RFE: Tilt-based movement control for keyboard-less devices

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Allow for movement by tilting the device so Q3A would be playable on devices 
without a keyboard (such as Nexus One)

Original issue reported on code.google.com by trash.ei...@gmail.com on 24 Feb 2010 at 2:54

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Maybe screen-placed gamepad-like controls would be also great addition for 
keyboardless 
devices.

Btw runs smoothly on nexus except cannot even exit it properly without keyboard.

Original comment by anton.ke...@gmail.com on 24 Feb 2010 at 7:43

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I request aiming by tilting the device ! This would replace a mouse, together 
with
the milestone keyboard this might be playable ;) ... btw. great work !

Original comment by realv...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 1:35

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BTW how are you playing it on a Nexus? I guess you have mapped the trackball to 
movement?

Original comment by thunderb...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 8:39

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Yes, I tried to set cl_freelook to 0 and then you can control movement with 
trackball. But it is still not really playable like that - you must always 
scroll to 
walk or to turn which is really slow. So mainly it is fun just to watch demos 
:) It 
wouldn't be very much fun to play it even with tilt controls or other ways 
except 
mouse+keyboard. There are videos of q3 ported to symbian where guy uses 
bluetooth 
mouse to control the game. It would be nice if somebody who have access to 
bluetooth 
mouse and keyboard would try to use them as q3 controllers.

Also looks like there are still some issues with rendering like you don't load 
map's 
shadow maps. All lightmaps work fine except those generated for the map 
geometry. Or 
maybe it can be turned on using console commands.

Original comment by anton.ke...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 9:05

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A guy I worked with played q3 on his G1 which has keyboard + trackball and he 
says it
really plays well (except the game is slow on his G1). He said that the 
trackball is
very accurate for aiming.

There are different quake3 settings for shadows. I'm not sure what is used by
default. If you select high quality in the game, the shadows might look better. 
Else
you would have to play with r_shadow I think it was (set it to 3).

Original comment by thunderb...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 9:16

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Why is using the accelerometer for look not fun?  It seems like the most 
obvious thing 
and other games use that for control.

Original comment by eagsala...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 10:11

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Yes, it is fun to play casual games using tilt-controls, but try to win 
Nightmare bot 
in duel or to play against human who has mouse in hands :) Or try to perform 
simple 
strafe jumps or rocket jumps.

Original comment by anton.ke...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 10:37

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I've just installed this on my Nexus and it looks fantastic. Using the 
trackball to
look/aim works fine.
What about mapping the volume buttons as forward and back?

Original comment by garethga...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 10:42

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I've been using a port of Quake2 for the Nokia N95 that had mouse support 
through a library that allows for 
Bluetooth mice to be used with the phone.
Since the Milestone/Droid has BT, wouldn't it be an interesting option?

I'm quite new to this Android world, so maybe I'm ranting about very difficult 
things...

Original comment by andrea.c...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 10:47

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I already received some other requests about the volume buttons. I can easily 
add
that stuff. Perhaps it will be in tonight.

Original comment by thunderb...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 10:48

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I haven't been playing it on the Nexus as much as spectating matches ( 
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/301978/P1080279.MOV ).  I figured tilt movement would 
be the 
easiest to implement vs. a on-screen joystick.  I doubt it's possible to play 
anywhere 
near professional level with anything but a keyboard and mouse. 

Original comment by trash.ei...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 12:13

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I agree that tilt would probably be the best option for movement, as I don't 
think
anyone will be wanting to play this to a tournament level, probably mostly for 
fun or
showing off their phone to friends. 

Mapping forward/back to volume keys would be a nice quick way of allowing more
movement too if you don't have time to add tilt.

I am running it on my HTC Hero and it seems to run great, just need some better
control options now. Keep up the good work! 

Original comment by dunford....@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 12:19

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How about...
Using the camera sensor for look/aim (like an optical mouse) and the trackball 
for
move/jump and tap screen to fire?

Original comment by garethga...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 12:52

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Tested on nexus one, may the up/dn volume may be used for moving for/back/ward ?

