How would you design input handling that supports keyboard, gamepad and touch, plus key rebinding?

What the interviewer wants to hear

• Use an action-based system like Unity Input System or Unreal Enhanced Input
• Gameplay reads actions, not raw keys
• Separate action maps or contexts for gameplay, UI and vehicles
• Rebinding UI saves overrides, for example as JSON
• Show correct button prompts for the active device; handle dead zones

Model answer

I would use an action-based input system, such as Unity's Input System or Unreal's Enhanced Input. Gameplay code only reads actions like Move, Jump and Interact, and each action has bindings for keyboard, gamepad and touch controls. I group actions into maps or mapping contexts, for example gameplay, UI and driving, and switch them when the game state changes so keys do not do two things. For rebinding, the settings menu starts an interactive rebind on an action, checks for conflicts, and saves the overrides, which Unity can export as JSON. The UI listens for the last used device and shows matching button prompts. I also tune stick dead zones and sensitivity and keep accessibility options like hold versus toggle.

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