Layout builder: how to build your own touch controller

A physical controller is built once and you live with it. A touch controller is a blank screen, and you decide where everything goes. The layout builder lets you place buttons, sticks, triggers and a D-pad exactly where your thumbs want them, resize them, and save the result as a layout you can switch to at any time. This guide walks through every piece of the editor.

Start with the standard layout

The app comes with a standard controller layout that follows the familiar Xbox arrangement: two sticks, a D-pad, the A, B, X and Y buttons, bumpers and triggers. It works for most games with no changes.

When you create a new layout, the app asks how you would like to start:

• Blank Canvas starts completely empty, and you build widget by widget.
• Standard Layouts gives you a pre-configured gamepad to edit. Starting from something close to what you want is nearly always quicker than starting from nothing.
• Import from Code loads a layout someone shared with you. See sharing and backing up layouts.

The widgets you can add

Open the editor and tap the plus button to open the Add Widget palette. These are the pieces available.

• D-Pad. One compound control that sends up, down, left and right.
• ABXY. One compound control with the four face buttons placed in the usual diamond.
• L Stick and R Stick. Analog thumbsticks for the left and right sticks. The left stick usually moves, the right looks around.
• Hybrid. A stick whose axis target can be switched with the L-Mode and R-Mode selector buttons you can also place on the screen. It lets one thumb control both sticks' jobs when you are short on space.
• A, B, X, Y. Individual face buttons, for when you want a different arrangement than the diamond.
• LB and RB. The bumper buttons.
• LT and RT. The triggers.
• L3 and R3. Stick clicks, pressed by pushing the sticks in on a real controller.
• View, Home and Menu. The system buttons, for map, pause and game menus.

You only add what the game needs. A platformer may want a D-pad and two buttons. A racing game may want only pedals and a gear shift. Fewer controls mean bigger controls and fewer mistakes.

Moving and resizing

• Move a widget by dragging it to where you want it. Drop it, then play briefly to check the position feels right.
• Select a widget to show its gear button. Tapping the gear opens the settings panel for that widget. Selecting alone does not open the panel, so you can drag a freshly selected widget without it covering the screen.
• Resize with the Size slider in the panel, from small to very large.
• Delete a widget with the bin icon in the panel.

Rectangular buttons

Triggers, plain buttons and macro buttons can switch from a circle to a rectangle. Tick the Rectangular option and the Size slider is replaced by Width, Height and Roundness. Wide rectangles are good for pedals and for big "fire" buttons that your thumb can hit anywhere. Roundness runs from a sharp-cornered box to a full pill shape.

Trigger response: Throttle or Normal

Every trigger widget has a Response setting with two modes.

• Throttle is analog. Where your finger sits on the widget sets how far the trigger is pulled, from 0 to 100 percent. This is the one for accelerators, brakes and any game that reads trigger pressure.
• Normal is digital. A tap goes straight to full pull, like pressing a normal button. Use it for "aim" and "fire" triggers in shooters that only need on and off.

The label rule

A button works because its label matches a real controller input. Use the standard names: A, B, X, Y, LB, RB, LT, RT, the stick clicks and the system buttons. If you give a button a label the app does not recognise, the editor warns you that the button will not register in games. It will draw on screen but send nothing to the PC. Stick to the standard names and let the colour and size tell you which control is which.

Save your work

When you leave the editor with changes, the app asks whether to save them. Choose Save & Quit to keep them, or the red option to discard them. Give each layout a clear name, such as "Racing pedals" or "Retro D-pad", so it is easy to pick later. You can keep as many layouts as you like.

To keep your layouts safe when you change phones, see sharing and backing up layouts.

A worked example: a simple racing layout

1. Start a blank layout and name it "Racing".
2. Add an RT trigger, switch it to rectangular, make it tall, and set Response to Throttle. Put it at the bottom right. This is your accelerator.
3. Add an LT trigger, also rectangular and Throttle, next to or below the accelerator. This is your brake.
4. Add A and B buttons on the left for handbrake and reset.
5. Add LB and RB at the top for gear changes.
6. Leave the left side clear for your steering hand, and turn on tilt steering.

Tips for a better layout

• Test in a real game early. A layout that looks right in the editor may feel wrong under your thumbs.
• Make the controls you hit most the biggest.
• Keep important controls away from the screen edges, where your palm may rest.

The design guide goes deeper on placement, sizing and avoiding mistakes.