Controls

In this article, I will show you two of the most used control function in Buildbox.

Erik Juico avatar
Written by Erik Juico
Updated over a week ago

Character Button

Character Button is one of the most used control function in Buildbox. To use it, drag the Character Button to the game-field. 

From there you will be able to edit its options.

Name: internal name for your reference only. Appears on the
layout area.
Position(x,y): location on screen.
Rotation: the angle the button is on.
Scale(x,y): how the image is scaled.
Opacity: how transparent the button is.
Image: PNG dropbox for standard image.
Image Selected: PNG Dropbox for image when pressed.
Locked Image: PNG dropbox for locked image.
Locked Image Selected: PNG Dropbox for locked image when
pressed.
Autohide: number of seconds to show before hiding.
Stick to Edge: button will stay on the edge of the screen when
scaling is done for different sized screens.
Function:
   No Action
   Motors Spin CW: clockwise.
   Motors Spin CCW: counter clockwise.Jump
   Shoot
   Rotate Left
   Rotate Right
   Move Right
   Move Left
   Move Up
   Move Down
   Unlock Random Character
   Component Action
Click Sound: sound made when pressed.
Release Sound: sound made when button released.
Block Touch Through: If this button is in front of another button, do NOT pass the touch through to the buttons behind.
Keyboard Key: This allows you to add/redefine a keyboard control. It works the same way as the game-wide keyboard controls

In a Platformer game there are 3 Character Button set up. Move Left, Move Right and Jump. Let me show you how to set it up.

In default, you can control these actions by pressing arrow left and arrow right on your keyboard, to jump, you will have to press J. If you want to modify them you will have to go to Keyboard Key field and press the key you want to use. 

Here is how you do it:

You also have the option to make a special button that you desire. To do that you have to select Component Action as the Function and from there you have to set up an Advance Move for your Character. See article for Advance Move.

Joystick


Joystick allows you to have an on-screen joystick.
To create one, drag the Joystick button from the left onto the game-field.

Resize and place as appropriate to whatever portion of the screen you want the joystick control to be available.

The following options are available for Joystick:

Position(x,y): where on screen to place it.
Rotation: has no effect.
Scale(x,y): determines how big the joystick is.
Opacity: how transparent the button is.
Sensitivity: a value of 1 will mean the character will move at the same speed as your finger. A smaller value will see less movement. Eg 0.5 will move at half speed, and 2 will move at double your finger speed.

 Absolute: you drag your character around the screen.
 Relative: Works like a standard analogue joystick. The more you move from the center position in any direction, the faster you will change to move in that direction.

Default Portrait is one of the default games which uses Joystick. 

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