About virtual joystick for mobile games.

This is a thread I posted on TIGSource Forums previously. I thought it might get some interest here. This thread is NOT Construct 2 specific, but of course, it applies to it. Even so, it's a game design / UI design tthread.

"I had written my opinion on this matter but it got lost somehow, so I'll give you the TL;DR version right away.

I haven't found any mobile games that integrate virtual joystick well. I'm wondering if there is another way to go about this, about game controls in mobile games. I'm not talking about Angry Birds, in which you interact with the game elements themselves, but a game in which you control a character and that a joystick/gamepad would usually be needed.

I'm trying to find games who make a different use of the mobile space and that do it well. I might not have tried enough games to give such a judgment, but I haven't found any games that do it well OR that are console ports to a mobile device that have good controls.

To me, this looks and feels horrible :

<img src="http://cdn.gsmarena.com/pics/12/10/pop-classic-review/gsmarena_002.jpg" border="0" />

I know it's the best solution for now, but couldn't there be another way to use the game space to allow you to control the character?

I'm leaving the discussion open and I'll listen to your ideas and game suggestions."

For people interested in how to do it in Construct2

There are many different methods in many different games.

Using touch angles, touch positions, etcetera.

Finding the best way to do it in your game can be hard, for if you don't make use of the angles of the device and device motion it will allways involve touching the screen and therefor making part of it harder to see.

I agree, touch controls are generally awful for any game that derives from a joystick / joypad set up...

Touch is for mouse trackball games, even then your finger over an eighth of the screen kinda kills it...

long live the arcade stick!, oh and big red, noisy buttons...

alvarop

You should check out ShadowBlade for IOS then. I got this game only for how they work the controls. It's a very classic controller game type. Where one wuold think to use some king of D-Pad or analog controller.

however the game doesn't control with any kind of pad. It's failry intuitive. I admit the game controls could use some polish, but I feel they are ont he right track.

How do the controls work.

Player holds the device in both hands. The player is expect to use both thumbs.

Actions are done by gestures or touches on the corrosponding side.

Touch will move

Tap will attack

swipe up will jump up

swipe up/right or up/left(depending on side) will jump in that direction

swipe down will do a drop down a attack

It's a very platformer based game with very clean controls. Needs some tuning though.

Also check out Mirrors Edge for IOS to.