Steam Deck Support

[Remus]

Hello Steam Deckers!

I’m a co-programmer of BoC and a BIG fan of the Steam Deck. I’ve been working closely with our dev team to bring the best possible BoC experience to the Deck!

Is BoC playable on Steam Deck?

Yes, it is!
We don’t yet have an official Deck Compatibility Rating from Steam (my primary focus has been getting BoC ready for launch!), but I can say that I’ve played through the entire tutorial (all 5 scenarios) on the Deck without issue. So yes, it’s definitely playable.

Will BoC get fully "Verified" on Steam Deck?

Probably not.
Steam’s criteria for Verified are pretty strict and would require major rework of the GUI, button icons, keyboard access, and more. Could it happen someday? Maybe. But for launch, my goal is for BoC to be Playable on Deck — and that’s the rating I’ll be pushing for from Steam.

What does "Playable" really mean?

Steam has a good article on this (search "Deck Compatibility Ratings" if you’re curious). In our case for BoC, Playable means:

• BoC runs on the Deck
  
• The text is (generally) readable
  
• All commands are mapped to Steam Deck buttons (more on that below)
  
• In rare cases, you’ll need to manually pop up the keyboard to enter text

What about controller mapping?

I’m currently finishing up a BoC Developer custom layout for playing on the Steam Deck. Once it’s ready, I’ll publish it under Community Layouts so anyone can use it (or customize it further). I’ll post a follow-up message soon with an overview of the button mapping.

How can you help?

This thread will be pinned and is here for the community to share questions, feedback, and suggestions related to playing BoC on Steam Deck.

There are other threads for general support — so let’s keep this one focused on the Deck!

Thank you and... good luck out there soldier!

[Remus]

Steam Deck Custom Layout for Burden of Command

As promised, I’ve finished version 1.0 of a custom layout for playing Burden of Command on the Steam Deck!

You can find it by searching for: "Burden of Command Developer's Custom Layout" in the Steam Deck Community Layouts area.

Does it map everything?

No — but almost!
I purposely did not map the number keys (1, 2, 3, etc.) used to navigate the interactive fiction dialogue screens, because the mouse is just as effective.

Hint: You can also use the touchscreen to select your choices on dialogue pages!

Is this the final version?

No, I seriously doubt it.
I’d love input from the Steam Deck community to help fine-tune this layout and make it as good as it can be. It’s impossible to please everyone (that’s why you can customize and save your own layout locally!), but I’ll keep an eye out for general improvements and update the official version periodically.

Controller Layout

Here is a diagram showing the key mapping I implemented for Burden of Command. Tap the image to get a better view.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3459945772
The Leadership Commands are fairly numerous, so I created a Radial Menu on the Left Touchpad — more details on that below.

Left Touchpad Radial Menu

With so many (fun!) Leadership commands literally at your fingertips, I decided a Radial Menu was the best option. Just touch the Left Touchpad and the Radial Menu will appear, with buttons/commands assigned as shown in the diagram. Slide your finger in the direction of the command you want, then press down to activate it.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3459947798

How can you help?

Please post your comments and suggestions in this thread so I can review them and look for ways to improve the layout.

Thanks — and once again, good luck out there soldier!

[the_korben]

Just wanted to say thanks for preparing the control scheme. I originally planned to play this on my (Linux) desktop, but I'm surprised - it almost looks better on the Steam Deck than on the big monitor. The resolution and readability is perfect. Great job! And thanks to cloud saves working, we can just switch to and from anyway. :)

[Remus]

Originally posted by the_korben:

Just wanted to say thanks for preparing the control scheme. I originally planned to play this on my (Linux) desktop, but I'm surprised - it almost looks better on the Steam Deck than on the big monitor. The resolution and readability is perfect. Great job! And thanks to cloud saves working, we can just switch to and from anyway. :)

You just made my day! :-)

Steam Deck conversion and playability has been my (side) passion for a while. Priority #1 was getting BoC launched, but for me Steam Deck simultaneously was a big next goal.

Thx for kind words on the controller. It is not perfect... far from it. But my hope is it provides a quick way for Steam Deckers to get started playing and mod controls as they wish.

Good luck out there!!! :-)

[StumblingDrunk]

Wow what a great post, I wish all devs were this open on their plans for steam deck support

[Remus]

Originally posted by StumblingDrunk:

Wow what a great post, I wish all devs were this open on their plans for steam deck support

This means a lot to me. Seriously. Thank you for posting. :-)

[Hamilton]

Thank you for the post and the layout. Steamdeck is the only one way I can play the game and it works very well!

[Remus]

Originally posted by Hamilton:

Thank you for the post and the layout. Steamdeck is the only one way I can play the game and it works very well!

I am very glad to hear this! Good luck out there! :-)

[gino costa]

Hello,
Why must I change windows scaling from 125% to 100%? That's the message I get when running the game? My screen resolution is more than high enough otherwise

[Remus]

Originally posted by gino costa:

Hello,
Why must I change windows scaling from 125% to 100%? That's the message I get when running the game? My screen resolution is more than high enough otherwise

Are you seeing this on Steam Deck? This is a Steam Deck thread...

If so, I have never seen that message in Steam Deck. Please clarify?

If you are playing in desktop mode?
Try running in Fullscreen mode, and it should adjust things for you.

If that fails, the reason you are being asked to change resolution is the minimum resolution to play BoC = 1200 x 800.

So if you have - say - a native screen that is 1440 x 1050 but then you set your Windows scaling = 125%, then your **net effective** final resolution you are giving to BoC = 1,152 x 840 (divide your native dims by 1.25). That is too small to play BoC, so you will get a warning to change your windows scaling to 100% so the final dimensions meet our minimum.