Hi Dark, Well, I agree that force feedback is definitely one of those features that has never really lived up to its full potential. It is something that a game developer could use to add a new and much more unique experience to any game, but has largely been ignored or misused. Therefore it never caught on as a very important feature. Mainly due in part to a lack of creativity or insight on part of developers how to use it to best advantage.
To give you example in a lot of mainstream games at most force feedback has been used to vibrate the controller when the player was hit or possibly jerk or vibrate when a weapon was fired. Force feedback has seen its most use in mainstream simulation games to simulate turbulence, problems steering, or vibrations when moving over rough terrain. Other than that it has never lived up to its potential, and was largely ignored as not being very important. However, I can think of many non-essential ways in which force feedback can add flavor to a game bee it accessible or mainstream. To start with most PC game controllers can be programmed with the rate of vibration, duration of vibration, and intensity of vibration meaning there is quite a lot of potential for using force feedback for several different things. Its not simply an on/off feature that feels the same regardless of context. In fact, back in the old DirectX 8 days Microsoft had a number of custom profiles you could load up which set the initial rate, duration, and intensity of force feedback for a controller for a number of types of games. If a developer didn't know what settings would work best with a particular game all he or she had to do was load up that profile and use it. However, as of DirectX 9.0C Microsoft has completely scrapped the force feedback profiles and they are no longer a part of the developers kit. However, the point here is that a game developer can use force feedback for a lot more than vibration when the player gets hit or vibrating when firing a machine gun. Imagine, for instance, playing a Star Wars game and activating a light saber. besides the distinctive hum of the blade as it powers on the controller will gently vibrate in your hands as if holding a real light saber. When your saber hits another saber the controller could simulate being struck or blocked by another saber. It isn't something strictly necessary or essential for game play but it would add a lot of realism for the player that wouldn't be their otherwise. Another use of force feedback technology is setting the rate at which a stick can be physically moved by the player. Let's just say we are comparing a knife swing to a broadsword. If we have a stick assigned to slashes, parries, and thrusts a knife should be easier to use than a broadsword. So a programmer can control the little motor in the unit to make the stick easier or harder to move depending on which weapon is being wielded. Plus use force feedback to make the controller vibrate as being parried by an enemy weapon. There are all kinds of little things like this a developer could do with the device but just have not for some reason. Its not just audio gamers but mainstream games that don't seem to be taking force feedback too seriously and experimenting with the various ways the technology can be used to enhance the game play. Cheers! On 8/13/14, dark <d...@xgam.org> wrote: > I remember when force feedback started to be a thing on the ps 1 it looked > like an interesting extra idea for games, but as it stood it never really > seemed to get much use as it was basically just a vibration switch in the > stick rather like a phone's vibration. > > I always thought it had more potential for feedback in games, especially > accessible ones, such as say increasing level of vibration in a space ship, > > racing or other vehicle game to show how damaged your unit was or what gear > > you were in, or increasing the vibration as you goot closer to a wall but > whenever I saw it used, it always seemed basically just an on/off properpty, > > rather than something a developer could control and it never added much to > the game, for example the game bloody roar used a quick burst of vibration > > when your character got knocked down, but it didn't really do much even for > > atmosphere (or at least it didn't to me), ---- heck even on the Iphone it > seems there is only one vibration rate, it either vibrates or it doesn't, > which is why I've not seen many games that use it. > > A wasted hardware potential I can't help thinking, especially for accessible > > games where you could use it for another level of information thus freeing > up the audio field. > > Beware the grue! > > Dark. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
