ipad game design -- develop liverpool dec' 2011
DESCRIPTION
As presented at Develop Liverpool in December 2011.TRANSCRIPT
iPad game design
it’s different?
Gareth Jenkins@36peas
iPad specific vs.
iPad supported
What is iPad specific?
• Game designed using the iPad as the primary interface to the game mechanic
• Game design accentuates the positives of the device instead of adapting to the negatives
What does the iPad look like as a game
controller?
is it...
...or...
?
Neither -- it’s an iPad
• Multi touch
• Accelerometer
• Microphone
• GPS
• Networked / connected
• and a whole bunch more
Isn’t that an iPhone?
No...
It’s an iPad.
It’s bigger.
Multi-touch interfaces don’t
work when you can’t see what you’re interfacing with
Also, it’s not a phone
• The demographic is different
• The device lifetime is different (though at this stage unknown)
• It’s more likely a shared device
• Your player is likely sat on the sofa, not the shitter
So what to do with it?
• Take advantage of the space available
• Think about appropriate gestures
• Think about the gaming context (remember this isn’t a phone)
• Think outside the phone box
• iPad specific does not mean exclusively iPad
• Think about potential users:
• Avid Apple fans
• Feature users of the iPad
• “Core” gamers
• iOS / iPhone gamers
Some examples
original action concepts
All the action is on a single iPad screen
The play surface is big enough to allow for
emergent play
And because it’s a single screen, the player can
view and interact with the entire play surface
Independent areas of action and interaction
More examples
Different types of gestures, interfaces
and actions
tap and drag to pan/scan
multi-touch to select
drag to draw paths
tap to trigger actions
lefthand
right hand
lefthand
right hand
lefthand
right hand
iPad supported
Adapting a game
Adapting IP
It needn’t be complicated
Few iPad exclusives
** hyp
Innovative touch interfaces
(that happen to work well on iPad)
Are you making a game that’ll work on
an iPad?
Are you making a game for the iPad?
iPad game design
iPad game design
Follow me on twitter -- @36peas
Questions?
Where to start?
Just start
• Use the iPad itself for:
• playing other games (duh)
• screenshots & notes
• content creation
• Start simple
• Use a framework
• Cosos2d
• Unity
• whatever
• Talk about it
• Twitter / blog / whatever
• Join in with others -- game jams
iPad game design
it’s different?
Gareth Jenkins@36peas