Hello there:

Anybody share my agony of fingers hurting - especially the pointing finger on the right hand - due to prolonged testing/playing your game? If so, how are you handling it? I apply Neurofen gel every nite but it feels sore enough I cant almost work the following day. It recovers if I dont work or a while, but this worries me because I want to write gmaes/software well into old age :)

I tried an "autoplay" mode where the game would randomly try to select elements and play altho it doesnt replace a human player. Needs more AI altho its functional for brute force testing.

What do you think?

a) Get a gamepad and add gamepad support (Saitek P880 is pretty neat - or get the rumble version).

b) Add a commandline swith for swapping mouse buttons.

c) Bind the action to other keys aswell (eg 'a'=LMB, 's'=MMB, 'd'=RMB).

d) Get a slightly bigger mouse - most likely the mouse is either a bit too flat or a bit too short (5mm can make a huge difference).

e) Add a demo mode. Record each time. If something odd occurs, do your changes and run the demo again. (You won't have to play hours if you want to check if a specifc glitch is still there).

f) Don't count in binary with your fingers - they don't like that ;)

It might be hard at first but the best thing I ever did was learn to use the mouse with my left hand. I'm not ambidextrous or have any special left-brain/right-brain talents, it was just plain and simple hard work :)

I'm a 3d CAD modeller during the day and it's a very very mouse intensive job, add that to several hours coding a night and over the years my right hand has took too much punishment for my age. It will slow your productivity for some time but live with it, the long term gains are well worth it. Luckily for me I made the transition to left-hand at work so while my productivity was slowed at work I still got paid for it ;)

The only time I'm forced to use my mouse right-handed is when I'm using art packages but I've been meaning to get myself a stylus/touch pad and I don't do too much art anyway.

- Matt

Also, you might want to consider alternating between using a mouse and using a trackball.

And if you do keyboard mapping for mouse buttons, how about adding keyboard mappings for moving the mouse pointer as well?

Something I used to give my right hand a break was to get a Wacom tablet. Really nice for Photoshop too. Of course, I'm a lefty so I was switching hands, but I would think even changing how you use the same hand could help.

Jack

I swap mice between a typical Logitech and this: http://www.evoluent.com/ , seems to help some.

Does clicking with your middle finger hurt? Seriously, it's only a minor change in hand position to make that your clicking finger...

Does clicking with your middle finger hurt? Seriously, it's only a minor change in hand position to make that your clicking finger...

actually it doesnt. i used to do that on days when i had to work and not afford to take off. it helped but only so much. my game gets hectic and its a bit awkward to actually "play" but a good idea tho. thanks.

to add,

are your forearms resting on anything, or do your arms 'float' when you work?

Do you remember the first World Series Baseball for the XBox ? That title suffered many, many delays. One being aching fingers. My buddy was a graphic artist doing the player animations for the game. He shouldered a lot of the responsibility of a lazy team. He also complained about soreness in his finger, as you are. He put gel on it and what have you. He kept working. And working. And working. One day he woke up and couldnt move his arm. He was out for 3 months and ordered by his doctors not to touch a mouse. The team was in disarray because no one was picking up the slack. Bad management.

I am no doctor, but your problem can get a lot worse if you dont take it easy.

I have had sore fingers before.
I now type "correctly" without straightened fingers, using all fingers.
I click the left mouse button with my thumb, and the right mouse button with my pointing and middle finger together (I use the standard Dell/Microsoft mouse).
I do finger exercises - each finger curls and straightens in a caterpillar type motion. I find it good to do this under running bearable hot water.
The above has stabilized my fingers.
I took three weeks off (with minimal computer use) a few years ago after suffering sore fingers for a year (I was even typing at work with pencils for at least 9 months while working on MOHAA). After the break I applied the above.

Sounds like RSI - repetitive stress injury - google it to find out more about the condition. :)