Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Summary
In this chapter you have implemented basic input for the game, and moved the player
ship up and down the screen. As you can see, there are many different input devices
available for Windows, and supporting the core three is easy with the XInput API and
built-in Pointer/Keyboard APIs. XInput adds support for many other peripherals from
racing wheels to dance pads. Consider what devices are best for your game, but re-
member that, for Windows, most people will play on a tablet or traditional machine, so
having support for touch screens and keyboard/mouse is crucial, with GamePads as
a great addition on the side.
Next steps
Now that we have input and drawing, we're ready to add in the main gameplay for
the game. In the next chapter we'll look at the different subsystems such as Artificial
Intelligence and Physics that are used to make the game simulation feel real. We'll
also look at the ways of structuring the internals of the game, using an entity system
to represent the different objects, and how they tie together. In the next chapter we
will have a game, with all of the logic in place, ready to be played and extended.
