Arcade Controls; Touchpad Instead of Stick?

[casualcoder]

There will come a time when the traditional 8way digital input method is replaced by a new control mechanism. But as it stands these games are built with the 8way input and so they are still best played with a stick. Specifically, I can't get the same tap-dodging on anything but a stick. With that said, I do think it is very impressive how well Cave has coded the touch controls on iOS. I could see a time in the near future when touch controls become a dominant aspect of all game controls (you can already see the start with tablets, wii u, and vita) and when that happens it is quite likely that shooters will adapt to that shift.

The one problem I've noticed with touch shooters is that you can zip around your ship at any speed you want around the play area. It makes for a less controlled feel, but does allow for more of those "impossible escapes" which could mean that bullet hell shooters as we know them will become more bullet and more hell to keep the challenge in balance.

[Kollision]

Where were this person's hands before playing the game?

Damn, I will never play these things.
I'm seriously concerned about my own higiene, these places could spread all kinds of diseases.

[spadgy]

I'm a fan of not worrying too much about hygene out in public (I have to travel on London's Tube, after all), but I've fondled some pretty skanky arcade sticks in my time! And likely created some! I'm sure touch would be little worse.

Isn't that kind of the same as suggesting people play shmups with a mouse? Not only is the device precise and accurate, it also has good buttons too, but I don't think any shmup designed to be played with a mouse is taking itself very seriously. I can accept touch screen input on my smartphone when that's the only device I have available, but I wouldn't buy a mouse/touchpad shmup for my xbox or PC.

I see your point and partly agree, but with the wild potential of games as a medium, I see know reason a talented designer couldn't design a good, worthy, innovative shmup with mouse control. Or any control. It might be unlikely, but it's possible.

And as for the posts saying absolutely touch doesn't work - it does for some of us. Well implemented touch (such as in Cave's iOS releases) can offer wonderfully precise movement (for me). Sadly there's loads of bad touch control implementation, but when it works, I find it superb for ultra precise and small movements.

I just got into DDP: Ressurection iOS. I now admit not all of Cave's iOS output is flawless control-wise! Oh, how I miss DDP: Maximum's controls now I'm done with it!

[Wooph]

This topic probably should have been named "Digital or Analogue Movement" or something along those lines.

The touch based movement on Cave iOS games work great, but I can still feel a bit of lag. Then there's also the virtual buttons, which can be annoying to use depending on how many there are.

It would be really cool if Cave ported their games over to PC with Keyboard/Mouse controls.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

This topic probably should have been named "Digital or Analogue Movement" or something along those lines.

It's not about analog sticks which are basically shit to use when shmupping (lol Sine Mora). It's about a touchpad specifically instead of a digital stick instead of movement.