Like millions of people around the world, I enjoy the wonderful world of professional wrestling. By proxy, wrestling games are some of my favorites and probably my most played within the fighting genre. Wrestling games are extremely hit-or-miss, unfortunately. They’re either too slow and clunky or so over the top fast that they turn into button mashers. With this is mind, I was very excited to try out some wrestling games on my iPad just to see how the touch screen was utilized to breath new life into the genre.
Ugh, too many virtual buttons.
All I was met with was virtual buttons and virtual analog sticks, as the games I played tried to mimic the games you’d find on other platforms. It feels like such a missed opportunity. Touch screen games should be used to create new experiences, whether it’s in a new genre or an old one. Players should have the feeling like they’re directly manipulating the environment/characters when they touch the screen, not constantly making sure they’re hitting the correct virtual button. That’s why, for the last few months when I’ve had time, I’ve been thinking of a design approach that I could use for my own touch screen wrestling game. I’ll chronicle my progress here on the blog with concept art, story, controls, etc.
Even MORE virtual controls!
So far, I’ve made decent progress in regards to the concept phase but things will probably be slow in the actual building of the game due to it being a one man operation at the moment (hoping to add another person) and I’m still learning some stuff. That said, I’ll try to keep the updates coming regularly and I look forward to hearing what you guys think. Starting today, it’s time to bring Tap Championship Wrestling (TCW) to life!
IMP_ervious 