Thinking about input

I've been thinking about input a lot lately as I definitely want to be able to be flexible in my controls. The use of the traditional WASD keys for movement is always going to be a feature when in control of a game avatar, but I would like to have Mouse input form a large part of the core game play too. While the game will be a simulator, I will create opportunities for the player to have direct influence such as placing objects in the environment, selecting other avatars, highlighting objects for inspection etc.

My game design is based on creating a world as interactive as Rollercoaster Tycoon was, with access to menus to control prices, individual guest dialogs, construction and also access to things like staff lists and skills. The restaurant world is not necessarily a fun environment that people aspire to be a part of from afar, in all fairness it is a stressful and tiresome, but managing one and having influence on design, staffing and item names etc will make the experience more engaging.

While the player controlled aspects of the game will ultimately be on the simpler, more holistic side, I would like to have a much beefier simulation running under the hood that advanced players can tap into at will, without having it interfere too much with the core gameplay. The game will hopefully be a good blend of time-management style point and click gameplay, with a rich economic engine that doesn't bog it all down. I have picked up a small notebook for writing down ideas on the go, whenever possible I will try to add pagescans so that you can see my thought processes and doodles!