Some suggestions

[luigihann]

It has been a while since I've actually used ScummVM DS, so forgive me if these suggestions are redundant.

I recently got to play the DS port of Runaway 2, and I think the way the interface is handled is pretty clever and streamlined, and it'd be cool if something similar could be offered as an option for scummVMds, if possible. Based on this, here are my suggestions:

-When you hold down or drag the stylus on the screen, it registers as "hovering" the mouse, and the "click" registers when you release it.

-While holding the stylus down, the touch screen zooms in automatically

-The cursor displays on the touch screen while you're holding it down, and disappears when you aren't.

I think that covers the major differences. From what I can tell, all those functions exist in your port already, but this mode would just automate them in a pretty smooth and effective way.

[agentq]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to play Runaway 2 to see some of these ideas in action.

[luigihann]

Yeah, I figured describing it wouldn't do it justice, so do keep an eye out for it (it's only out in Europe, at the moment). It's a really smooth format and I hope that future adventure games follow their lead.

[tomten]

-While holding the stylus down, the touch screen zooms in automatically

A problem with this might be that in most SCUMM games you need access to on-screen buttons (for commands), while in Runaway 2 there are only 1/2 actions (plus all inventory items) associated with any item. Left-shoulder-buttoning your way through all possible actions in, for example, Monkey Island 2 (while being zoomed in and pressing the item you want to interact with) would be tedious. But maybe this can be solved some other way, like selecting the command before zooming in.

[agentq]

No, it's not possible. The software scaler currently implemented scales from 320x200 to 256x200, and uses a large portion of the CPU. This is about as fast as it can be, and it doesn't have to cope with scaling in two directions.

640x480 is four times as much data, not something that's worth attempting, IMO. There's also the problem of fitting all the data into memory. We only have 4Mb of general purpose memory.

Don't forget, the WinCE devices have much more memory and 300Mhz+ CPUs instead of the DSes 66Mhz/33Mhz ones.

[robinwatts]

No, it's not possible.

This looks like it has jumped threads from:

http://forums.scummvm.org/viewtopic.php?t=4926

Replying back in the original thread.

Robin

[patters]

I have an idea - would it be practical to have a double tap on the touchscreen recognised as a right-click, with a normal tap being a left-click? Or are there games that require several carefully times clicks that it would mess up?

[tomten]

I have an idea - would it be practical to have a double tap on the touchscreen recognised as a right-click, with a normal tap being a left-click? Or are there games that require several carefully times clicks that it would mess up?

The reason would be to simplify right-clicking by removing the need to press the "right" button and then stylus-tap? Are you familiar wiht the hover method (press "up" to enter hover mode, and then while pressing the stylus, press "right")?

[luigihann]

Of the suggestions I made, the one I'd like to see most is to have the "click" be registered when you release the stylus, not when it first touches the screen. That'd allow you to hover it around first, and it'd allow you to move away from a hotspot if you clicked the wrong part by accident.

[tomten]

Of the suggestions I made, the one I'd like to see most is to have the "click" be registered when you release the stylus, not when it first touches the screen. That'd allow you to hover it around first, and it'd allow you to move away from a hotspot if you clicked the wrong part by accident.

Some games work like this (AGOS). In others, doesn't the hover method give about the same thing?

@ patters & luigi: EDIT:

Set the mouse to hover mode (d-pad up) then while holding the pen on the screen, d-pad left performs a left-click while d-pad right performs a right click.

[luigihann]

That's not quite what I'm talking about... but I suppose it is similar.