Cezar Wagenheimer's Blog

Designing for touch-screen

Designing games is a job everyone likes the sound of. That doesn’t mean everyone can do it though. Once upon a time, gaming was limited to what you could do with a mouse, joystick or controller. Or if you were to go even farther back in time, you played a game like poker with a pack of cards to entertain yourself. Nowadays we have to think of other components when designing a game. In particular, touch screen.

Whether you are creating a brand new game, or taking an already established game like poker, touch screen has become an established norm over the years. You could be playing partypoker on your internet app, or a poker app designed for your operating system: touch screen is so established in the gaming market, that the consumer now expects it. They can be a logistical nightmare though. The machine at the train station has buttons to destinations. Games require a lot more programming than that.

Simplicity

The trick is to make it simple. The last thing a gamer wants to do is read a tutorial to work out the mechanics of the touch-screen capability. If we’re still talking about poker, there are enough rules and regulations to deal with, without having added technological issues added. A designer thinks of every action a user can take and then implements it. For example, the makers of card game apps have made them so you can tap at the cards on the screen to perform a function, or added a button you can press at on the screen to ‘Fold’ or place a ‘Bet’. The designer has to anticipate every movement before they can create the movement.

Accessible

A touch screen game needs to be accessible to keep the gamers attention. If it is too difficult to interact with the gaming features; buttons, characters, blocks etc, the user will give up and try another game. Or another app in the case of a poker game, because many people have designed a similar games app.

Control

People enjoy playing touch screen games, because there is a level of control that is absent from clicking a mouse on your laptop or a button on a console controller. There is an immediacy to it that makes the gamer feel connected to the game.

As I said before it’s a logistical nightmare, but when you get it right it’s an amazing feeling knowing the game is out on the market.