Input and games.

[Todd Showalter]

On Fri, May 3, 2013 at 3:34 AM, Pekka Paalanen <ppaalanen at gmail.com> wrote:

> Yup. Whatever we do, we get it wrong for someone, so there needs to be
> a GUI to fix it. But should that GUI be all games' burden, or servers'
> burden...
>
> Along with the GUI is the burden of implementing the default
> heuristics, which may require platform specific information.

    I don't know that you need a GUI to fix it as long as you're
willing to lay down some policy.  We could go with basic heuristics:

- if a gamepad unplugs from a specific usb port and some other gamepad
re-plugs in the same port before any other gamepads appear, it's the
same player

- if a gamepad unplugs from a specific usb port and then appears in
another before any other gamepads appear, it's the same player

- otherwise, you get whatever mad order falls out of the code

    I think that covers the common case; if people start swapping
multiple controllers around between ports, they might have to re-jack
things to get the gamepad->player mapping they like, but that's going
to be rare.

> I can summarize my question to this:
>
> Which one is better for the end user: have device assingment to seats
> heuristics and GUI in the server, and seats to players mapping GUI
> in every game; or have it all in every game?

    Heuristics mean less work for the player and behaviour the player
can learn to anticipate.  I say go with that.  I think the moment you
present people with a gui plugboard and ask them to patch-cable
controllers to player IDs, you're in a bad place.

    I could see it being an advanced option that a savvy player could
bring up to fix things without rejacking the hardware, but the less
technically savvy are going to have a far easier time just physically
unplugging and replugging gamepads than they are figuring out a GUI
they've never (or rarely) seen before.

                                       Todd.

--
 Todd Showalter, President,
 Electron Jump Games, Inc.