Games With Vertical Screen And Pandora: Pacman, 1942...

[timofonic]

Hello.

I was thinking about vertical games on Pandora and then I looked about the console layout. I see it can be a problem for playing games using vertical screen and even emulating DS if possible, as the 16:9 screen could possibly fit the whole two screens in vertical (anyone can confirm it?).


Here are a short list of some games using vertical screen and available on MAME:

...Pacman, 1942, strikers 1945 III, Frogger, Galaga, Fire Shark, DoDonPachi, ESP RaDe, Radiant Silvergun, Mr. Do!, 1945, Amidar, Batsugun, Bomb Jack, Bomberman, Centipede, Commando, Contra, Dangun Feveron, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Dodonpachi, Ikari Warriors...

What possibilities for it? Now I don't see a usable layout for it, maybe if using an addon for putting temporarily buttons on the screen's back...


Regards.

 

[Mr B]

This has already been pointed out, and apparently "everyone" decided:
(1) it was perfectly logical to use the keyboard, and D-pad or the buttons as controls.
(2) fook it, this isn't made for the gaming comunity anyway.

I don't agree with them, but, they on the other hand have more then once asked why I'm still here. Pretty much tried to alienate me, and make me leave. Guess I'm just to horrible a person to be allowed to have an opinion, and want to support a evolution in the direction towards a product i actually would buy.

Anyway, now you know... It's been discussed, and decided on to be a none issue.
B!

 

[CoMiKe]

As said in this post, DaveC has a mockup system and thinks the control layout is nice.

And believe me, one of the things he has tested for sure is how controls work for vertical games.

So I suppose we don't have to worry about it

 

[timofonic]

It's OK, but I would prefer a more specific reply related to this topic. Supposing is not enough

Here is a reply from Trooper:

I`ve just had a go at holding the pandora mock-up in the way squeakypants suggested, To play mame games in vertical orientation and found it quite awkward to imagine playing like this. The thing i found was, As you can see from the first pic, Your thumb is placed right-angle to the pad and seems to me that it may be a bit confusing, But thats just my opinion.

Click for an enlarged picture

Click for an enlarged picture

Click for an enlarged picture

These two lower pictures are just two of my own suggestions that (at least for me) made playing in the vertical orientation a lot more easier, Plus the screen seemed better placed on the left side rather than the right.

But these are just my opinions and findings. YMMV.

Trooper

 

[Chip]

It's OK, but I would prefer a more specific reply related to this topic. Supposing is not enough

Sorry, but "supposing" is all you're goinng to get. There isn't some grand council that decides these things. How mame handles vertical games is up to whoever (probably franxis) ports it. If he wants to use some intricate hold-it-sideways control scheme, that is his perogative. Personally I'd prefer to hold the console normally and have a pillarboxed display. This might upset the arcade purists, but it is simple, sensible, and doesn't require a complete redesign of the Pandora or the human hand.

So yes, for now this is a non-issue. Even when it becomes an issue it will still be a minor one. This only effects about 2 dozen games out of literally tens of thousands on multiple platforms.

 

[Sphinxter]

Those games suck ass anyway and aren't worth supporting.

 

[davidgutierrez]

I think using the keyboard as buttons would be OK for vertical screen games, but developers who makes this kind of games should make them in such way that the player could choose between 3 different control schemes:

1) Horizontal screen mode (when possible) where you use the gamepad or left analog stick and buttons.

2) Vertical screen mode where you use the gamepad or left analog stick as directions and keys (Q, A, SHIFT, >) as buttons.

3) Vertical screen mode for left handed people where you use the buttons (A,B,X,Y) or right analog stick as directions and keys (P, L, ENTER, ¿SPACE?) as buttons.

 

[Squidge]

It's been considered and decided that the number of games that require vertical screen and the people that would actually use it in that mode are so slim that it's not worth bothering about.

 

[OrR]

It might also be an idea to use the touchscreen for analog/direction control though that probably won't work well in most games.

 

[davidgutierrez]

It might also be an idea to use the touchscreen for analog/direction control though that probably won't work well in most games.

Yes, I've seen this control scheme in some Nintendo DS games and it works very well (for that games), but if there is any game for Pandora which uses that controls, it should take into account left-handed people and let the player use the buttons (A, B, X, Y) as directions.

