LÖVE

Id like to add a 'mobile' controller system to a vertical shoot em up game.

Fex want to either move the ship by 'holding the ship' or press on the left and right side to move it left or right.
And also would like to launch missiles or special weapons by pressing a special icon.

Any examples of this somewhere?

Touchscreen routines return touch coordinates, you can simply move the ship to those coordinates. And you can implement a screen button which will be pushable on a touchscreen.

Is there any copy-paste code out there?