Original comment by www.rzr.online.fr on 25 Feb 2010 at 1:18

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Is there any way you could divide the screen into two different touchscreens. 
So the
left side controls movement, and the right side controls aiming. That's how 
most FPS
games on the iPhone work and it seems to work pretty well. I own a Droid and I 
would
prefer that option instead of trying to use the keyboard. The keys are way to 
small
to move around efficiently. You wouldn't have to program an onscreen joystick or
anything. Just just divide the screen right in half. Left side = movement, 
Right side
= aiming. Also, when tapping on the screen, the gun only fires once. But for 
some
guns you want to keep firing. It should continue to fire until your finger is 
lifted
off the screen.

Original comment by vern.lin...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 5:49

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Actually, instead of tapping on the screen to shoot, using the camera button 
would be
perfect. It would feel some comfortable in your hand. Have camera button shoot,
double tap for jump. It would be the perfect controls for any Android device.

Original comment by vern.lin...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 5:50

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Tilt (with sensitivity setting of course) would probably be best at first (I 
would
guess accelerometer axis' could become 'key' mappings), and maybe later make it 
an
option to use a small dpad to the bottom left/right of the screen.

Great job btw!

Original comment by timho...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 8:00

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I have mapped the focus button and the volume buttons to F1, F2 and F3. A new 
build
will be online later tonight.

Original comment by thunderb...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 9:02

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I have uploaded a new test build which provides you access to those three 
buttons and
it improves sound performance a bit and perhaps sound stability as well.

Original comment by thunderb...@gmail.com on 25 Feb 2010 at 11:34

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Coo, tested the new build(1.1) out on my acer liquid and it runs just fine. 
Able to
map keys the volume buttons and camera button(liquid has no keyboard or 
trackpad). 

Original comment by IakonaW...@gmail.com on 2 Mar 2010 at 6:27

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IakonaWard,How did you map your keys? I have the same mobile.

Original comment by zstenr...@gmail.com on 2 Mar 2010 at 7:01

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nvm, I got it to work and it runs just fine :) but the control is hard on Acer 
Liquid :P

Original comment by zstenr...@gmail.com on 2 Mar 2010 at 2:12

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There will be better controls, hopefully within a few days or else next week. I 
will
mention when those are done :)

Original comment by thunderb...@gmail.com on 3 Mar 2010 at 12:16

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God, Thunderbird2k I love you.

I am using a Motorola Droid, and Sadly to report Sound crashes for me on even 
the 
newest build. Currently I am using the kwaak3.apk-2.3 MB release from Feb 23. 
For me 
it has been the most stable. Although when sound is on, after a certain 
interval of 
time (or maybe certain sounds) I proceed to receive "CL_Shutdown" at the chat 
box 
area, and a crash happens. With Sound Disabled, I jam out to Death metal and 
own bots 
all day! I LOVE YOU TB2k!!!

After Fragging hundreds (soon to be thousands) of bots I have found this to be 
the 
best key setup for myself personally:

Volume Up : Zoom
Volume Dwn: Jump 
Cntr Dpad : Jump
Camera    : Shoot
Dpad      : Movement
P         : Prev Wep
?         : Next Wep

Thank you for giving me my new and remaining favorite App, I wish you were on 
the 
Market some how so I could 5 star you, or Donate to you!! 

Original comment by Confused...@gmail.com on 4 Mar 2010 at 8:33

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Confused.Seth could you try the kwaak apk that I attached? I also have a 
motorola
droid and I have no issues running this apk with sound on, I need to get the 
full
game because with the quake3 demo files, I don't think I can benchmark.

I am running a custom rom (latest cyanogen) and that rom has some neon optimized
code, I don't know if that improved the game much but while I was playing it 
felt
really smooth, there was some lag while shooting but nothing horrible and this 
was
with sound on.

Original comment by Razor...@gmail.com on 5 Apr 2010 at 12:17

Attachments:

• kwaak3.apk

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Loaded on the Sprint EVO (1ghz SnapDragon)  800x480  loads great looks great....

