Bleszinski: Dual-analogue isn’t for touch-screens

Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski believes smartphones are naturally at odds with the most prevalent controller layout in gaming.

“Dual-analogue touch-screen controls do not work,” he said in an interview with Play magazine.

“They’re fun for 15 seconds and then it’s just friction-burn.”

Bleszinski’s observation comes as smartphone games sector continues to grow at an extraordinary pace.

Apple has generated over $2 billion from games on the App Store, the company recently claimed.

Many iPhone developers, including Epic Games, have in the past attempted to map dual-analogue to multi-touch-screens, though Bleszinski suggests the approach needs a rethink.

Bleszinski proceeded to praise the upcoming high-end PSP2 – Sony’s latest bid to thrive in the mobile and handheld market.

“As much as I love iPad and iPhone gaming, I’m glad to see a portable that has actual buttons and dual analogue on it,” he said.

He also theorised that, should the planets align, a game such as Bulletstorm could one day be released on PSP2.

As testimony to the rapidly advancing technical sophistication of mobile devices, iPhone games can be built on Epic Games’ high-end Unreal Development Kit.

Last year, when Epic vice president Mark Rein began to exhibit Unreal Engine on mobile devices, he did so with a dual-analogue controlled demo.

That demo was released for free on the App Store under the name Epic Citadel, and again tasked the player with navigating worlds via dual-analogue controls. Yet Epic’s eventual commercial product based on the tech, the iOS game Infinity Blade, featured no such control set-up. Instead it plays via clicks and swipe motions.

Unreal Engine tech has been adapted to support NGP, Epic Games recently announced.