Happy iPhone 3G launch morning, everybody!
I’m currently standing (well, sitting) in line with about 150 people (I’m about 65th in line) at the Clarendon, VA Apple Store. I arrived at 6am. The earliest folks got here late yesterday evening.
Everybody’s having a good time and excitement is in the air. As I type this, we’re just one hour away from iPhone 3G, here in the DC area.
Have a look at my photo gallery of the event, which I will update through the morning.
I am so sick of games which use tilt controls exclusively. They are fiddly and imprecise and they severely restrict the ways you can play the game. Whatever happened to being able to play a casual game while, say, lying in bed or on the couch, or with the device held at any angle other than straight up?
In most cases the tilt controls don't even work all that well (I have to wonder how much playtesting Sega did on Monkey Ball for example). They're a gimmick, and a bad one at that.
I'd much rather see more games just use a virtual D-pad or swipe controls or whatever. Also, can't the iPhone's screen determine the area of contact, which you could use to simulate pressure controls? I'd love to see, say, a racing game use that to handle acceleration and braking force.
Maybe I should drop one or two of my hobbies so I can start writing iPhone games myself.
Virtual D-Pad is useless.
I think in this instance Tilt-controls could work. Since it's a just a binary control. Abrupt Left or Right.
arn
It's true D-Pad implementations on a touch screen can be tricky, but a game like this one that depends on precise/instant input, that is also restricted to 90 degree angles, is perfect for a D-Pad.
The D-Pad simply has to be implemented WELL.
Also, on the topic, of when will someone implement it right is:
A touch screen analog stick. (Surprisingly, this one is even easier to implement than the D-Pad for a touch screen, yet no one really has... yet.)
I think your issue is with the 3D tilt control games like SMB and the such. Tilt controls for race games work great if they are just left and right.
Man I'm looking forward to this. It was a great tech game and I'd love to see it on the most advanced device soon. The elegant design of iPhoneStudio is something to look up to too.
I don't know about tilting though, the game needs quick, sharp turns at times. I imagine it would be better with only left-right turns via taps on the sides of the screen.
Looking forward to it!
I agree with fluffy. I am already tired of tilt controls.
I wish devs would start looking at more creative options with their game designs and I.P's. Games like Viva Pinata, Civilisations, Age of Empires - these type of games would compliment the iPhone control input. I'm growing tired of this shift towards "instants thrills" type gaming. Not everyone on this planet has attention deficit disorder. Some of us have brains and want a game we can play for more than 6 minutes.......
this is basically a game called amagetron for mac and pc on the iphone.
http://www.armagetronad.net...
Hey guys Mike again from DS Media Labs.
We have already started to implement a Left & Right turn button to the interface. During our initial testing with multiple people we have found you are never going to Nail the correct accelerometer balance and quite honestly it will annoy the hell out of people.
We have also been throwing the idea around to give the user the option to pick which way he/she wants to play. In the setting there will be an option to chose either BTN or Accelerometer for controls. This way everyone is happy.
In Response To Bloc Party; Thats awesome, Bloc Party is one of my favorite bands, seen them 3 times live... They Rock !!!
In Response To Nick; Never seen that before, that looks pretty sick. I think at some point in time we would like to do a 3D version like the link you sent, but we just recently found our OpenGL guy and we have him on some other stuff like Game Engine design, etc...
Anyway guys we are all looking forward to getting this game done, once we have a fully functional demo we will take a video and post on youTube for you all to see.
- Mike
I think buttons would work for just left right. Esp if they are big areas.
Swipe is also a consideration.
arn
I thought Disney owned the rights to "Light..." oh... I think it's "Light Cycles". Not Light Bikes. Still, it looks like it's almost an exact copy of the game. Remember the movie Tron?
If you cannot wait for this game or want a 3D view: The new version of "Jangaron", a 3D remake of the Tron Lightcycle game, now runs in Mobile Safari! Give it a try at http://www.jangaron.net/kht... or (for direct one-on-one action) http://www.jangaron.net/kht...