I hope developers can make 3D touch play like this

Before the release of iPhone 6s, we were very excited about the 3D Touch feature. It can measure the pressure you press on the screen, so it seems to have some potential in games. We communicated with some game studios to talk about their plans for the new 3D Touch feature. However, after the conversation, we found that the complexity was far beyond our imagination.

Press the button

"It looks like an extra button, and I'm curious to see if it allows users to play games with one hand, with swiping left or right to move the target, and 3D Touch to make the target jump," said Matthew Annal, general manager of Nitrome.

You might expect 3D Touch to make games as fun as Silly Sausage and Platform Panic. Nitrome is interested in such games, but his idea goes beyond that. Anal said he hopes that 3D Touch can hover and click elements on the interface like a mouse, hovering on the interface to inspect and click elements to obtain and operate elements.

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The idea is great, but when we asked him if he had any plans to use this feature in upcoming games, he said no. He said: "Currently, games are promoted in advance, so any new support is a shortcut to attract the market, but we will not use this feature in future games."

Touch me now

It turns out that we are not dependent on the studio's unrealistic ideas, and some games have already used 3D Touch features, such as Pixel Toys. You may have seen the demo of Watch Warhammer 40K: Freeblade on iPhone 6s at WWDC 2015, which used 3D Touch to focus on enemies and shoot.

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We asked their CEO Andy Wafer how they became the first developer to use 3D Touch in a game, and he said, "We worked really hard to make Freeblade a compelling game."

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Because he has accumulated some practical experience in games, he is best able to answer two key questions about 3D Touch. That is, this technology is very sensitive, so it has development prospects. However, the disadvantages also exist, which may also be the disaster of 3D Touch gaming possibilities.

“We were amazed at how sensitive and accurate the technology is, how smoothly it can detect a variety of different gestures,” he said. “Now we can’t go back to 2D.”

Andy Wafer was more positive about the cost issue, saying that 3D Touch simply measures how much pressure is applied to a specific point on the screen. You can use this information in the same way that analog switches measure how hard you press on a controller.

"From a game development perspective, it's not difficult to implement this input method."

limitation

3D Touch faces a major hurdle: it's only available on the latest two iPhones, though it will no doubt come to the iPad in the future, but there's no word on that yet. Android phones don't offer a similar feature, so there aren't many potential gamers who could use 3D Touch.

Annal believes the problem is not as big as it seems, saying "a truly unique use of this feature could be to really engage an audience keen to show off their new phone."

This was the case with Apple Watch, where many games successfully made it to the charts. Apple’s user base is so large that strongly appealing to a limited audience is a viable strategy.”

Wafer expressed the same sentiment, "We hope Apple will sell new models in the coming months."

"Gamers who buy new phones will be excited to try out games that support 3D Touch. I expect 3D Touch to be the most significant technological change to the mobile gaming industry since the original iPhone, so we will use this technology in future games, and I expect that over time, most professional developers will use this technology."

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Both developers pointed out that many of the features of 3D Touch are not very difficult to replicate using other input modalities, but the charm of 3D Touch lies in its incomparable smoothness and tactile feel.

“We’ve started using this technology sparingly, as a non-essential element, as a secondary switch on non-compliant devices,” Annal said. “Essentially a shortcut.”

This is how Pixel Toys uses it in Freeblade, and Wafer said that zooming is digital, not analog. 3D Touch can help enhance this experience, but it is also possible to have a complete gaming experience without 3D Touch and using different gestures and inputs.

Even so, it's good news that smart developers like Nitrome and Pixel Toys are continuing to explore 3D Touch, and we can still experience it after products that support this new feature are launched.