FOSS gamedev and creative worlds

Today I downloaded the Android build from the Google Play store and tried it out for a bit. It's pretty cool that it exists, but the controls leave much to be desired.

The first thing I noticed was that there was a long delay when digging blocks. It also took me a moment to realize that placing blocks required double-tapping. I'd guess that the delay is so that the game can check that the player isn't trying to double tap. Personally, I'd prefer there to not be a delay when digging blocks, and have some function button off to the side that I could hold to enable right-click functionality. Not quite the most intuitive, but better than the alternative in terms of smooth controls. (Maybe have the white text flash on the screen, "Hold for right click," when you press the button)

The second thing I noticed was how I had to release my finger in order to switch directions when walking, and that I couldn't move diagonally. This feels very unnatural, especially on a mobile device with no tactile feedback. It would be much nicer if I could drag my finger between the buttons. Ideal would be a circular region with joystick-like functionality, enabling strafing in any direction.

Menu navigation is also rather confusing. The cogwheels are something that I would associate with an options menu rather than a debug view, and are probably better off replaced with something like a dial. Also, the different ways of accessing the pause menu and the inventory menu feel like an idiosyncrasy. As confusing as it was at first, I understand how the positioning of the inventory button is convenient, but at the same time, not having a pause button on the screen as well, yet having pause mapped to the Android's built-in back button, yet having the built-in menu button not mapped to anything, just feels wrong. Ideally, both functions should be accessible two ways, both the built-in buttons and the on-screen buttons. The former is more intuitive, while the latter is better for quick access and larger screens.

The on-screen navigation could also be greatly simplified if more specialized buttons were toggleable.

With the exception of the pause menu, it would also be nice if tapping outside the bounds of the formspec would close out of the menu, rather than resorting to reaching all the way for the back button. For the inventory, just check that the player isn't holding an item.

Finally, I can't for the life of me figure out how to split item stacks. Is this even possible? If not, then perhaps the right click function button could also be shown in the inventory menu... unless someone else thinks of a better way to go about it.

sanetargoss wrote:The first thing I noticed was that there was a long delay when digging blocks. It also took me a moment to realize that placing blocks required double-tapping. I'd guess that the delay is so that the game can check that the player isn't trying to double tap. Personally, I'd prefer there to not be a delay when digging blocks, and have some function button off to the side that I could hold to enable right-click functionality. Not quite the most intuitive, but better than the alternative in terms of smooth controls. (Maybe have the white text flash on the screen, "Hold for right click," when you press the button)

Sounds like a good idea. Or maybe always dig when wielding a tool and always place when wielding something that can be placed/used. Thought that would conflict with tools that can do both. And with doors. Thus, a button for selecting between punch (dig), place, use (right-click; doors, formspecs, tools, ...) and "special" (shift+right-click for placing ) might be optimal but maybe not trivial. It would have to be specific for mobile devices.

sanetargoss wrote:The second thing I noticed was how I had to release my finger in order to switch directions when walking, and that I couldn't move diagonally. This feels very unnatural, especially on a mobile device with no tactile feedback. It would be much nicer if I could drag my finger between the buttons. Ideal would be a circular region with joystick-like functionality, enabling strafing in any direction.

Sounds like a very good, intuitive idea as well. Personally, I'd also love a button "keep moving/stop" without having to press the go-forward-button all the time.

sanetargoss wrote:Finally, I can't for the life of me figure out how to split item stacks. Is this even possible? If not, then perhaps the right click function button could also be shown in the inventory menu... unless someone else thinks of a better way to go about it.

You're not alone with that problem. It's supposed to work somehow, but I never got it to work reliably for me. Maybe someone who's got more experience with touch devices as such can learn the movements easier.

Crafting is a big problem that way. Somehow, some tablet users manage to do it. Once I get the tiime, I plan to implement a tiny mod as a replacement for the inventory for mobile users that'd work a bit diffrent than normal crafting. The idea is to drop your input material into an input slot and then select one of the receipes or patters that can be crafted using that material. If you add a second material, the receipes get narrowed down. This could work with up to three input slots (more would be confusing) for up to three diffrent input materials (the current crafting grid supports up to 9) and would abstract from the shape. After having inserted the materials and having selected the desired output (if it's not obvious already from the inputs), just select how many you want to have crafted (1, 10, max, 99). Such a crafting system would reduce the need of a craft guide and be much easier to use on mobile clients. An amazing amount of receipes is pretty obvious from the beginning and takes only one, sometimes two indigrents. Bookmarks could help with often-needed receipes. Just need to find the time to implement it...