Can do anything because no keyboard or input device touch screen only (it is a 
dual
touch so could support on screen keypad.

View moves with screen touch, and double touch screen fires gun.

Has great potential

Original comment by markjnim...@gmail.com on 7 Jun 2010 at 12:54

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Runs amazingly well on the HTC Desire too, although with the same limitations 
in terms of the touch screen interface and lack of a keyboard.

The test build (1.1c) with sound on works well, and doesn't appear to degrade 
the performance too heavily. There does seem to be an issue with displaying the 
menu while in game - the menu is pushed across to the side, and there is a 
yellow bar on the left hand side, although that is cosmetic to some extent.

I'm looking forward to a build that supports touch screen devices, and of 
course the performance improvements that Android 2.2 should hopefully bring.

Original comment by sncame...@gmail.com on 10 Jun 2010 at 11:35

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On an HTC Desire, using the volume rocker as forwards and backwards, and the 
touchscreen look, the game is actually sort of playable. It runs OK at 852x480, 
32bit colour, geometry set to high, and texture detail at about 70%, with 
trilnear filtering. As long as only vertex lighting is used.

The main problem is the very limited control - in this configuration you can 
more or less play a game, but of course you can only use the optical trackpad 
to fire, which is difficult and interferes with looking. And of course you 
can't jump, crouch, or switch weapons. 

Still fun, even just as a tech demo of what the phone is capable of.

Original comment by sncame...@gmail.com on 10 Jun 2010 at 12:30

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i too am running this lovely port on an htc evo 4g. the game would be simply 
amazing if even it had on screen controls a la "snesoid" that would make it 
compatable with the crop of faster processor phones comming out ...most of 
which have multi touch (5 points on my rooted evo) but also most likely will be 
less hardware keyboard based. Looking forward to fraggin the crap out of PEOPLE 
on my PHONE ha!!!  I love the future!!

Original comment by mrmafe...@gmail.com on 22 Jul 2010 at 3:52

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Issue 86 has been merged into this issue.

Original comment by thunderb...@gmail.com on 28 Jul 2010 at 3:58

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Can't U just bind the accelrometer or whatever it's called to move forward back 
lock right and look left and then use the camera button to shoot?????

can't U change that in the config.cfg file? I think i can do that... the only 
thing i need is the coding names for the accerlrometer :P and the camerabutton

I have a Sony Ericsson x10 mini :P

Original comment by RandomCr...@gmail.com on 2 Aug 2010 at 3:32

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Thunderbird said, thatit volume buttons are very easy to add to controls on 26 
feb and it could be done on 27 feb. It was still not done... Is there any 
problem with it?

Original comment by david.he...@gmail.com on 3 Aug 2010 at 6:48

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See this for newer devices:

http://kwaak3arena.com/

Original comment by microwor...@gmail.com on 6 Aug 2010 at 7:40

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AND what about my poor Legend :( will it get tilt based movement or on-screen 
'crosses' too?

Original comment by Sunshri...@gmail.com on 7 Aug 2010 at 12:38

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Really, to all people stay away from that kwaak3arena.com build. It is not 
related to my project and it is evil (it contains admob stuff and he violates 
GPL).

Original comment by thunderb...@gmail.com on 8 Aug 2010 at 5:59

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There is a new test build (1.1.e) online which adds an initial virtual joypad. 
The code is very experimental, it doesn't take into account dpi (it is just 
160x160 at the lower left corner for now), it isn't pretty. I just want to know 
how people think it plays for now. At least on my Nexus One it is a little too 
sensitive. (Make sure you set left and right to strafe in the game menu itself).

Note this build requires Android 2.0 (I'm experimenting with multi touch). In 
the future 1.6 will also be supported again.

Original comment by thunderb...@gmail.com on 17 Aug 2010 at 6:35

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New version test with onscreen movement is promising but buggy and no 
multitouch. Would like to see it more like nova onscreen controls or sandstorm. 
This game runs awesome on my droid x.keep up the good work.

