Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Another important point is that the zones where virtual controls are situated are over-
lapped with fingers. Therefore, there should not be any important graphic elements
of a game scene in those zones. If the UI displays some useful information, the play-
er simply will not see it.
However, virtual controls have one great advantage. The system is very flexible. Any
displayed button can be added or removed from the screen in a moment. The cap-
tions may be changed, and even their size can depend on context. Such function-
ality offers a challenge for better clearness of some aspects of the gameplay. For
example, if the player is out of ammo, the
FIRE
button turns into a disable state, and
there is text,
Find some ammo
, above it. Or if some function is not available by now,
the game does not display a corresponding control on the screen.
It is important to mention that onscreen controls must be adjustable. People may use
their fingers differently; so, sometimes they wish to move virtual buttons a little bit
(don't forget to include the option to turn the layout into the default state). Another vi-
tal point is a layout for left-handed persons. It can be created very easily. You simply
need to mirror the positions of control elements on the screen.
Because of the tricky nature of the onscreen virtual controls, you have to spend a
lot of time testing it on a device and asking other people about their experience with
your game, figuring out the important nuances of comfort controlling.
Remember that the positions of the fingers are not always obvious for players; so,
it is a good practice to show a clarifying scheme at the very beginning of the game.
It is worth noting that in most cases, virtual controls are perceived as uncomfortable
only at the very beginning, but later, the players may successfully adapt to them. So,
your goal is to alleviate that phase, for example, through level design. The first game
scenes should not include any episodes that required an accurate maneuvering in
space. That should be a room upholstered with soft featherbed where the player can
learn how to walk without fear of being harmed. The room can have large spaces,
large gates, and simple objectives. For example, if you would put a narrow bridge at
the very beginning, many players would fall down from it over and over again, thus
hating your game more and more. Another good practice is stage-based learning of
controls; they are introduced one by one. For example, there are two control pads
in a game, one for moving a character on the ground and the second one for free-
looking, and there may be several additional buttons such as
FIRE
or
JUMP
. You
can give them all to the player at once, hoping that he might figure out how to use
them properly, or you can do it in a more smart way. At the very beginning, the player
