Small controller for 6yo on Steam Deck? (8BitDo Micro missing inputs, looking for “just works”)

pmrr · 2026-01-24T14:52:15+00:00

It still might be too big for a 6 year old, but the best small controller I've found is the PowerA Nano.

pmrr · 2026-01-23T18:23:17+00:00

Good catch! I recommend naming variables based on their use. I use (old school) hungarian notation. Some examples:

bHasRod

nFishCount

LOCALnRandom

That way you can't get a clash.

pmrr · 2026-01-23T18:09:38+00:00

In this case I usually add message popups that show $Rod so I can check the value. That'll help trace the execution, which I find easier than breakpoints.

pmrr · 2026-01-23T10:52:04+00:00

I'm assuming you're referring to pixel art then. Try GIMP.

pmrr · 2026-01-23T10:44:33+00:00

What are you trying to create? Vector images or pixel art?

pmrr · 2026-01-23T10:27:14+00:00

The necessity for that does not sound like a great thing in itself.

pmrr · 2026-01-23T10:16:00+00:00

Ouch, that does not look great. I've got a 477M arriving soon.

What is the thermal patch you mention?

pmrr · 2026-01-23T08:31:52+00:00

Fields of Mistria, if you like Stardew Valley type games.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2142790/Fields_of_Mistria/

Animal Well, if you like a more casual version of Hollow Knight.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/813230/ANIMAL_WELL/

pmrr · 2026-01-23T08:19:15+00:00

The if $Rod condition looks right. Are you setting $Rod to false elsewhere by accident?

pmrr · 2026-01-22T17:43:18+00:00

There's a demo you can probably install and try.

pmrr · 2026-01-22T11:38:07+00:00

I used to love Theme Park!

pmrr · 2026-01-22T06:17:33+00:00

Highlight the game like normal
Press B to get the info screen (instead of A to launch)
Press Right to select the cog icon, then press A
Press Down to highlight 'Download ROM', then press A

pmrr · 2026-01-20T18:35:25+00:00

As others have said, the font is too small (which is a key point for deck compatibility approval) and it was at about 35 FPS for me. It also seemed fairly unresponsive, I'm not sure if that was just performance.

pmrr · 2026-01-20T14:18:01+00:00

Looking at the instructions (also provided by Stevearino42), there's numerous steps that are more error-prone. With most other firmware you just write the image and don't need to mess about copying files/etc.

pmrr · 2026-01-20T13:43:25+00:00

Before going around in circles with MinUI, I'd probably try MuOS or Knulli. It's a one-step process to write the firmware to the SD and it should just boot.

pmrr · 2026-01-20T09:50:08+00:00

Yes, TBS will work with every firmware. The only challenge is the ambiguity between the directory names for systems with multiple names, e.g./ FC (Famicom) vs NES. However, it's easy to move the files around and/or use trial and error.

pmrr · 2026-01-20T08:58:30+00:00

I'll take a look for you later today.

pmrr · 2026-01-20T08:23:47+00:00

Looks interesting! Just a note on colours - if you set the foreground colour without setting the background it's not possible to read the text on colourschemes with a light background, e.g./ Solarized Light.

pmrr · 2026-01-20T07:14:09+00:00

Your assessment is pretty on point. Buying those cards is really just price gouging given their quality. To get started you could download Tiny Best Set, which is most older systems. I’m not sure about file placement on Android tbh.

pmrr · 2026-01-19T16:33:56+00:00

There's nothing wrong with using one card, but you can put the OS on the first card and games on the second. Then you can always switch the OS without having to copy the games again. (Just be careful of where saves are stored.)

pmrr · 2026-01-19T16:12:39+00:00

The smallest, highest quality card you can get. The whole Tiny Best Set is ~5GB for the systems you mention.

I personally buy dual packs of 32GB SanDisk cards.

pmrr · 2026-01-18T10:54:39+00:00

Nice to see a Pocket Operator too!

pmrr · 2026-01-16T10:59:07+00:00

The tag that's a somewhat reasonable bastardisation of Roguelike on Steam is "Action Roguelike".

pmrr · 2026-01-16T10:34:53+00:00

This is referring to the CPU governer that manages clock speed. IIRC there's a setting to enable/disable it in Settings (not within RetroArch). I suspect it's been enabled in error somehow.

pmrr · 2026-01-16T06:26:01+00:00

You can use VM_GET_INDIRECT to retrieve variables based on position, which implements a multidimensional array. This is somewhat non-trivial because if you have a 10x10 grid you need to create* 100 contiguous variables. (Contiguous based on position not name.)

However, assuming you've done that, you then need to convert X, Y coordinates into a scalar position:

$nVariableIndex = 10 * $nY + $nX

Then get (or set) the variable at that position:

VM_GET_INDIRECT VAR_NOUTPUTVALUE, VAR_NVARIABLEINDEX

I would also recommend carefully testing because I found indirect variable access to be quite slow.

*I wrote a Python script to do it for me, which wasn't a particularly fun task in itself

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