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Control Scheme

A topic by TheWrongJohn created May 01, 2024 Views: 391 Replies: 6
Viewing posts 1 to 3

Hello,

Does anyone have any ideas on how to set up the control scheme?

D-pad, Select, Start, B,A

As these games will likely run on PC/Mac/Phone/Tablet... do you think it's ok to use on screen controls and/or keyboard input, providing the controls are limited to up/down/left/right, and two buttons?

Thanks

John

HostSubmitted(+3)

Hey John! 

I usually map NES controls to a keyboard like this:

Arrow Keys = Dpad (up, down, left, right)

Z/X = A and B

Return = Start

R Shift = Select


Mobile controls and gamepad support is not necessary. 

I do not expect developers to include these features as it would be extra development time, but you can always go the extra mile and make your game mobile friendly if you'd like to.

That’s great thanks! Yeah, I usually try to make things mobile friendly as most people seem to view stuff on their devices. I’ll probably go for keys and in screen buttons👍

Submitted

Thanks! Let's all use this one so we can set up JoyToKey once for all games.

(+2)

Since the NES controller actually has the buttons in the order B, A...

Nintendo Controller Magnet - NES - Mario Brothers - Classic - Picture 1 of 1 

...it's best if Z = B, and X = A. 

This also matches what Pico-8 does, with X being the primary/Yes/confirmation button (similar to NES's "A"), and Z (labeled as "O") is the secondary/No button. In Pico-8, you can also use N and M for secondary and primary respectively. This would be useful if people also allow WASD keys for movement -- which is ideal from my perspective.

My preference is also to have the Tab key used for Select. But I do like Enter for Start.

(1 edit) (+3)

Here's what I did recently: https://github.com/morph-games/owls16/blob/main/src/console.js#L26

The idea is that if you're constrained to an NES controller, then you can map a whole bunch of keys to the controller buttons, so that players can just pick and choose which they like. 

  • WASD and arrow keys for the D-pad
  • "A" button: E, X, M, ".", "]"
  • "B" button: Q, Z, N, ",", "["
  • Start: F, J, B, Enter
  • Select: R, H, V, Tab

Thanks!