How Can I get keyboard input in a SpriteKit Game?

Question

I\'m a beginner in SpriteKit programming, and have been trying to figure out how to handle input from the keyboard.

What I\'ve found so far is that you should subcla

Answer 1

The easiest way I know is to implement the keyDown method in your SKScene (and not directly in the AppDelegate). You don't have to subclass anything.

- (void)keyDown:(NSEvent *)event {
    [self handleKeyEvent:event keyDown:YES];
}

- (void)keyUp:(NSEvent *)event {
    [self handleKeyEvent:event keyDown:NO];
}

Then use the method handleKeyEvent:(NSEvent *)event keyDown:(BOOL)downOrUp to check which key has been pressed :

- (void)handleKeyEvent:(NSEvent *)event keyDown:(BOOL)downOrUp {
    // First check the arrow keys since they are on the numeric keypad.
    if ([event modifierFlags] & NSNumericPadKeyMask) { // arrow keys have this mask
        NSString *theArrow = [event charactersIgnoringModifiers];
        unichar keyChar = 0;
        if ([theArrow length] == 1) {
            keyChar = [theArrow characterAtIndex:0];
            switch (keyChar) {
                case NSUpArrowFunctionKey:
                    self.defaultPlayer.moveForward = downOrUp;
                    break;
                case NSLeftArrowFunctionKey:
                    self.defaultPlayer.moveLeft = downOrUp;
                    break;
                case NSRightArrowFunctionKey:
                    self.defaultPlayer.moveRight = downOrUp;
                    break;
                case NSDownArrowFunctionKey:
                    self.defaultPlayer.moveBack = downOrUp;
                    break;
            }
        }
    }

    // Now check the rest of the keyboard
    NSString *characters = [event characters];
    for (int s = 0; s<[characters length]; s++) {
        unichar character = [characters characterAtIndex:s];
        switch (character) {
            case 'w':
                self.defaultPlayer.moveForward = downOrUp;
                break;
            case 'a':
                self.defaultPlayer.moveLeft = downOrUp;
                break;
            case 'd':
                self.defaultPlayer.moveRight = downOrUp;
                break;
            case 's':
                self.defaultPlayer.moveBack = downOrUp;
                break;
            case ' ':
                self.defaultPlayer.fireAction = downOrUp;
                break;
        }
    }
}

I took this code from the Apple SpriteKit Adventure game. I found it very usefull to learn SpriteKit :)