The controller
What every button does — on the console, and on your keyboard while you test.
A mebobox controller has a D-pad and eight buttons. There are two controllers, so two people can play on one console.
The buttons
| Button | What games use it for |
|---|---|
| D-pad | Moving — up, down, left, right |
| A | The main action: jump, hit, choose |
| B | The other action: back, cancel, a second move |
| X, Y | Whatever the game decides |
| L, R | The shoulder buttons, either side at the back |
| START | Tap it to pause. |
| SELECT | Hold it for three seconds to quit back to the menu. |
SELECT is reserved. Holding it always quits, in every game, even one that has stopped responding — so don’t build a game that needs SELECT to play. A short tap still reaches your game; it’s only the long hold that leaves.
Testing in a browser
Builder Lab plays your game in your browser, where there’s no controller — so your keyboard stands in for one. Press 🎮 Controls in the play window to see this table any time.
| mebobox button | Player 1 | Player 2 |
|---|---|---|
| D-pad | ↑ ↓ ← → | W A S D |
| A | Space | F |
| B | Backspace | G |
| X | X | H |
| Y | Y | J |
| L | [ | Q |
| R | ] | E |
| START | Enter | 1 |
| SELECT | Esc | 2 |
Plugged a real gamepad into your computer? That works too — the mebobox SDK reads each one as its own player, so you can test a two-player game properly.
Building for the controller
A mebobox has no mouse and no touchscreen. A game has to be completely playable with the D-pad and the buttons, or it can’t go on a console. If you’re making one in Builder Lab, the Input drawer has a block for every button, and the Player 1 and Player 2 blocks read each controller separately.