The great things about iPhone/iPod Touch, and the issue

[TheAnalogKid]

Last week I blogged about about iPhone and iPod touch features and gaming. I'm just curious about what you think about the control issues I discuss in my blog. I know many of you will have different opinions. Is there someone who share my opinions about the subject? You can read it at http://www.funtoboggan.com/apps/blog/show/2074369-the-great-things-about-iphone-ipod-touch-and-the-issue

[ChrisM]

Last week I blogged about about iPhone and iPod touch features and gaming. I'm just curious about what you think about the control issues I discuss in my blog. I know many of you will have different opinions. Is there someone who share my opinions about the subject? You can read it at http://www.funtoboggan.com/apps/blog/show/2074369-the-great-things-about-iphone-ipod-touch-and-the-issue

Your blog is exactly right.  Imagine if, every time you moved the thumbstick on your PS3 controller, the TV moved in the same direction.  It's one of the reasons I don't like a lot of the driving games on the iPhone.  As for platformers, the controls universally suck. Feeling the button under your finger so you know where you are hitting it is an important mechanic that is lacking on the iPhone and makes playing those kinds of games more frustrating than fun.

Path drawing, adventure games (Monkey Island and Beneath a Steel Sky are awesome), and match 3 work fine.  Everything else is a compromise.

And yes, the DS (DSi in my case) is the best portable platform out there.

[TheAnalogKid]

Path drawing, what do you mean? Do you have a name?

About virtual buttons the only game I've seen that really implemented it well is Dungeon Hunter. The directional button emulates a thumbstick in a way that you never have an issue about the direction. Sure not feeling it isn't ideal but since it's very well implemented it's not really an issue. This type of compromise is acceptable since the game is really great. There are other examples like that like Arkanoid but in this case after some time your finger starts being gummy so you lose precision and speed.

Also puzzle games that require moving things like blocks (Tower, Topple, Fling, JellyCar) work well, not only match 3 ones.

Anybody else play games on iPhone/iPod Touch? What do you think about the controls and in general?

Games published by our own members! Go get 'em!

[princec]

I absolutely hate all touchscreen games. In fact I hate touchscreen full stop, for anything. Total lack of tactile feedback, grubby screens, poor response (yes, even in the state-of-the-art, it's still shite compared to a real button).

Cas

[gouessej]

I absolutely hate all touchscreen games. In fact I hate touchscreen full stop, for anything. Total lack of tactile feedback, grubby screens, poor response (yes, even in the state-of-the-art, it's still shite compared to a real button).

I agree with you. I own a HTC Dream G1 upgraded to Android 1.5 and I play with the "ball", this kind of sphere that acts as a joystick, like the one on Blackberry and with the keyboard, not with the touch screen. When I play with First Person Shooters, I prefer real buttons. On the HTC Magic G2, there is no more physical keyboard, it is really painful, you don't see some enemies while moving and/or shooting. The accelerometer might be fine for some kinds of games but when you incline too much the mobile phone, you don't see anything, I agree with ChrisM, I already see this as a problem in "Teeter", a game consisting in putting small metal balls into holes by pushing them into some circuits.

[Alric]

I agree, controls are a big issue for iPhone especially with games written in the console mindset.

People talk about how the iPhone is a superior gaming platform to the PSP or DS due to it's hardware.
But when I actually play, I can't agree. I like to play a football (soccer) game on my PSP when I'm travelling.
Gameplay wise, tt's really pretty close to playing on PS3 or XBox 360. Same game on the iPhone is nowhere near. Graphics and sound are impressive but I can't play it for more than 5 minutes of frustration. Thought it was because my hands are a bit big for the virtual controls. So I gave it to my nephew, and he wanted the PSP back after 5 minutes too.

I see it as similar to the Wii. It can support great games but they have to be suited to, and written for, the control system. Controls are absolutely the number 1 most important feature on these devices.
I've played some really entertaining games on the iPhone that use the accelerometer. Wii boxing or tennis are for me much more fun than boxing or tennis sims with a joypad. But as soon as you just take a playstation title and dump it on to a platform with unconventional controls, you lose big time.

Innovative platforms need well thought out games, and those are in quite short supply.

[ChrisM]

Path drawing, what do you mean? Do you have a name?

About virtual buttons the only game I've seen that really implemented it well is Dungeon Hunter. The directional button emulates a thumbstick in a way that you never have an issue about the direction. Sure not feeling it isn't ideal but since it's very well implemented it's not really an issue. This type of compromise is acceptable since the game is really great. There are other examples like that like Arkanoid but in this case after some time your finger starts being gummy so you lose precision and speed.

Also puzzle games that require moving things like blocks (Tower, Topple, Fling, JellyCar) work well, not only match 3 ones.

Anybody else play games on iPhone/iPod Touch? What do you think about the controls and in general?

Path drawing games like Flight Control and Lion's Pride work well with touch control.

[ChrisM]

I agree, controls are a big issue for iPhone especially with games written in the console mindset.

