What sort of games do you think are better suited to small screens? I'm not talking low resolution - I'm talking small, as in mobile phone size?
Be as general as you like.
Be as general as you like.
Small screens - design considerations
Miscellaneous Forums/General Discussion/Small screens - design considerations Dont think arcade games work or anything thats fast - I find all controls are usually sluggish.
Probably simple games like O's and X's
Probably simple games like O's and X's
Have you played any mobile phone games?? Also I find phone controls are clumsy, but not sluggish. Thinks that require fast complex input are a no, but not necessarily fast games.Games which don't require lots of information to be displayed on the screen at once, or which don't require 'scrolling' to fast, are better for small screens and I'm assuming phone-like interfaces.
well phone size probably involves low res also
dont know the rez of mine but the wall paper on my old one was iir smaller than 240:320 (4:3 ratio on its side)
my current one has a 1600:whatever camera mode but i know it scales to fit and its no way near 1600:whatever ;)
but ive never played camera phone games as they just dont feel right in my hand ... least nokia's n:gage came with a game pad on it
dont know the rez of mine but the wall paper on my old one was iir smaller than 240:320 (4:3 ratio on its side)
my current one has a 1600:whatever camera mode but i know it scales to fit and its no way near 1600:whatever ;)
but ive never played camera phone games as they just dont feel right in my hand ... least nokia's n:gage came with a game pad on it
The only decent control method I've ever used is on my phone...
Got a Sony w910i and it's got marble madness on it where you tilt the phone to control the marble... really good fun for about 19 seconds before the novelty wears off and you never play a game on it again.
Got a Sony w910i and it's got marble madness on it where you tilt the phone to control the marble... really good fun for about 19 seconds before the novelty wears off and you never play a game on it again.
was just called by my mobile company
told em i werent mithered about camera functions as i have a propper camera (12x optical zoom) slr-esque
got an ipod so dont need music playback
etc
and ages ago i would have said "im getting a gba so dont need games"
never did get a gba but dont know if phones are still pants for games or not
when i asked about the viewity they said i could have that ... so i actually went for a phone i wanted not just a brick
so perhaps (getting back on thread) the touch aspect could make for some interesting options
told em i werent mithered about camera functions as i have a propper camera (12x optical zoom) slr-esque
got an ipod so dont need music playback
etc
and ages ago i would have said "im getting a gba so dont need games"
never did get a gba but dont know if phones are still pants for games or not
when i asked about the viewity they said i could have that ... so i actually went for a phone i wanted not just a brick
so perhaps (getting back on thread) the touch aspect could make for some interesting options
Mov left and right and shoot. IE any space shooter game. The buttons are two small and you generally press the wrong ones. I HATE snake for that reason :o)
I've played some decent platform and shmup games for mobile phones, was surprised how good the controls were, could play with only one hand.
Probably puzzle games, they are usually pretty fun, but don't require good graphics or fast input.
I play an elite style game on my sony ericson, it's really smooth and easy to play using the navigation stick. It's quite weird playing a full 3D game on my phone though.
Other games I play regularly:
mini golf
tetris
darts
Other games I play regularly:
mini golf
tetris
darts
Breakout and cardgames would also be good
Really depends on what (range of) phones you are aiming your game at. Take a look at Nokia Snake (n-gage style phones only), Tower Bloxx, SolaRola - all good mobile games. Then take another look at the last two on top-end (smartphones) and low-end (bargain bin phones) hardware. Tower Bloxx is probably pretty consistant on different hardware. SolaRola is a good example of the same game being two completely different experiences on differing hardware. This isn't because it runs slower etc (as you would get on a PC) it is because it is partially re-written to make the most of the hardware (effects, loading times, graphics detail are all affected).
>when i asked about the viewity they said i could have that ... so i actually
>went for a phone i wanted not just a brick
Nice, I've got one and it's quite good.
>so perhaps (getting back on thread) the touch aspect could make for some
>interesting options
When you get the phone, check out the game that comes with the phone... Kind of like Operation wolf in 3D with bells.
>went for a phone i wanted not just a brick
Nice, I've got one and it's quite good.
>so perhaps (getting back on thread) the touch aspect could make for some
>interesting options
When you get the phone, check out the game that comes with the phone... Kind of like Operation wolf in 3D with bells.
2 guys at work have viewities, ive not had a play on either cos A> its their phones B> im too busy working :( and C> take my breaks at different times most times
but the stylus that comes with it seems a bit fat, me thinks a spare ds pack is called for
i know the screen is massive compared to most (save iPhone) so when they were watching a divx of scarface even i could watch it over their shoulders (when all 3 of us should have been working ;) )
althogh im told it uses the mini (or micro) SD cards, myself i would have gone with normal SD cards (i have 3 or 4 2gb cards for my festival camera) they arnt really big and the size of the phone is quite big
im thinking stylus Qix myself ... that would be fun to play
my current phone has the 'dpad' arround the ok button so firing and moving would be odd
another i had to borrow once had a thumbstick (with button underneath ala 360 thumb sticks) which was hard to use, in the end i just said "tell me his number and ill call him on my phone" ... but for games it would be better
but the stylus that comes with it seems a bit fat, me thinks a spare ds pack is called for
i know the screen is massive compared to most (save iPhone) so when they were watching a divx of scarface even i could watch it over their shoulders (when all 3 of us should have been working ;) )
althogh im told it uses the mini (or micro) SD cards, myself i would have gone with normal SD cards (i have 3 or 4 2gb cards for my festival camera) they arnt really big and the size of the phone is quite big
im thinking stylus Qix myself ... that would be fun to play
my current phone has the 'dpad' arround the ok button so firing and moving would be odd
another i had to borrow once had a thumbstick (with button underneath ala 360 thumb sticks) which was hard to use, in the end i just said "tell me his number and ill call him on my phone" ... but for games it would be better
well i got my viewity phone the next day :D
but it dont have that op wolf type game but a 30 second demo of bejeweled :(
30 seconds !?!
