Converting an FPS game to mobile

I am trying to convert my First person shooter horror game from a PC into a mobile format, with a touchscreen and all that. What I am finding besides having to scale down the graphics is that for me at least it is a lot harder to play the mobile version.
For instance, in an ambush that is relatively easy for me to shoot all the bad guys quickly on a PC, trying to scroll around and aim my gun, shoot bad guy one, then swivel around a re-aim the next thing I know one of the other bad guys had reached me and is attacking me and kills me.
Is it just me, that I am terrible at mobile touch screen hand-eye coordination because I usually don't play these games on mobile? Or do I just have to make it easier for the player to kill the bad guy NPC's in the game? In other words do I need to "dumb it down" and make it easier by adding fewer bad guys, and make them slower, etc., or is it just me?

 

FPS on mobile is a terrible idea. Hell, most core genres are a terrible fit for mobile. The biggest issue is that touch screens make complicated input imprecise. Imagine playing an FPS with an SNES controller, because that's about how many virtual buttons you can get before players can't reflexively and accurately hit their intended controls.

Think about how many concession have to go into porting a PC shooter into a console one. Quadruple that and you've got how many would need to go into a mobile version.

 

I think a LOT of games on mobile shouldn't be there, including virtually every FPS. Too many just get ported across and the controls just don't translate. I really think the only games that port directly from PC to mobile are those that only involve simply clicks and basic dragging motions. FPS, platformers... for the most part, they just don't work. Ask yourself WHY you're trying to make it work on mobile.

 

Why? Because I think there are more potential customers who will play this game in the mobile market.

 

You sort of answered your own question. Why they don't really work on mobile is that the controls don't translate well & fine control that you have with gamepads or mouse & keyboard just don't exist on mobile. Even using a Bluetooth controller isn't perfect because a) most people don't own one & b) they just aren't good enough (I've owned one. It was a good brand, expensive, but fragile & the buttons & sticks were spongy & slow to respond).

 

This is an old article (from 2012) about The Drowning, but the ideas are still applicable:

The Drowning: how to make a touchscreen FPS not suck

It starts with a good hook sentence: "If you've ever played a touchscreen first-person shooter, I'm sorry."

 

I am currently messing around with FPS on Mobile, if you're interested, here is the apk file. Gyro controls.

~20MB, Dropbox link, i hope it works
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/30589759/MobileShooter.apk


-At start you have to calibrate your gyro, every gyro has some noise, in future i will save the noise offset but for now you have to do it everytime the phone starts
-after picking it up, use the "(---)" button to center your view

tilt - enables roll (don't use that yet, i forgot the sign on the angle )
gun - cylce through 5 guns (semi, burst, auto, auto with high rof, semi on release )
view - 1st/3rd person
calibrate - calibrate gyro (noise-offset)
ads - aimDownSights

I would like to add a kind of low pass filter because hands are quite shaky but that would increase latency, something i totally hate.

 

I would agree with what most say here, it is just a bit pointless doing an FPS game on mobile especially as touch screen is used as the main way to interface. You have something that produces very low-fi content and only acceptable framerates in most cases and your losing screen real estate via touch.

The mobile market is huge in theory, in practice only the top tier ever make the money and well its more cutthroat than ever with so many games coming out daily on a device or set of devices. The mobile gold rush is long over, the F2P gold rush is almost over. People are already looking toward VR as the next platform to make money on or moving to other markets like PC.

 

I wouldn't say that it's a terrible idea, there are a bunch of fps games out there that sell well. It's just that it's going to be more of a manufactured experience if it's to be playable. Auto aiming is a must. Ambushes from behind are out of the question. Basically it needs to be more of an 'on-rails' idea since the player's control is severely restricted compared to a mouse and keyboard.

 

FPS on mobile are usually a terrible experience because they try to keep the mouse-keyboard way of playing intact. If you change the way people interact with your game, for example letting them shoot by touching the screen coordinate where they want to aim, or use the gyroscope to rotate the view instead of using input clicks, you can create a FPS-like game that people might even enjoy.

 

Touchscreens are not very precise, so it doesn't make sense to try to get them to do things that precise input methods do much better.

