Re: gesturing

> So .. you want to exchange hand-eye coordination for manual dexterity =
and=20
> pattern replication.

Good point! I hadn't realized the switch we were making. So if I want to =
stick with hand-eye coordination I need to make the gesture compatible =
with the weapon.  In the end it may be impossible to find something =
compelling, but the point of the discussion is to spawn new ideas, not =
simply follow what is done before.

> In other words, it's very clear to a user that when you push a button =
it=20
> means, "Shoot what I'm looking at". It's not so clear that making a =
gesture=20
> means "Aim for me and shoot".

So ideally I would come up with something that then allows to push a =
button to shoot if it is a triggered weapon. That gives the feeling of =
"triggering" an action which is understandable for conventional guns. Or =
I could change the weaponry to not use a trigger.  For example, a hira =
shuriken (those little ninja throwing star-thingos) could be "fired" by =
making a vertical "up" motion on the analog stick. The faster I make the =
motion, the hard the shuriken gets thrown and the more perfectly up I =
move could be used to decide the head/body/leg/miss decision. Does this =
make sense?=20


> Part of aiming includes target selection ... I don't see how you plan =
to=20
> handle that here. Especially when you have multiple targets on the =
screen=20
> and are running around.

Target selection is a big part of what we want to do, and I should have =
devoted more time to emphasizing that. If we eliminate aiming, we =
obviously need target selection somehow so there would be some sort of =
lock-on system.  Our prototype uses a a simple lock-on system and the =
die hard console FPS players felt it worked well, so I didn't dwell on =
that part of the system.  In our prototype we didn't use aiming, but =
instead weapon selection as the end-game.  It worked well enough, but it =
was tricky to balance to prevent button mashing.  We did it by making =
the damage inflicted relative to the distance and added a reload delay =
so that the closer you were the more damage you inflicted so people had =
to decide who was going to shoot when. I wouldn't classify our game as =
twitch, it's somewhere between a Black and White or MMORPG where you =
choose commands rather than directly attacking (e.g. Star Wars Galaxies) =
but in first-person view.

The bubble idea proposed by Jeremy, if I understood it, might have =
merit.

I find it helps to state the problem another way. FPS games on a PC is =
essentially someone using a mouse (reticle) to click on a moving icon =
(head). A mouse is a great device to do that because we use computers =
every day, a joystick is not. I need a hand-eye coordination activity =
that is more natural with a joystick than a mouse such that even the PC =
version people would want to play with a joystick instead.

The mouse works well because the ratio of real mouse movement on your =
table to the movement of the cursor on the desktop is lower than a =
joystick. Also, the table provides friction to your arm which helps the =
hand smooth the motion and keep it steady. A thumb moving a few =
millimeters does not provide the same stability. Mouse movement is =
exact, joystick movement is spongy at best, jumpy at worst. I find it =
interesting that my mouse can be moved with almost no force at all let =
alone with all the muscles in my hand and fingers to control it, but my =
PS2 thumbstick requires significantly higher force and I only have my =
thumb muscles to do it.

That means I also need something with imprecise control: it can (and =
should?) be fast and the distance to move is small compared to a mouse.  =
So imprecise, fast movment.

Tom, I like the idea you proposed about the bars because you got it back =
to hand-eye coordination, but as you say FPS players may not like it. =
Perhaps it can be packaged in a different way. As Chris Crawford (it was =
him wasn't it?) pointed out in his design book that the basic golf =
interface hasn't changed in years, certainly there's something better =
that can be done.

Brett



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