What Is The Best Way To Make A System That Returns A Sprite Of A Gamepad Button

What is the best way to make a system that returns a sprite of a Gamepad button, that will support multiple controller types?

 

"Controller types" in a brand sense (PS4 versus XBox) or in a shape sense (two-joystick gamepad, VR hand controllers, Wii Remote and Nunchuk)?

 

Basically I want to display a sprite that represents the binding that activates something in game, for things like prompts, quick time events and tutorials that explain which button you should press. I already have sprites that map every button for Dualshock 4, Xbox One controller and Keyboard and mouse.
Let's say i want a prompt to pop up on the screen. I want the prompt to display [ E ] if the active input comes from the keyboard, and if not, detect which brand of controller is used and display a sprite of [Gamepad/buttonSouth] that matches the controller brand ("x"on ps4 , "A" on Xbox).
I just need to know what is being used as a controller Keyboard & Mouse/ Dualshock/Xbox One Controller.
What is the best way to do that?

 

It's pretty simple to detect the controller types on windows. The device has a property called "name" that you can query; for an XBoxOne controller I get "XInputControllerWindows" (in the Input Debugger), for a PS4 controller I get "DualShockGamepadHID". You could take that information and use it to return a specific sprite. I don't have any code for this at the moment, but it seems pretty straightforward, and honestly the specific query highly depends on the specific methodology you're using to query your input. If you're using a PlayerInput component, you can query .devices on that component, as a start.

Off windows, it really depends on the platform drivers.

 

Huh. I could probably stand to bookmark this thread so I can access this answer.

 

I have a solution, I'll post it soon!

 

Please read the description

 

EitanZ's solution will work for what you're going for, but I think you should consider not having dynamic gamepad icons.
Someone who's new to a PS controller will see the icons on screen and have to look at their controller to find it. xBox vs Nintendo have the same button names in different places, xBox vs Logitech have different colored buttons, then you get into all the other possible gamepads....
I suggest just showing a generic gamepad image and highlight the button. No matter what they're using, they don't even need to look off the screen to find it. Easier for the players, easier for you.

 

I like it. It's a neat design that reads well. I get confused to this day when a game tells me to press L2, so just showing a top-down view of a controller with L2 highlighted would read much faster.

It might be that you end up eating more screen space than just using an image of eg. square, but it's probably worth it.

Won't work for keyboards, though.

 

Not to mention that it should be done very carefully. Colorblind people may have some problems with this design, also people who have low vision (it should be big enough on the screen).