Does this exist?

[Nebben]

I've never found anything like this, but I thought I'd take a stab in the dark and see if anyone else has. I really doubt it exists... but:

Is there any way to be playing something in a window, such as an NES game emulated, using a gamepad -- and be doing other things in another window -- without the game losing focus?

For example, can I have an IRC window open and type in it while also using the gamepad to play the game without having to switch focus back and forth?

This is just a simplistic example, there are much greater uses for this kind of thing.

Does it exist? Is it even possible to code something like this, with the way Windows works?

 

[abaez]

Im sure there is you can play wow in a window with a gamepad if you wanted to.

 

[jkoon]

I think you can do this with girder, its not really designed for that but it should work.

Might take some time to get the learning curve out of the way as well.

http://www.promixis.com/products.php?section=girder

You should be able to find a trial version floating around that will let you test out to see if it is going to work.