News

Developer demonstrates new Ravensword: The Fallen King iPhone controls

Swipe-to-view and auto-target improve visuals and movement

Developer demonstrates new Ravensword: The Fallen King iPhone controls

The iPhone's touchscreen and accelerometer have opened up all manner of unique and intuitive control options for games, but it also comes up wanting for titles that traditionally rely on physical buttons.

Developer Crescent Moon has been contemplating this difficult area of design for its forthcoming sandbox RPG epic, Ravensword: The Fallen King, and has just released a video demonstrating a few changes its made to both the controls and the graphics to really nail the game's performance.

Primarily, the game will feature a swipe-to-view system to compliment the D-pad. This allows you to swipe a finger across the touchscreen to look around, and to guide your character's direction when moving. The D-pad is then freed up for you to strafe left and right.

And when you're under attack, and auto-lock on feature now fixes the camera to any enemies you tap on, so you don't need to worry so much about movement and can focus on getting your sword swinging.

A host of features has been also been added to the graphics options in an effort to tweak the game for maximum performance depending on your model of iPhone. For example, shadows can be switched on and off, as can foliage, while an adjustable HUD transparency means you can even hide the buttons for a full view of the game world.

These look like some sterling additions to Ravensword: The Fallen King's interface that should really help it overcome the iPhone's control barrier. Check out Josh's demo of the new controls below, and, as always, we want to hear your thoughts in the comments section.

yt
Subscribe to Pocket Gamer on
Spanner Spencer
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.