[Request] Support for Touch Screen

[Blackcendre]

Hey just wanna start off by saying I love the game a lot ! It's becomming one of my favorite game of all time, awesome work to the devs ! :)

Now, what I want to ask is something that would expand the platforms supported. I have a surface pro. It's like a tablet and I like playing games with it using touch, espacially turn based or slow pace games. Slipways fit perfectly in the description. I feel like with how the game is made and it's UX, it would fit perfectly for mobile, tablets and windows touch screen. Problem is, when I tried it yesterday, I couldn't move the camera at all. Right now, all it does is send probes. I tried using 2-3 fingers but it didn't work.

If anyone has a solution I'm open, but it's probably something the game should support natively, no ?

An easy fix would be to add an option in the setting to turn on touch mode. When this mode is activated, left click becomes the button to do everything, including move the camera. That would fix my problem on touch platforms like the surface pro. For probes, maybe if this option is turned on there could be a button or a building added where drag and drop would place it in the map. Placing a second finger in any situation would be a cancel. There might be other edge cases I'm not aware of right now.

Is this something that could be added to the roadmap of the game ? I would greatly appreciate it and it would probably make me play it even more.

Anyway, thanks for the great work and keep it up !

[krajzeg]

Does Surface offer any support for right click emulation? If it does, that might help in the short term.

In the long term, this is doable and has been requested before - but it's a complete new interaction mode that requires new UI, so that makes it unlikely to be implemented soon. As you noticed, there'd have to be a completely new way to launch probes, cancel things, also other minor things like switch connection types.

[Blackcendre]

I'l investigate, there seems to be better result using a pen, I might buy of one those in the future. It's a bummer to know this might take a while to add but I don't mind the wait. As a game dev myself I know the pain haha

Thanks for the answer !

[onedobb]

I played this on my X2 in touchscreen mode and I could get probes to launch, and make slipways. I couldn't zoom in and out, not move the map around. Never tried undoing a move. Another vote here for touchscreen mode! Look forward to seeing this on mobile one day.

[chsteff]

Touchscreen support would be great

[krajzeg]

This (along with controller support) is currently at the top of my list for the third update, as part of an effort to get the game run well on the Steam Deck and similar devices. So it's getting worked on, though might get a while to arrive still.

[Blackcendre]

That's great news ! Can't wait :D

[lyndonguitar]

Originally posted by krajzeg:

This (along with controller support) is currently at the top of my list for the third update, as part of an effort to get the game run well on the Steam Deck and similar devices. So it's getting worked on, though might get a while to arrive still.

this is good to hear.

[Cosinus]

Is there any update in this regard? I'd also like to play Slipways on Surface Pro, but the inability to zoom in/out and move/drag the map was a deal breaker at lunch.

[krajzeg]

The touchscreen/controller support proved to be a bit to big of a change to squeeze into the third update. The controller support is mostly complete, but the touch support isn't.

At this point, touch support is only likely to arrive if the game is ported to a platform that natively has a touchscreen (eg. Switch). I am currently working on some big but necessary changes to the engine that will enable future ports, but there are no definite plans yet.

[Blackcendre]

Thanks for the update ! Hopefully it comes in the future. Keep up the good work :)