XNA Game Studio tip: Play Spacewar with keyboard

August 31st 2006 • .NET (Xbox-360, XNA) • 1,187 views • no response

If you either don’t have an Xbox 360 controller or have stupidly left yours in your 360′s box which is now in your parents attic you might like this tip for trying out Spacewar.

1. Create a project with Spacewar as the type or open an existing one
2. Double-click the Properties folder beneath your project
3. Choose the Build tab
4. Type USE_KEYBOARD in the Conditional complication symbols text box
5. Run the project

The key mappings are;

• A, B, X, Y buttons > A, B, X, Y keys
• Digital pad > Cursor keys
• Start > Home key
• Back > End
• Left trigger > Left shift
• Right trigger > Right shift
• Left thumb stick left, right, up, down > S, D, W, X
• Right thumb stick left, right, up, down > J, L, M, I

Note that the keyboard maps to only one pad – you can’t have two people using the keyboard unless you want to modify Common\GamePadHelper.cs

[)amien