The more control options the better. If there are controls for d-pad, on screen toolbars ect., allow the user to be able to customize size, placement, and transparency. Everyone views their screen differently.
The biggest one for me is making a games volume separate from the iphone/itouch ringer volume control, I hate playing a game turning it down and then realizing I just turned down my ringer with it!
I think a lot of the commenters here are using this as a wish list instead of a list of things that are screwed up. Anyway my contribution is: don't use the built-in video player to play an intro movie. I'm not sure what it's called but some games (like Oregon Trail) use the built-in video player to play the intro movie. Problem is this makes things like the progress bar and the video controls show up and it just looks bad. Either they're doing something wrong or you have to bring your own codec to do it right. If you can't do it right then don't bother. The other huge one mentioned already is when the sound in the game ignores the mute switch. Also, vibration should be optional. Since I can't switch it off on Wolfenstein Classic and Doom Classic, I can't play those on the toilet at work
As dj_link say, a "save on the cloud" system is a must have for me, not because of the reset of the device thing (it's pretty much never happened) but simply because I have more than one iOS devices. I'm sure it's happened to a lot of us, starting a game on the iPhone (let's say at work) and then installing it on your iPad to see that you have to do it all over again.
Yeah, I find that annoying too, but there's not much a dev can do about that. The OS is in charge of deciding what the volume control does. While your app is starting, the phone ringer is still associated with the volume control. At some point during initialization, the OS switches over control to your game.
My simple list: No opening logo intro's when launching the game (have your logo on the menu page, not a 2 minute intro) Pick up where you left off. Use the safe state feature that when you exit out of the game, the next time you launch it, you're back exactly where you were. 100% Retina display graphics, menu's textures, the whole lot That's about it. .keep the game less bloated with down time and more honed in on quick play action. It's a phone, ti's meant to be played on the go, not sitting down in your living room. Sometimes I get a few moments to play, I don't want to spend those moments looking at title screens and company logo's each time I launch the game.
I've found that games that have accelerometer-only controls are usually difficult to control and not accurate. On-screen controls are much easier to use and are more accurate, from my experience. Agreed. NOVA with the gyroscope is much easier to control than without the gyroscope.
Gonna try and think a little beyond the obvious, what you listed. (choice of screen orientation... not portrait/landscape, but which landscape. Unless you are a portrait game... you know what I mean!) If you have a strange way to call up a menu, like a double or triple finger tap... that's great. But tell me! I hate when I'm fumbling for a corner or tapping trying to figure it out because they never explained. Don't have very small tapping areas. If I'm supposed to press a tiny button that I keep missing? Bad. Unsure what your game is gonna be like, with mini-games etc... (or IF) but for anything you are drag and dropping, please make the thing I'm carrying visible. If it's under my finger... can't really do much with it! Limit the amount of screen I am obstructing with better thought out controls. Or give me the option to move them or whatever. (some games do left side is left thumb stick, wherever you place your thumb. The same for right. That's better than dedicated spots in my opinion) Please don't use regular iOS dialog boxes. It looks really lazy. (usually anyways) That's all I can think of for now. Thanks for asking for these.
This is unlikely to apply to id, but I'm always amazed when I see glaringly obvious grammatical or spelling errors in otherwise high-quality games that were months in the making.
I hate when there is: -No autosave feature -Game lags or runs slow on older devices, they should test it better, high graphics for 3GS, 4, ipod touch 3g and 4, and normal graphics for ipod touch 2g, iphone 2g, iphone 3g -Random crashings (specially, game start, crash, back to springboard) -When they never update to fix the bugs and issues of the game I dont want amazing graphics since i have an iphone 2G, but if it runs on my phone without constant lag, i would pay around 30$ for this awesome game, please, dont screw up on performance, just put decent graphics for iphone 2g, 3g and ipod touch 2g
Controls I just have some suggestions for iOS first person shooter controls in games like Rage. Don't use fake analogue sticks at all. Split the screen down the middle; anywhere you touch on the left half makes you move, anywhere you touch on the right half makes you look. Make both of these controls emulate mouse movement instead of analogue stick movement. That's typical for aiming (I guess people call it swipe to aim but it basically has the feel of mouselook), but I think the movement controls should work this way as well. I remember Wolfenstein and maybe Doom back in the day having an option that actually let you move forwards and backwards with the mouse rather than the keyboard. You had this super precise control over your movement that way where you controlled the position of the character instead of their acceleration in a direction. I think that first person shooters on the iPhone need to adopt that mouse/trackball like movement instead of trying to emulate an analogue stick. Obviously you'll have sort of swipe yourself along (picking your finger up and restarting your position in the same way you'd do with a mouse since you can't drag it forward forever), but you tend to do that anyway on an iPhone screen. Add in a gyroscope aiming option for the people who have it. Also, find a way to get rid of the dedicated shoot button. For instance, you could further split the "look half" of the screen into an upper and lower region. Anywhere you touch and drag in the lower portion makes you look, and you can tap to start shooting. Anywhere you touch and drag in the upper portion makes you look while simultaneously shooting.
