Where does Touch Gaming fit into Gaming?

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ccman

Limp Gawd
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I was going to create a thread called "Is touch gaming really gaming?" I believe it unquestionably is, so I'm rephrasing it as:

Where does touch gaming fit into gaming in general?

Have you seen touch gaming done particularly well? Is touch gaming mostly casual games and turn based games?

This question is coming from my recent experience with playing Ducktales Remastered on the Amazon Kindle HDX (an Actually Free app). I remembered Ducktales on the NES and had nostalgic, fond memories of fun. The game really looked good. I loved the new graphics, the voice acting, and the unique takes on the stages. I had a lot of fun with Remastered with a few exceptions. The shame of not beating the game on Easy is real. I got all the way to the escape scene at then end and just couldn't beat it using the touch controls. I don't have a controller and have the bad taste of dying over and over. The game crashed at the African Mines boss and Count Dracula Duck. Maybe it was a bad port or bad controls. Maybe I'm not good at touch controls.

I loved playing Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake on the iPhone, played it through, and beat it. I either completed it or got close.

Other than that, I've enjoyed Dragon Quest I and Final Fantasy I - IV on the iPhone. I used a controller on FFI - FFIV (not Bluetooth). The graphics were great, but I didn't enjoy Infinity Blade. Fruit Ninja was fun enough. I couldn't get into VVVVVV on the iPhone.

To me, touch is good at certain aspects of games or is good at certain games, but many games just don't work well using only touch. I can play almost anything on PC. I feel the same way about consoles. I don't feel the same way about touch. Touch nearly feels like a subset of gaming. I have to wonder if I've been effected by the stereotype of the casual mobile game or just haven't been exposed to enough touch gaming.
 
Yar, I think touch is great for certain genres of games (ie: puzzlers, erotic adventures), but terrible for others. It's similar to how a keyboard and mouse are great for some games, but not ideal for others.

I could see how Ducktales remastered would be hard using touch controls, although you should still be ashamed for not being able to beat that game on easy.
 
SeymourGore said:
Yar, I think touch is great for certain genres of games (ie: puzzlers, erotic adventures), but terrible for others. It's similar to how a keyboard and mouse are great for some games, but not ideal for others.

I could see how Ducktales remastered would be hard using touch controls, although you should still be ashamed for not being able to beat that game on easy.
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I am ashamed. On re-examination, I see that admiting to this on the Internet was a terrible idea. As the saying goes, "the Internet is forever" -The NSA. But jumping between those chains that would fall though!
 
I know Civ 5 has a Windows 8 touch mode. I haven't really tried it yet, and I bought a touchscreen monitor when I got the PC back in Windows 8 launch. There are some games that would work really well as a touch game, StarCraft, XCOM, stuff like that. XCOM does have an Android and Kindle Fire version which I have not tried either.
 
For certain games, I think it will work. However, when developers try to shoe horn a touch based interface into games like an FPS, I don't think it works out so well. Games like RTS can work well, puzzle games, platformers / sidescrollers also work well.
 
I would also like to add, that developers that make games for Nintendo DS, 3DS have found creative ways to add touch functionality to their games. In this case though the player does not have to remove their hands from the main input device to reach for the screen like you would on a desktop PC.
 
My problem with touch is that most devices are too small. I think that 10" should be the minimum size for true enjoyment and something in the 17"+ size would make me happy. Now it's a question of "Do I want to hold a 17"+ sized screen?

So to me the perfect touch device is one that isn't mobile. It doubles as furniture in your living room or gaming room if you have that type of space. And it's fun for the entire family as you can play many genres of games on it from card games to RPGs and even action games. My suggestion is a touchscreen based "Cocktail Sit Down Home Game Machine". Remember the scene from Star Wars where there was a 3D game of chess being played? That's where I'm going with this device.

Imagine that the entire glass surface on top was a touchscreen. And the device allowed for play from external devices such as Kindles, tablets, etc. Now you're not trapped huddling around the device if you want to play with the family while lounging on the couch for example. But of course you can get hands on with your buddies at the table. 3D Skype your buddies over the internet and have them in your living room with you.


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The next developmental cycle would be something like Microsoft HoloLens, but perfected into a pair of sunglasses like device. Right now it's just too bulky. But with even the current HoloLens tech demo you can "click" and "touch" virtual items in your living space. This would be great for an individual gamer but something like the Cocktail sit down machine would be great for a family where you don't want people alienated by a device over their face.
 
I just hug my chair harder and switch out mice it's the person not the game usually.
I used to get stoked riding my bike to the local mini Mall and playing Contra in 1989 which was well worth the bike ride.
If you ween yourself off of videogames lets say you play nothing for two years and read books outside instead and go for brisk walks outside.
Two years later you will be floored at the games out there because you got away from them with a fresh set of eyes ect.. The reason why I only play on weekends.

The same ephoria can go for a a PC gamer going to a console it's usually in a different part of the home so you go to the console instead of the PC you like the console better cause you got away from the PC for a while.

The best videogame experience was a Birthday Party at the local arcade for my cousin we had unlimited tokens and like a whole hour to the arcade with about 10 of his closest friends it was great.
 
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It is a niche piece of hardware. If you need an MFD for a flight sim I can see it being a cheap alternative than buying a bunch of physical buttons. Also has the advantage of allowing for multiple configurations. Can also be useful for a game like Star Citizen. But aside from those few niche games I can't think of many uses.

Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9JloI98qB0
 
Anything that requires a large amount of movement or tapping in a short space of time or requires aiming accuracy (for example, Dead Trigger, Demon Hunter 5, FFVI, any shoot them ups), I used a controller for (I have a bluetooth controller for this expressed purpose).

Those that don't, I am fine with a touch screen (eg PvZ, puzzle, casino or any turn based games).

Anything else I'll try both before making up my mind, though generally I prefer controller over touch screen if possible to lessen the damage (scratches) to the screen.
 
Touch is fine as mentioned above for puzzle type games, and maybe (if the surface area was large enough) for strategy type games. I worked on the team for the original large MS Surface tables for a while, and they had a few puzzle, casino, and other similar types of games on them that they were working on. They were great on that platform, and I couldn't imagine them being better with any other control scheme.

On smaller touch displays I also think click-heavy RPGs along the lines of Diablo work pretty well. You're just constantly clicking anyway, so why not tap lightly directly on what you want to attack?

Anything else though, no. I've only played one platform game on a mobile device that I though controlled well enough to be playable. That was Rico: A Tale of Two Brothers. For some reason it just responds well, and I never felt like accuracy was lacking. Other ones though, not so much.

Oh, one more type that works ok, dual-"stick" type shooters. These work out quite well if implemented right. (think Geometry Wars...)

It has its place(s) but its horrible in many types of games.
 
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