What are your opinions about Mobile controls and RPG game play?

bunzaga

I have been playing a few mobile RPG games lately, and I began to wonder what other people like to see in their mobile RPG games.  So I put together a couple topics which I found interesting, and was hoping people would take the time to put in their opinions about them.

Control schemes for mobile devices.

1. Taps and Swipes:

Game mechanics, such as movement, attacks, etc are all handled through tapping and swiping the screen.

2. DPad + Buttons:

Movement and actions are performed using a DPad icon in the lower left corner, and 2-4 buttons on the lower right corner.

The second thing I found interesting is for overall gameplay.

1. Turn Based:

The user is able to move around the level freely, until combat begins, at which time combat would go into a turn based mode.  The enemies have a turn to move and attack, then the player had a turn to move and attack.  Initiative is random.

2. Real Time Action:

The user is able to move freely around the level, combat is real time.  Basically, the player enters a room and starts hacking and slashing.

Personally, as an old school gamer, I like the DPad + Buttons, but since it is on a portable device, I think taps and swipes are cool too.  I like the strategy involved in turn based combat, but also like the pure hack and slash action of real time combat.

What do you all think?  What are your opinions and why?  This is just for fun, no right or wrong answers

KenFisher

My favorite design is an adaptation of the Asian styled MMORPG UI with tap to move and tap to attack.  Swipe is then used to change camera angles.  Pretty much perfect in this regard is Pocket Legends.

 

My pet peeve of mobile gaming is the virtual joystick.  For the life of me, all I do is run in circles.

 

 

Brenelael

I've played quite a few mobile RPGs on my 10" tablet and out of all of them I'd have to say as far as controls are concerned I prefer the D-Pad and buttons approach the best. I also like real time combat more but thats true for other gaming platforms as well. I was never a fan of the Final Fantasy series for this reason. Turn based just takes you out of the world for the combat in my opinion and trashes immersion in the process.

 

The only types that I like the "tap to move/attack" type of controls are the ARPGs as it seems to be a better fit. These types of games are "Click to move/attack" on the PC so it's not hard to pick it up on a mobile device. Any game that has a first person or 3rd person view I much prefer the D-Pad and buttons setup. What's great about some mobile games is you can reconfigure the controls to what works for you best. They are not confined to a hardware control device so your can move the buttons around, change the size and put things where they are comfortable for you personally.

 

There are already some really good RPG games out there like Earth and Legend, Heroes Call, Galaxy on Fire 2, A Bards Tale, Hero of Sparta and Soulcraft. They will only get better as time goes by.

 

Bren

TheLizardbones

I find mobile control schemes to be universally bad for any type of game where I'm accustomed to playing with a game controller or keyboard & mouse combination. If the platform allows for using a game controller, that is by far my preferred method of interaction.

Everything else just depends on the game. Turn based or real time works for me.

dalin89

Yes as what all of you had said, it is a interesting things, it is convenient and funny.

Warlyx

dpad + buttons all the way

 

tap and swipe is frustrating sometimes

Castillle

Im good with touch screen as long as it doesnt involve a virtual controller that you tap on.  I hate those.

jtcgs

I would pass on mobile RPGs just due to the fact I dont believe a computer based RPG should be so vastly limited, so, even if say a mobile TES comes out, I wouldnt fund it out of protest. Just spend my money on mobile action or puzzle games since they are more fitting the limitations on mobile games.

Least we have most game making companies stop making full blown PC games and drop them in favor of just mobile games...and dont think it cant happen. Mobile devices far outnumber computers already so that market can be seen as large making PC games seem less profitable.

GrayGhost79

Well, I don't know if this counts or not but... 

I've been playing my MMO's on my tablet and phone while I'm out of town or something. I play a couple of different ways. 

On my phone I like to clip on a dual analog controller and then use Kainy to setup a few hot keys I need for map, inventory, etc. Most of the rest of the abilities I simply touch on screen to activate. The clip on controller I have has some hardware buttons as well so I map those to attacks and jump as well as activate for doors and such. 

 

On my tablet some times I'll use my phone as a controller with kainy filling up the screen with buttons and using the dual analog clip on controller (30+ buttons between clip on controller and overlay buttons) and set it to gamepad mode which makes it so the graphics don't stream to my phone, then use my tablet as my screen. 

 

Sometimes I'll use Kainy on my tablet and set the virtual analog sticks and keys up so they don't block my view but are still accessible if I don't need to many keys. 

 

It all depends but again like I said I don't know if this counts because I don't actually play Mobile games on my tablet and phone, I actually play my PC games on it with Kainy. 

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Germaximus_S

I prefer taps and swipes since i dont like covering my entire screen with my thumbs. If i had a tablet i would probably enjoy touch controls more.

Undead Slayer is the perfect game for me only requireing 1 finger and being full of fun action. And its free for both ios and android!