Making emulators touch-aware through breakpoint files

I was reading through Apple's guideline for touch controls in games for iOS. It offers suggestions that could improve emulators designed for any desktop or mobile platform.

Apple's guideline for virtual gamepads recommends showing an icon for each button's primary action on the button, much as The Legend of Zelda shows the actions at the top. For example, Super Mario Bros. might show icons for "jump" and "run" on the A and B Buttons of the virtual gamepad, where the "run" changes to "fireball" after grabbing the Fire Flower. Is there a practical way for an emulator to expose some means to recognize what icon to show for each button in each situation in a particular game? As far as I can tell, it'd involve a configuration file listing breakpoints that change the icon.

Apple recommends hiding the virtual gamepad and switching to direct touch interaction when a menu is visible. Or on desktop, it could support a mouse. Is there a practical way for an emulator to expose some means to recognize a menu and feed the game button presses to operate it? As far as I can tell, it'd involve a configuration file listing breakpoints that notify the emulator where and when a menu appears or disappears.

Feasible or not?

Statistics: Posted by tepples — Mon Jun 10, 2024 3:22 pm — Replies 2 — Views 109

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