GameController

Supports external game controllers.

Remarks

The Game Controller namespace was added in iOS 7 and adds support for game controllers.

Game controllers come in two forms: "form-fitting" controllers that contain an iOS device and "extended wireless" controllers that wirelessly connect to an iOS device or a Mac.

Game controllers must be optional components: game developers must make their game playable by users who do not have game controllers.

Form-fitting controllers are automatically discovered by the system. Extended wireless controllers are discovered by the system subsequent to the application developer calling GameController.GCController.StartWirelessControllerDiscovery and will cause the GameController.GCController.Notifications.ObserveDidConnect notification handler to fire. When wireless controller disconnect, the GameController.GCController.Notifications.ObserveDidDisconnect notification fires.

There are two supported profiles for Game Controllers: GameController.GCGamepad and GameController.CGExtendedGamepad. A GameController.GCController will have a non-null value for either its GameController.CGController.Gamepad or its GameController.CGController.ExtendedGamepad property, the application developer must read those to determine the type.

GameController.CGGamepads have two shoulder buttons, a D-pad (see GameController. GCControllerDirectionPad), and 4 face buttons labeled Y-B-A-X.

GameController.CGExtendedGamepads have the same elements, plus two trigger buttons and two joysticks (see GameController.GCControllerAxisInput). Apple conceptual schematics additionally show an LED array, but there is currently no programmatic access to this element.

There are three ways to read game controller data:

Technique Method(s) Use
Polling Properties such as GameController.GCControllerButtonInput.Pressed or GameController.GCControllerDirectionPad.XAxis Directly read from the game-loop (see SpriteKit.SKScene.Update).
Event-driven Element's ValueChangedHandler property (such as GameController.GControllerButtonInput.ValueChangedHandler) Game Controller processes updates on the main thread. The framework ensures that simultaneously-occurring events result in a series of single callbacks.
Coordinated Snapshot GameController.CGGamepad.SaveSnapshot, GameController.CGExtendedGamepad.SaveSnapshot Snapshots the controller state. Appropriate for marshalling, serialization, or delayed processing.

Technique	Method(s)	Use
Polling	Properties such as GameController.GCControllerButtonInput.Pressed or GameController.GCControllerDirectionPad.XAxis	Directly read from the game-loop (see SpriteKit.SKScene.Update).
Event-driven	Element's `ValueChangedHandler` property (such as GameController.GControllerButtonInput.ValueChangedHandler)	Game Controller processes updates on the main thread. The framework ensures that simultaneously-occurring events result in a series of single callbacks.
Coordinated Snapshot	GameController.CGGamepad.SaveSnapshot, GameController.CGExtendedGamepad.SaveSnapshot	Snapshots the controller state. Appropriate for marshalling, serialization, or delayed processing.

The major classes in the Game Controller namespace are shown in the following illustration:

Classes

Type	Reason
GCController	A game controller, either form-fitting or extended wireless.
GCController+Notifications	Notification posted by the GameController.GCController class.
GCControllerAxisInput	A GameController.GCControllerElement representing a joystick.
GCControllerAxisValueChangedHandler	The delegate used as the value-changed handler for GameController.GCControllerAxisInput.ValueChangedHandler.
GCControllerButtonInput	A GameController.GCControllerElement representing a game-controller button.
GCControllerButtonValueChanged	Handler that can be passed to the GameController.GCControllerButtonInput.SetPressedChangedHandler method to respond to changes to button states.
GCControllerDirectionPad	A GameController.GCControllerElement representing a direction-pad.
GCControllerDirectionPadValueChangedHandler	The delegate used as the value-changed handler for GameController.GCControllerDirectionPad.ValueChangedHandler.
GCControllerElement	The base class for input elements of a game controller.
GCExtendedGamepad	A gamepad with two shoulder buttons, two triggers, two thumbsticks, a D-Pad, and a directional button array.
GCExtendedGamepadSnapshot	A serializable snapshot of the game controller's state.
GCExtendedGamepadSnapShotDataV100	The state of a GameController.GCExtendedGamepad. Produced by GameController.GCExtendedGamepadSnapshot.TryGetSnapshotData.
GCExtendedGamepadValueChangedHandler	The delegate used as the value-changed handler for GameController.GCExtendedGamepad.ValueChangedHandler.
GCGamepad	A gamepad with two shoulder buttons, a D-Pad, and a directional button array..
GCGamepadSnapshot	A serializable snapshot of the game controller's state.
GCGamepadSnapShotDataV100	The state of a GameController.GCGamepad. Produced by GameController.GCGamepadSnapshot.TryGetSnapshotData.
GCGamepadValueChangedHandler	The delegate used as the value-changed handler for GameController.GCGamepad.ValueChangedHandler.
GCMotion	Holds position data of a game controller.