 

[Sphinxter]

It might also be an idea to use the touchscreen for analog/direction control though that probably won't work well in most games.

A friend insisted I try his iphone running space invaders at lunch the other day and it was rather astounding control from a less than thumb sized dpad image on the touchscreen. Quite a new experience, thought he'd gone a bit daft at first suggestion.

 

[squeakypants]

Mame is configurable, why wouldn't the port be? If the guy who ports it doesn't allow that, if he makes it open source, I'll definitely make it work with vertical games. I'd love to play classic shooters on the Pandora!

At least Progear will work normal.

 

[DaveC]

The method below is what works best. It isn't ideal, but not as bad as you may think from looking at the pic.

As long as MAME, FBA and other arcade emus allow the keyboard to be used in vertical mode it should work pretty well.

 

[Prophet]

Personally, I think vertical games will be fine on Pandora rotated, so you hold the Pandora in the normal fashion.

Alright, so the image will be smaller that way (probably about 3 inches, the size of one DS/GBA screen) and you'll have black bars on the sides, but the 480 lines of res will mean no detail loss when scaled. So to me that would be fine.

DaveC - your idea seems workable, but I'd have to try it. Seems awkward to look over to the left like that, while supporting the entire unit from the bottom edge of the device. I think I'd rather settle for a smaller rotated image instead.

We'll see when the time comes I guess.

 

[DaveC]

Alright, so the image will be smaller that way (probably about 3 inches, the size of one DS/GBA screen) and you'll have black bars on the sides, but the 480 lines of res will mean no detail loss when scaled. So to me that would be fine.
We'll see when the time comes I guess.

Well the image would be much smaller than 3", more like 2" if used standard. Remember this widescreen will be about the same vertical height as a GP2X, GP32. Plus a variation of 320 going into 480 would mean you would have to scale fractionally (not a nice integer like 2:1) so the image would end up fuzzy or have distorted non uniform pixels too.

As long as both options are supported we should be OK though.

 

[Tobriand]

One thing what does need to be remembered though is that you can only press two keyboard buttons at any one time. I'm guessing that shouldn't be a problem (there are three buttons available at any one time given that the L button would be positioned under the heel of your hand), if there actually are any arcade games that require four buttons pressed simultaneously then there might end up being problems with that method.

Somehow, though, I don't believe there are that many. I could be wrong, though (I've never gotten into MAME).

 

[squeakypants]

One thing what does need to be remembered though is that you can only press two keyboard buttons at any one time. I'm guessing that shouldn't be a problem (there are three buttons available at any one time given that the L button would be positioned under the heel of your hand), if there actually are any arcade games that require four buttons pressed simultaneously then there might end up being problems with that method.

Somehow, though, I don't believe there are that many. I could be wrong, though (I've never gotten into MAME).

Is that the official number? Kind of disappointing because of 3-button hotkeys (ctrl+alt+del, shift+ctrl+z, etc). Still, since I'll probably have all the modifiers as face buttons or shoulder buttons (ctrl, alt, shift, and fn) that should be fine, I guess.

 

[JakeK]

One thing what does need to be remembered though is that you can only press two keyboard buttons at any one time. I'm guessing that shouldn't be a problem (there are three buttons available at any one time given that the L button would be positioned under the heel of your hand), if there actually are any arcade games that require four buttons pressed simultaneously then there might end up being problems with that method.

Somehow, though, I don't believe there are that many. I could be wrong, though (I've never gotten into MAME).

I haven't played MAME games either (I have no idea where to start) but I haven't experienced one game with a three press combination before.

 

[Game_over]

How to make vertical games work on the Pandora.

(1. Hold it like a book in either the left or right orientation

(2. use a small area of the bottom for direction control

(3. Use the L or R (depending on how you are holding it) shoulder buttons for fire

(4. you could have separate icons on the screen for bombs and gestures for special attacks, like Nanostray for the DS.




Using the buttons are not that much of a necessity.

 

[squeakypants]

Really I don't even use bombs. The only situation I would use them for is if I'm about to die (trapped), but I don't remember to bomb until after I'm dead.