[...]
Frankly, they suck.
[...] as I was beginning to form blisters on my finger tips.

Is it really that bad?
I don't own a touch device right now (my last one was a sony ericsson with stylus) and only played a few short rounds of "angry birds" and a demo of an action rpg on a friends device. That game used a control stick on the left and a "button stick" on the right.

I'm not sure how you could improve the touchscreen controls for action based rpgs that involve dodging, guarding, jumping and multiple forms of attack. I thought that using 4 semi transparent buttons on the bottom right edge of the screen would be ok if you combine them with swipe gestures, tap, hold, hold and drag etc

4 Buttons (A, B, C and X with X in the corner and A, B, C located around it like flower petals from left to right)
A - Guard
B - Attack
C - Jump
X - Special

Using swipe gestures, this would open up a lot of useful combinations like
"A + hold" for continued guard/block/defense
"B up" / "B down" for upper and lower attacks
"X ->A" for magic / special defense
"X -> B" for a magic / special strike (combined with up and down for directional attacks)
"X -> C" for a magic / special movement ability (charge, force jump, teleport, throw grappling hook)
"A -> B" for a grapple move (like in soul calibur if I remember correctly)
"A down" for a dodge

"Swipe X -> A -> B -> C" for HaDouKen
"Swipe X ->C -> B -> A" for a Roundhouse Kick

If you add the control stick, you can use even more classical beat'em'up moves
"X -> A + circular movement" for a shield spell that surrounds the player
"X -> B + quarter circular movement" for a special cleaving attack

Pro:
I can think of so many possible combinations... the question would be, will the end user be able to memorize them as well as me? I remember receiving many a beating because my best friend knew more character signature moves in Mortal Combat and Soul Calibur and how to time them...


Con:
I can imagine that either those 4 buttons take up to much of the screen (even if they are semi transparent, because you constantly have your thumb on them) or are to small and in accessible (at least on smaller android devices). I "tested" some simple swipe gestures on my Nokia E71 as it's roughly the same size as the ZTE Blade (which has a 3,5" Display with 480*800px iirc).

It's been incredibly interesting seeing touch screens rise as a UI for many different kinds of games, particularly with the launches of devices such as the iPhone and DS. It's kind of crazy watching a completely new control scheme trying to navigate it's way through all kinds of types and genres of games that have already been explored by more traditional controllers. That being said, a number of things have become clear to me.

One of the biggest issues that we first have to understand is that we're still trying to settle on HOW to use a touch screen. Some screens are better suited to a stylus while others are more finger-friendly.Most screens are moving towards multi-touch, though some screens still only register single-touch actions. Some devices insist on the touch screen being a separate control screen while the results of your inputs are displayed on another screen, while some devices push both responsibilities onto a single screen. There are smaller screens and bigger screens, both offering their own advantages and disadvantages.

So, the first thing we need to figure out is: What combination of these features should we settle with? Figuring out this "formula" is essential to even attempting to figure out how a touch screen can properly control a game, no matter what genre it's from. So, with all that exposition out of the way, here's how I think touch screens should function (at least in relation to games):

• Screens should be multi-touch and built with fingers in mind as the primary instruments of control on the devices. Looking at the functionality of an IOS phone versus, say, a DS touch screen, I think it's obvious which one works better. On the DS, it's easy to lose the stylus and the screen isn't incredibly responsive to flesh, though it's not impossible. Still, moving in the direction of the iPhone means simple functions that many of us take for granted, like pinching objects to make them larger or smaller.
• For the most part, I think the screen with which you observe the results of your inputs should be different from the screen you actively interact with. Otherwise, your fingers are constantly obscuring your view and make it difficult to accurately respond to fast-pace situations. I haven't been able to try it out myself yet, but the new Playstation Vita is really on to something if you ask me. With the back-side of the device capable of touch-controls, I think we'll finally have solved the issue of our fingers blocking our view. No more frustrations with trying to see past your own thumbs sounds incredible to me. Some say it'll be too awkward not being able to see your thumb and where it's at, but I'm confident people will quickly learn how to feel out where they are at and that games will provide indicators of where our fingers are at when needed.
• Screen sizes have actually been pretty okay. I think that touch-gaming, so far at least, has felt more suitable for portable gaming, so the screen sizes we've had on our phones and portable consoles thus far should do just fine. Of course, that doesn't mean we can't still look forward towards tablets becoming more common, but for now that's a pretty expensive option without much incentive.

[quote name='Luckless' timestamp='1305070090' post='4809180']
[...]
Frankly, they suck.
[...] as I was beginning to form blisters on my finger tips.

Is it really that bad?

[/quote]

It really isn't that bad if you play a game that has a lot of swiping in it for a few hours at most over the span of a week. But go quickly rub your finger back and forth across your desk. See how that feels after half an hour.

[quote name='Luckless' timestamp='1305070090' post='4809180']
[...]
Frankly, they suck.
[...] as I was beginning to form blisters on my finger tips.

Is it really that bad?
I don't own a touch device right now (my last one was a sony ericsson with stylus) and only played a few short rounds of "angry birds" and a demo of an action rpg on a friends device. That game used a control stick on the left and a "button stick" on the right.

