Posted August 24, 2017
There has been plenty of talk about a big-picture mode for Galaxy and while I would welcome it, I think it may be more realistic to add the necessary features for a pleasant gamepad experience to standard Galaxy, rather than starting from scratch.
Some ideas:
==Contexts==
Group everything into contexts. A context is defined as something with content and (optionally) actions. The user should be able to access the context-select layer with a simple button press. For example Y on the gamepad or Escape on the keyboard. While on this layer left/right should cycle through the list of contexts. Action (For example A on the controller or Enter on the keyboard) should bring up the context menu with the first action (default action) already highlighted for activation. If there are no subactions then activating the item may activate that context directly.
Currently there would be 10 Contexts
*Galaxy (the gog.com logo at the top left)
*Downloads
*Games List
*Store
*Library
*Community
*Profile
*Alerts
*Friends
*Shopping cart
If a context is content-driven (like library or store) it should load the content and switch the focus to the loaded content. If a context has its own toolbar, activation should focus the toolbar.
==Navigating inside contexts==
Content-contexts (like library, store and so on) are expected to navigate in a forms-like fashion. Meaning that left, right, up, down are supposed to jump to the closest element with a listener in the specified direction. Scrolling should be handled with a separate input, for example right joystick or PageUp/PageDown. Pressing Action (A or Enter) should activate the element.
Sidebar-contexts (like downloads and games list) should basically behave the same way, but may modify the behavior slightly (for example the games list may go to search when the user presses left, no matter where he is in the list).
==On-screen keyboard==
True, Windows has its own OSK, but integrating that in a useful manner is more work than a simple on-screen keyboard in Galaxy. Doesn't have to be international and may not even have special characters. But people should be able to use search without digging out their keyboard.
I think with this really simple approach we can make Galaxy fit for 99% of all big-picture use cases with minimal effort. And we'd help people who just like to navigate software with a keyboard along the way.
P.S.
Added a wish: https://www.gog.com/wishlist/galaxy/gamepad_controls
Some ideas:
==Contexts==
Group everything into contexts. A context is defined as something with content and (optionally) actions. The user should be able to access the context-select layer with a simple button press. For example Y on the gamepad or Escape on the keyboard. While on this layer left/right should cycle through the list of contexts. Action (For example A on the controller or Enter on the keyboard) should bring up the context menu with the first action (default action) already highlighted for activation. If there are no subactions then activating the item may activate that context directly.
Currently there would be 10 Contexts
*Galaxy (the gog.com logo at the top left)
*Downloads
*Games List
*Store
*Library
*Community
*Profile
*Alerts
*Friends
*Shopping cart
If a context is content-driven (like library or store) it should load the content and switch the focus to the loaded content. If a context has its own toolbar, activation should focus the toolbar.
==Navigating inside contexts==
Content-contexts (like library, store and so on) are expected to navigate in a forms-like fashion. Meaning that left, right, up, down are supposed to jump to the closest element with a listener in the specified direction. Scrolling should be handled with a separate input, for example right joystick or PageUp/PageDown. Pressing Action (A or Enter) should activate the element.
Sidebar-contexts (like downloads and games list) should basically behave the same way, but may modify the behavior slightly (for example the games list may go to search when the user presses left, no matter where he is in the list).
==On-screen keyboard==
True, Windows has its own OSK, but integrating that in a useful manner is more work than a simple on-screen keyboard in Galaxy. Doesn't have to be international and may not even have special characters. But people should be able to use search without digging out their keyboard.
I think with this really simple approach we can make Galaxy fit for 99% of all big-picture use cases with minimal effort. And we'd help people who just like to navigate software with a keyboard along the way.
P.S.
Added a wish: https://www.gog.com/wishlist/galaxy/gamepad_controls
Post edited August 24, 2017 by hansschmucker