With my current project I am hoping to create something that a non-gamer can easily control. A lot of casual games do this well, by restricting everything to dimensions. So, since I would like to use movement in all three dimensions for this project, I thought I would bring up the deeper problem of whether it is even possibly to make a 3d game for the sort of player who only plays Bejeweled and Tetris. I have some ideas. Here's one: mouse movement happens in a 2d plane normally, but when the mouse button is held, movement instead goes along the new axis. When the mouse button is released it does the selection/movement/shooting/whatever using that point in 3d space. I should make a prototype to try that one out. Anyway the real purpose of the post was to find out if anyone else has been considering the problem and maybe found some good solutions.

Similar control schemes have been tried before, with varying degrees of success; the system you describe sounds a lot (to me) like the steering model in Freelancer, for instance. A lot of "casual" and arcade players seemed to like that steering mechanism quite well.

However, the flip side is that the "hardcore" gamers usually don't like that kind of system, so if your looking to have a game that appeals to both Bejeweled fans and Quake fans, I'd strongly recommend giving players the option to switch between control schemes.


Usually, the kind of controls that feel natural and appropriate depend heavily on the type of gameplay you're putting together; designing controls first and trying to sandwich gameplay into them is usually a bad idea.

Well, I'm not designing controls first necessarily, but getting the controls right can definitely make or break a game. So I guess I am saying that you can't do gameplay "first" and then try to squeeze controls in, since they are so closely tied together.

Anyway I'm not thinking so much about a specific game anymore, but just whether there are good ways to let the player move a character around in 3 dimensions while still keeping it simple enough that the casual gamer could pick it up easily. I know I failed to find any successful casual game that made use of 3 dimensions.

I played the latest MYST game recently, and it successfully allows 3 different control setups for moving around a 3D environment.

#1) You have a static view where you can move your cursor around the screen. Clicking on the left or right side of the screen will will turn your view in that direction. Your cursor will change when you roll it over a part of the environment that you can move to, clicking will move you there. These "movement points" are limited and linear, allowing you to only travel to the spots you need to. The cursor changes again when you roll it over something you can interact with.

#2) You have a total freelook view. Your cursor is centered in the screen, and you move the mouse around to look and aim where-ever you want. Movement is still point and click, with the linear spots.

#3) Total freedom for view and movement. Use the mouse to look where-ever, and use the keyboard WASD keys to move where-ever. In this mode you can travel anywhere in the 3D environment.

Being an avid FPS gamer, I naturally played using option #3. My father however, who is a rare and very casual gamer preferred to play using option #1.

Like your title implies, building a casual 3D game can be very tricky, however, not impossible. The controls will be the biggest issue, but also the camera shouldn't move around too much. I have seen people who have never played 3D games attempt to play them, and they are mostly thrown off by a camera that is constantly in motion.

Ofcourse, if the game doesn't move the camera, than simply ignore this.