Enable Leverless analogue stick input with more Layers of Configuration #1552
Description
I wanna preface this, that this is a personal idea of mine with little benefit to a wide audience. I see it as a challenge towards control scheme design to enable playing 3D Games on a device which was not designed to do so (leverless). But maybe there is people interested trying out similar things so I wanted to share it. I am also convinced that some of my proposed solutions could enhance the power of the configurator and unlock other interesting applications for it.
Problem
I love using the precision input designed for fighting games to play other games, like 2D Platformers and Metroidvanias. I also love to stay on one controller to build perfect muscle memory. Which I decided is goint to be a 16-Button Leverless - The Haute42 G-16. My next step would be to try to play Soulslikes with it.
Biggest Problem? Camera Controls with right stick. I have experimented with different options in the Web Configurator.
- I layed the right stick on 4 action buttons of my right hand, good feel but starts to eat up other essential inputs.
- The D-Pad mode switch is too disconnected to be used in-game.
Solution
I propose two solutions, one more complex but with more general potential, one minimal, that would do the specific job.
MAX POTENTIAL: My concept on paper would be to use R3 (which is already the buttom for camera lockon) as a temporary toggle (while pressed - First Feature ) to enable a second input layer (Second Feature) to convert some buttons to different inputs (analogue inputs in this case, which already exist as options in the pin config), having one free button to essentially multiply available buttons would open up an ocean of possibilities. Think modal switch like in vim or simpler, like Shift and Ctrl on PC acting as modifiers. I think this would also help towards another related feature request in #963
MINIMAL EFFORT: Make Analogue Inputs available inside the Hotkey Settings. So that I can use R3+any desired key to input my Analogue inputs on demand.
For reference when I talk about Analogue inputs, I mean these:
Do you plan to work on this feature yourself?
Yes. I am looking into the Source Code as we speak. I have experience with C++ as an Unreal Dev, and some Fundamentals on Arduino. I am also a web dev, so I am comfortable working on the web configurator. However I am new to firmware development, not familiar with the different platforms, and would like to leave my hands off anything too low level (should it screw up my controller alltogether), as I don't have the right environment to debug it (but I would love to learn).
My first approach would be to see, If I can simply unlock this feature on the frontend side. I will try to keep this thread updated as I make progress or gain new insights.