Virtual buttons on mobile - best practices?

id go with 1 as it makes more sense to me for the shooting button be on top.

but what i would do is remove the movement control. and have it appear from the 1st hold intent wherever the user wants. that way you don't have a always on screen movement control.

then u would have more screen room for more buttons (like item slots: potions etc, or extra skills: healing, ultimate: destroying all enemy on screen if is that type of game.) or even space out the shoot and jump button.

Thanks! You mean remove left and right buttons? Or all four?

For now I made them semi-transparent. And I remove them completely when keyboard input is detected.

Thanks! You mean remove left and right buttons? Or all four?

left and right arrows and keep the fire and jump.

but if you choose to have non-sticky controls for movement you can also remove the jump, and have it so it triggers on tap. and only have fire button on screen. as it's more of a "skill".

removing those controls and making them be non-sticky, would require a tutorial explanation on how movement is possible.

Edited: however if you are not running advertisement that would conflict with your controls on mobile devices, or any overlay that would be on top of the controls, id pick 1 looks good position wise.