I'm not sure how you could improve the touchscreen controls for action based rpgs that involve dodging, guarding, jumping and multiple forms of attack. I thought that using 4 semi transparent buttons on the bottom right edge of the screen would be ok if you combine them with swipe gestures, tap, hold, hold and drag etc

4 Buttons (A, B, C and X with X in the corner and A, B, C located around it like flower petals from left to right)
A - Guard
B - Attack
C - Jump
X - Special

Using swipe gestures, this would open up a lot of useful combinations like
"A + hold" for continued guard/block/defense
"B up" / "B down" for upper and lower attacks
"X ->A" for magic / special defense
"X -> B" for a magic / special strike (combined with up and down for directional attacks)
"X -> C" for a magic / special movement ability (charge, force jump, teleport, throw grappling hook)
"A -> B" for a grapple move (like in soul calibur if I remember correctly)
"A down" for a dodge

"Swipe X -> A -> B -> C" for HaDouKen
"Swipe X ->C -> B -> A" for a Roundhouse Kick

If you add the control stick, you can use even more classical beat'em'up moves
"X -> A + circular movement" for a shield spell that surrounds the player
"X -> B + quarter circular movement" for a special cleaving attack

Pro:
I can think of so many possible combinations... the question would be, will the end user be able to memorize them as well as me? I remember receiving many a beating because my best friend knew more character signature moves in Mortal Combat and Soul Calibur and how to time them...


Con:
I can imagine that either those 4 buttons take up to much of the screen (even if they are semi transparent, because you constantly have your thumb on them) or are to small and in accessible (at least on smaller android devices). I "tested" some simple swipe gestures on my Nokia E71 as it's roughly the same size as the ZTE Blade (which has a 3,5" Display with 480*800px iirc).
[/quote]

Those a great ideas, but I think there's still one key issue there: It's a touch screen trying to mimic a controller rather than trying to do something unique on its own. I'm not saying that a touch screen device couldn't learn anything from a traditional game controller, but I don't think it's a good idea for the touch screen to try and be something it isn't for a number of reasons.

(Just to provide an example, look at it this way: Pick up the closest controller you've got near you. Press the buttons. What's special about it? Feedback. When you push a button, it goes in. You can feel that. In the dark, you can still operate a device you're familiar with. How? Because the buttons stick out. You can feel your way around it, you can tell which button is which without even really HAVING to push it. These features of the button are absolutely crucial for a gaming controller. It's what allows us to play an FPS or Action game without looking down at our hands every five seconds. It's what allows us to get comfortable with a Game Boy, so that we can focus on the screen without having to check to make sure our thumbs are in the right place. A device that is operated purely be a touch screen is never going to be able to do that and the sooner we accept that, the better.)

So, sticking with your idea, what if we kept using the swipe motions but ditched the idea of "buttons"? Try and picture this in your head: The screen, let's say an iTouch, is in a horizontal position and divided into 4 sections. The section to the far left and the section to the far right are the sections that will register your input commands, meaning that your thumbs will never get in the way of the action happening in the center of the screen. For the controls? Let's say a quick tap with my right thumb gets a punch. Two taps gets two punches. For kicks? A tap with my left thumb on the left side for one kick, two taps for two kicks. Keeping it basic like that means you don't have to worry about the player trying to remember exactly where a button they can't feel is. Instead, they just have to remember to keep their thumbs in THAT area. In order to make sure they have a clear idea of where that area is, you could even include a dotted line to show which side is interactive and which isn't.

If we keep going, then we can come up with other combinations using your idea. Maybe a swipe with the right thumb in the designated area means a grab. If we want to get more complex, then a tap with your left thumb on the upper left part of the screen could be a high kick, while a tap on the lower left corner of the screen could mean a low kick. You get the idea, right?

If we keep going, then we can come up with other combinations using your idea. Maybe a swipe with the right thumb in the designated area means a grab. If we want to get more complex, then a tap with your left thumb on the upper left part of the screen could be a high kick, while a tap on the lower left corner of the screen could mean a low kick. You get the idea, right?

I think I do. Thanks for your reply.
One thing that bugs me is that I always felt restricted in my movement abilities when my controls are limited or too innovative. It took me a while to control my character when the first 3D platformers hit the market. Either the controls were sluggish, horribly implemented or the camera tried to kill me. (vicious little bastard!)

I took the time to play around with a few acceleration based games (moving a marble/wrecking ball around or steering a car) where you moved the phone around. I noticed 2 things:
a) even though the current implementation of acceleration tracking on mobile devices is amazing from a technical standpoint, I still feel "hampered" in my ability to control my character/moving object of choice.
b) I don't like to swing my phone around to play a game (even though I used to swing my controller around a lot when playing track and field summer olympics on the NES)

I like your idea for the ability controls but how would you solve character movement for an action game on a mobile touch device.

I took the time to play around with a few acceleration based games (moving a marble/wrecking ball around or steering a car) where you moved the phone around. I noticed 2 things:
a) even though the current implementation of acceleration tracking on mobile devices is amazing from a technical standpoint, I still feel "hampered" in my ability to control my character/moving object of choice.
b) I don't like to swing my phone around to play a game (even though I used to swing my controller around a lot when playing track and field summer olympics on the NES)

I like your idea for the ability controls but how would you solve character movement for an action game on a mobile touch device.

Yeah, I started thinking about this while I was thinking over the controls for combat... It'd definitely depend on what kind of action game we were talking about. Is it two dimensional or three dimensional in relation to movement? Are we talking about moving back and forth or running around in a 3-D level?