Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
The mouse gives you two axes of movement information (x and y), and usually a
minimum of two to three buttons. You can, of course, find mice with more than four
buttons; thus, supporting a configurable control scheme is often a good idea to let
the players decide if they want to use those buttons. Another thing to keep in mind
is that many players may use a different keyboard configuration as compared to the
common QWERTY layout. If your game supports alternate keyboard configurations
then you can cater to players with any keyboard configuration, as well as those who
don't like the common control configurations.
As desktops and laptops get cheaper, more and more people are shifting to use a
PC as a home media center connected to their TVs. This means that they often want
to play games there, and the console GamePad is one of the best ways to do this.
Adding GamePad support to your game (where appropriate) is an excellent feature
to easily add in, letting you reach a larger audience while making your game feel pol-
ished and complete.
In this case, the main controller that you need to add is the Xbox 360 Controller,
which is supported through the XInput API that comes with the Windows 8 Software
Development Kit (SDK). The controller itself provides a total of fourteen buttons,
two thumbsticks, and two analog triggers. Many controllers also mimic the Xbox 360
Controller when connected to a PC, so those may be used instead. Alongside these
inputs, you can even add support for the rumble motors provided in the controller,
which let you provide some haptic feedback to the player by shaking the controller.
The major new addition to Windows 8 is the full support for touch-enabled devices.
Tablets and touch screen laptops are becoming increasingly popular, and games on
these platforms are fast becoming incredibly popular sources of entertainment. If you
want to reach a massive audience, you need to ensure you have touch controls for
your game. The great benefit here is that those touch controls will work on tablets,
all-in-one touch PCs, and laptops with touch screens. You can expect to have at least
five touch points available for use on Windows 8-certified devices.
