Google is getting ready large gaming upgrades for Android 17

The overwhelming majority of Android video games use touchscreen controls, which is sensible since most Android units are smartphones or tablets. However, there’s a rising variety of Android video games you possibly can play with a controller — an inventory that can solely broaden because the working system reaches new type elements. Furthermore, the rising reputation of cloud gaming permits Android customers to play many non-touchscreen titles that aren’t natively out there on the platform. To higher bridge the hole between these enter strategies, Google is engaged on new options in Android 17 that can give players extra management over button presses.

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How Android handles recreation controllers

When you join a USB or Bluetooth gaming controller to your Android system, the working system treats it as an enter system and registers the occasions created by button presses. Android interprets these presses into particular key codes and axis values, which then map to in-game actions and actions in supported titles.

Android depends on predefined configuration information to map these enter occasions. To decide which configuration to make use of, the OS checks the controller’s vendor and product ID. Because it’s inconceivable to construct particular configurations for each controller available on the market, Android maintains information just for the preferred {hardware}, similar to official Xbox controllers.

This doesn’t imply that Android gained’t work with area of interest peripherals, although. Many distributors mimic the controller schemes of main manufacturers to make sure Android and different working programs acknowledge their inputs. This compatibility technique permits Android to work with an unlimited array of controllers proper out of the field.

However, some gamers could not benefit from the default button structure on their controllers or how they’re mapped in particular titles. There are numerous explanation why somebody may wish to customise their controls:

• Accessibility: Users with disabilities could must remap buttons to make important features simpler to achieve.
• Ergonomics: Players trying to cut back hand pressure could desire shifting high-frequency actions to buttons that require much less pressure.
• Competition: Pro players could map sure actions to particular buttons to enhance response instances.
• Muscle reminiscence: Fans of retro video games or these switching platforms usually wish to match the layouts they’re most accustomed to.

Unfortunately, Android doesn’t assist button remapping out of the field. Instead, it depends on particular person video games to supply remapping choices. While many emulators provide this, most traditional Android video games don’t. For years, customers have needed to depend on third-party instruments to customise their inputs, however these usually make the most of hacky options involving ADB or the Accessibility API to intercept and remap key presses. These strategies introduce further overhead and are unreliable throughout completely different units and video games.

Fortunately, I’ve noticed proof that Google is working to deliver native controller remapping to a future model of Android. This proof seems within the newest Android Canary launch, which provides a preview of upcoming options and APIs. Although I’m undecided when this characteristic will ship, it’s most definitely focusing on the following main replace, Android 17.

Android 17 could lastly deliver native controller remapping

The proof for this characteristic lies in a brand new permission outlined inside the Android framework: android.permission.CONTROLLER_REMAPPING. This permission is guarded by a characteristic flag labeled com.android.{hardware}.enter.controller_remapping. The flag’s namespace, com.android.{hardware}.enter, ties this characteristic to enter units like recreation controllers. Importantly, this new permission is restricted to apps signed with the platform key, which means third-party apps will be unable to carry out system-wide controller remapping.

We additionally found references to a brand new, devoted recreation controller menu inside the Settings app. While the menu is at the moment unpopulated, the Activity definition within the Settings Manifest suggests it would show an inventory of related controllers. It is probably going that this menu will function the central hub for managing recreation controllers, particularly for remapping their buttons.

Android is getting assist for…digital gamepads?

Diving deeper, I additionally noticed code referencing a brand new “virtual gamepad” characteristic. This seems to be a software program illustration of a bodily controller, just like how Android already handles digital cameras for options just like the Pixel’s Connected Camera. In this context, the “virtual gamepad” is probably going the mechanism Android will use to deal with button remapping.

The code permits the system to register a digital enter system utilizing customary {hardware} identifiers (vendorId and productId), which could possibly be used to trick video games into treating it as an actual, bodily controller. This digital system helps a whole set of normal controller inputs, together with:

• Face & Menu Buttons: A, B, X, Y, Start, Select, and Mode.
• Triggers & Bumpers: L1, R1, L2, and R2 (together with analog set off axes lTrigger and rTrigger).
• Joysticks: Left and Right analog sticks (mapping to X, Y, Z, and Rz axes) and their clickable buttons (L3 and R3).
• D-Pad: Directional inputs mapped to HatX and HatY.

The existence of strategies to inject simulated inputs again into the system means that this digital gamepad acts as a bridge, intercepting unique button presses and outputting remapped ones that video games can perceive natively.

Besides button remapping, this code may be used to map on-screen contact controls to bodily controller inputs. This can be extremely helpful for video games that lack native controller assist, which sadly consists of a big portion of the Android gaming library. I can think about this being notably helpful on future Android-powered PCs, as enjoying with a controller is way extra ergonomic than utilizing contact controls on a PC. Google is not any stranger to this expertise, because it already employs related input-mapping programs in Chrome OS and Google Play Games on PC.

We’ll have to attend and see how Google implements this characteristic, nevertheless. We are over six months away from the discharge of Android 17, leaving Google loads of time to implement the characteristic. We hope that Google manages to not less than ship primary button remapping, as that alone can be a big improve for players. If it additionally manages to introduce a devoted controller menu and a touchscreen mapping software, that might be a game-changer.

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