Controller mode - drawing with a gamepad

In controller mode every player draws with a gamepad only: a crosshair on the left stick, the right trigger as the pen. Mouse, drawing tablet and keyboard do nothing on the paper - everyone has the same means, and the results are as funny as you would expect. The host switches the mode on in the lobby, below the game modes; it works with Echo, Storyteller, Telephone and custom rounds.

Connecting your controller

Connect the controller to your device, by cable or Bluetooth.
In the lobby, press any button. Only then does your browser show the controller to the page - that is the browser protecting you, not a fault.
The pad in the lobby's box lights up with every button, the sticks and triggers move along. A green gamepad appears next to your name.

The game starts only once every player has shown their controller. Who is missing is named at the start button.

It works best with Xbox, PlayStation and Switch Pro controllers in Chrome, Edge or Safari - on an iPad too. If the browser does not know a controller's layout, the lobby says so; another browser or another controller helps then. If you reload the page during a game, just press a button again.

Buttons are named here as on an Xbox controller. On a PlayStation controller A is the cross, B the circle, X the square and Y the triangle, LB/RB are L1/R1, LT/RT are L2/R2. In the game ColorMari always shows the symbols of your own controller.

Drawing

Input	What it does
Left stick	Move the crosshair - a little push for detail, a full push for speed
`RT`	Draw - the harder you pull, the thicker the line
`A`	Draw at full pressure
`LT`	Brake: slower for details
`B`	Undo (hold to repeat)
`Y`	Redo
`X`	Pick the colour under the crosshair
D-pad left / right	Brush smaller / larger
D-pad up / down	Zoom in / out
Right stick	Move the view
`R3` (press the right stick)	Whole drawing in view
`L3` (press the left stick)	Eraser on / off
Hold `RB`	Tool wheel: point the stick at a tool, let go to take it. A quick tap: the tool before
Hold `LB`	Colours: the stick chooses, let go to take it. A quick tap: the colour before
`Menu`	Pause menu
`View`	Show the controls (tap) or peek at them (hold)

At the bottom of the colour grid you find Mix a colour - if the round allows any colour. There the stick sets hue and saturation, the D-pad the brightness, A takes it.

Pixel art

If the host also switches on pixel art, the paper is 128 x 128 pixels. The crosshair becomes a box and jumps from pixel to pixel - exactly what is so fiddly with a mouse.

Input	What it does
D-pad	One pixel on (hold: keep going, faster after a second)
Left stick	Move pixel by pixel, in 8 directions
`A` or `RT`	Set pixels - hold and move for a line
Hold `LT` + `A`	Straight line: hold at the start, move, let go
`Y`	Fill an area
`X`	Pick a colour
`R3`	Zoom: whole picture, closer, closer still
Hold `RB`	Tool wheel: pixel size 1 to 4, round or square tip, eraser, fill

Menu opens the pause menu. At the top is Hand in - hold A until the circle has filled. That way you never hand in by accident. Afterwards the same menu lets you draw on, as long as the time runs.

Also in the menu: switch the layer and show or hide it, opacity, whether the trigger sets the line's thickness, smoothing, the crosshair's speed and vibration. Your browser remembers speed and vibration.

Feeling the time

You look at the paper, not at the clock - so the controller tells you the time: at half time it rumbles once, long, and in the last ten seconds it beats like a heart, a little stronger every second. The edge of the screen pulses along. If your controller cannot vibrate, you still see the pulse.