inglorious

Apple‘s announcement for the iPad caused a lot of negative reaction within the tech community. I’ll fully admit I wasn’t very kind on it from the gaming/UX front either, the two demos they showed looked awful. Driving games and shooters need to be left in the hands of more practical controllers, and not restricted to touch and motion.

I want to change tone however. There’s more out there than the shooter or the driving simulator. In a few discussions with some of my industry friends patterns emerged as we discussed not what wouldn’t work, but what would, and there are three clear game genres that will thrive on the iPad. I’d like to take a moment and review them now:

Casual Games

This genre is really the hallmark of the current crop of iPhone games. Easy to pick up, easier to put down, it allows the iPhone to remain a mobile device first and a entertainment platform second. Current casual games don’t force a player to beat a level, hit a checkpoint or fight a boss before they can finish a level or put the game aside.
PopCap has done a great job embracing this already (Peggle, Bejeweled 2, and the newly released Plants Vs. Zombies), there’s also the other additional hits like Pocket God and Flight Control that do a great job showing that people are willing to jump into games that work around their time. The iPad really brings just more to the table. Bigger screen, faster processor, I am sure we’ll see iPad game developers improve on whats already a booming genre.

The Real Time Strategy (RTS) Genre

There’s been a few forays into the RTS genre already on the iPhone, Spiffcode‘s Warfare Incorporated and EA’s Command and Conquer Red Alert were both ported to the iPhone and both work really well.
The RTS genre is prefect for the iPad, traditionally they are controlled via a single point interface. In the past all the user had was a mouse, contact with the keyboard was minimal. Single point interfaces allow a RTS games to translates really well onto the iPad with with multi-touch screen. After all you just need to touch a button, drag to highlight multiple units and tap to direct them to gather resources, build structures, or attack an enemy.

The big negative, the screen real-estate, that plagues RTS games on the iPhone is removed with the iPad. The screen gets much larger. I think we’ll see a lot of really solid RTS entries for Apples latest mobile device. I for one welcome them, of all the genres that would thrive I think RTS has the most legs. Old titles like Warcraft and Command and Conquer to newer forays like Empire Earth and Sins of a Solar Empire could all find their place on the iPad, and it’s not limited to them, there’s a lot of IPs on the market that could easily swoop in.

The Adventure Genre

Once considered the dead genre. Adventure games were once the top selling games in the PC market. They lost their luster during the boom of the 3D Shooter and the advent of the first real time strategy games. There has been a resurgence however, Sam and Max as well as Monkey Island have both found new life in episodic downloadable adventure formats.
There’s even been some movement into bring back old Adventure games to the IPhone, Beneath a Steel Sky was recently released. While a good foray back into Adventure games, I found the screen too small to really get full enjoyment from the classic, the iPad would significantly change this.

Adventure games, like RTS, normally work off a single point interface, the iPad is prefect for this allowing touch to replace the traditional mouse cursor. In addition, the iPad’s handling of multi-touch could really add some depth to adventure game’s traditional puzzles.

Apple has made it easy for Adventure games to introduce episodic content into an app. Game’s like Ramp Champ already allow for additional paid in game upgrades. I could see a similar system adapted for episodic adventure games. No new icons for each episode, one app for multiple episodes, makes a clean experience for the user.

Conclusion

The more I read about the iPad the fonder I grow of the platform. What it’s focuses on doing, it does very well. When it comes to gaming, a lot of what has made the iPhone successful in the casual market applies to it’s design as well. As with the iPhone a strong single point interface work the best, adding motion and replicating traditional controls temporarily solve problems, but they do them at a cost. In the end it’s annoying, uncomfortable, and ultimately a gimmick the game ceases to be immersive and the focus is on the interaction, not the action. To get people invested and wanting to spend time with a game a developers needs to choose to move past the gimmick and into the space where the player can get immersed, involved and ultimately devoted to the game. Playing a game should never be a chore. As long as developers make the choice to build games for the players that enhances the platforms strength I think we’ll see the iPad have a long and successful life attached to  gaming.