Game interfaces on different platforms.
Monkey Forums/Monkey Programming/Game interfaces on different platforms.
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| I am working on a game that is playable using left and right mouse button. I'd like to be able to target a variety of systems. Do typical Android users have a way of emulating the right mouse button, or do I have to work out an interface that will work with a single button mouse? And if the latter, what are the most standard ways of reading the player's intentions? For example, suppose we were doing a jigsaw puzzle, and we want the player to be able to pick up and rotate pieces, and place them on the board. One possible one-button interface is to have a single click for pick-up or rotate, and a double click (two clicks a short time apart) for placement. But I've played a game from Gamehouse that had this interface and it was a bit of a pain to use. Is there anything better? Or is this interface okay if the timing is optimised (which of course also depends on good system responsiveness, not necessarily guaranteed on these devices). Thoughts? |
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| Maybe a couple of on screen buttons for rotate? And drag to move and tap to place? |
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| Or drag to move / place and tap to rotate? |
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| LOL, looks like I spoke too soon thinking I would have the right mouse button on any browser platform! Or the middle, for that matter. Neither HTML5 nor Flash seem to recognise any button other than the left. Must we really go back to the stone-age of game interfaces? (Okay, I suppose I can use keyboard input on PC...) |
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| i dont think right click is available on android or iOS either |
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| Could somebody who uses a touch platform suggest what sort of interface would be ideal for them (for the jigsaw piece example)? I.e. what do they feel would be simple, effortless and efficient? |
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| I think Multitouch would be an option? eg: Use 1 finger for movement, 2 fingers for rotation. |
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| - Double tap to rotate - tap and drag to move (release to place) The two finger method sounds alright, but it would probably become quite fidely/irratating. |
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| The double tap to rotate, and tap to pick up and drop (or maybe the other way round) sounds good. Any other ideas? We should be discussing these kind of things a bit more in the forums IMO. Accessibility and ease of use is really important for games, and with Monkey we are designing games for platforms we may not even use, or not use much! That has potentially big pitfalls. What's a good delay time to register a double tap if the clicks are less than that time apart? A fifth of a second, maybe? |
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| I like Shinkiro1 method best, just use one finger on the piece to move while the other finger is moved around to rotate. allow a certain amount of error in the rotation and the distance, if the conditions meet then position the piece. No need for tapping. |
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