We present a study which compares touchscreen-based controls and physical controls for game input using Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles. Our study used the Apple iPhone as a representative touchscreen-based controller and the Nintendo DS for its physical control pad. Participants completed a game level four times on each platform. Level completion time and number of player deaths were recorded. Results indicate that physical buttons allowed significantly better performance than virtual buttons. Specifically, the number of character deaths on the iPhone was 150% higher than on the DS, while level completion time on the DS was 42% faster. The learning curve for the touchscreen version of the game was also steeper. Participants strongly preferred the physical buttons of the Nintendo DS. We conclude that either game designers should consider alternative input methods for touchscreen devices, or hardware designers should consider the inclusion of physical controls.
We present a study of user performance in a First Person Shooter game comparing a prototype trackball controller, a standard game controller, and a keyboard and mouse. The prototype controller replaces the right analog stick of a standard game controller (used for pointing and camera control) with a trackball. To measure the performance of the three input devices, participants played two games. Penguin Hunt measured the number of target hits per minute, which was 28.1 with the keyboard and mouse, 22.9 with the trackball controller, and 21.7 with the standard controller. Modern Warfare measured average completion times, which were 26.8 s with the keyboard and mouse, 31.8 s with the trackball controller and 35.5 s with the standard controller. The trackball controller represents a 5.5% target hits increase over the standard controller in Penguin Hunt, and a 10.4% speed-up in trial completion time in Modern Warfare.
Two groups of participants (novice and advanced) completed a study comparing a prototype game controller to a standard game controller for point-select tasks. The prototype game controller replaces the right analog stick of a standard game controller (used for pointing and camera control) with a trackball. We used Fitts' law as per ISO 9241-9 to evaluate the pointing performance of both controllers. In the novice group, the trackball controller's throughput was 2.69 bps -60.1% higher than the 1.68 bps observed for the standard controller. In the advanced group the trackball controller's throughput was 3.19 bps -58.7% higher than the 2.01 bps observed for the standard controller. Although the trackball controller performed better in terms of throughput, pointer path was more direct with the standard controller.
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