iCade compatibility list/wishlist

Anyone got to the stage where Ralph is defeated like in the movie trailer? Wonder if they put that in there...

I think Felix is using a hammer... lol

Turns out that Commander Pixman supports iCade too.

Do you think would Apple allow Kode80's Mac app as an iPhone app? Having my iPhone be a controller for my iPad would be awesome.

I know that there is Joypad, but it doesn't work with as many apps. I don't know if its allowed, or if Kode80 would ever do it, but hopefully it could happen.

I don’t think Apple would disallow it per se: it could just be a general app that simulates Bluetooth keystrokes for ANY receiving device after all. However, I don’t know if iOS devices are able to pair in that way. (Then again, I didn’t know a computer could do so either!)

Meanwhile, if your Mac is present, you could use Simul80 to drive the iCade game, and Joypad Legacy on iPhone to drive the Mac. You’d then be using the iPhone to drive the iPad, albeit with the Mac as “middleman."

This is something I've been thinking about since I saw the new BT APIs. I'm not 100% if it's possible as I haven't had time to go through the iOS 6 BT APIs thoroughly. If possible it would be pretty cool though, not just for controlling other iOS devices but any BT keyboard compatible device!

Incidentally, for anyone interested, I have a new version of Simul80 that's almost complete (just some testing/bug fixes left to do) that will hopefully be out this week, next at latest. The new version has full support for Cascadia Game's GameDock AND a custom device editor that will let you build your own emulated BT controllers right within the app.

Here's a screenshot of Simul80 1.3

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I see Beyond Ynth HD just got an iCade update. Nice!

Cool—thanks!

Two new games - lemegeton and skyriders - both have iCade support. Both rather good.

Lets hope with the release of 8-bitty, we'll see more active iCade support.

Just noticed your list. Thanks!

Maybe! Although I’m pretty pleased with the selection of games already, and unfortunately, 8-Bitty isn’t as iCade-friendly as I’d have hoped.

8-Bitty is not an Ion product like the rest of the iCade lineup is. (I suppose someone else made it for Think Geek.) And it sounds like the button mapping they chose for the 8-Bitty is a little crazy—not a great mapping for iCade compatibility. (Not even the same as iCade Mobile, which you might expect to match.) Therefore, good 8-Bitty support might mean many games have to offer a choice of an entirely separate control mapping. Doable, but less likely—and not much help for those of us who want iCade support to be simple and widespread.

Here’s how the buttons map on the different models:

iCade and iCade Core:
- Identical to each other (I think iCade Core is the best iCade product: less bulky, lower cost, couch-and-coffee-table-friendly for TV)

iCade Jr. and iCade Mobile:
- 4 diamond-arranged buttons on right equal the left-most 4 iCade buttons (the button on the bottom equals the bottom red iCade button; the left button in the diamond equals the top red button).
- 4 rear “shoulder” buttons equal the right-most 4 iCade buttons. Black buttons become the top shoulder buttons (top button is left shoulder). White buttons become the bottom shoulder buttons.

That should work pretty well I think: all the buttons sound useful and comfortable to reach.

iCade 8-Bitty maps very differently according to TA:
- 4 buttons on right are a square instead of a diamond (which I think is actually good) but they map the the right-most iCade buttons—not the left-most.
- Top red iCade button becomes Select (one of the small middle buttons).
- Bottom red iCade button becomes left trigger.
- Top-left black iCade button becomes Start (middle buttons).
- Bottom-left black iCade button becomes right trigger.

It’s too late now, but I think they should ALL have a square on the right, with two red and two white buttons just like iCade. And the 4 black buttons should map to top and bottom shoulders, again arranged just like iCade. Easy to remember. (Or better yet, the big iCade should have had a button-diamond from the start!)

Now, since most games don’t need ALL the buttons (do any of them?) it’s often going to be possible to offer several buttons for key functions, and create a single mapping that’s at least reasonable for all these options. If (er, when?) I finish my iOS game I will strive to achieve that.

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