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GDC 2011: Graeme Devine on the iPad for gaming
Veteran game developer Graeme Devine took the stage at GDC 2011 this week to talk about Apple's iPad (and by extension, the new iPad 2, of course), and called it "the best gaming machine on the planet today." He went through his own thoughts on the device, talked a little bit about how developers could use the metaphor of touch to make the best games possible, and then went through a list of what he felt were the best practices for iOS development. Devine said that the first time he held an iPad, "I felt like I was holding something from science fiction in my hands. It was different from any other experience I've had before." The iPad reverses the trend in gaming to move the screen farther away from the player, and instead puts it relatively close up and personal. Additionally, the joystick is gone, and while a lot of games depend on that virtual joystick (more on that in a bit), the iPad removes any hardware between your fingers and what's happening on screen. A finger isn't a mouse, either -- rather than selecting and then clicking, fingers on iPad screens just tap and move.
ThinkGeek's Joystick-It offers a more traditional arcade joystick for your iPad's screen
You've probably seen the Fling, which is TenOne's stick-on joystick for the iPad. Now, ThinkGeek has introduced a competitor -- the Joystick-It is another stick-on joystick for the iPad's touchscreen, this time styled a little more closely to an actual arcade controller. The bottom of the stick has what looks like a suction cup that attaches to the device, and then you can move the stick around to control a capacitive widget on the bottom that acts as your finger normally would on the touchscreen. I haven't gotten to play with it, but I can't imagine that it offers as big a range of movement as the Fling does. Then again, the Fling is more of a controller-style joystick, while the Joystick-It looks like a full arcade stick, and it has a smaller footprint on the screen. The Joystick-It is more expensive than the Fling, too, at one for US$25, or two for $40 plus shipping from ThinkGeek. We'll have to try one out soon and let you know what we think.