I would strip out all or most aiming- go back to old doom and make aiming as complicated as facing the enemy and tapping. Put the depth in the movement controls- swiping to turn 90 degrees quickly and other gestures for more advanced moves.

If aiming has to be a feature I would divide the screen into 3 sections and drag up or down from the middle to aim high or low. Either way, keep it simple and easy to remember- you can put the depth in the weapons and enemy and level designs.

 

Has anyone tried the gyro build i posted above? I am curious about your opinions - in particular if aiming on mobile is a good experience with those gyro-controls. I would prefer these gyro-controls to most touch-only-fps-controls I've tried on mobile.

With my phone, i can get 2500-3000 points on the "reaction challenge" (my avg. mouse-score on that build is like 3500 so the aiming works really well for me).

 

Haven't had the chance to try it, but I'm inclined to say the same as for touchscreen input- why do something that works really well with a mouse and only okay with a phone? The strengths of phone input are in things like gestures and flicks of the wrist, audio input, camera input, GPS, stuff you just can't do as well or as easily on the pc.

Im also concerned about gyro because I don't know why you would want to move the screen and give the player a worse view of what's happening. Screen movement happens all the time as a result of holding the phone, creating the low pass problem you mentioned. If you stick to only high magnitude movements like flicks and shakes, you cut out the noise and maintain the best visual.

 

@RockoDyne @FreeFly90 @felix_of_mars @SteveJ

Hey OP @MarcopoloR first of all, don't listen to these guys telling you it is a terrible idea, it's not, they are coming from a biased point of view of not having played, or learnt how to play mobile FPS games properly.

Do you guys remember the first time playing a console FPS, or perhaps playing a console FPS with your parents?
It is obviously painfully difficult for them trying to aim accurately or even move at the same time, it takes practice, you simply don't pick up a game, controller, or touch screen and are an expert off the bat, and you also do not need to dumb down your game to make it so it is terribly easy for every one at first.
A mobile FPS may not be appealing or even make sense to you men in your 20s, 30s, 40s, etc. however to teenagers who may not have a fancy gaming computer or they cannot afford or are not allowed to play Xbox, or PlayStation, it is a GREAT alternative for them, or even for the more casual player.
For the more serious mobile players, you could even add controller support to make it feel exactly like a console game, especially when people use things such as the NVIDIA TV to stream it onto their TV.
Also, the mobile "gold rush" is far from over, don't listen to that, mobile is still very fresh to 3D games, I can easily see mobile phones acting as a console in the near future.

If you don't believe me, simply check out some gameplay of a new mobile FPS called "Bullet Force", made by a single developer and has hundreds of thousands of daily active users!
Players on that game are super comfortable with the controls, and very accurate using the touch screen. It also has NO aim assist.

Lastly, just because it is mobile and it has a GPS and a gyroscope, etc. you don't need to implement that in every game.
People, teenagers, kids, etc. who play FPS games on mobile are mainly seeking a similar experience to console, they don't want some weird aim assist, gyro controlled "innovative" FPS game.
I know you guys see no point of having an FPS on mobile as you can just play it on your computer or console, however hundreds of millions of mobile users who do not have that option would disagree.
Not all mobile "gamers" are just interested in playing Candy Crush and Angry birds, they get excited about fancy 3D graphics, crazy hectic FPS gameplay, etc. just as YOU guys would about a PC or Console game.

Sorry for the rant, it just bugged me these users are telling you it is a terrible idea from an un experienced point of view.
To answer your question OP, it is just you, play some other mobile FPS games and see how they feel, one thing that is a must is having a customizable HUD and sensitivity so players are able to create a similar control schemes to how they play in other mobile FPS games such as Bullet Force, MC5, Critical Ops, etc.

 

I don't know man, Bullet Force has a sluggish UI that takes forever to load and the game itself eats battery ( i admit my testing phone is a bit rusty though). Besides that it is a decent shooter like all other decent mobile shooters out there.

