted by nathan_teske at 8:56 PM on September 22, 2015
posted by nathan_teske at 8:56 PM on September 22, 2015
Nethack is available for Mac. Might be a bit too frustrating if you aren't accepting of rapid deaths. When you are first learning the game you'll get several games in in 30 minutes.
posted by Mitheral at 9:05 PM on September 22, 2015
posted by Mitheral at 9:05 PM on September 22, 2015
Stealth Bastard is super "chunkable", immensely playable and with quite little twitch. Platform puzzler with lots of humor and replayability. I specifically play it on flights.
posted by Iteki at 10:46 PM on September 22, 2015
posted by Iteki at 10:46 PM on September 22, 2015
N-ing roguelikes (I haven't played for ages, so ask others for advice). Interactive fiction (text adventures) is another good keyboard-only genre.
posted by steady-state strawberry at 5:33 AM on September 23, 2015
posted by steady-state strawberry at 5:33 AM on September 23, 2015
Speaking of roguelikes, FTL is quick and fun and available on Mac. I don't have it in front of me, so my guess would be 95% of it can be keyboard-driven (you need to use a mouse to select targets, IIRC, but it's not in realtime nor requiring a ton of precision). Basically everything else has keyboard shortcuts.
posted by tocts at 5:34 AM on September 23, 2015
posted by tocts at 5:34 AM on September 23, 2015
Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions, keep them coming.
A couple quick responses:
-I've tended to bounce off rogue-likes in the past. I just don't have much patience for constant restarting without feeling like I've achieved anything or made any progress, and it takes a lot of effort for me to push past that to the point where I feel competent in the game and actually start having fun. When I'm exhausted, cranky, and cooped up on a plane is probably not the time for me to push through that barrier.
-Is civ 4 actually playable with minimal mouse use? I sunk a lot of hours into that game back in the day and I'm not sure it would work, especially without a number pad to move your units diagonally.
posted by firechicago at 6:51 AM on September 23, 2015
A couple quick responses:
-I've tended to bounce off rogue-likes in the past. I just don't have much patience for constant restarting without feeling like I've achieved anything or made any progress, and it takes a lot of effort for me to push past that to the point where I feel competent in the game and actually start having fun. When I'm exhausted, cranky, and cooped up on a plane is probably not the time for me to push through that barrier.
-Is civ 4 actually playable with minimal mouse use? I sunk a lot of hours into that game back in the day and I'm not sure it would work, especially without a number pad to move your units diagonally.
posted by firechicago at 6:51 AM on September 23, 2015
Best answer: In the same vein as Stealth Bastard, some other platformers I've played and enjoyed were:
Thomas Was Alone - Pretty easy, according to steam I beat it in 3.1 hours (and got all achievements) and I don't generally race through games as fast as possible. Definitely the simplest of the bunch. I'm sure I got it for a buck during a steam sale, so I'm not sure I'd recommend it wholeheartedly at $10 unless you really need more stuff.
BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien - This one's a sequel but I never played the first one. Much longer and more challenging, and definitely the type that you can kind of zen out on so probably good for a plane.
FEZ - A more contemplative large world version of the platformer, there've been a few FPPs about this one here I believe. I do think it's better played in longer chunks so you remember more of the puzzles and where you've been, but it's likely doable in short 30-minute chunks too (especially if you're not ashamed to find walkthroughs for a little help here and there).
Also, Guacamelee! is fun, but might cause odd looks and might be awkward on a computer (I used an xbox 360 controller), BattleBlock Theater is cool but a little bloody and also another one that I used a controller with so can't vouch for, and there's always Super Meat Boy, but that'll definitely get you funny looks.
posted by DynamiteToast at 7:53 AM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Thomas Was Alone - Pretty easy, according to steam I beat it in 3.1 hours (and got all achievements) and I don't generally race through games as fast as possible. Definitely the simplest of the bunch. I'm sure I got it for a buck during a steam sale, so I'm not sure I'd recommend it wholeheartedly at $10 unless you really need more stuff.
BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien - This one's a sequel but I never played the first one. Much longer and more challenging, and definitely the type that you can kind of zen out on so probably good for a plane.
FEZ - A more contemplative large world version of the platformer, there've been a few FPPs about this one here I believe. I do think it's better played in longer chunks so you remember more of the puzzles and where you've been, but it's likely doable in short 30-minute chunks too (especially if you're not ashamed to find walkthroughs for a little help here and there).
Also, Guacamelee! is fun, but might cause odd looks and might be awkward on a computer (I used an xbox 360 controller), BattleBlock Theater is cool but a little bloody and also another one that I used a controller with so can't vouch for, and there's always Super Meat Boy, but that'll definitely get you funny looks.
posted by DynamiteToast at 7:53 AM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
-Is civ 4 actually playable with minimal mouse use? I sunk a lot of hours into that game back in the day and I'm not sure it would work, especially without a number pad to move your units diagonally.
Civ 4 is "playable", but if you really never want to touch the trackpad you'd need to memorize a lot of hotkeys, to the point of being impractical in my mind. However if you don't mind touching the trackpad just to click places once every minute or two you might get to a practical point with it. I imagine it's easier to get fast at using the keyboard for Civ 4 than to be fast at playing Dwarf Fortress, for instance.
posted by DynamiteToast at 7:57 AM on September 23, 2015
Civ 4 is "playable", but if you really never want to touch the trackpad you'd need to memorize a lot of hotkeys, to the point of being impractical in my mind. However if you don't mind touching the trackpad just to click places once every minute or two you might get to a practical point with it. I imagine it's easier to get fast at using the keyboard for Civ 4 than to be fast at playing Dwarf Fortress, for instance.
posted by DynamiteToast at 7:57 AM on September 23, 2015
Best answer: If you don't mind going a more old-school route you can try checking out abandonia. They have a a plethora of old games available for download including a large selection of classic RPGs and strategy games developed before the widespread adoption of the mouse. Most of them will require DOSBox but it should be significantly easier to set up than a VM.
You might also be interested in checking out emulators for classic video game consoles or arcade games. Most controller based games can be played pretty well on a keyboard. Wikipedia has a pretty good list and finding the actual game ROMS isn't that difficult with google.
posted by Television Name at 9:25 AM on September 23, 2015
You might also be interested in checking out emulators for classic video game consoles or arcade games. Most controller based games can be played pretty well on a keyboard. Wikipedia has a pretty good list and finding the actual game ROMS isn't that difficult with google.
posted by Television Name at 9:25 AM on September 23, 2015
These may be too twitchy for you, but:
N is a lode runner-style game, completely keyboard controlled. And it's free! It can get very hard at the higher levels.
Luftrausers isn't terribly twitchy but can be challenging. Games go by fast.
Do you like pinball? Pinball FX2 is good and free-ish; you get a couple tables for free with the base game, and then they sell you additional tables.
posted by backseatpilot at 11:24 AM on September 23, 2015
N is a lode runner-style game, completely keyboard controlled. And it's free! It can get very hard at the higher levels.
Luftrausers isn't terribly twitchy but can be challenging. Games go by fast.
Do you like pinball? Pinball FX2 is good and free-ish; you get a couple tables for free with the base game, and then they sell you additional tables.
posted by backseatpilot at 11:24 AM on September 23, 2015
Best answer: Bah, the internet ate my reply. Neo Scavenger is awesome & 100% keyboard controlled (see: RPS review).
I really like Invisible Inc. It's perfect for short sessions, although I'm not sure if keyboard controllable?
Both available via Steam. Enjoy.
posted by wonton at 5:59 AM on September 24, 2015
I really like Invisible Inc. It's perfect for short sessions, although I'm not sure if keyboard controllable?
Both available via Steam. Enjoy.
posted by wonton at 5:59 AM on September 24, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by panic at 7:59 PM on September 22, 2015 [1 favorite]