Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Tips and Tricks for Windows 8 Game Input
We have covered a lot of material in this chapter, but I wanted to share some tips and tricks
that have helped me when making my own games.
Contextual Controls
If you are supporting touch controls and the device has a keyboard, you should hide the
touch controls when the keyboard is showing and show them when you detect a touch event.
The Windows 8 virtual keyboard is a great example of this in action. If you use a standard
keyboard, you never see the virtual one until you touch the screen with your finger. Referen-
ce the chart in the previous section to solve this problem.
Avoid Configuration Screens
It's easy to throw all of your input options into a settings window and let the user pick their
own, but a well-designed Windows 8 game should automatically detect the correct input the
player is using. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't have a way to let the player customize
or disable controls that are not used, but keep in mind the user just wants to play a game. The
less work they have to do to set it up the better.
Instruction Screen
The final and most important tip should be self-explanatory, but make sure you tell your user
about all of the control options, or at least what the keys are.
As you can see in Figure 4-8 , I have a simple illustration that shows how to use the controls
for my game Super Paper Monster Smasher. This plays in the “attract loop” of the game,
which is a series of screens that animate if you stay on the splash screen for a set amount of
time and don't start a game. This was a very popular technique for arcade games, and one I
make sure to include in each of my own games.
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