User Interface

User Interface

Dr. Scott Schaefer

User Interface

• Make it simple/easy to do common tasks

• Don’t obscure the FOV

• Simpler is typically better

• Consistency is important!

Diablo

Warcraft 3

Starcraft 2

World of Warcraft

Quake 3

Quake 4

Madden ‘09

Game Control

• Must consider single/multi-player aspect• Single player?• Networked multi-player?• Multi-player same machine?

• Platform limitations

Game Control: Keyboard/Mouse

• Connected to every PC but lacking on most other platforms

• Fine for single player or

multi-player networked

• Lots of buttons!

Game Control: Joystick

• Found on most consoles• Can also be connect to

PC via USB• Win NT supports 2 joysticks• Later versions support 16 joysticks• If you want to use joysticks for your game,

you can check out Xbox controllers from me for the semester. I only have 16 though.

Game Control: Others

Joystick Programming with Win32

#include <windows.h>

#include <mmsystem.h>

int joyGetNumDevs ( void )• Returns: number of joysticks supported by driver

(not number connected to machine)

Joystick Programming with Win32

MMResult joyGetDevCaps ( int id, JOYCAPS* cap, int size )

• id: id of the joystick being tested (-1 through 15)• cap: pointer to a JOYCAP structure• size: size of structure pointed to by cap• Returns: JOYERR_NOERROR if no error

Joystick Programming with Win32

• typedef struct { short wMid; short wPid; char szPname[MAXPNAMELEN]; unsigned int wXmin, wXmax, wYmin, wYmax, wZmin, wZmax; unsigned int wNumButtons; unsigned int wPeriodMin, wPeriodMax; unsigned int wRmin, wRmax, wUmin, wUmax, wVmin, wVmax; unsigned int wCaps; unsigned int wMaxAxes; unsigned int wNumAxes; unsigned int wMaxButtons; char szRegKey[MAXPNAMELEN]; char szOEMVxD[MAX_JOYSTICKOEMVXDNAME];

} JOYCAPS;

Joystick Programming with Win32

• typedef struct { short wMid; short wPid; char szPname[MAXPNAMELEN]; unsigned int wXmin, wXmax, wYmin, wYmax, wZmin, wZmax; unsigned int wNumButtons; unsigned int wPeriodMin, wPeriodMax; unsigned int wRmin, wRmax, wUmin, wUmax, wVmin, wVmax; unsigned int wCaps; unsigned int wMaxAxes; unsigned int wNumAxes; unsigned int wMaxButtons; char szRegKey[MAXPNAMELEN]; char szOEMVxD[MAX_JOYSTICKOEMVXDNAME];

} JOYCAPS;

number of buttons

Joystick Programming with Win32

• typedef struct { short wMid; short wPid; char szPname[MAXPNAMELEN]; unsigned int wXmin, wXmax, wYmin, wYmax, wZmin, wZmax; unsigned int wNumButtons; unsigned int wPeriodMin, wPeriodMax; unsigned int wRmin, wRmax, wUmin, wUmax, wVmin, wVmax; unsigned int wCaps; unsigned int wMaxAxes; unsigned int wNumAxes; unsigned int wMaxButtons; char szRegKey[MAXPNAMELEN]; char szOEMVxD[MAX_JOYSTICKOEMVXDNAME];

} JOYCAPS;

min/max bounds for “hat” controllers

Joystick Programming with Win32

MMResult joyGetPosEx ( int id, JOYINFOEX* info)

• id: id of the joystick being tested (-1 through 15)• info: pointer to a JOYINFOEX structure• Returns: JOYERR_NOERROR if no error

JOYERR_UNPLUGGED if joystick not connected

Joystick Programming with Win32

• typedef struct { int dwSize; int dwFlags; int dwXpos, dwYpos, dwZpos;int dwRpos, dwUpos, dwVpos;int dwButtons; int dwButtonNumber; int dwPOV; int dwReserved1; int dwReserved2;

} JOYINFOEX;

Joystick Programming with Win32

• typedef struct { int dwSize; int dwFlags; int dwXpos, dwYpos, dwZpos;int dwRpos, dwUpos, dwVpos;int dwButtons; int dwButtonNumber; int dwPOV; int dwReserved1; int dwReserved2;

} JOYINFOEX;

MUST be sizeof( JOYINFOEX)

Joystick Programming with Win32

• typedef struct { int dwSize; int dwFlags; int dwXpos, dwYpos, dwZpos;int dwRpos, dwUpos, dwVpos;int dwButtons; int dwButtonNumber; int dwPOV; int dwReserved1; int dwReserved2;

} JOYINFOEX;

SHOULD be JOY_RETURNALL

Joystick Programming with Win32

• typedef struct { int dwSize; int dwFlags; int dwXpos, dwYpos, dwZpos;int dwRpos, dwUpos, dwVpos;int dwButtons; int dwButtonNumber; int dwPOV; int dwReserved1; int dwReserved2;

} JOYINFOEX;

position of “hat” controllers

Joystick Programming with Win32

• typedef struct { int dwSize; int dwFlags; int dwXpos, dwYpos, dwZpos;int dwRpos, dwUpos, dwVpos;int dwButtons; int dwButtonNumber; int dwPOV; int dwReserved1; int dwReserved2;

} JOYINFOEX;

bit array with bit set if button currently pressed

Joystick Programming with Win32

• typedef struct { int dwSize; int dwFlags; int dwXpos, dwYpos, dwZpos;int dwRpos, dwUpos, dwVpos;int dwButtons; int dwButtonNumber; int dwPOV; int dwReserved1; int dwReserved2;

} JOYINFOEX;

number of buttons pressed

Joystick Programming with Win32

• typedef struct { int dwSize; int dwFlags; int dwXpos, dwYpos, dwZpos;int dwRpos, dwUpos, dwVpos;int dwButtons; int dwButtonNumber; int dwPOV; int dwReserved1; int dwReserved2;

} JOYINFOEX;

angle of POV controller