I’ve been playing with virtual joysticks on Android (in Gamemaker: Studio).
I’m not sure if there’s a more efficient way to do this, but right now I’m checking to see if there’s a touch event in the “joystick area” (by looping through the 6 possible touch devices) and then latching on to that touch-device (until it’s released).
I also realized I need a $200 plug-in for both iOS and Android if I make something marketable, which is kind of painful. They sure like to charge premium prices for the Open Beta Test of their software now =P