1.3    Simultaneous Input

Let players use more than one input device at the same time.

The more input devices your game supports, the greater the chance the player will be able to use the input device they prefer. However, some players may find certain parts of different devices more accessible than others, so might benefit from being able to play with more than one of the same or different devices at the same time, using inputs from each device for different actions.

This method of play can be supported by allowing multiple devices to be used concurrently, acting as if only one device were being used. You will need to consider how these devices interact together for both analog and digital inputs.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps on Windows 10 offers three different ways to play - gamepad, mouse and keyboard, or just keyboard. And you’re able to use all supported input devices simultaneously by default. So a player might use the keyboard keys for actions like Jump and the various abilities, but then might prefer to use an analog stick on a gamepad for movement alongside that. In this case you can see the input prompts are changing dynamically depending on what input device was last used.

If possible allow simultaneous input to be optional as Ghost Recon Breakpoint does, by having the option to enable or disable simultaneous input for controllers.

The Copilot feature on Xbox and Windows 10 allows you to combine two devices and to make them act as one. But generally it is best to support this functionality within the game, because this could allow the player to configure input and gameplay settings for each device separately if supported, and because not all platforms systems support this feature.

Allowing simultaneous input can also be useful for players who might share the controls with other people, to cooperatively control a single player in the game.

This module is a part of Input Devices. Discover other modules in this topic on the SpecialEffect DevKit website at specialeffectdevkit.info.