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Controls

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Revision as of 18:01, 18 July 2026 by Dcurrent (talk | contribs) (→Command)

Introduction

OpenBOR’s native control scheme is designed to be intuitive as possible and conform to established standards for side scrolling action games. Through various native options and scripting techniques (see below), creators can map these controls to perform any desired action. You can even rename or remove commands entirely to create a unique control scheme specific to your game. In turn, players may map available commands to desired keys or buttons via Control Options in the main menu.

Default Keys

OpenBOR allots each player the following inputs and default mappings.

Left

  • Move player left on screen.
  • Cycle to previous column or option on current row in menus.
  • Cycle to previous character during player select.

Right

  • Move player right on screen.
  • Cycle to next column or option on current row in menus.
  • Cycle to next character during player select.

Up

  • Moves player up on screen (along Z axis) in pseudo 3D stages.
  • Cycle upward through rows in menus.
  • Cycle to previous color palette during player select.

Down

  • Moves player down on screen (along Z axis) in pseudo 3D stages.
  • Crouch/Duck in 2D stages.
  • Cycle downward through rows in menus.
  • Cycle to next color palette during player select.

Special

  • Player Special.
  • Blocking if enabled (see ajspecial below).

Jump

  • Player Jumping.

Attack 1

  • Basic attack.
  • Confirm a selection.
  • Pick up items.

Attack 2 - Unused.

Attack 3 - Unused.

Attack 4 - Unused.

Start

  • Begin or continue a game.
  • Join multiplayer game in progress (if not an active player).
  • Pause/resume game in progress (if an active player).

Screenshot

  • Send a screen capture to Screenshots folder.
  • Access main menu during game pause.

In addition, there is a universal Escape key:

  • Cycle to previous page in menu.
  • Exit player select and return to main menu.
  • Shut down engine when not in game or in a menu.
  • Resume a paused game.

Renaming Keys

You can rename keys by adding a file to the data folder named menu.txt. Use the following commands in the menu.txt file to customize or remove keys.

  • renamekey {target command} {new name}
  • disablekey {target command}

Accepted keys for rename or removal:

  • moveup
  • movedown
  • moveright
  • moveleft
  • attack
  • attack2
  • attack3
  • attack4
  • jump
  • special
  • start
  • screenshot

In this example, menu.txt renames Special to Defend and Attack 2 to Magic, while removing unused commands Attack 3 and Attack 4. This presents the player with a more polished set of controls that match actual in game functionality.

renamekey	attack	Attack
renamekey	attack2 Magic
renamekey	special	Defend

disablekey	attack3
disablekey	attack4
Renaming keys to to match their function in your projects adds a professional touch.

Alternate Command Functions

You can add to or change the existing functionality of commands entirely. Common examples include adding additional attacks mapped to the normally unused Attack 2+ commands, remapping the player special, or special move sequences.

Command

com {sequence} {freespecial#}

Enables mapping single button or command sequences to trigger a desired Freespecial animation. Place com into a model’s text header. You may add multiple commands and cancels, up to the limit defined by the global Maximum Freespecials setting.

  • Sequence is the input or sequence of inputs to trigger the command. You may use up to sixty-four inputs in one sequence from the following list. Default in game leeway for command sequences is 50 game logic ticks, or 0.25 seconds allowed between each new input:
    • f - Left/right (same direction character is facing).
    • b - Left/Right (opposite direction character is facing).
    • l - Left.
    • r - Right.
    • u - Up.
    • d - Down.
    • a - Attack 1.
    • a2 - Attack 2.
    • a3 - Attack 3.
    • a4 - Attack 4.
    • j - Jump.
    • s - Special.
    • st - Start.
    • sr - Screenshot.
    • + - Chord input. Ex. a + s means press Attack and Special together.
      • +[int grace time (default 0)] - Optional grace period to press all buttons in a chord. Ex. a + s +[100] allows up to 100 ticks to press a and s. Longer grace periods make commands easier, but may also result in overly delayed activation if players are slow with their fingers and give the game an unresponsive, laggy feeling. Adjust to suit your game needs.
    • ~ - Release key. Ex. ~a means release Attack.
    • [min time (default 0)][max time (default 0)] - Time constraints for holding key. Must be used in conjunction with another command. Max time is optional.
      • a[50] - Hold a for at least 50 ticks of elapsed time.
      • a[50][200] - Hold a for at least 50 ticks, but no more than 200 ticks.
      • a[0][200] - Hold a with no minimum hold time, but no more than 200 ticks.
      • a[0] - Hold a without any time constraints.
    • *[int time] - Auto trigger if held for time ticks. Ex. a*[50] means action triggers automatically after holding a for 50 time ticks.
    • :[int time] - Time in game ticks allowed between sequence inputs. Ex. d -> f -> a -> :[100] means you have 100 ticks to enter d, then 100 ticks to enter f, and another 100 to enter a. If not used, the global default applies instead.
    • -> - Delimiter. Optional, and does not count as an input.
  • Freespecial# is the animation that plays in response to the command, assuming other conditions are met (i.e. having enough energy if the animation has an energy cost).

