iPhone Games Development Diary

I’m spoilt for choice as to how the player should move the character. I’m going to need left, right, jump and action. Originally I thought I’d require up and down to support swimming but I’m taking a Jetpack Joyride approach in that you tap jump to swim up and let the character sink gradually. 

There are plenty of options to move the wee dude but which one do I go for?

Transparent buttons

A common choice is to add semi transparent buttons to the game area. Unfortunately, since I aim to make levels short and sweet, as close to one screen as possible, my hero’s starting position would be far left. I can’t just plonk my thumb right over the top of him. My levels would need to scroll around him, positioning him in the centre of the screen.

Off screen buttons

A alternative to on game buttons is positioning these out with the confines of the level. I thought about sitting these beneath the game but I found exclusively touching the bottom of the screen slightly awkward. A designated area to the far left and right would feel more comfortable but I really want to avoid shrink my camera view down if possible.

Dynamically positioned dpad and taps

An evolution of this would be to position the joystick where ever you hold down your thumb. Let the user hold the game however is most natural to them, while allowing more of the screen assigned to the level itself. Holding down your finger would activate the joystick at that position. To move you would drag in the desired direction from there. I’d need to scrap the other buttons, switching to tap for action and drag up for jump.

Left and right side

I’m not a huge fan of the joystick/dpad in touch screen games. A more feasible option would involve touching either side of the screen to move. You can touch and drag your thumbs up when they begin to obscure the game without influencing movement. A large area means it’s not too fiddly.

Swipe

Ditching buttons completely, I could always go for swipe powered movement. Swipe left to go left, swipe right to go right. How do I stop though? The first swipe right when going left stops the hero in his tracks and the second moves. Essentially a double swipe to change direction. I can’t see this happening.

Tilt

I’ve experimented with accelerometer in a Doodle Jump style game I made to get my feet wet with Corona. I might prototype it to be sure but I don’t see this as a viable option for a platform game like mine since accuracy in movement can often be overly difficult with tilt.

Player’s choice

I’ve got plenty of mechanisms to prototype in order to really find out which the one that works best for my game. One suggestion I found on StackOverflow is to develop a few and let the player choose. Something that feels natural to one person can easily feel awkward to another.

Which one do you prefer? Have I missed a trick? I would love to here from you in the comments section below.