Factorio Forums

TL;DR: My idea/suggestion is for an option to cancel and prevent character movement when opposite directions are pressed at the same time (as is the most common behavior for games with WASD movement), OR to make the direction depend on which key was pressed first if movement is still needed when both keys are pressed.

I'm extremely new to Factorio and only recently downloaded the demo on Steam, but I quickly noticed that when the A and D keys are pressed at the same time, the character will walk East, and when W and S are pressed, the character will walk North. I have a Tourette's related tic where I occasionally and compulsively press down on A and D at the same time, which is fine in many games because they will have implemented movement canceling when opposite directional keys are pressed simultaneously, but I have a difficult time in games without something like that in place, and haven't been able to experience the demo without the distraction of accidentally walking East every so often.

In the handful of games I've played without movement canceling, the direction will be the same no matter which key was pressed first, but differs from game to game making the direction itself seem arbitrary. Two exceptions I've found are Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Little Nightmares II, where the direction moved when both A and D keys are pressed will depend on which key was pressed first, giving it a more deliberate feel while still allowing movement with opposite directional keys pressed.

An example of a game with movement canceling is Doom.

Sounds like a good accessability feature, just make it optional.

For me personaly I find this non cancelling very usefull when fighting worms, I have one of the keys pressed constatnly while taping the other repeatedly makeing their predictions allways way of. If there was forced canceling I'd have to actualy shift which key to press and risk not being in motion for a tick or two and thus get gooed by the worms/spitters.

SirSmuggler wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 11:14 am I have one of the keys pressed constatnly while taping the other repeatedly makeing their predictions allways way of. If there was forced canceling I'd have to actualy shift which key to press and risk not being in motion for a tick or two and thus get gooed by the worms/spitters.

I don't think what you've described is possible if you're walking to the right, because tapping the A key while holding D doesn't do anything, which is why I've posed the secondary option to have it depend on which key is held first, allowing the technique you're describing to work in both directions.

I fired it up to test, and it seems like D and W override A and S respectively. So if you push D and W both, you'll go East, and if you push A and S both, you'll go North.

Lippeth wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 3:22 pm

SirSmuggler wrote: Thu Sep 18, 2025 11:14 am I have one of the keys pressed constatnly while taping the other repeatedly makeing their predictions allways way of. If there was forced canceling I'd have to actualy shift which key to press and risk not being in motion for a tick or two and thus get gooed by the worms/spitters.

I don't think what you've described is possible if you're walking to the right, because tapping the A key while holding D doesn't do anything, which is why I've posed the secondary option to have it depend on which key is held first, allowing the technique you're describing to work in both directions.

To clarify, I have movment remapped to the arrow keys, I don't think it matters much. I hold down the "walk left"-key while taping the "walk right key". This makes the character move to the left while the right key is not pressed (obviously) and to the right when it is pressed. So I'm mostly standing in the same spot butt never actually standing still.
I might have missunderstod your sudgestion, it sounded to me like it would either cancel all movement when both keys are pressed or keep moveing in the direction of the first key even when the oposite key is pressed.

SirSmuggler wrote: Fri Sep 19, 2025 4:37 am To clarify, I have movment remapped to the arrow keys, I don't think it matters much. I hold down the "walk left"-key while taping the "walk right key". This makes the character move to the left while the right key is not pressed (obviously) and to the right when it is pressed. So I'm mostly standing in the same spot butt never actually standing still.
I might have missunderstod your sudgestion, it sounded to me like it would either cancel all movement when both keys are pressed or keep moveing in the direction of the first key even when the oposite key is pressed.

It already keeps moving in the direction of the first key if you're walking to the right and tap the 'walk-left' key, which is why you're only able to perform the maneuver you like while walking to the left. When walking right and tapping 'walk-left', nothing happens currently.

If movement were to stop altogether when both keys are pressed, the maneuver you like would still work by holding one key and tapping the opposite direction, the start and stop points would simply be inverted, but it would also work while walking in either direction.

The first thing I specified when presenting the idea is that it would be optional. Ideally it would be added as an accessibility feature. I realize I'm one of the few, if not the only person in the world this particular lack of implementation negatively affects, but the squeaky wheel gets the oil, and all that.