This post covers the iteration on AquaBlock's controls and the reasoning behind the changes.
Everything you see in this post is work in progress.
Previous Controls
Recap
The previous control scheme broke up the screen into quadrants and recognized quick swipes.
- Swiping left/right on the bottom half of the screen rotated the puzzle block on the Z-axis by 90 degrees.
- Swiping up/down on the left and right side of the block rotated the block on the X-axis and Y-axis respectively.
- Swiping down on the top half of the screen drops the puzzle piece into place.
Mapping the touch areas to the puzzle cube itself was a good start for creating an accessible control scheme, but there were still a few layers of abstraction that could be stripped away. A more direct control scheme was designed to improve UX and accessibility.
Free Controls
Free Rotate
The new control scheme allows the puzzle block to be freely rotated in all degrees.
- Tap and drag on the puzzle block to rotate the puzzle block.
- Release tap on the puzzle block and the puzzle block rounds to the nearest 90° rotation.
Drag Drop
Also added in the new control scheme is the ability to drag and drop the top puzzle piece.
- Tap and drag on the puzzle piece to move it around.
- Drag it close enough to the puzzle block when a drop is viable to lock the puzzle piece into place.
Design
Why add a new control scheme?
Iterations were made to the control scheme to improve UX. The singular swipes used in the previous controls didn't provide any tangibility in the interactions. The new controls allow for 1:1 interaction which makes the game feel more responsive as a result.
Why aim for better control mapping?
Having natural control mapping reduces the amount of information the player has to callback when playing. Keeping this mental load low helps a game maintain an easier learning curve and more intuitive mechanics.
By removing control abstractions...
- Swipe zones
- Locked 90 degree turns
... and replacing them with more intuitive controls, the game has less information to initialize onto the player. The game can rely less on tutorials and the player has less to recall when playing.