People talk about how the iPhone is a superior gaming platform to the PSP or DS due to it's hardware.
But when I actually play, I can't agree. I like to play a football (soccer) game on my PSP when I'm travelling.
Gameplay wise, tt's really pretty close to playing on PS3 or XBox 360. Same game on the iPhone is nowhere near. Graphics and sound are impressive but I can't play it for more than 5 minutes of frustration. Thought it was because my hands are a bit big for the virtual controls. So I gave it to my nephew, and he wanted the PSP back after 5 minutes too.

I see it as similar to the Wii. It can support great games but they have to be suited to, and written for, the control system. Controls are absolutely the number 1 most important feature on these devices.
I've played some really entertaining games on the iPhone that use the accelerometer. Wii boxing or tennis are for me much more fun than boxing or tennis sims with a joypad. But as soon as you just take a playstation title and dump it on to a platform with unconventional controls, you lose big time.

Innovative platforms need well thought out games, and those are in quite short supply.

I think this is the greatest, pardon me, bullshit comment of this generation.  The fastest, prettiest sports car in the world that has no physical steering wheel and requires me to rock in my seat to drive will not replace even the simplest Ford. Apple telling me that I have 22,000 games to chose from tells me that there are 21,950 pieces of crap I have to wade through.

[TheAnalogKid]

Can we hope Apple will add buttons in the future? Like a D pad on one side and 2 or 4 buttons on the other side. That would make the device taller but it would be so much better for gaming!

Path drawing games like Flight Control and Lion's Pride work well with touch control.

OK, will check out these games then... thanks for the references.

[ChrisM]

Can we hope Apple will add buttons in the future? Like a D pad on one side and 2 or 4 buttons on the other side. That would make the device taller but it would be so much better for gaming!
OK, will check out these games then... thanks for the references.

Don't hold your breath on Apple adding buttons.  However, I am waiting for someone to make a button cradle that you snap your iPhone/touch into.

And don't blame me if you lose days of time playing Flight Control....Interestingly, this is a game that could not be done as effectively with standard buttons and controls.

Games published by our own members! Go get 'em!

[princec]

I'm sure there's a whole class of games that only work with touchscreen controls... they just don't really appeal to me, mostly Though I think that Revenge of the Titans, with its point and click interface, would work nicely, especially with two-finger scrolling. But it is rather limited.

I wonder if Apple will release a gaming version of the iPhone with dual analogues and some buttons? That'd pretty much eat away at the DS and PSP market.

Cas

[TheAnalogKid]

Don't hold your breath on Apple adding buttons.  However, I am waiting for someone to make a button cradle that you snap your iPhone/touch into.

And don't blame me if you lose days of time playing Flight Control....Interestingly, this is a game that could not be done as effectively with standard buttons and controls.

While this would solve a lot of control issues, this would create a market fragmentation problem and games would have to rely on such a particular control add-on. An add-on made by Apple would better standardize it in my opinion (think about separate controllers from Nintendo). And how many add-on types would be on the market? I think this would make business much complicated for developers.

And any add-on would plug in the sync/power port so you could have buttons only on one side, which limits button usage a lot; only a d-pad or analog stick or simple buttons for instance. I don't know, yes this would be great but it seems to be a half-baked solution.

[kevglass]

The type of game that doesn't work on the iphone/touchscreen controls is also for the most part the type of games that don't really work for mobile devices.

While the DSi is mobile you do tend to sit down and play it for a proper gaming session. Phones/MP3 players tend to be used in shorter sessions and with less time to focus on what you're doing. IMO that means slower paced games persistent over long time frames or extremely short session games (see Jewels by MHGames recently)

Kev

[ChrisM]

While this would solve a lot of control issues, this would create a market fragmentation problem and games would have to rely on such a particular control add-on. An add-on made by Apple would better standardize it in my opinion (think about separate controllers from Nintendo). And how many add-on types would be on the market? I think this would make business much complicated for developers.

And any add-on would plug in the sync/power port so you could have buttons only on one side, which limits button usage a lot; only a d-pad or analog stick or simple buttons for instance. I don't know, yes this would be great but it seems to be a half-baked solution.

Apple has already created a fragmentation issue with the 2.5G, 3G, 3GS, and iPod Touch models.  I don't see this as an issue for physical controls if you provided an API for the device that allowed the developer to add this functionality.  We are not talking about recreating a game, just mapping the button functionality to the physical controls.

While I generally agree about the issues with add-ons, the iPhone market has a very different behavior.  Cheap enough (<$20) and make these games playable with physical buttons?  Throw in a coupon for 3 free games ($3)?  You would sell a crap ton of them.  Also, I have a design for such a device that would allow the rotation of the buttons for left or right handed players.  Hmmm.....

But, don't expect Apple to do this.  Not at all.

[h3ckboy]

I dont think taht apple even can be logical and pick what the users want.

for the record, if apple made a strict gaming device, the psp would still win

[TheAnalogKid]

Well, the PSP Go is kind of failure. Don't know how this is going to affect the classic PSP.