Why do so few games actually make buttons that feel good to press!?! I spent days trying to perfect a button press, making sure its triggers when the touch is pulled away, making sure sound effects cover the down press as well as up press, making sure if I swipe off the button when I have pressed down it does NOT activate...etc Its possible to make fake buttons almost feel like real buttons BUT why do so many games simply ignore this....surely its one of the most tactile elements of any game that every developer should focus on? Is this a waste of effort?
Details are always important and if you believe your efforts helps the illusion of "feeling" the button it might make sense. That being said though I personally find virtual buttons one of the worst control-schemes for the iPhone overall. Perhaps rethinking/reworking the control-mechanism might be of even more value?
Nopes... its not a waste of effort at all. As someone who is now very used to virtual buttons on iDevices, i think it's very important that virtual buttons mimic real buttons as close as possible in the way they control games. And over the last year or so more and more games have turned out great button experience... and it's lesser and lesser of an issue in games these days.
Definitely in agreement here. For me, the gold- standard is still SFIV- responses are instant and have audible and visual feedback- i.e. the punch button, even if just jabbing, you can see your character move quickly, and hear the SFX. It definitely contributes to the feeling of being in control. Sure, virtual buttons don't have the physical movement that real buttons do, but they can still respond well enough to make gameplay feel 'tactile'. Actually this is something that has always irked me about things like KRPGs, particularly those ported from cellphone- the button press and response never really lined up that well for me with the in-game feedback, so it often felt 'floaty' or loose.
