Basic Touchscreen Controls With GestureWorks Gameplay

What is GestureWorks Gameplay?

GestureWorks Gameplay is a powerful tool for using and building Virtual Controllers to make games that would normally require a mouse and keyboard or external controller easily playable on a Windows 8 tablet or other Windows 8 touchscreen device.

A Virtual Controller is a set of visual and gesture-based controls customized for touchscreen use. Virtual Controllers can be displayed as game overlays, as standalone controllers on an Android device, and can be invisible with a set of rules governing how touchscreen gestures and internal accelerometers will control the game.

Gestureworks Gameplay can be used to both create these controllers and to use them on an ever-expanding list of games. The program is highly adaptable so that players can configure controllers for many different styles of play.

Who should use GestureWorks Gameplay?

Anyone who wants to vastly expand their experience with touchscreen gaming should use GestureWorks Gameplay to create Virtual Controllers for their favorite PC games!

In addition to being great for increasing your touchscreen gaming options, GestureWorks Gameplay is also a great piece of software for accessibility. Many people who find it difficult to hold a controller or use a keyboard for gaming can benefit from using touch and gesture-based technologies to enable them to play a much wider variety of games. Since the software is so customizable, players and caregivers can use it to create solutions for many physical gaming problems.

GestureWorks Gameplay is also the perfect piece of software for people who like to customize their gaming experience and who want at their disposal the ability to change their controller schemes based on their own comfort and the types of games they are playing. Since multiple controller layouts can be used within the same session of a game, GestureWorks Gameplay is the ultimate tool for creating user-specific and situation-specific controls.

What can I use GestureWorks Gameplay with?

Devices:

GestureWorks Gameplay is fully compatible with Windows 8 tablets, Ultrabooks, All-In-Ones, 2-in-1s, and touch-enabled desktop systems running WIndows 8 (sorry, we do not support Windows 8 RT). Devices should meet the following minimum specifications:

• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
• Memory: 1 GB RAM
• Graphics: DirectX 9.0c (or higher), OpenGL 1.1 (or higher)
• Hard Drive: 200 MB available space (additional needed for installing games)

The GestureWorks Gameplay Application

The GestureWorks Gameplay application is simple to use! The home screen consists of two panes:The left-hand pane shows Virtual Controllers from the community. Some of these controllers are created and published by the GestureWorks Gameplay team, but many of them are submitted by users. You can use this pane to search for existing Virtual Controllers by name or by genre, and from here you can also download those controllers to your PC.

The right-hand pane shows your Virtual Controllers and includes any controllers you have downloaded as well as controllers you have created. In this pane, you will use the icons to the right of each controller to edit it, link it to a game, and play the linked game.

Step 1: Downloading and Using a Virtual Controller

Controller Download

Downloading controllers is simple and easy! It can be done either through the GestureWorks Gameplay application or through the web site.

Within the application, use the search function to find the controller you wish to use and touch or click the green button with an arrow on the right of the controller. This will download the controller to your personal library.

You may also download a controller from the GestureWorks Gameplay web site at https://gameplay.gestureworks.com/. This will allow you to click the controller to learn more about the controller. Below the controller description, you can click the Download Controller link. When the controller is downloaded, you can open the GestureWorks Gameplay application and click the orange Import From File button in the upper right-hand corner. You will then need to browse to the folder you downloaded the file to and select the controller XML file.

Controller Use

In order to use your controller with an existing game, you must link the controller to the game’s executable file. To do this, select the controller you wish to use in the GestureWorks Gameplay application and click the green button to the right of the controller to bring up a prompt window.

Within this window, you can either use the automatically detected folders or the browse function to find your game. Be sure that you are selecting the main .exe file for the game you wish to play.

When you have linked the executable to the controller, the green linking button will change to a brighter green Play button. Click this button to launch the game with the controller overlay. The Virtual Controller will now be controlling the input for your game. Enjoy playing!

Within the game, you can perform minor edits to your controller, such as changing the size and placement of buttons. To do this, hit the Home Button and select the controller scheme you are currently using (usually this is 1). You will now be in the Edit mode and can drag controller elements to different areas of the screen, and use two fingers to resize your controller elements.

If the controller has multiple views, you can also use the Home Button to switch between these views.

Step 2: Building Your First Virtual Controller

To create a controller, you will click on the “New” button above the controllers in the right-hand pane of GestureWorks Gameplay. You will need to fill out a name for your Virtual Controller and a Game Title for it to be associated with.

