Controls
How to play with keyboard and mouse, touch screen or gamepad, the controls of an open world, how two people share the keyboard and how to use the launcher and a game's menus without a mouse.
DescribesLauncher 0.4.0 For everyone
On this page
In a game#
These are the default controls of a third-person game, which is the view of six of the seven bundled games. The seventh, Open Valley, starts in first person and also uses the pointer and the quick bar: Open world.
| Keyboard and mouse | Touch screen | Gamepad | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Move | W A S D or the arrow keys | On-screen left stick | Left stick |
| Camera | Drag with the mouse; the wheel zooms in and out | Drag the screen | Right stick |
| Jump | Space | On-screen button | Bottom button |
| Action | E | On-screen button | Left button |
| Second action | Q | On-screen button | Right button |
Other keys:
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Esc | Pause and menu |
| M | Mutes or unmutes the sound |
| F11 | Full screen |
The top right corner of the game also has sound, full screen and pause buttons, which work with any control.
Other views#
Not every game is seen from behind the avatar. Depending on the view its author chose, some controls change:
| The game | What changes | Keyboard and mouse | Touch screen | Gamepad |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Is seen from the side (2D platformer) | Move | A D or the left and right arrows | Left stick | Left stick |
| Is seen from the side (2D platformer) | Jump | Space, W or the up arrow | On-screen button | Bottom button |
| Is in first person | Look | Move the mouse: a click captures it and Esc releases it | Drag the screen | Right stick |
| Lets you go to a point (isometric, top-down) | Go to a point | Click the ground | Tap the ground | — |
| Lets you turn the view (isometric, top-down) | Turn the view | Z and C | Turn buttons | Shoulder buttons |
Not every isometric or top-down game has the click on the ground or the turn: each game decides. What counts is that game's Controls table.
Open world: break, place and the quick bar#
A game can also use the two pointer buttons and a quick bar. That is how you play Open Valley, the open world of cubes that ships with launcher 0.4.0.
| Keyboard and mouse | Touch screen | Gamepad | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary button (in Open Valley, "Break") | Left click, or J | Hold a finger still on the game | Right trigger |
| Secondary button (in Open Valley, "Place") | Right click, or K | Short tap on the game | Left trigger |
| Pick a slot of the quick bar | The mouse wheel or the keys 1 to 9 | Tap the slot | D-pad, left and right |
In a game that uses these buttons, a click captures the mouse and a crosshair appears in the center of the screen; Esc releases it. The click that captures it does not count as an action.
In Open Valley, the other three buttons are named like this:
| Button | Name in Open Valley | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Jump | "Jump / up" | On foot, it jumps. Flying, it goes up. |
| Action | "Fly (free mode)" | In free mode, it flies. |
| Second action | "Menu / down" | On foot, it opens the game's menu. Flying, it goes down. |
Open Valley's modes and its menu: Playing.
Two on the keyboard#
In a game for several people on the same computer, two can share the keyboard. Each one uses their own half:
| Person 1 | Person 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Move | W A S D | The arrow keys |
| Jump | Space | Right Shift |
| Action | E | Enter |
| Second action | Q | Right Ctrl |
With gamepads, each person uses their own, up to four. How you choose how many play and what happens if a gamepad is missing: Playing.
Each game names its actions#
Jump and the action are generic buttons: each game says what they do. In Green Light Circuit, the action is "Call the lift". A game can use up to five buttons (jump, action, a second action and the two pointer buttons) and it can also leave some unused: Maze of Lights does not use jump.
The exact table for a game is in two places:
- The Controls drop-down on its start screen.
- The pause menu (Esc).
On a touch screen, only the actions the game declares get a button.
Which controls a game supports#
The game card says so under Controls: Keyboard and mouse, Gamepad, Touch screen. The seven games that ship with the launcher support all three.
Using the launcher#
The Library, the game cards and Settings can be used entirely without a mouse. The footer of the side menu reminds you how: "Arrows or D-pad: move · Enter or A: select · Esc or B: back".
| Keyboard | Gamepad | |
|---|---|---|
| Move between items | Arrow keys | D-pad |
| Select | Enter | A |
| Back | Esc | B |
The menus a game opens#
Some games open their own menus inside the match: Open Valley asks for the mode at the start and has a game menu. With a gamepad you move through them the same way as in the Library: the D-pad, up and down, changes the option and A selects it. With a mouse, click the option.