30 bleeeding f-ing seconds !?!
but it dont have that op wolf type game but a 30 second demo of bejeweled :(
30 seconds !?!
30 bleeeding f-ing seconds !?!
I have the Viewty too. Gaming wise I tend to play things like BeJeweled which let you directly touch the screen rather than moving around with cursors
PLUG: I'm having fun writing touchscreen apps in Java at the moment and have so far written TouchPiano, TouchGuitar, and TouchTracker. Details in the KU990.co.uk forums - Software section
PLUG: I'm having fun writing touchscreen apps in Java at the moment and have so far written TouchPiano, TouchGuitar, and TouchTracker. Details in the KU990.co.uk forums - Software section
i can imagin touch screen qix :D
both guys at work seem to use the stylus without taking the bloody cap off :))
i always thought it were a bit too chunky and vowed to buy a spare DS stylus from game
whats its native screen res btw?
both guys at work seem to use the stylus without taking the bloody cap off :))
i always thought it were a bit too chunky and vowed to buy a spare DS stylus from game
whats its native screen res btw?
I have Bejeweled for my palm, I use the nav buttons - quite fast :D
Palm usually runs around 320x240..
Palm usually runs around 320x240..
> whats its native screen res btw?
Viewty is 240x400
Viewty is 240x400
ta
i know they scale images down on em but i never knew the real res of any of my phones, nice to know incase i want to do a mock up of how qix would look in paint ;)
was rather looking forward to that op wolf type game
a 30 second demo of bejeweld? i ask you grumblegrumblegrumble
i know they scale images down on em but i never knew the real res of any of my phones, nice to know incase i want to do a mock up of how qix would look in paint ;)
was rather looking forward to that op wolf type game
a 30 second demo of bejeweld? i ask you grumblegrumblegrumble
dredging up an oldish thread
mine (from 3 in the uk) came with bejeweled as stated up there ^^^ but i had a look at the games i could download and didnt see anything kinda like that (mind you i still had the old phone in my3's prefs so that might have been why)
what was its name?
When you get the phone, check out the game that comes with the phone... Kind of like Operation wolf in 3D with bells.
mine (from 3 in the uk) came with bejeweled as stated up there ^^^ but i had a look at the games i could download and didnt see anything kinda like that (mind you i still had the old phone in my3's prefs so that might have been why)
what was its name?
Sokoban
Worms
Point 'n Click / SCUMM
Worms
Point 'n Click / SCUMM
The most comfortable control method on my phone that I've experienced is with Arkanoid DX and Brick Breaker Revolution. Only having to worry about left & right, with the occasional tap of the center navi button is fine.
Everything else is rubbish.
The other consideration you need ot have for screens on mobile devices is poor refresh. Fast-moving high-contrast objects on my Nokia N95's leave very visible trails and can be quite confusing to look at.
Most games get around this by having poor framerates. Arkanoid DX works ok because it runs at about 15fps. Brick Breaker Revolution runs around 20-25fps but has quite large (easy to discern) objects.
Resolution is becoming less of an issue. The HTC Diamond, for instance, has a 640x480 screen.
Everything else is rubbish.
The other consideration you need ot have for screens on mobile devices is poor refresh. Fast-moving high-contrast objects on my Nokia N95's leave very visible trails and can be quite confusing to look at.
Most games get around this by having poor framerates. Arkanoid DX works ok because it runs at about 15fps. Brick Breaker Revolution runs around 20-25fps but has quite large (easy to discern) objects.
Resolution is becoming less of an issue. The HTC Diamond, for instance, has a 640x480 screen.
Resolution is becoming less of an issue. The HTC Diamond, for instance, has a 640x480 screen.
that sounds large for a mobile screen
and if its the same physical size as every other on the market then sooner or later thats going to look titchy reading texts unless they use a larger font thus defeating the object
and yes pix dont get scaled down as much but on such a small screen would you notice?
edit:
as for sokoban on a touch screen i would click on the square i wanted to go to and let it path find its way there it would be a pain having to click each square in turn but its no problem on a pc cursor
then click on the adjacent block to move it and not jsut click the block from where i am as it might push in the wrong direction
suduko on normal phones would have a key entry but the viewity and others dont
so id probably play it widescreen and have the number entry on the left or right side of the pannel
perhaps it would look ok tall screen with the numbers below ala normal phones
i know SCUMM started off on low res but im not too sure if we can go that low these days gfx artists are too used to bigger canvases ;)
chess draughts easy for touch screen
as are alot of mouse games that rely soley on lmb clicks
The HTC Diamond's 640x480 screen is of average physical size for a mobile phone. Not much larger than my Nokia N95, I would say.
It does look *exceptionally* nice, but yes, fonts have to be suitably large (number-of-pixels-wise) to be readable. At such a resolution, it's somewhat close to the level of human visual perception, when looked at from a distance most people operate their phones from.
It does look *exceptionally* nice, but yes, fonts have to be suitably large (number-of-pixels-wise) to be readable. At such a resolution, it's somewhat close to the level of human visual perception, when looked at from a distance most people operate their phones from.