Notices

Hi all,

1. There has always been a problem playing FPS's, derived from the PC platform, on a console because; how do you replicate the freedom of the mouse and keyboard on the limited functionality of a gamepad?

2. There are a lot of opensource Quake 1/2/3 engine games that are potential candidates for recompiling for the n900 platform, notably:
Tremulous, Urban Terror, Warsow, World of Padman, to name just a few.

3. The best console control scheme for a FPS i ever used was Quake 2 on the playstation using the dual-shock controller.
First analogue stick for mouse-look
Second analogue stick for forward/backward/sidestep
Four buttons for Jump/Shoot/Change Weapon/Activate

4. The zeemote is quickly looking to become the standard gaming peripheral on the n900, which makes sense for a lot of reasons:
It has driver support being actively developed
It is small and portable unlike many console oriented controllers
The n900 no longer has a D-pad like its predecessors

How do you marry the four statements above?

My suggestion is to use the accelerometer for; forwards/backwards/sidestep, whilst using the analogue stick on the zeemote for mouse-look, and likewise the buttons for the listed functions.

To me this seems to provide a workable control method for Q3 engine derived FPS games, of which there are many that could potentially end up on the n900 provided a satisfactory and fun method of controlling them can be implemented.

What do you think?

The question is how accurate an responsive is the accelerometer, when you're playing an fps you need to be quick and accurate in your movement or it'll get real frustrating real quick.
A real cool solution is the one i saw on a demo of quake 3 where you use the touch screen to aim.
Also the camera button can be used for primary fire.
I say use the keyboard for movement, screen for aiming, and camera button for shooting..
Don't need a zeemote..

The Zeemote and accelerometer are the only "analog" inputs afaik. I'm working on an accelerometer-to-joystick driver that should work with any program that allows joystick control, so when that's working i expect you should be able to mix and match with zeemote and keys and set up your own controls.

There's probably not a one-size-fits-all approach for this, and i'm not sure an ideal configuration even exists for playing on a mobile phone.

However, i'd think using the joystick/accelerometer for look/aim and the keys for moving would be best, as moving is an on/off thing and looking and aiming are best with an analog control.

I'd imagine using a wiimote + nunchuk addon would be ideal .

I've been using the above combination with some emulator games on my laptop and it works really well.

I have not tried it with Quake yet.