[MUD-Dev2] [DESIGN] Multitouch and RPGs

[John Buehler]

Would anyone care to comment on the role of multi-touch interfaces in RPGs,
both as applied to current games and possible future games?

I wonder how much influence the keyboard and mouse have had on game designer
thinking.  For example, in Dark Age of Camelot, a support character could
permanently sustain a buff on a certain number of characters.  Those buffs
were managed by doing a classic mouse target and keyboard cast.  Once cast,
the buff stuck.

If buffing were predicated on keeping a finger on a character, that would
dramatically change the way that the buffer operated.  They might only keep
buffs on a couple characters that were close to each other so that they
could use the other hand for other tasks.  They could easily hop the buffs
around their friends according to need just by moving their finger.  They
might even be able to use multiple fingers on one character to indicate
enhanced buffing.

That might be a detestable way to use multi-touch, but it's intended to
illustrate the potential difference between keyboard/mouse and multi-touch.

Consider emoting.  If I wanted my character to toss a casual wave at a
character, I might make a preliminary gesture with multiple fingers, then a
flicking motion across that character with my pinkie.  If I wanted my
character to wave like a maniac at that character, I might use the same
preface, but then drag my pinkie more slowly and over a longer distance on
the screen.  A simple gesture interface.  But for those who love emoting,
multi-touch could produce vastly more involved emoting - to the point of
real time play acting.

Multi-touch seems to more naturally include a spectrum of actions instead of
discrete pops of activity. Instead of casting a spell or not casting it,
multi-touch seems to more naturally encourage different ways of casting the
same spells.

But at what cost of fatigue?  To cast a spell in games today, we press a
button.  Very low energy cost, and we can keep mashing that button as long
as our character is capable.  If all I have is my fancy multi-touch screen,
am I going to want to play games that involve frequent actions?  Each action
requires another gesture.  And again.  And again.  In an achiever game, that
gesture would want to be as close to perfection as possible so as to get the
greatest effect from the spell.

So are multi-touch interfaces and current game designs at odds with each
other?  Will multi-touch just be a big single-touch screen for achiever
RPGs? Will we be faced with rows and rows of spell buttons that can quickly
and easily be tapped on the screen, but lacking any reason for multi-touch
gestures because of designs that flow from the mindset of keyboard users?

Current games seem predicated in the use of character skills, while the
player's skills are focused on things like data management, research and
optimization techniques.  Multi-touch would suggest a certain imprecision in
the command interface.  To my mind, that imprecision lends itself to
demanding player skill.  At worst, that skill would be a challenge to get
the game to do anything at all.  At best, that skill would be in getting the
game to do particular variations of character functions, leading to a
richness in character behavior and ability that reflected the player's skill
with the interface.

What if a bowshot's accuracy reflected the player's skillful use of the
multi-touch interface?

What if the quality and condition of a crafted sword depended on it?  A Tale
in the Desert gave a sense of this with mouse-click crafting that actually
shaped raw materials.  Multi-touch would permit far greater control over
such interactions.

A Tale in the Desert shows that the basic pattern can be applied even with
keyboard and mouse, but I'd claim that the multi-touch is far more naturally
organic.  It lends itself to the player getting a sense of physically
manipulating the elements of the virtual world.  I can imagine going almost
haptic by getting audio feedback instead of physical feedback when the
player runs their fingers over the surface of a crafted item to determine
some aspect of its quality.

Is the world of gaming, which is currently obsessed with graphics, ready to
tackle multi-touch as more than just a better mouse?

JB