HTML 5 Wrapping, Gamepad support possible?

After showing our game "Get Me Outta Here" at a local comic con (tons of fun!) we had countless people ask if the game would be on steam really wanting to play it. (I had a controller version playing from my mac as that was easier to show than on a tablet or phone).
This made me do some HTML 5 testing and I was super surprised at how great the game runs on html 5, it actually runs far better than it does on Android. I think wrapping an HTML 5 game to an .exe is a viable option.
Here is the issue. I'm not sure if this is a worthwhile endeavor if the game won't be playable with a controller. At first I thought this wouldn't be possible but then I read a thread like this: forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/92359/html5-phonegap-cordova-to-add-push-notifications-native-camera-etc
and saw that it is possible to access different things through a HTML 5 Wrapper

I then found this:
https://github.com/gunsch/gamepad

I was wondering if anyone thought it would be possible to do some sort of controller button mapping in a wrapper. Like matching the buttons on a gamepad to keys on the keyboard.

@jonmulcahy @RabidParrot anyone else any thoughts? I honestly have no clue what I am reading or looking at in all this html 5 stuff. If started this project when gamesalad had promised .exe support to be coming with big hopes, I thought those hopes died, but now am looking into this. Thanks! :)

Comments

  • IceboxIcebox Member Posts: 1,485

    Im glad html5 is working good for you , I hope they do support that soon html5 needs love. @adent42 Is this possible anytime soon ?

  • ToqueToque Member Posts: 1,187

    Showing at comi con sounds like great fun.

  • jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408

    I don't know. I think I looked at it last winter, but never went anywhere. Can't hurt to try!

  • @Toque said:
    Showing at comi con sounds like great fun.

    It was! Just posted about forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/91657/rossmanbros-next-game-wip-get-me-outta-here#latest

    @jonmulcahy said:
    I don't know. I think I looked at it last winter, but never went anywhere. Can't hurt to try!

    Well after playing around for a while I think I am no closer to understanding whats going on, haha. Come on Gamesalad! @ForumNinja @adent42 , EXE support is long over due!

  • jonmulcahyjonmulcahy Member, Sous Chef Posts: 10,408

    @RossmanBrothersGames said:

    @Toque said:
    Showing at comi con sounds like great fun.

    It was! Just posted about forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/91657/rossmanbros-next-game-wip-get-me-outta-here#latest

    @jonmulcahy said:
    I don't know. I think I looked at it last winter, but never went anywhere. Can't hurt to try!

    Well after playing around for a while I think I am no closer to understanding whats going on, haha. Come on Gamesalad! @ForumNinja @adent42 , EXE support is long over due!

    Sad thing is, they had a prototype working a year ago

  • @jonmulcahy said:

    Sad thing is, they had a prototype working a year ago

    I know! I really don't get it. @codewizard had said that the windows creator was native and that a lot of the work was done. It is a shame to abandon so much great work. It really baffles me, Gamesalad seems to often have things like 80 precent complete that they don't finish. These things would make them a much more competitive product. If they supported EXE and people started putting cool stuff out on steam that would attract a ton of people. Most people who want to make games are pc gamers, not mobile gamers.

  • JapsterJapster Member Posts: 672
    edited November 2016

    @RossmanBrothersGames said:

    @jonmulcahy said:

    Sad thing is, they had a prototype working a year ago

    I know! I really don't get it. @codewizard had said that the windows creator was native and that a lot of the work was done. It is a shame to abandon so much great work. It really baffles me, Gamesalad seems to often have things like 80 precent complete that they don't finish. These things would make them a much more competitive product. If they supported EXE and people started putting cool stuff out on steam that would attract a ton of people. Most people who want to make games are pc gamers, not mobile gamers.

    Exactly! - I think the mobile market is absolutely saturated... :frowning: Sure, you can get 'lucky', as in 'lottery winning chance' lucky, but Windows is what I would ideally want as my primary platform - PC games, to break into Steam, etc - really blinkered to still not have it as an option, and would benefit both GS and ourselves.....

    A few of my ideas are quite in-depth, with PC levels of control input required, and would really benefit from being played on a console or PC, as opposed to touch screen controls, and there aren't that big a ratio of mobile users who use keyboards and/or joypads with their devices... :frowning:

  • @japster

    There are definitely other options out there to make PC games but that is the thing, Gamesalad could be that option, and a great option at that! Most people who want to make games want to make them on the platform they play games. I think this is why Gamesalad couldn't support themselves with just developers, there aren't enough devs or people interested in developing that just want to focus on mobile. Why on earth when we were so close to .exe did we jump ship? Unfortunately, while our latest game is mainly for mobile, I was really looking forward to the then promised EXE when I started making it. Oh well.... Unfortunately my team is a bit bummed about it, and we will most likely have to change engines on our next project, which I really don't want to have to do. With EXE support Gamesalad would be a complete package, and I am sure it would bring in a ton more paying users once they saw how easy (easier than other options) it is to make their dream steam game.

  • BlackCloakBlackCloak Member, PRO Posts: 38
    edited March 2017

    You might get it to work if you wrote some javascript that created javascript keyboard events when the joystick was pressed ( the newer html 5 spec supports joysticks in javascript). Gamesalad could then process the keyboard events

    Update:
    Looked up how to simulate keyboard press in jqury and it is possible. So the solution above should work.

  • AlchimiaStudiosAlchimiaStudios Member Posts: 1,069

    @BlackCloak said:
    You might get it to work if you wrote some javascript that created javascript keyboard events when the joystick was pressed ( the newer html 5 spec supports joysticks in javascript). Gamesalad could then process the keyboard events

    Update:
    Looked up how to simulate keyboard press in jqury and it is possible. So the solution above should work.

    Very interesting stuff.

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  • RossmanBrothersGamesRossmanBrothersGames Member Posts: 659

    @BlackCloak said:
    You might get it to work if you wrote some javascript that created javascript keyboard events when the joystick was pressed ( the newer html 5 spec supports joysticks in javascript). Gamesalad could then process the keyboard events

    Update:
    Looked up how to simulate keyboard press in jqury and it is possible. So the solution above should work.

    Cool, not sure if I would be able to figure it out, but at least if I try I know that it may be possible, thanks!

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