Example Sequences

Command Result
com a2 freespecial1 Press Attack 2.
com d -> f -> a freespecial1 Press Down, then Forward, then Attack.
com a + j freespecial1 Press Attack and Jump on the same tick.
com a + j +[100] freespecial1 Press Attack and Jump within 100 ticks of each other.
com ~a freespecial1 Release Attack.
com f[0] + a freespecial1 Hold Forward and press Attack.
com f[50] + a freespecial1 Hold Forward for at least 50 ticks, then press Attack while still holding Forward.
com a[0] + j freespecial1 Hold Attack for any duration and press Jump.
com a[0][200] + j freespecial1 Press Jump while Attack has been held for no more than 200 ticks.
com a[50][200] + j freespecial1 Press Jump while Attack has been held for 50 through 200 ticks.
com a[50] + ~a freespecial1 Hold Attack for at least 50 ticks, then release it.
com a[50][200] + ~a freespecial1 Release Attack after holding it for 50 through 200 ticks.
com a*[50] freespecial1 Trigger automatically when Attack has been held for 50 ticks.
com f -> ~f freespecial1 Press Forward, then release Forward.
com b[60][180] + ~b -> f + a freespecial1 Hold Back for 60 through 180 ticks, release it, then press Forward and Attack together.
com b[60][180] + ~b -> f + a +[20] freespecial1 Perform the same charge command with a 20-tick grace period for the Forward and Attack chord.
Tips

Don’t let the name “freespecial” confuse you. Freesepcials are not inherently “special”. You can use them to create any sort of animation you like, from a simple punch or kick, evasive movement, taunt, or whatever else.

Overly exact commands in a side scrolling environment are not necessary and may make your game more spastic to control instead of more precise. For example, to create the classic Hadouken input you should use d -> f -> a rather than d -> d + f -> f -> a.

If two or more sequences overlap, the more complex input from the player “wins”. This is the same command scheme seen in most fighting games. Again using the Haouken example, you could create a command for the normal Hadouken d -> f -> a, and another for Shinku Hadouken as d -> f -> d -> f -> a. OpenBOR will recognize if a player uses the Shinku Hadouken input even though the last portion of it is identical to the Hadouken input.

Cancel

cancel {int start frame} {int end frame} {int hits} {sequence} {freespecial#}

Cancel is similar to Command, in that it maps command sequences to activate a Freespeical. However, cancels are unique to a single animation and can interrupt the animation on a successful input. This allows “canceling” from one animation to another for customized chains and combos.

Place cancels into the animation header of any Jump, Attack, Freespecial, or Follow animation. You may add as many cancels as you like up to maximum allowed specials (see below) to an animation to give it multiple cancel options. The animation you cancel into may also have its own cancels to create an entire series of combo branch points.

  • Start Frame - The first frame in animation cancel is available - Remember that frames are 0 indexed.
  • End Frame - The last frame in animation cancel is available.
  • Hits - Required number of combo his, if any, before cancel is available.
  • Sequence - Identical to command sequence parameter.
  • Freespeciall# - Identical to command Freespecial# parameter.

Cancel is otherwise identical to Command and follows the same rules (input sequence, energy cost, etc.).

Maximum Freespecials

maxfreespecials {int}

#default
maxfreespecials 8

Models.txt command that sets amount of allocated special commands (Command and Cancel) per model (not freespecial# animations). If the total number of Cancels and Commands for a given model exceeds the number allotted, you will likely get a nonsensical error or crash.

Tip: Don’t allocate some silly number like 100 when you only need a few more command slots. This wastes memory. Figure out what you actually need and allocate accordingly.

Attack and Jump Special

ajspecial {flags}

#default
ajspecial special

Controls mapping of the native breakaway special attack and enables blocking for players. Accepts one of the following:

  • special (default) – Special attack mapped to Special key.
  • double – Special attacks mapped to Attack + Jump. Blocking enabled (if entity has a Block animation) and mapped to Special key.
  • attack2 – Special attack mapped to Attack 2 key.
  • attack3 – Special attack mapped to Attack 3 key.
  • attack4 – Special attack mapped to Attack 4 key.

Ajspecial is exposed to script as a global_config property. Use the following constants:

  • openborconstant("AJSPECIAL_KEY_SPECIAL")
  • openborconstant("AJSPECIAL_KEY_DOUBLE")
  • openborconstant("AJSPECIAL_KEY_ATTACK2")
  • openborconstant("AJSPECIAL_KEY_ATTACK3")
  • openborconstant("AJSPECIAL_KEY_ATTACK4")
void config = openborvariant("global_config");

int value = get_global_config(config, "ajspecial");

value = openborconstant("AJSPECIAL_KEY_ATTACK3");
set_global_config(config, "ajspecial", value);

Legacy

Prior to OpenBOR 4.0, ajspecial accepted only the following:

  • 0 (default) – Special attack mapped to Special key.
  • 1 – Special attacks mapped to Attack + Jump. Blocking enabled (if entity has a Block animation) and mapped to Special key.

Key Events

When native options aren’t enough, OpenBOR provides several layers of key events. These allow you to capture an incoming key or command, and insert your own scripts to perform any action you can imagine.

Key Status

OpenBOR maintains three key status values for each player. Each value is an integer you can apply bitwise logic to obtain an individual on/off flag for each key.

  • Hold – An engine update begins. If a ey is on, the key is held.
  • Press – Player presses a key
  1. InputAll – Runs on initial player input before before any engine key handling or key scripts take place. Use this event if you want to change the command input itself. Examples include reversing player controls or creating shortcut keys for muti-button presses.
  2. Level keyscript#
  3. Entity keyscript
  4. Global key#.c
  5. Global keyall.c
  6. Default key action.
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