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[FTLRalph]

Hey guys.

I have a question regarding accelerometer input (on Android devices, at least, but I'm sure the issue is the same on all devices).

I'm trying to develop a game in which the accelerometer moves the main character (tilt forward/back to move forward/back, rotate to turn, etc).

However, I realized that this may not be as easy as just taking the accelerometer input on the _ axis and doing some math with it.  I have to take into effect the user's orientation (sitting, standing, lying on their back / stomach, etc).  In all of these cases, there's the problem of the program not knowing if the user is tilting the phone to move the player of if that's just because of how they're resting / holding the phone.

I was wondering if there is a common way to get around this issue (maybe by somehow taking into effect all of the accelerometer's axis values in order to determine the user's "resting" orientation?).

I'm not really sure and I appreciate any help, thanks!

[Xienen]

...maybe by somehow taking into effect all of the accelerometer's axis values in order to determine the user's "resting" orientation? ...

I don't have any experience in this area, but that would be my suggestion.  Whenever a level starts, you can take that as the resting orientation.  Perhaps, also, if a player pauses and resumes the game, you take another "resting reading".  This could be good for 2 reasons, first being that players will probably pause before changing their position or they may put the game down for a while and come back to it.  The other reason is that it allows the player to reorient the game, should it get out-of-whack in their opinion.

[Ludophonic]

It partly depends on the axis you're trying to get.

Imagine someone standing holding their phone upright. Edge down, screen facing them. If they rotate the phone left or right the x-axis will rise or fall as they rotate around the z-axis. And the x-axis will point straight sideways when at centre.

Now imagine someone sitting and holding their phone more in their lap, screen facing towards the sky. If they tilt the phone left or right, the x-axis will rise or fall as they rotate around the y-axis. And like above the x-axis will point straight sideways when at centre.

This is great! This means that no calibration is required for this particular tilt. Now if you want to add tilt forward/back... that's when you start to have a problem. I think you're best off if you can design around the need for calibration. But if you can't consider trying to design as many inputs as you can to not require it.