iOS device as controller?

Not sure but the Hipster Whale guys were using an iPhone as a controller during their keynote game ... so it must be possible.

Ah, yes, I think that is where I remember seeing it - although I recall it being mentioned too.

They were using Unity, too, unless they manically ported their game to SceneKit in the month or two leading up to this announcement.

I would love to know how Unity does it.

Maybe it would be possible via the new API to implement a remote like a ***** app into the game so you can control your ATV App via iPhone App. So the non-Apple controller work via Bluetooth and i don't think that they all use the same controller inside so thes must be a frsamework or a API to use it.

I'm sure that'd be possible, but the way it was discussed made it sound like you could just hook in an iPhone or iPod Touch naturally as a way to get more controllers in a pinch. It didn't seem to be implied that it was a per-game, complicated process...

That would be pretty cool because i don't know but the Apple TV could be expensive so the alternative controll via iPhone or iPod Touch seems to make sense.

*Edit* In the ATV Simulator you got two Option to remote controll. The first is a Bluetooth controller and on the other side you can pair a infrared remote.

Really? I can't seem to see that in the simulator. Just 'Show Apple Remote', which gives the on-screen virtual one.

Oh! I was looking for 'settings' in the actual simulator. You are quite right. You simply have to have the 'Apple Remote' app, I'm guessing, pair it with your Apple TV (just like with the old ones) and then it works as a basic controller (the gestures map to d-pad controls, and other buttons to A and X, as the documentation states).

Thanks!

To use a game controller or Siri Remote with the Simulator, simply pair one of those devices with your Mac - i.e. not through the Simulator's settings menu. But, as it says in the release notes, game controller support in the simulator isn't functional in the current beta.

flatrohan, are you just speculating about the apple Remote app?

I thought we'd have to write our own app, with our own wireless conectivity code. But I'd LOVE to use Apple's Remote app if possible.

I can't find any documentation on this, but what does the screen on an iOS device look like when it's paired as a controller?
If the user needs to use the Apple Remote app then is the screen going to be standard accross all games, or can games create unique screens that act as game controllers for each of their games?

i must be misunderstanding the question because you DO know there's a "remote" app that allows control of Apple TV from an iPhone or iPad right?

Let's say I want a multi-screen app experience: the appleTV is the "card table," and each player has an iPhone/iPad to show their "hand" (which are cards no one else in the game should see). In that scenario, the "remote" app isn't enough. I want APIs to communicate between the AppleTV and the iPhone. Concievably, I could have AppleTV run a little web server and have the iPhones make REST calls, but a higher-level framework from Apple would be nice. Is there no such animal?

Note: for multiplayer games, a traditional remote isn't good enough. You need to associate which player is sending messages from which remote.

I don't know if tvOS has it, but iOS has the Multipeer Connectivity framework, which makes it relatively easy to connect multiple devices together wirelessly and send data back and forth between them. Works over Bluetooth, WiFi, and WiFi direct.

If tvOS also has it the Multipeer Connectivity framework, it should be easy to implement this.