So KDE connect can already simulate mouse and keyboard input, why not add the functionality to simulate game controller input as well so that your phone can act as a wireless game controller?
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Hmm, I would have never thought of that - what type of control input would you emulate on a phone? Like a virtual controller display showing typical modern controller inputs (analog stick touch zones, A/B/X/Y/L/R, etc.), or did you have something else in mind?
Exactly like that. Maybe also with gyro input like DS and Xbox controller now that I think of it.
I think it could be configurable, so user could drag button/touchpad/analog onto given place on screen.
Its a nice idea , we already have a touch input option which can serve as a base for this gamepad layout in it
but won’t the latency be an issue ? beacuse if Network is 2.4Ghz Wifi and you are far away from router their is slight delay in input on phone and response on Plasma
True - I would indeed think latency would be noticeable, but I’d also be surprised if folks would use such a setup for the sorts of gameplay that would be impacted by controller latency. Theoretically, most games like that would also be very challenging to play with a touchscreen that’s simulating a physical controller layout.
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Latency might be an issue, but it’s already an issue for the existing remote input functionality and people do just fine with that as well.
There are other apps that already do this (I would provide examples, but can’t post links), so there’s obviously demand for such functionality in general despite the potential issues with latency. I also see support for this in KDE Connect as higher value than a separate app, because it lets users leverage the existing connections between devices that they already have instead of needing to set up ‘yet another’ app just to get this functionality. Such apps may be useful to look at for inspiration regarding how to set things up in the UI though.
That said, what I would personally want to use this for is not simulating a gamepad using a phone, but enabling usage of Android-based gaming handhelds (such as the Retroid Pocket 5, AYN Odin 2, or Anbernic RG353P) as ad-hoc game controllers on a PC. That would require forwarding of local inputs from an existing game controller though instead of only handling simulated inputs (though, again, apps that do this do already exist, I’d just personally rather use KDE Connect if it were an option, since I would already be setting it up anyway for other reasons).