An example (not a library) of reducing a gamepad's state to a single byte, for recording or network purposes.
In this example, an input class is used to map a gamepad state to a very simple UI, which displays directional input along with ABXY and Start buttons. Input is mapped from the gamepad state to a game input struct, which is then mapped to a single byte value, representing the compressed state. This all done using a circular buffer (an array of bytes), so that the example can toggle between recording and playing back recorded input. Here is what the example looks like:
Red represents recording state - code is recording gamepad input to buffer.
Green represents playback state - code is playing back input from buffer.
What's useful:
Reducing the controller state to a single byte, which can make input recording files smaller, and possibly network packets containing gamepad state. In this example, the input buffer is 600 bytes in size, plus the heap allocated array object data.
Issues:
In order to fit the gamepad state into a byte, some states have to be discarded. I have chosen to discard the shoulder buttons, triggers, and joystick presses from the gamepad state. These buttons can be mapped into the gameinput struct as ABXY or START button presses (remapping). In the future I will expand the gamepad state to include these buttons, since there is enough room left in the byte to represent these states. I have also chosen to simplify controller joystick input from a Vector2 value to a single byte direction. So, there are various limitations that apply to this strategy. See todo file for additional future plans.