Designing for Tactile iPhone Game Controls?

Unity Engine
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Have you ever noticed that while gaming is highly popular on the iPhone, the lack of a tactile control surface continues to be a primary concern among gamers using the device?

This got me thinking… why isn’t there at least one quality game control add on for the iPhone by now? Even something that would snap onto the iPhone itself and pass button presses directly to the iPhone screen would be somewhat useful… right?

I think part of the problem stems from a lack of standardization among developers. Without a standard, developers see it as freedom to run wild. While that in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it does make it far more difficult for a 3rd party to design a cost-effective solution to the problem.

Anyway, my thinking is that if multiple iPhone game developers could get together and start laying out a unified reference guide for a standardized on-screen game control interface and then incorporate it into their games, maybe one of these 3rd party hardware manufacturers might finally develop a practical snap on device for the iPhone that might actually use it.

This add on could be something like an analog nub or a d-pad with 3-4 face buttons for actions and one or two small buttons for selecting game options and confirming the changes.

At any rate, I don’t think such an item will arrive any time soon without something from developers showing they’re willing to commit to supporting it. Developing a reference and specifications guide, then agreeing to use it in your games where possible might go a long way toward gaining some much needed tactile input options for the iPhone.

It might even stir up some interest for Unity on iPhone if unity developers are the first to create such a standard to the point that hardware was manufactured just for our games.

(Of course, you could just ignore this and go back to trying to wipe those circular smudges off the middle of your iPhone screen from all those rounds of Flick Fishing you played way back when…)

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let’s keep our fingers crossed!
:slight_smile:

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I agree with this. Touch screen is good and nice for some functions but I don’t find it very good for games: you hide a lot of the screen with your own fingers and the fact that you don’t “feel” the controls under the fingertips gives less sensitivity and precision.

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Howewer, you also have to consider that the iphone is no gaming console. It’s above all a cellphone (a mp3 player if we’re considering the iTouch). Most iphone gamers play on the bus, at school, basically on the move. Most of them would never carry a bulky accessory-let alone paying for it :slight_smile:
It would be a niche item-not sure if you could recoup development costs.

Last but not least, the iPhone dev scene is very fragmented. It would be very hard to provide enough supporting games to push people to buy such a peripheral.

IMHO, there would not be enough market for this kind of accessory. The iDevice is good for casual gaming-and accessories are better fit for more complex consoles.

Fede