Original comment by ryantrod...@gmail.com on 18 Aug 2010 at 3:55

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The joypad would be styled later on like in other games. In what way is it 
buggy and not working properly? (More details would help most in improving it) 
There should also be some basic multitouch. Try to move using the joypad and at 
the same time try to wipe the screen or 'touch it' to shoot (it is just the 
classic input code I had all along which works alongside the joypad).

Original comment by thunderb...@gmail.com on 18 Aug 2010 at 4:21

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Good start with the onscreen joystick. its a bit unpredictable still and the 
"buttons" seem to be a bit small on my nexus one. if you could draw the 
"button" areas it would make it easier to evaluate. 

Original comment by bjorn.ph...@gmail.com on 18 Aug 2010 at 5:09

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Err I removed the AdMob and thought you had abandoned the project anyways. I 
ended up spending more money on servers which is what the admob was on there to 
pay for in the first place.

As for the GPL I never really understood licenses. I just wanted to get Quake 3 
playable on touch screen phones. Guess I'll give it a long read.

I do apologize though for this as I truly thought you were done with the 
project as there were no updates since february

Original comment by andershi...@gmail.com on 18 Aug 2010 at 10:11

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Hi, i have a Sony Ericsson Xperia x10 mini and everything works fine...Here's 
how i binded my keys:

Walk  forward: Volume down
Walk Backwards: Volume Up
Shoot: camera button.
look around: touch screen...

i would love to see the on screen joypads but my phone dosen't support multi 
touch. that could be a problem when u have to use both the touch screen to walk 
and aim :/ i  still think that the tilt to walk feature is better...My phon 
doesn't have 2.0 yet but when the 1.6 update comes out i just have to test it 
:P 

Awesome work.

Original comment by RandomCr...@gmail.com on 24 Aug 2010 at 2:58

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Agreed. Multitouch is broken and it gets confused whether you want to move 
player or look up/down/left/right. Would be nice to have a second joystick to 
avoid confusing it. 

By the way, Can we add the Galaxy S to the benchmarks on the Project home page?

With Audio - 55
W/O Audio - 55

Original comment by anz...@gmail.com on 12 Nov 2010 at 6:10

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Hi, first off AWESOME! I have a Nexus S and the last build runs on the phone 
and the screen says I get 50+ fps. I owned a computer that didn't do that well 
in Q3A lol! The game looks great, just isn't easy to play on an all touchscreen 
phone. The joysticks should be drawn better so I can see what exactly is 
happening. There should be two, and the one on the left should allow you to 
strafe, not just turn. Also an on screen keyboard for numbers so you can switch 
weapons. Accelerometer for movement would be pretty sweet, then you could do 
the rest on screen. A forward backwards strafe joystick with accelerometer 
based looking and a shoot and jump button! :) Keep up the good work, and thanks 
for the fun.

Original comment by atomi...@gmail.com on 15 Jan 2011 at 2:18

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This game runs amazingly fast on the nexus S here. 40-60 fps just fine.

I second for using either tilting, or onscreen joysticks that act more like the 
joysticks on a playstation controller (you keep turning when it reaches the 
"edge"). The player movement seems to be broken, it gets stuck and its hard to 
stop moving.

Original comment by robindegen on 19 Mar 2011 at 11:43

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Hi Thunderbird,

I played q3 before on my samsung i8910 were i added the acceleromter controls. 
I think it would make a great addition to playing this game on the android 
devices. You can use one onscreen thumbstick for looking or walking and the 
accelerometer for the other. This way a onscreen button can be made for 
shooting.

Are you planning to impelent accelerometer controls in the future?

Original comment by mrfitnes...@gmail.com on 23 Mar 2011 at 6:34

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I have just finished playing q3 with nexsus s. At first I'm very impressed in 
quality. As u heard reapeatly about difficulty of movement , I think that 
up/down basic controls had better using accelometer., and mouse movement screen 
keeps left side of screen. The other side makes some buttons for fire, changing 
weapons n jump.it was my opinions,  finally thanks to u, I could play q3 in 
phone.

Original comment by final1...@gmail.com on 25 Mar 2011 at 2:23