The Steam Controller is unlike any controller ever made. It is built to handle nearly any game released on PC, no matter what the original controls called for. This guide is meant to help give a few tips and strategies in utilizing it for Cook, Serve, Delicious!

You'll need a few things before starting up the game with the Steam Controller:

• Be sure your Steam client is up to date with the latest release.
  
• You'll need Cook, Serve, Delicious v3.20 or above, which is the latest update released in October 2015. For PC/Linux users, this should be downloaded automatically if you have auto updates turned on. For Mac users, you will need to follow the guide on installing the patch here. While v3.20 isn't required, it's highly recommended as it adds the new input guides and fine tunes specifically for the Steam Controller.
  
• Be sure to start up the game while in Steam's Big Picture Mode.
  
• Select the Official CSD Preset for the Steam Controller. It should auto select this preset if you've played the game after Oct. 15th, 2015 with the Steam Controller.

Once all this is in place. boot up the game and be sure to choose the Steam Controller at the main menu of Cook, Serve, Delicious!, or in the options menu.

The Steam Controller has two track pads on the left and right, with the left having a d-pad "imprint" and the right having a blank, flat trackpad. For a majority of foods, any ingredient in the left column will be selected with the left trackpad, and ingredients in the right will use the right trackpad.

To select/place an ingredient, make sure your thumb is resting in the neutral center position of the trackpad. Using the above image as an example, let's try placing rice in the soup pot. You would "swipe" your thumb upwards to the end of the trackpad and then rest your thumb in the neutral center position. For the cheese, you would use the right trackpad and swipe your thumb to the right until you reach the end of the trackpad, and then rest it in the center neutral position.


While this sounds a little overly complicated, it should become second nature the more you practice it. Just think of the swiping motion like using a smartphone when scrolling through a web page.

The game was also built to use the left analog stick as the d-pad, so that if you would normally use a d-pad to navigate specific points in the game, use the analog stick instead.

Using the Steam Controller in the way outlined above is fun, fast, and quite a change from the standard controller to say the least. But you may find it to be a bit slower to utilize in some foods, like the Lasagna, which requires a rotation of the analog stick in standard gamepads.

For nearly all foods, the game "locks" the analog stick to try and prevent accidental ingredient selections. For example, as I move the stick upwards to select an ingredient on a standard controller, the game makes sure not to select the ingredients mapped to the left and right analog stick directions until I return the stick back to it's neutral center point. But for a food like Lasagna (or any food/specific recipe that requires "all toppings" to be placed), the game unlocks the analog stick so that you can rotate it without having to return the stick back to the neutral center location.


When making Lasagna, I would use my index finger by first resting it in the center of the trackpad, then flick it upwards to the end of the trackpad. Then, without removing my finger, guide it all around the outside of the trackpad as quickly as possible.


For a recipe like the Meaty Rome Lasagna, which requires meat between each four layers of pasta, it takes a bit more precision. Flick upwards and guide your finger around the trackpad, but stop on the right side. Then press A to layer the meat, but be sure not to take your finger off the trackpad. After placing the meat, continue tracing a circle around the trackpad in a clockwise path until you reach the right side again, then place the meat one more time. Finally, do one full rotation to place the remaining ingredients and then cook.


As mentioned before, only the Lasagna has the ingredients unlocked in such a way to allow for this strategy, but there are a few certain foods that allow this when a recipe calls for "all ingredients" like a salad. Experiment to see what strategy works best for you!

Thanks to Valve for giving me access to a Steam Controller early so that I could add support to CSD before the gamepad's launch! Big thanks to the Steam Community as well for helping me fine tune the gamepad through release. Enjoy the game!