作者：Jim Squires

虚拟的方向盘，模拟操纵杆以及按键正摧毁着你的手机游戏。也许你会认为这种论点太过激进，但是我想大部分人都会同意这一说法。

Rovio的Matt Wilson在今天早上于Casual Connect Kiev展会上的演讲中透露：“如果你拥有的是一款虚拟操纵杆游戏，那么这款游戏从诞生的那天起便注定会遭遇失败。”巧合的是，在同一天ReignGames的创始人Matthew Mayer也发表了关于这一理念的演讲，并承认，同样是复制《Crush the Castle》这款游戏，《愤怒的小鸟》取得了成功，他们自己却遭遇了失败；而失败的主要原因便在于对控制方式的错误选择。

ReignGames于2009年所发行的《Crash the Crib》与《愤怒的小鸟》具有极其相似的游戏玩法（游戏邦注：都是受到《Crush the Castle》的启发），但是后者取得了巨大的成功，而前者却遭遇了惨败。问题到底出在哪里？因为《Crash the Crib》的游戏玩法并未包含Mayer所说的“触屏控制的关键元素”。他认为，每一款触屏游戏都必须遵循以下原则：

*具有直观性

*能够提供反馈信息

*强调直接操作

*具有可调节性

Mayer说道：“当史蒂夫·乔布斯最初向全世界发布iPhone时，他便说道，我们将利用世界上最棒，也是我们与身俱来的定点设备——手指。而基于手指的使用去设计你的游戏控制方式便是决定其成败的关键。”

Mayer表示，你所需要做到的第一步便是确保控制方式的直观性。如果没有了指示，玩家将会做些什么？《水果忍者》的滑动屏幕机制便有效地呈现出了直观性。《愤怒的小鸟》中的弹弓亦是如此，Mayer将这样的设置称为“控制设计的杰作。”

Angry Birds(from people.com)

弹弓是一种非常直接的操控方式。玩家无需使用按键或箭头去控制弹弓——而是只需使用手指进行拉动便可。直接操控能够提供给玩家虚拟控制方式所缺少的沉浸感。

《愤怒的小鸟》中的弹弓也总是设法呈献给用户反馈信息。当玩家拉动弹弓时便会出现音频提示，告诉他们弹弓已经启动，同时配合视觉效果让玩家对此更加一目了然。

优秀的触屏设计必须具备的最后一大元素便是精确度，但是更重要的还是需要确保控制方式足够简单。虽然人类是一种非常机灵的群体，但是我们却总是不愿意老老实实地在正确的位置上按键输入或尽快速地滑动屏幕。而触屏控制方式必须原谅人们的这种行为并对此做出最佳回应。Mayer说道：“虽然现在几乎人人都拥有智能手机，但是从本质上来看，我们的思想仍然停留在最原始的状态。”

最后，我们可以将Mayer的要点总结为“尽可能确保控制方式的简单与直观”。他在Casual Connect Kiev展会上的结束语是这样的：“如果你觉得有必要在游戏开始时添加控制的相关教程，那便说明你的控制机制已经过于复杂了。一个真正直白的控制机制从来不需要教程进行说明。”

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

How to build perfect controls in mobile games (Casual Connect Kiev)

By Jim Squires

Virtual d-pads, analog sticks and buttons suck on mobile devices.  That may sound like a harsh statement, but I think you’d have a pretty hard time finding anyone who’d disagree.  And heck – this is the second time this week I’ve had to say it.  As it turns out, I’m not the only one.

Rovio’s Matt Wilson took a shot at them during his presentation at Casual Connect Kiev this morning, saying “if you have a virtual joystick game, you’re doomed from day one”.  By pure coincidence, a presentation from ReignGames founder Matthew Mayer took place later in the day that explored this idea, acknowledging that their own Crush the Castle clone failed in the same timeframe that Angry Birds succeeded – largely due to poor choices in control.

ReignGames had released Crash the Crib, a game with similar play to Angry Birds (which too was inspired by Crush the Castle) in 2009 – but while the Birds soared, the Crib crashed.  The problem?  The gameplay didn’t touch on what Mayer calls the “key factors for control in touch.” In his opinion, every touch game should adhere to the following principles;

be intuitive

provide feedback

feature direct manipulation

be adjustable

“When Steve Jobs stood up on stage for the first time and presented to the world the iPhone, he said that we’re going to use the best pointing device in the world,” said Mayer.  “We’re going to use a pointing device that we’re all born with … we’re going to use our fingers.  Designing your controls to make the best use of these fingers is really what makes or breaks your game.”

The first step in best use, says Mayer, is having the controls be intuitive.  What would a player do naturally if given no instruction?  Fruit Ninja’s swiping mechanic is a great example of intuitive success.  So is the slingshot in Angry Birds, which Mayer calls “a masterpiece of control design.”

The slingshot is also a great example of direct manipulation.  Players aren’t using buttons or arrows to control the slingshot – they’re pulling on it with their own fingers.  As you can probably gather, direct manipulation offers a level of immersion that virtual controls simply can’t compare to.

Angry Birds’ slingshot also manages to provide feedback to the user.  Pulling on it reveals audio cues to let you know it’s been pulled, and the visual cues match to show you that you’re actually pulling it.  (after three consecutive examples, I’m starting to see why Mayer called it a masterpiece.)

The final element in great touch design has to do with accuracy – or more importantly, remembering to go easy on it.  Humans are an ingenious bunch, but we’re apt to not tap in the right place or not swipe as quickly as we need to. And touch controls need to be forgiving in response to that.  “We all have smart phones,” says Mayer, “but at heart, we’re still quite dumb cavemen.”

In the end, Mayar’s points can best be summed up with the classic cliché “keep it simple, stupid.”  That said, his own closing comments at Casual Connect Kiev put it a bit more eloquently than my homespun bumper sticker wisdom ever could: “If you start feeling the need to add a tutorial at the beginning of your game to explain the controls, that’s almost certainly a sign that your control scheme has already got too complicated.  A good intuitive control scheme really shouldn’t need a tutorial.”(source:gamezebo)