Well, my game’s still months away from release (after making version 1 over 10 years ago!) but along the way I’ve made the following checklist of things that make a game a “good citizen” on the iPhone or iPad: * Auto-save progress on exit, sleep or incoming call * Work in any of 2 or 4 orientations (if it makes sense for the game) * Allow recalibration of tilt center (if applicable) * Mute all game audio when ringer switch is set to off * Offer visual feedback for all important sounds (including speech) to allow silent play * Track own volume level separate from ringer volume * Have on-screen volume controls for 1st-gen Touch users (if compatible) * Use the standard OS keyboard if possible (and the right version: be it numeric-only, email-specific, or regular) * Allow playing and controlling iPod music, while still having sound effects * Use internal settings controls instead of the central Settings app (sorry, Apple!) * Remember all settings/customization options (if any) including player name/login * Use a login or other mechanism, rather than device-specific ID, to track users/scores (because people break their phone or upgrade to a new model) * If a free version stores important data (game progress, etc.), allow that data to transfer to the paid version * Not contain 3rd-party ads for users who paid for the app (a subtle plug for your own games is OK I think) * Clearly warn users if they're about to link outside the app (and use an in-game Web view instead, if possible) * Be usable with color blindness * Be localized (largest audiences: English, French, German? Then Japanese, Spanish?) * On phones set to a language the app doesn't support, at least show English (not completely missing text) * Support fast app switching * Support retina-display resolution, including the app icon * Don’t use big tilt movements on the heavy iPad (so, calibrate tilt differently by default?) * Apps should ideally be Universal rather than have two versions (although some apps may make sense to keep on only one size device, or may rely on a camera or other hardware-specific feature) And less vital but still often desirable: * Allow multiple users to have separate progress/achievements (if relevant) * Allow all vibrate effects to be turned off * Allow locking of orientation, for playing when lying on your side or holding it flat * Allow backing up (or otherwise protecting) your data/progress in the event of file corruption or device loss (there’s no way to restore just one app’s data, so crafting some custom solution, be it in the cloud or via email or via iTunes files, is important) * Ask whether to use sound on startup, for Touch users without a vibrate/mute switch (but also allow disabling the question?) * Support GameCenter, but also support OpenFeint (or something) for users who can’t run GameCenter * Don’t be multiplayer-only if it all possible (it’s very hard for a game like that to gain traction and a user base... without which it’s useless) * For multiplayer games, allow text chatting, and VOIP if possible (and allow chatting even after a match is done) * Have an icon name that fits without . . . ellipses (and a nice-looking icon that matches the game, please) * Avoid vertical tilting unless there’s a real need (but horizontal works great—no calibration headaches there) * Paid game DLC is best when it’s something you keep, rather than being a consumable (and restoring past DLC purchases should always be possible) * I personally prefer a free limited game with in-app upgrade to the full version, rather than two separate downloads (demo and full)—but I know some people like having two separate apps (maybe because the demo can then be a smaller download?) Looking forward to Rage and whatever else comes along... something ET: Quake Wars related would be my personal dream That’s my favorite Id property of all. (Hmmmm.... yet another TD?) P.S. I know people will say every game should have their personal favorite control scheme, or tons of options that include that scheme... but really, what works in one game doesn’t in another, and having to learn a different control scheme can be good in the end. Not to mention, too many options can be a bad thing in some ways—it tempts people to leave their controls in a bad setup just because messing with them further feels like a chore. But I will say that for FPS games, I greatly prefer mouse/trackpad-style aiming (which iOS shooters seem to have standardized on, luckily) over any kind of tilt or D-pad. P.P.S. I love external screen support Not a must, but certainly a fun gimmick!
To me, controls are a large part of the game. If the controls aren't great, then the game's going to be a pain to play, whether or not the content is fun. I personally think that you did a good job with the controls in Doom Classic. I liked how I could set the joysticks to move to where my thumbs were, which gave me the ability to use two sticks and still reach the fire button because I could place my thumb on the fire button and still control where I'm looking. I also agree that full tilt control options for controlling movement and line of sight would be nice, but make sure that there are options to only use tilt for movement, only use tilt for changing the line of sight, or both. You will also need a save button (note: the save button and "center sticks" option seem to be missing from Wolfenstien 3D, so if you could add them after you finish Rage, along with a bug fix for the Spear of Destiny glitch, that would be nice). Team Fortress 2-like multiplayer would be nice (the ability to turn you PC into a dedicated server, as well as map and mod editors and the ability to download custom maps and mods from servers while you're waiting to join). I also agree with the request to add a battery indicator of some sort so that I can see how much batter life I have left. I don't really care how fast it starts up, just as long as it does within an acceptable amount of time (five minutes to start up a simple game like Doodle Jump is unexceptable, I would expect a start up time like that for a large, complicated game like Rage). Retina graphics Something like iSave (used in the Rolando series) I don't mind having an opening logo, just as long as I have the option to skip past it, or that it occupies the screen while the game is loading. I agree with QQQ on the fact that it would be nice to have a cloud save system (too bad Apple won't let Valve put Steam on the iPhone as a game marketplace). If I have anything else to contribute to the huge list that you must have from everyone, I will edit this post instead of making a new one.
