Here's a question: If you had to port a third-person point-and-click adventure game (King's Quest, Secret of Monkey Island) to the NES, would you keep the point-and-click aspect of it or would you invent a new control scheme?
The point-and-click interface is clearly designed for a mouse, so if you've played such games on a console, you'd know how clunky it feels with a controller. Then again, there are games like Clock Tower, that actually make it work, but those games are made for systems, where the controller has more than two buttons and the interface itself had to be simplified. Not to mention that the clunky controls reinforce the feeling of helplessness, which fits the horror genre. If you were trying to port something like King's Quest, on the other hand, it wouldn't really work.
So how would you make it work with a different interface? I have this idea: Let's say we have a pretty simple interface. The player can walk around, examine and interact with objects. Obviously, there wouldn't be a cursor to control the character with. Instead, you would move them around with the D-Pad, examine things with the A Button and interact with things with the B button. When using an item, you press either Select or Start to go to your inventory. You then select your item and later you press the B button when you want to use it. In order to know which objects you can interact with in a given location, there would be a bar somewhere on the screen, that displays the object's name when you're near it. (I'm not sure whether it should be at the top of the screen or near the bottom, above the space reserved for descriptions. I'm guessing the latter, because the player will look at this part more often) Also, it would flash the name in a bright color, before changing it to a slightly darker color to notify the player that there's an object they can either examine or interact with.
There can be some problems with this, though. What if there's an object that the player has to examine, but it's too high up for them to reach? Also, some games like to change camera angles, when entering certain locations. For example, the player goes through a doorway, facing left, but because of the change of camera angle, once they enter the room, they're facing down. I'm not sure what would be the best solution to solve these problems.
So, do you think that would work? Do you think such games should retain the point-and-click interface, even when being ported to consoles like the NES? Do you have your own ideas for an interface, that would replace the point-and-click one? Let me know.
Thanks!
The point-and-click interface is clearly designed for a mouse, so if you've played such games on a console, you'd know how clunky it feels with a controller. Then again, there are games like Clock Tower, that actually make it work, but those games are made for systems, where the controller has more than two buttons and the interface itself had to be simplified. Not to mention that the clunky controls reinforce the feeling of helplessness, which fits the horror genre. If you were trying to port something like King's Quest, on the other hand, it wouldn't really work.
So how would you make it work with a different interface? I have this idea: Let's say we have a pretty simple interface. The player can walk around, examine and interact with objects. Obviously, there wouldn't be a cursor to control the character with. Instead, you would move them around with the D-Pad, examine things with the A Button and interact with things with the B button. When using an item, you press either Select or Start to go to your inventory. You then select your item and later you press the B button when you want to use it. In order to know which objects you can interact with in a given location, there would be a bar somewhere on the screen, that displays the object's name when you're near it. (I'm not sure whether it should be at the top of the screen or near the bottom, above the space reserved for descriptions. I'm guessing the latter, because the player will look at this part more often) Also, it would flash the name in a bright color, before changing it to a slightly darker color to notify the player that there's an object they can either examine or interact with.
There can be some problems with this, though. What if there's an object that the player has to examine, but it's too high up for them to reach? Also, some games like to change camera angles, when entering certain locations. For example, the player goes through a doorway, facing left, but because of the change of camera angle, once they enter the room, they're facing down. I'm not sure what would be the best solution to solve these problems.
So, do you think that would work? Do you think such games should retain the point-and-click interface, even when being ported to consoles like the NES? Do you have your own ideas for an interface, that would replace the point-and-click one? Let me know.
Thanks!