You sound like someone who thinks he knows what people will forever want and need, so i ask you: Have you ever tried a good Accelerometer or Gyro-implementation for a Shooter (like mine )?. One were you don't have to heave your phone around like an asian tourist? Or are you only reflecting on your imagination of how a game would feel like if it had gyro-controls? -this is a honest question, no cynicism

But i am totally on your side, Mobile Gaming isn't just for casuals and it is not intended to replace desktop gaming. It has its place everywhere where people cannot bring their whole gear with them, like when sitting in waiting rooms, commuting or before sleeping... Because touch controls won't wake your girlfriend like a keyboard does, right? I manage up to two hours of stealth-gaming before she starts to strangle me for not sleeping already, unimaginable with notebooks or desktops

 

I would recommend downloading Dead Trigger 1 and 2. The game is pretty successful and does it well enough.

 

Hey @Marrt , I didn't mean to diss your post, you were one of the ones I agreed with on this forum!
I tested out your shooter, and the controls actually feel quite good, defiantly an interesting idea!!
I meant, just because mobile has those things(GPS, Camera, Gyro etc.) doesn't necessarily mean you should use them, for example just because Xbox has Kinect, but 99% of games don't actually use it, however I am not saying it is bad to use them at all, many games make great use of it(Like yours)!
Lol funny you mention the thing about girlfriend, mine hates when i'm up late using my mechanical keyboard, so I normally resort to the phone.

 

I don't even play FPS on mobile anymore because the controls are just the actual worst.
I'd say adapt your game to an on-rails experience for an enjoyable mobile game.

 

Do you still have this build? DB link is broken. I'm interested in how it plays.

 

Currently i am working on a different project, but this is the latest version of the shooter:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gzc5gidcom0lbfs/AAB3ms09FXE9awInr3CZ_Vska?dl=0

I will eagerly await your crushing feedback , just don't comment on the art and sound
- There should be a calibration prompt the first time you start, in "Controls" you can tweak sensitivity and filtering
- if you want to try how the accelerometer mode works, enable it in the debug mode, if you phone has no gyro it will automatically use accelerometer mode

 

Nothing but praise here matey, had a good play of it late last night and it's a very capable conversion of the FPS format to mobile.

As for graphics, don't put yourself down I've seen worse in shipped products ;-)

It's a shame you don't have time to help two old farts hack together their rails shooter!

 

Thanks for trying it!
- Did you notice the reticle isn't in the center of the screen? Like it or not (can be customized though)?
- Could you imagine playing this thing vs a roommate over Wifi or Bluetooth?

Rail shooter,
Why does it have to be on rails? Oh (checked your signature), you work with VR, free movement causes nausea i heard. I tried the PS4-VR stuff at my brother and i felt it too in free-move-games, but only at the start, takes just some time to accustom. Do some people really get consistent nausea even after trying over 3 days?

The thing i built uses a multiplier for aim, so when you rotate your phone 5 degree the ingame movement is somewhat like 15 degree minus a tinytiny threshold at the start. If you want to employ my fast Gyro algorithm with VR you would have to compensate for Drift over time (i guess you know that already). I don't do that right now because the player will perform thumb rotations every once in a while which would offset the drift compensation anyway. The drift residue is so small that it really doesn't matter for my intended gameplay, but for VR small drifts may feel very weird if not compensated immediately.

So i am not sure if my approach is even useful for your environment

 

It felt quite natural with the reticle and didn't stand out to me but would be worth trying both ways. I also like the fact you can adjust the horizon. The look around with the gyro worked really well and to me the demo setup was really cool and definitely something games should really have to ease users into the saddle and get accustom to new play styles.

I can imagine playing this in small closed network and over WiFi, be cool to be able to pick up other users close by on a limited open network say if you're on a train to work etc.

On Rails is really a gameplay choice and more aimed at an FPS feel but stripping it down and limiting the user interaction to make it a bit easier to play for none hardcore gamers.

Yes VR can be nauseous and On Rails helps and yes if someone is nauseous they don't get used to it but it is usually caused by shearing through a frame rate drop and lag redrawing. It helps optimising the S*** out of your scenes, reducing particle counts etc. even then if you are more susceptible you just won't get used to it. My other half get's sick just watching me play Doom though that may be the gore.

We really wanted to offer both standard and VR modes that share the same basic framework. I get your fast Gyro is to reduce playing lag for frantic multiplayer and cover more ground, the On Rails as it's more scripted would rely less heavily on the player needing to cover a full 360 environment quickly in order to detect threat.

Anyway top marks for your demo!