Input

Input is handled by RetroHub first, then passed onto the theme. This is to ensure input works properly if an app menu is open, as well as fix some issues regarding controller input.

Input actions

Your theme should ideally only use input actions to ensure full compatibility, which also letting users easily remap controls to their liking. The following input actions are available:

Action	Description	Default keys
rh_up	Move up	/
rh_down	Move down	/
rh_left	Move left	/
rh_right	Move right	/
rh_accept	Accept a given action	/
rh_back	Cancel a given action	/
rh_major_option	Major/frequent option	/
rh_minor_option	Minor/rare option	/
rh_theme_menu	Open the theme menu	/
rh_left_shoulder	Slide left	/
rh_right_shoulder	Slide right	/
rh_left_trigger	Trigger left
rh_right_trigger	Trigger right
rh_rstick_left	Move the right stick left
rh_rstick_right	Move the right stick right
rh_rstick_up	Move the right stick up
rh_rstick_down	Move the right stick down

Input Icons

RetroHub uses Controller Icons to show appropriate icons for each input method. This addon automatically switches icons between keyboard/mouse and controllers, so use it to display how to perform a given action in your theme. Here’s a quick guide to get started.

Controllers and UI

Ideally your theme is fully usable with a controller, without requiring any keyboard/mouse input. If you use Godot’s builtin UI nodes, you need to ensure that these nodes receive focus, and that their focus neighbors are set as well. Here are a few more tips:

• Godot will rarely set a node as focused on the first frame. Call grab_focus on _ready() to ensure there’s always a focused node.

• Controls that require keyboard input, such as LineEdit, TextEdit and SpinBox are automatically handled by RetroHub. If you need the virtual keyboard for another type of node, you can manually call RetroHubUI.show_virtual_keyboard(). More information on the UI section and in the RetroHubUI class reference.

Note

To design a theme for controllers without having one available, ensure you can use your theme with only the keyboard, and that you never have to use the mouse to access some part of your theme.