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Gamepads

Physical controllers connect through the browser Gamepad API. Zylem attaches one GamepadProvider per local player slot; player p1 uses gamepad index 0, p2 uses index 1, up through p8 / index 7.

Providers merge with keyboard, mouse, and touch for the same player. If both keyboard and stick move axes.Horizontal, the merged state reflects both sources.

Minimal example​

Runnable sample: website/snippets/input/gamepads.ts.

p1.onUpdate(({ me, inputs, delta }) => {
	const pad = inputs.p1;
	me.moveXY(pad.axes.Horizontal.value * 400 * delta, -pad.axes.Vertical.value * 400 * delta);
});

p2.onUpdate(({ me, inputs, delta }) => {
	const pad = inputs.p2;
	me.moveXY(pad.axes.Horizontal.value * 400 * delta, -pad.axes.Vertical.value * 400 * delta);
});

createGame(p1, p2).start();

No extra config is required for standard Xbox-style layouts.

Standard mapping​

GamepadInputGamepad field
Face buttons 0–3buttons.A/B/X/Y
Shoulders 4–5buttons.L/R
Triggers 6–7shoulders.LTrigger/RTrigger
Select / Start 8–9buttons.Select/Start
D-pad buttons 12–15directions.Up/Down/Left/Right
Axes 0–1axes.Horizontal/Vertical
Axes 2–3axes.SecondaryHorizontal/SecondaryVertical

GamepadProvider.isConnected() tracks whether the indexed pad has fired gamepadconnected.

Local multiplayer​

Assign entities to inputs.p1, inputs.p2, and so on. Pair keyboard presets (useIJKLForAxes('p2')) with the automatic gamepad index for couch co-op.

Reconfigure keyboard and mouse at runtime with InputManager.configure on the internal game instance; gamepad providers persist across reconfiguration.

Pitfalls​

  • Browsers require a button press before navigator.getGamepads() returns data—prompt players to press A once.
  • Hot-plugging updates connected but does not remap indices; order follows connection order per spec.
  • Analog dead zones are not applied inside the provider; normalize in gameplay if sticks drift.

API reference​