Let's Discuss Touchscreen Controls

[Aaron C-T]

Ever since my Xbox 360 red-ringed the few games I've played/demoed have been on my phone. I know that you're probably not exploring touch screen controls in your own games, but I think it could be an interesting discussion.

Have you ever played a game with a decent setup? What do you think does and doesn't work? How would you try and re-imagine platformers like Sonic or Cave story to work on touchscreens?

[FanGameRevolver]

I don't know about plat-formers,

-but maybe you could drag away from the character to sort of pull them forward, much like Chaotix leash system.

Generally any game I would want to use a mouse for, touch screen controls would be appropriate, More connected to the game that way I guess.

[GSF]

My old phone thankfully has a d-pad. So I move with that, and jump/attack whatever with buttons on screen. It's almost perfect - sometimes it's hard to pick the correct button (especially on a SNES emulator).

But if I really want it perfect, I can always hook up the wiimote through bluetooth.

Still, even with an accessory like ThinkGeek's Joypad-IT, it's not good enough - add some freaking dpads again, phone manufacturers :<

Also, dragging away a character... I don't think it'll be good and responsive enough, unless you're playing some puzzle type platform game.

Remember Scribblenauts (the first one?) Yeah, kinda like that...

[tentril]

I sort of like touchscreens for scrolling/camera control sort of things, but as far as jumping and stuff its nice to have tactile feedback.

[Daniel]

Sonic or Cave story to work on touchscreens?

Sonic works okay on a touchscreen. I remember playing Sonic 2 and Sonic 4 Episode 1 on iOS and Kindle Fire respectively. Cave Story however, I would feel would require buttons.

Especially the Blood Stained Sanctuary

[1LT Worm]

Platformers are pretty bad on touchscreens, but that said, most of the time they take an NES approach to gaming, instead of Atari.

They have a left and right arrow, then two action buttons (normally jump and fire). If they only had one button, the game would be much easier to play. The iPhone screen is too small to comfortably use two action buttons.

[TailsSena]

A games -pad and one button (like in Sonic games) works okay. But a D-pad and six buttons like in Cave Story, just doesn't work at all on a touch screen.

Imagine trying to fight Monster X like that. Gaaahh!

[DJ espeed]

On a larger touchscreen such games might work.

The games that might work best on a smaller touchscreen would be games like Zen Pinball or even puzzle games. But the latter would be a mixed bag depending on execution, of course.

[Aaron C-T]

@1LT Worm: The mobile version of Max and the Magic Marker is kind of like that. You've got two clearly separate left/right arrows and then the jump button. There are action buttons that pop up, but only when you need them. Haven't played much more than the demo, but it seemed to work really well.

[DimensionWarped]

I wouldn't try to re-imagine games to work on touch screens. They really more or less just don't. Using fake controllers for touch screen games also sucks.

Instead, we should be encouraging phone users to get some bloody controllers for their phones.

[Serephim]

I agree with DW. Most games just are not designed for touchscreens. You have to find somewhere to stick buttons and even if you do have a whole virtual controller on the screen it's taking up space and never gives your fingers any real feedback. So it's just clunky and ultimately works against you ever really being able to have confidence that input will be received correctly while you're designing.

I believe in games designed for touchscreens, but thats about it. Playing any platformer like Sonic, Cavestory or even Mario is nothing but a chore.

[DJ espeed]

The thing that sucks, however, is the cost of said controllers. There definitely is a market for them, but the cost is what's killing it right now. Anything more than $30 is theft, IMO.

Edit: Alternatively, if you don't have a problem with sticking a joystick on your phone's screen, then you might want to check this out.

[DimensionWarped]

Eh, that still sucks. It's never going to match every possible on screen joystick for all of your varied i-devices. It needs to be a real, stand alone controller. The fact that the prices are so terrible is because they are all these weird solutions that aren't made by any kind of big players in the industry... and that's a problem.

[luksamuk]

I agree that it doesn't match joysticks, but I don't think it sucks, because you have to either redesign the controls of your game or just make a game that matches completely this kind of control.

[1LT Worm]

I believe in games designed for touchscreens, but thats about it.

This. Games designed for touch screens work best obviously.

Tiny Wings and Jetpack Joyride (I think both are free, but Tiny Wings might be a dollar or two) work by pressing anywhere on the screen: your bird "dives" in Tiny Wings, or Barry uses his jetpack.

Draw Something obviously works by using your finger as a pencil.

Cut the Rope and Fruit Ninja uses finger swipes.

Sky Burger uses tilt controls.

Fun and simple.

[Serephim]

yeah ultimately i think thats how they should stay. Fun and simple. If cell phones want to expand into videogames, thats fine and dandy. But they're going to have put forward the effort to reflect the desire for expandable game development in their hardware. Smartphones may be stronger than some consoles of old, but in terms of input they're about as limited as the NES. They're going to have to put forward some effort to actually allow people to put different types of videogames on their phone aside from what people are pretty much forced to create, which are games like Angry Birds and Cut The Rope.

Which really brings me down to my real opinion; smartphones aren't videogame consoles. They aren't designed for videogames, nor do they try to be -- they're designed for apps and quick navigation. And until they get some better input methods they are never going to be videogame platforms to me. "innovation" really only goes so far with this.

I'd love to put the game im working on onto a platform like an IPhone, but it's almost not even worth considering. Having to sacrifice your screen space in order to allow the player to attempt to move their character is retarded.

[Shadow_Striker]

Touchscreen can be very fun and interesting if you know how to implement it in a game. I can't say much about smartphones, tablets and such, because I don't own one, but it shouldn't be very nice to play, for example, Sonic CD with touchscreen controls. However, something like the Sonic Rush special stages, in my opinion, is a nice way of implementing the touchscreen controls. It really changes from game to game.

[Nemox]

When used really intelligently, touchscreens can have a great deal of flexibility to make up for their shortcomings. Each button must have a wide range of functions that react to the character's motion and environment.

But touchscreen buttons also have an advantage that normal buttons can't achieve; they can be moved like a joystick.

Imagine that what was once a static ability (Shiek's chain or Din's Fire in SSBB, hold button, move control stick) can now be controlled with the button itself while moving normally.

Another advantage is that the environment itself can be touched, either for interaction or for camera movement.

Meanwhile, one drawback is that you essentially can only rely on two thumbs at a time. An FPS almost necessitates a motion axis, camera axis, -and- a fire button at the same time. This can be remedied using the button-axis method I mentioned above, but it can still be pretty awkward. For something like a gun, you'd have to fire by releasing and re-pressing very quickly.

The other major drawback is the sheer size of the screen, obviously. An iPhone RPG with this sort of action-button-axis thing could maybe fit four buttons; assuming one could be for jumping, that only leaves three other abilities.

Tablets are quite a bit easier in this way.

Ultimately, I find that most genres of games can translate alright into strictly touch-based controls. It's tough, but not impossible.