This post can be useful both as a feedback to developers and as a help for the future players.
I've just played through Full Throttle completely on my iPad 2 (iOS 5.1.1) with ScummVM 1.5.0.
I played this game on PC when I was young but I've forgotten the controls by now.
I've looked through the IPhone page of the ScummVM wiki before playing.
The first problem with controls hit me immediately after start. I couldn't reliably open the "skull" menu to choose an action from.
After some struggle I switched to portrait orientation and noticed that 'Enter' key shows the menu if the cursor is on some object. So I played through the game in portrait mode mostly, except for cool-looking animated cutscenes.
The second problem was the Mine Road of course.
Holding left+right arrow keys was used to change the bike's position on the road in the original game. The iPhone equivalent of left arrow is quick swipe to the left. However, there is no gesture for pressing and holding arrow keys. I tried swiping frequently, but it changed the position too slowly.
Also, ScummVM seems to register an undesired additional tap when you swipe. This tap forces Ben to leave the road if you are near the exit.
Eventually, I discovered the following scheme: tap in the middle of the screen without releasing your finger; then move your finger to the left (or to the right) and wait. This seems to be equivalent to holding left (or right) arrow key. Don't ever release your finger, just move it to the desired side of the screen to move there. During fights use that finger to control driving while taping with another finger to hit or change weapon.
The simple way to hit an enemy is to tap. However, no matter how frequently I tapped, Ben hit only sporadically (much slower than possible). So I used 'Enter' key instead (on the keyboard in portrait orientation). Just hit 'Enter' key frequently and Ben will hit periodically and reliably.
The final necessity is switching weapon. I haven't found any easy way of doing it. So I had to master that tricky "right mouse button iPhone equivalent" thing. Note: if you perform it too often, Ben can retreat the fight (a misunderstanding by ScummVM). Try to stay out of your enemy until you choose the desired weapon.
And the last problem was Demolition Derby.
The proper way to drive a car on PC is to use all the four arrow keys (holding them when necessary). However, ScummVM forces us to use some tapping/swiping stuff. I don't understand how the hell it works: when I simply tap frequently, the car moves slightly forward or backward (chosen randomly or what?).
Sometimes it starts to ride backward with a full speed (reason?). After lots of trying I decided to switch to portrait mode and search the keyboard.
Luckily, there are numeric equivalents of arrow keys: '8'-forward, '2'-backward, '4'-left, '6'-right. And you can press them to drive the car.
Hitting '4' and '6' frequently is enough to turn left or right. But hitting '8' frequently is not enough to drive fast. Unfortunately, if you press and hold a key, the game understands it as a single key press event. I managed to solve this problem by discovering some sort of glitch in keyboard handling.
Suppose that you want to press an 'X' key and hold it. Let 'Y' be any other key.
1. Press 'X' key down.
2. Press 'Y' key down.
3. Release 'X' key.
4. Release 'Y' key.
(maybe swap 3 and 4 steps...)
After doing so the game thinks that the 'X' key remains pressed. Simply tap the 'X' key once again to unpress it.
I used this combo (on '8') to move the car at the full speed. Sometimes I also used it for turning left/right.
Also I read the walkthrough not to spend a lot of time with messed controls for figuring the solution out.
So here are my feelings on the first game played on ScummVM. Am I satisfied?... Well, yes and no=)
I don't understand the following things:
1. Why is showing the keyboard tied to screen layout?
2. Why is there no way of customizing controls?
3. If the original game has keyboard controls, isn't it better to use keyboard on iPad? Instead of inventing some weird tap/swipe/roll/whatever things...
Full Throttle on iPad: controls impressions
Moderator: ScummVM Team
First of all the most simple way to make the skull apaer is in 'drag and touchmode enabled' to do this. Press and hold one finger on the screen and swiping another from bottom to top. With this enabled you can touch and hold on objects or people to make the skull appear.
To make the menu appear: touch the screen with both fingers, if that doenst work tap the screen with two fingers twice.
To steer during the bike fight scenes: touch the road where you want to go.
To skip the fights and demolition derby: press shift+V
I play on ipad 2 with 5.1.1 and i've completed it twice. The only thing is that the fight scenes are a bit hard / impossible. But as above you can skip it wit shift + V.
Just play in landscape mode, so you can enjoy this game full screen. And if you need the menu to appear press and hold the screen with one finger whilst swiping down. This way you'll get the main menu.
Hope this helps a bit.
And while the controls are not as smooth and simple on pc, its still playable and enjoyable on iphone and ipad.
To make the menu appear: touch the screen with both fingers, if that doenst work tap the screen with two fingers twice.
To steer during the bike fight scenes: touch the road where you want to go.
To skip the fights and demolition derby: press shift+V
I play on ipad 2 with 5.1.1 and i've completed it twice. The only thing is that the fight scenes are a bit hard / impossible. But as above you can skip it wit shift + V.
Just play in landscape mode, so you can enjoy this game full screen. And if you need the menu to appear press and hold the screen with one finger whilst swiping down. This way you'll get the main menu.
Hope this helps a bit.
And while the controls are not as smooth and simple on pc, its still playable and enjoyable on iphone and ipad.