Sprite goes slow with some keys while withh others faster

Question

I'm making a SDL and C++ game engine and I don't know where I'm failing. Here iss my code:

Game.cpp

int mapKeyToInt(SDL_Keycode key) {
    switch (key) {
        case SDLK_w:
        return 1; // Up
        break;
        case SDLK_UP:
            return 1; // Up
        break;
        case SDLK_s:
        return 2; // Down
        break;
        case SDLK_DOWN:
            return 2; // Down
        break;
        case SDLK_a:
        return 3; // Left
        break;
        case SDLK_LEFT:
            return 3; // Left
        break;
        case SDLK_d:
        return 4; // Right
        break;
        case SDLK_RIGHT:
            return 4; // Right
        break;
        default:
            return 0; // Default
        break;
    }
}

void Game::HandleEvents()
{
    SDL_PollEvent(&event);

    switch (event.type)
    {
    case SDL_QUIT:
        _closed = true;
        break;
    case SDL_KEYDOWN:
        entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->xspeed = 5;
        entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->yspeed = 5;
        switch (mapKeyToInt(event.key.keysym.sym)) {
            case 4: // Right
                // Move player to the right
                entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->changeAnimationFrames(Walk);
                entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->moveRight();
                break;
            case 3: // Left
                // Move player to the left
                entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->changeAnimationFrames(Walk);
                entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->moveLeft();
                break;
            case 1: // Up
                entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->changeAnimationFrames(Walk);
                entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->moveUp();
                break;
            case 2: // Down
                entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->changeAnimationFrames(Walk);
                entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->moveDown();
                break;
            case 0: // Default
                // Handle other key inputs if needed
                break;
            case SDLK_k:
                // Trigger attack animation
                entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->changeAnimationFrames(Attack);
                break;
            case SDLK_SPACE:
                entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->changeAnimationFrames(Crouch);
            default:
                break;
        }
        break;
    
    case SDL_KEYUP:
        switch (mapKeyToInt(event.key.keysym.sym)) {
            case 1: // Up
            case 2: // Down
            case 3: // Left
            case 4: // Right
            case SDLK_k:
            case SDLK_SPACE:
                // Stop player movement if no movement input
                entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->xspeed = 0;
                entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->yspeed = 0;
                entity->getComponent<SpriteComponent>()->changeAnimationFrames(Idle);
                break;
            case SDLK_ESCAPE:
                _closed = true;
            default:
                break;
        }
        break;

    default:
        break;
    }
}

...
  // Method to change the animation frames dynamically
    void changeAnimationFrames(const std::vector<std::string>& frames) {
        _Rframes = frames;

        // Reset frame index and last frame time
        frameIndex = 0;
        lastFrameTime = SDL_GetTicks(); // Reset last frame time to current time

        // Load the new animation frames
        TextureManager m;
        texs = m.LoadAnimation(frames);
    }

    void moveUp() {
        if (transform != nullptr) { // Check if transform is not null
            dest.y -= yspeed;
            transform->position.y = static_cast<int>(dest.y);
        }
        //_flip = SDL_FLIP_NONE;
    }

    void moveDown() {
        if (transform != nullptr) { // Check if transform is not null
            dest.y += yspeed;
            transform->position.y = static_cast<int>(dest.y);
        }
        //_flip = SDL_FLIP_NONE;
    }

    void moveLeft() {
        if (transform != nullptr) { // Check if transform is not null
            dest.x -= xspeed;
            transform->position.x = static_cast<int>(dest.x);
        }
        _flip = SDL_FLIP_HORIZONTAL;
    }

    void moveRight(){
        if (transform != nullptr) { // Check if transform is not null
            dest.x += xspeed;
            transform->position.x = static_cast<int>(dest.x);
        }
        _flip = SDL_FLIP_NONE;
    }
...

In theory if I press key up, it should go at the same speed as if I pressed W, but the real scenario it's that it goes faster with the key arrows, while WASD goes slower. I've tried several methods and none worked. PLEASE HELP!

Answer 1

You're checking for "key press" events. This means your movement is tied to the operating system's keyboard repeat speed. Unless, for some reason, you specifically want this behavior, you should have a main game loop running at a fixed speed, and check for the state of each key (down or up) during each pass through the loop.