2 ms·

I don't think the mechanics on mobile are that limited, as you say in #2. Certainly an iPad can do anything a PlayStation 1 could do, and many things it couldn

I don't think the mechanics on mobile are that limited, as you say in #2. Certainly an iPad can do anything a PlayStation 1 could do, and many things it couldn't. What is limiting is the use case. People play games on phones and tablets to fill time in the cracks in their day. They don't seem to go to an iPhone or an iPad as a destination entertainment device, in the way they do with a console or a PC. People make a lot of really simple games on mobile, partly because its cheaper, and partly because the assumption is that if you are going to spend more than fifteen minuted uninterupted playing a game, you are going to do it on another device.

CalRobert 12y ago
Respectfully I have to disagree - the Playstation had hardware controls, the phones being sold today don't, tragically. I really, really, really miss sliding keyboards. How would a game like Twisted Metal work on a phone? A tablet? Screen controls, for me at least, don't have the responsiveness you want, and the lack of available buttons makes it hard to do anything beyond one to three button layouts. One game that managed this pretty well was Swordigo, but that was with nothing but left, right, jump, attack, and a special weapon. For that matter, how would you make Doom work on a phone halfway decently? Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat? Touch screens are a sad replacement for real buttons, and today's devices are pretty much universal crap for lacking them. The best typing experience I ever had was Android on an HTC Touch Pro 2 because it had a sublimely wonderful keyboard, and that phone ran Windows Mobile 6.5 by default!
exelius 12y ago
IMO the mechanics are limited for the following reasons: 1. The buttons take up screen space. You either have to design your game with a touch interface in mind (touchable objects) or ensure the action all takes place at the center of the screen. 2. In order to hit a button or make a gesture, you have to obscure your view of the screen. This means soft buttons need to be larger than the size of the average finger tip. Which limits the number you can have on screen. 3. The buttons aren't tactile. Again, this limits the number of buttons you can have since it's hard to differentiate between them without moving your finger and seeing where the button is. Given these restrictions, it's no wonder that certain types of game mechanics have become very popular: parabolic motion games like Flappy Bird or Jetpack Joyride, tower defense/strategy games, swipe gestures (Infinity Blade or Fruit Ninja) or puzzle games like Candy Crush. In fact, the mechanics for these games would likely be very frustrating on a controller or mouse/keyboard. I've played a number of action games on iPhone as well, and the controls just kind of suck. Secret of Mana is only playable because the console version's hit logic was glitchy to begin with so it works ok on mobile. I probably wouldn't have played more than 5 minutes if it weren't for the nostalgia factor.

CalRobert 12y ago

Respectfully I have to disagree - the Playstation had hardware controls, the phones being sold today don't, tragically. I really, really, really miss sliding keyboards. How would a game like Twisted Metal work on a phone? A tablet? Screen controls, for me at least, don't have the responsiveness you want, and the lack of available buttons makes it hard to do anything beyond one to three button layouts. One game that managed this pretty well was Swordigo, but that was with nothing but left, right, jump, attack, and a special weapon. For that matter, how would you make Doom work on a phone halfway decently? Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat? Touch screens are a sad replacement for real buttons, and today's devices are pretty much universal crap for lacking them. The best typing experience I ever had was Android on an HTC Touch Pro 2 because it had a sublimely wonderful keyboard, and that phone ran Windows Mobile 6.5 by default!

exelius 12y ago

IMO the mechanics are limited for the following reasons: 1. The buttons take up screen space. You either have to design your game with a touch interface in mind (touchable objects) or ensure the action all takes place at the center of the screen. 2. In order to hit a button or make a gesture, you have to obscure your view of the screen. This means soft buttons need to be larger than the size of the average finger tip. Which limits the number you can have on screen. 3. The buttons aren't tactile. Again, this limits the number of buttons you can have since it's hard to differentiate between them without moving your finger and seeing where the button is. Given these restrictions, it's no wonder that certain types of game mechanics have become very popular: parabolic motion games like Flappy Bird or Jetpack Joyride, tower defense/strategy games, swipe gestures (Infinity Blade or Fruit Ninja) or puzzle games like Candy Crush. In fact, the mechanics for these games would likely be very frustrating on a controller or mouse/keyboard. I've played a number of action games on iPhone as well, and the controls just kind of suck. Secret of Mana is only playable because the console version's hit logic was glitchy to begin with so it works ok on mobile. I probably wouldn't have played more than 5 minutes if it weren't for the nostalgia factor.