01/24/11 : 2 comments

Four things I wish iPad game makers would stop doing

As a rabid gamer, I play a lot of games on my iPad. And more often than not, the experience is less than ideal because game companies don’t seem to have a clue about how people really use their iPads. (Or, they don’t care. Which is even worse.) I see these four mistakes made constantly:

1. Intro videos that I can’t skip

A carry over from console and desktop gaming, I imagine this one frustrates most gamers more than any. In a perfect world, I’d never see these. But, I’ve accepted the fact that they’ll likely never go away. However, for the love of Pete, why do I have to watch them every single time I play the game?! This might come as a shock to most game companies, but I really don’t care who made the game, and what technologies you used to make it. Just let me play, dang nabit!

If you have to have these in your game, please let me skip them. Better yet, use a cookie to detect when they’ve been played once, then never show them again. And, please put all the logos on one screen.

2. Inconsistent interfaces

How I hold my iPad when I play should determine the interface layout. If I’m playing a game that requires me to place my hands in the bottom left and right areas of the iPad to play properly, any buttons I need should be accessible in that same area (within reach of my thumbs). Seems like common sense, eh? Sadly, I’ve yet to encounter a game that does that consistently. Instead I’m forced to change my hand position to close a confirmation window, or some other action.

Take a game like Spiderman: Total Mayhem. (A game I really enjoyed that would have been near perfect if they’d considered the above.) When you start the game, it seems like the necessary buttons are well placed. Until you have to untie a civilian. The button that triggers that event is placed in the center of the screen, out of reach of your thumbs, forcing you to move one of your hands to tap it. (Try it and you’ll see how annoying this is.)

What’s silly is this is a very common GUI guideline. Interface gurus have written articles about it (like this one from Dan Saffer). And, testing should have revealed these frustrations. So there’s no excuse for this to keep happening.

3. The "Reset game" button

This is one that just boggles my mind. Are people really using this button? I’ve lost countless progress in games like Angry Birds and Cut the rope because of this little beauty (thanks to my kids). Usage aside, this button always seems to be where little fingers can find it easily. (Usually in the options menu.) If you insist on putting this in your game, please put it in Apple’s settings menu. Better yet, toss it out and read my next point.

4. Not giving me multiple save slots

This is another one that seems like a no-brainer to me. I can only assume game makers think that one, and only one, person will ever play their game. News flash!: Most people have friends and family who’d like to play too. But, without multiple save slots, they can’t until the first person completes it, or gets bored. Good times!

Speaking of no-brainers, here’s another one: great experiences make happy, and loyal, customers. So come on, game makers! Get with the program! Everybody wins.