We’re starting to see more and more features of the updated iOS that were not revealed during yesterday’s opening keynote at WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference). The newest feature revealed is the ability to play games on an iPad with the use of a mouse and keyboard, instead of the gamepad or a touchscreen.
Back in September 2019, the mouse support was first introduced to the iPad with iPadOS 13. It was later expanded earlier this year in March with the version 13.4. The feature allowed the iPad to be operated using a mouse and an on-screen cursor but was limited to emulating physical finger touches.
While on the PC, certain games like Minecraft allowed users to look around using the mouse, on the iPad, it required extra clicks to emulate the interactivity of players tapping and dragging their fingers onscreen.
On Apple’s WWDC 2020 website, there’s a listing for an upcoming video titled “Bring mouse and keyboard gaming to iPad” with the description:
“Level up your iPad games and add in keyboard, mouse, and trackpad controls. Discover how to use the Game Controller framework to augment your existing titles, bring over games from other platforms, or dream up entirely new interaction experiences. Learn how to integrate keyboard and “delta” mouse coordinate events for player motion, and disable pointer system gestures like the Dock or Control Centre to take full advantage of full-screen gameplay.”