research-article

Investigating On-Screen Gamepad Designs for Smartphone-Controlled Video Games

Authors:

Matthias Baldauf,

Peter Fröhlich,

Florence Adegeye,

Stefan SuetteAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications (TOMM), Volume 12, Issue 1s

Article No.: 22, Pages 1 - 21

https://doi.org/10.1145/2808202

Published: 21 October 2015 Publication History

Abstract

On-screen gamepads are increasingly used as controllers for video games on distant screens, yet lack the typical tactile feedback known from hardware controllers. We conducted a comparative lab study to investigate four smartphone gamepads inspired by traditional game controllers and mobile game controls (directional buttons, directional pad, floating joystick, tilt control). The study consisted of both completing a formal control test as well as controlling two popular video games of different genres (Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros.). The results indicate that the directional buttons require the most attention of the user, however, work precisely for direction-restricted navigational tasks. Directional pad and joystick showed a similar performance, yet they encourage drifting and unintended operations when the user is focused on the remote screen. While currently unfamiliar to many users, the floating joystick can reduce the glances at the device. Tilt turned out to be not sufficiently precise and quick for the investigated tasks. The article concludes with derived design guidelines with easily realizable measures for typical contexts such as casual gaming at home or spontaneous gaming on public displays.

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Cited By

Su MFeng BZhao JYu HZeng KLi X(2024)Big Movements or Small Motions: Controlling Digital Avatars with Single-Camera Motion CaptureDesign, User Experience, and Usability10.1007/978-3-031-61356-2_9(130-148)Online publication date: 2-Jun-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-61356-2_9
Baxter JAdamson THasan YYousefi MObregon LCarter ETapia L(2023)Virtual Joystick Control Sensitivity and Usage Patterns in a Large-Scale Touchscreen-Based Mobile Game StudyProceedings of the 16th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference on Motion, Interaction and Games10.1145/3623264.3624461(1-6)Online publication date: 15-Nov-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3623264.3624461
Kavouras IRallis IDoulamis ADoulamis N(2022)Evaluating the Feasibility of Fast Game Development Using Open Source Tools and AI AlgorithmsNovel & Intelligent Digital Systems: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference (NiDS 2022)10.1007/978-3-031-17601-2_13(124-133)Online publication date: 23-Sep-2022
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17601-2_13
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Index Terms

Investigating On-Screen Gamepad Designs for Smartphone-Controlled Video Games
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)

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Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications

ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications Volume 12, Issue 1s

Special Issue on Smartphone-Based Interactive Technologies, Systems, and Applications and Special Issue on Extended Best Papers from ACM Multimedia 2014

October 2015

317 pages

ISSN:1551-6857

EISSN:1551-6865

DOI:10.1145/2837676

Editor:
Ralf Steinmetz
Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2015 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 21 October 2015

Accepted: 01 July 2015

Revised: 01 April 2015

Received: 01 January 2015

Published in TOMM Volume 12, Issue 1s

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netidee initiative of the Internet Foundation Austria (IPA)
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FTW Forschungszentrum TelekommunikationWien GmbH
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Cited By

Su MFeng BZhao JYu HZeng KLi X(2024)Big Movements or Small Motions: Controlling Digital Avatars with Single-Camera Motion CaptureDesign, User Experience, and Usability10.1007/978-3-031-61356-2_9(130-148)Online publication date: 2-Jun-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-61356-2_9
Baxter JAdamson THasan YYousefi MObregon LCarter ETapia L(2023)Virtual Joystick Control Sensitivity and Usage Patterns in a Large-Scale Touchscreen-Based Mobile Game StudyProceedings of the 16th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference on Motion, Interaction and Games10.1145/3623264.3624461(1-6)Online publication date: 15-Nov-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3623264.3624461
Kavouras IRallis IDoulamis ADoulamis N(2022)Evaluating the Feasibility of Fast Game Development Using Open Source Tools and AI AlgorithmsNovel & Intelligent Digital Systems: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference (NiDS 2022)10.1007/978-3-031-17601-2_13(124-133)Online publication date: 23-Sep-2022
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17601-2_13
Ambati UBrandt GSchaffer O(2022)Guidance is Good: Controlled Experiment Shows the Impact of Navigational Guidance on Digital Game Enjoyment and FlowHCI in Games10.1007/978-3-031-05637-6_7(101-118)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2022
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Sotirakou CParaskevas TMourlas C(2022)Toward the Design of a Gamification Framework for Enhancing Motivation Among Journalists, Experts, and the Public to Combat Disinformation: The Case of CALYPSO PlatformHCI in Games10.1007/978-3-031-05637-6_35(542-554)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2022
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Kambe ANakajima T(2022)First Person vs. Third Person Perspective in a Persuasive Virtual Reality Game: How Does Perspective Affect Empathy Orientation?HCI in Games10.1007/978-3-031-05637-6_23(375-386)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2022
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Palmquist AGoethe OKrath JRosenlund JHelmefalk M(2022)Design Implications for a Gamified Recycling HouseHCI in Games10.1007/978-3-031-05637-6_18(289-305)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2022
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LaLone NToups ZPapangelis K(2022)Practical Considerations on Applications of the Popularity of Games: The Case of Location-Based Games and DisasterHCI in Games10.1007/978-3-031-05637-6_13(213-233)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-05637-6_13
Bestard Lorigados EMacKenzie IBaljko M(2022)Movement Control Methods for Mobile Devices: An Empirical Study of Displacement InterfacesHCI in Games10.1007/978-3-031-05637-6_1(3-21)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2022
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Li QZeng HPeng ZMa X(2021)Understanding Players’ Interaction Patterns with Mobile Game App UI via VisualizationsProceedings of the Ninth International Symposium of Chinese CHI10.1145/3490355.3490357(9-21)Online publication date: 16-Oct-2021
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