John - slightly related but not all ID releases were removed from the New Zealand itunes store. They havent been available for quite some time! luckily I have most of them before they were removed, but I cant re-download if I lose it all, or download the newer RPG games released!
Here are a few reasons I don't like "big" games (Examples would be games that Gameloft makes). 1. Controls. So many games fall through because of bad controls. Many times, the developers doesn't try to make a control system designed for a touch screen. Instead they throw on a virtual analog stick, a few buttons, and call it done. While it is hard to make controls for a 'big' game on the ipod, it is feasable. Sometimes aspects of the gameplay are better suited to good controls. A turn based game (Rimelands: Hammer of Thor, etc.) allows for a simple D-pad to work well because speed doesn't matter since it's turn-based. I also liked Eliminate's controls (FPS), but it would only work well if there is unlimited ammo, since you pretty much put it on auto-shoot and aim for the rest of the fight. 2. Content/game modes. A lot of Gameloft's games are one and done. You beat a shortish campaign once, you'll never touch it again. Basically there are two paths: 1. Looong campaign or 2. Campaign + 1-2 modes that give infinite replayability. Multiplayer is an example of unlimited playability. Nazi Zombies from COD: WAW is also another gamemode with unlimited replayability. 3. Unique gameplay. I do not like gameloft's approach to FPSs. It's pretty much kill everything mindlessly, terrible story, reptetitive gameplay. A good campaign starts with a good story and is filled with new situations to battle through. Go from an open battlefield to narrow corridors trying to complete objectives. "Defend the power generators while blah blah does blah blah!" time limit (not too big of a time limit, please) to defend is given, the difficulty ramps up as the time goes on. Multiplayer is a really big plus. Everyone loves multiplayer. 4. Performance. A lot of big games have performance issues. Lag, crashes, bugs, glitches etc. A lot of beta testing from good testers is probably the best solution. Also, a big thing that ruined NOVA online was hackers. 5. Marketing (applies to all games). Don't vary the price every week from 6.99 to free to 2.99. Chances are I'll never buy it and just wait for it to go free or to 99 cents. Rocketcat games did something new. 99 c sale when Super QuickHook came out, and they said there will never be a sale after that. They even included free hats!
I think a lot of good things have been said already, which I completely agree on. A new problem I see occur now concerns Game Center implementation. Starting a game while you have game center running gives a nice welcome pop-up, but there's usually no other way to access game center other than switch application. Switching application is a huge no-no for me, though other dev's might disagree here. In 'the menus' of your game, it should always be visible if you're logged into game center and under which account. Usually game center is only accessible via the achievements/score panes, but some rudimentary account information, if only just name and 'log out', would greatly improve user experience. What a lot of the games currently do 'wrong' in my opinion, and this is more in general, is not following Apple's vision on interface design. A basic example is that a lot of games use arrow keys on screen to scroll through pages of text, whereas Apple is definitely trying to move everything to more kinetic scrolling and 'touch the content' input, rather than 'touch the buttons'. A lot of these features are readily available in the interface builder, but some developers seem to have a hard time moving away from 'traditional interfaces'.
JohnCarmack = fanRant.start("I am a huge fan"); fanRant.end(); TCR List[] = { Stability across the entire iOS product family! As a developer I find this to be the most important, but hardest thing to accomplish. I know some people are less willing to change their OS or even hardware just because a new one is released. I always appreciate updates integrating new features released with new OS and hardware releases. Its nice to see that shiny new device being utilized to its nth degree. Mentioned before, but controls have to be "spot on". Ability to play when my screen isn't set to 100% brightness. Most apps seem to forget that this is a phone, and the screens of said phone are often dimmed to conserve battery. Too many games are way to dark, or use a color pallet that fades into one another when the screen is darker. Personal pet peeve - Cut scenes that cant be skipped. I know there is a story line, I appreciate the time it took you to create it, but I am trying to kill 5 minutes in line at the DMV and don't want to spend it watching a video, when I am trying to kick alien/demon ass. }; Personal note: I actually thought about applying to ID's mobile developer job posting, however I know I am not the man for the job, and wouldn't stand a chance, but it was fun to think about. Thank you for part in creating some of the best games ever.
Believe it or not the 'virtual stick wherever your finger is' is a horrible control scheme. Having a fixed stick might feel unwieldy at first, but after a few min you get a hang of it. At least have multiple options because people have different preferences. And a thing a surprisingly amount of dev's miss is that menus need to be designed for touch. This usually means as few as different screens as possible. This isn't that big of an issue on consoles in which you can easily cycle through menus with the triggers and stuff, but its pretty big hassle on the touch screen if you are in the menus a lot.
