The Boomerang Theory of iPhone Game Design
November 7th, 2009
JUST STOP IT
iPhone Game Design
Just something that’s been bothering me more and more lately. If you’ve tried playing a FPS on an iPhone, you probably know what I mean.
In previous posts, I highlighted some App Store games, 25 in all, that I thought were pretty good. Checking them over now, I see only one of them has a virtual thumbstick, with two more featuring virtual d-pads (and in one of those, it is just one of several possible control schemes). In all three cases, this is the weakest part of the game, and I don’t think this is a coincidence at all.
Something to keep in mind, I guess.
I’ve never had an iPhone so I have no idea what you mean. The diagram confuses me too. For someone w/a psych degree, I’m terrible at reading diagrams.
It means that good games (on the iPhone) are largely on the “simple interface, no time-sensitive” quadrant, with some good games on the “simple interface, very time-sensitive” quadrant and some good games on the “complex interface, no time-sensitive quadrant”. It implies as well that there are no good games on the “complex interface, very time-sensitive” quadrant, and that all twin virtual thumbstick (TVT) games fall on this latter quadrant (meaning they are no good at all). Theoretically you could have a no time-sensitive TVT game, but I haven’t see one like that yet.
Yeah… this isn’t very interesting except (perhaps) for a small subset of iPhone owners and developers, but since that’s what I am…
Ooooo.. you have fancy technology, huh? If I had one, I’d probably just confuse myself on how to use it, lol.
BTW, your comment count isn’t working for this entry. Instead of “3 Comments” it just says “Comment”. Minor detail, just thought I’d let you know.
Hmm… seems to be working from here, try reloading your page and see if that fixes it?
Yeah.. it’s working now. Wasn’t before. Weird.
The simpler the more interesting for me. The complex games are hard to control and it takes the relaxing out of it.