Project xCloud will support custom control schemes and AI font modifications

After Google’s impressive Stadia presentation this GDC, Microsoft’s own reveal has gone under the radar.

Project xCloud, Microsoft’s video game streaming service, has seen a bevy of new details released to the public. Unlike its recent appearance on Inside Xbox, these details actually explain a lot about what xCloud does.

While Microsoft has debuted the service using a physical Xbox controller, touch controls will be available for xCloud players on touchscreen devices. Shared by Russell Holly on Twitter, xCloud has actually had a lot of thought put into how touchscreen controls will be used.

Much like running an emulator on your Android phone, which I have never done, of course, there is a default control scheme that mimics the Xbox pad on your screen. It’s a basic, blanket cover for everything – it’s messy.

Here’s the default glass controller layout for Xbox on a phone.

It is… very busy. pic.twitter.com/4dHkU9Honl

— Russell Holly @ GDC (@russellholly) March 21, 2019

However, if developers choose to, custom control schemes are available to the user. Cuphead‘s custom control scheme only shows you the buttons you need. After all, it’s a much more simple experience compared to the likes of, say, Black Ops 4.

Cuphead has custom controls too, making way more sense for that game pic.twitter.com/bRhLFJM4mz

— Russell Holly @ GDC (@russellholly) March 21, 2019

xCloud’s control schemes can also be switched between. For example, in Halo, players can switch between shooting controls and vehicle controls for when the player needs them.

Cloud Aware is also an intriguing section of Microsoft’s new service. It houses many features, such as determining when to save your game state, but it also has the ability to dynamically adjust fonts. Depending on what size screen you’re using, Cloud Aware will attempt to change the in-game font size to one that suits your screen.

XCloud wants to make it so Xbox devs don’t need to modify the game they’ve already made, and add touch controls without heavy modification.

But if you do want to make changes, there will be Cloud Aware APIs to enhance playability. Simple things like font size for smaller screens pic.twitter.com/8Ww99FNQ4N

— Russell Holly @ GDC (@russellholly) March 21, 2019

Microsoft is adamant that xCloud will be a smooth and simple cloud gaming service. Compared to Google, Microsoft’s Azure systems should provide adequate speeds for those in first world countries, but will that be enough? Microsoft claims that xCloud will be playable on mobile data upon release, but we’ve yet to see any evidence.