Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Playing Jangaron with a Gamepad

I've been quite busy working on the next game release, but to jolly you along, I have something from the "tips & tricks" section.
For two or more players, sharing the keyboard takes Jangaron's game goal that you have to elbow your way through a bit too literally. Also, using the keyboard for an arcade game is not everyone's cup of tea.
I remembered the tool that accompanied good old M$'s precision pro joystick, which could make any joystick button simulate any key press (even sequences!), and thought there must be a similar, free tool that works for any joystick or gamepad. I searched, and of course, there are many such tools.
I tried Xpadder, because at first glance, it looked the most convincing and is free (but don't you forget to donate, pal!), and I must say it really works neat with Jangaron!
You can choose two approaches: Either, you map the buttons and axis of your gamepad or joystick to any key and then adapt the settings in Jangaron, which I would not recommend until the next Jangaron version which saves settings. Or, you map the buttons / axis to the preconfigured keys of some Jangaron user player and optionally space (for pause) and return (for confirming the "game over" dialog) -- that's what I did. There is no noticeable performance impact, and if you chose the buttons wisely, you will be rewarded with a new gameplay feeling of Jangaron, especially for multiplayer sessions!

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