The old controls (as seen in the current release, version 1.0) consisted of:
1. A "rotater" control to turn and find a target.
2. The DPad, which was used for pivoting.
3. The targeting pad, which was either used to throw short passes (high release backhands and push passes) by itself, or was used after pivoting to throw full power backhands and forehands.
The problems with the old controls...
1. The "rotater" was awkwardly placed above the DPad, making it slow to go from turning to pivoting. It was also visually complicated.
2. The targeting pad was too tempting for beginners. They would (understandably) use it to throw the disc without pivoting first, but that would result in short throws. I.e., "I'm dragging the arrow out pretty far, how come the disc isn't going anywhere?"
Once I added hammers, I knew I had to unify all the different throws. Instead of separating the short throws from the long throws, I would put all of them (forehands, backhands, high release backhands, push passes, hammers, blades) conceptually on the same level.
The new controls consist of:
1. The DPad, used for pivoting as usual UNLESS the red Action Button is held down.
2. The familiar red Action Button. If pressed, it will enable the DPad to turn the player.
3. The targeting pad, which only pops up once the player has started pivoting.
Benefits of the new controls:
1. Got rid of the "rotater", and found a new use for an existing button. The fewer buttons to learn about the better.
2. The left thumb is always positioned over the DPad; no need to move it up in order to turn.
3. The throwing pad is no longer a big problem for new players. Instead of, "Don't use it if you haven't pivoted first", the recommendation is, "Whenever you see it, go for it!".
Here's a visual explanation of the new controls:
What do you think? Is this better than the old controls?
Barring any strong objections, the new controls will be available in the upcoming 1.1 release. I might include even simpler "beginner controls" as an option in a future version of the game.
6 comments:
I think I like the new controls, but one small quirk - would it make sense if the "hammer" option was for D-Pad Up and "short throw" was D-Pad down instead of the other way around as you propose?
It would seem more natural to throw a hammer by pushing up rather than pushing down.
Ah, interesting. My original reasoning was that you kind of step backwards to throw a hammer, or at least shift your weight back a bit. And similarly, throwing a push pass requires shifting your weight forward a bit. Well, kind of subjective. I think I like it that way, but I can add an option to flip it around.
The changes sound great. I was playing it on Cory's phone this weekend, and I was a little slow to pick up on the rotater control. Awesome game, though; I couldn't believe how clean the look was.
Any chance that accelerometer functions could control layouts and jumps?
Hey A.J.! Glad you like it!
Hmm, let me see if I understand. You hit the jump button and then swing the phone to control the direction of the jump? Or do you not even need the jump button-- just swing it and the player will jump in that direction?
Even after following the progress on here, Kate and I were blown away by it.
Unfortunately, this will probably not be a very helpful comment, because I can't remember what my motivation was when I thought about motion controls. I think Cory was saying that it would be nice to be able to choose between jumping and laying out when in pursuit of a disc, but maybe you can already do that. All I really remember is that he had trouble with jumping to catch while chasing a huck.
The accelerometer possibilities just seemed like a fun way to allow for quick jumps and bids in any direction. Depending on the sensitivity of the accelerometer, I think it could be cool to let the motion control the bids, without the need for a jump button.
Aha! Tell Cory that I agree with him that the game wasn't very smart about choosing whether to jump or layout, but it will be much better in the new version! Still not perfect, but much better.
Your idea sounds kind of neat for split second defensive decisions. I'll look into it sometime.
Thanks again for the feedback!
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