Input requirements (for port authors)

[gus]

Is there a catalog somewhere of the various input styles used by ScummVM games?

One of the most difficult things for me (with the Android port) has been working out what input combinations need to be supplied for games I've never played before - it would be very useful if this was written down somewhere. (Particularly right mouse button)

If it doesn't exist already, can people reply with what input controls are required from a ScummVM port? (Not interested in keyboard shortcuts for GUI options, just the minimum required functionality)

Off the top of my head, I can think of:

dott-style:
left click + location to choose
right click + location to take default action

samnmax-style:
left click + location to choose
right click anywhere to cycle action

sgi/agi-style:
text input required
left click + location for moving

fotaq doesn't use right mouse at all, but does need mouse movement without clicking to pan around in the "mountain-top view" screen.

In particular, does any game need mouse dragging?
or keyboard direction keys (left, right, up, down)?
double clicking?

[md5]

In particular, does any game need mouse dragging?
or keyboard direction keys (left, right, up, down)?
double clicking?

Probably the Sierra AGI games need keyboard direction keys, as well as the full range of keys from 0-9 for typing commands. I believe that Sam'n'Max needs mouse dragging (for using items, but it's been awhile since I played it)? I can't think of any game that needs double clicking off the top of my head

[eriktorbjorn]

I can't think of any game that needs double clicking off the top of my head

There are some where you can double-click on an exit as a short-cut, but I can't think of any where it's required either. In Future Wars you can click left and right at the same time to bring up the system menu, but I don't remember if that's the only way.

[hippy dave]

yeah, left+right is also used in some games to skip cutscenes.

[fingolfin]

All these problems are why we are working on a generic *key/input mapper*. Ah, if only the Android port was part of the team and you were talking to us on scummvm-devel, we could together work on making this problem go away for your port and others...

Right now, several ports e.g. the WinCE & NDS ports, have long lists of hard coded mappings for various games. You can look at those if you want to get some idea of what happens in which game, but overall, it's not so great to have to re-do this for every port and every game ... :/