You may use this screen to browse to the .exe file for the game, but it is not required at this step. You may also enter a description of your controller here.

The controller building screen has several sections at the top which allow you to create different kinds of controllers and modify the properties of your controller:

• The Controller Layout tab allows you to make a standard controller with joysticks, buttons, etc.
• The Remote tab allows you to make a remote controller for use with an Android device and Bluetooth.
• The Global Gestures tab allows you to add gesture-based controls.
• The Screenshots tab can be used to view screenshots taken in-game.
• The Properties tab shows the basic properties of your Virtual Controller such as name and description, and allows some features to be toggled on or off. Experimental Features are included in this tab - because they are experimental, they may not work consistently.
• The Link tab is where you can modify the location of the game’s .exe

Step 3: Starting With the Basics

In the Controller Layout screen, there are six elements, or hudgets, available for use:

• Joystick - Functions like a console-controller joystick and provides omni-directional movement and can also be mapped to the “mouse look” function.
• D-Pad - The D-Pad or Directional Pad can be used to provided movement, but unlike the joystick, the buttons need to be mapped. This allows you to map them to various configurations, such as arrow keys and “WASD” controls.
• Button - The Button is the most versatile hudget, as the Button may be configured to perform the action of almost any keyboard function or gamepad button.
• Switch - The Switch is similar to a button, but is set to toggle between two states, such as switching from walking to running in a game.
• Scroll Wheel - Emulates the scroll wheel on a mouse, but can also be configured with other inputs and commands, such as an “up” scroll on the mouse with a keyboard command added.
• Screenshot - A simple button that is used to take an in-game screenshot and save it to a folder that you can browse in the “Screenshots” section of Gameplay.

Your controller will automatically begin with a Home Button, which provides the ability to switch between controller views in-game and enter the edit mode. The Home Button can be placed anywhere vertically, but it will always snap to the right or left side of the screen.

When you drag a hudget onto the controller layout area using your mouse or a finger, you can position it anywhere within the area. If two or more hudgets take up the same space and conflict, they will all be displayed in bright red. When you are editing a hudget (when you have just dragged it onto your controller area or when you have selected it), you can use the bar along the bottom of the screen to change the properties of the hudget.

Step 4: Hudget Properties

• Glyph - An image displayed on the button. Many common images such as letters and numbers are automatically available.
• Scale - The size of the hudget can be changed to be as large or as small as you like.
• Opacity - Controls how visible the hudget overlay is. This can be adjusted up to 100, which will make it solid and easily visible, or down to 10, at which point it is transparent.
• Color - Choose a button color from a wide variety of presets or choose your own color with the “More Colors...” option
• Sensitivity - Choose how responsive the hudget is to your touch. Very low or very high sensitivities may make some kinds of gameplay difficult.
• Trigger Rate - You can set the button to fire once or repeatedly. If you set it to repeat, it will keep pressing the button multiple times in a row until you take your finger off the button.
• State - Will show as ButtonDown, meaning that it will register the button being pressed. This cannot be changed.
• Key and Modifiers - These work together so that buttons can be mapped to simple or complex key and mouse controls. The Key property is where you choose which key, mouse gesture, or gamepad control is mapped to the button. You can use the Modifier1 and Modifier2 sections to make your single button press behave as if you were pressing multiple keys at once.

You can further customize your controller using the options on the far right side of the screen:

• Element Summary - Shows you details on what a hudget you have selected does.
• Themes - Choose from a variety of preset themes. This will change the look of the buttons and add a background to your controller when it is not overlaid onto a game.
• Snap-To-Grid - Allows you to add a grid that will be invisible in-game but visible for editing. Your controls will snap to this grid so that they may be placed in precise rows and columns. You can toggle the grid function on or off, change the cell size, line width, snap tolerance, and color.
• Device preview - The look of your controller may change slightly depending on the type and size of device you are using. Use the preview to see how your controller might appear on different devices.

Step 5: Views

If your game has more than one style of play (such as a game where you are both driving and on foot throughout the course of the game) you may wish to create multiple controller views for the same controller.

To make another view for your controller, simply choose a different view from the “View:” dropdown menu in the upper lefthand corner of the screen. You may have up to four separate control schemes for a single controller so that different configurations of buttons can be used during different parts of the game..When you are making a controller, make sure you are aware of all of the controls used within the game, as each of these controls should be mapped to a corresponding button on your Virtual Controller.

Learn more at the GestureWorks Gameplay website!