Trackball?

[TheBigCheese]

Is there a problem with the trackball for gaming? It seems like it could work pretty well, but I haven't seen a single game implement it much at all, besides as an alternate to touch controls.

Does it not actually replay with how much it's being pushed, and instead just respond if you push it in one of the 4 directions?

Just some questions, since I'm looking to develop for Android, but I'm surprised that the track ball has almost no use.

 

[MonkeyK]

I would guess that it is because several new Android devices that are coming out do not have a trackball on them.

 

[trick202]

Don't think I've used the trackball yet.

 

[MonkeyK]

Its actually kind of nice to reposition the cursor if you are typing

 

[polyclef]

Well, we just released free and paid versions of our new game, Kilopod (a version of the arcade game Centipede) for Android. After working on it, I can see why more games aren't done with the trackball.

The controls aren't all that great. Perhaps there are better ways to handle trackball movement and optimize it, but we just couldn't get it to work all that well. Still, give the game a whirl and see what you think.

 

[Merago]

I know that the Doom port I've seen uses the trackball (and it actually feels very natural), and I'm pretty sure you can use the trackball with ScummVm too.

 

[G8D]

xGalaga is awesome with the ball.

 

[trick202]

LOL, I've just started playing this game - it's brilliant!

You can keep your PS3!!

 

[flipnoy]

Don't think I've used the trackball yet.

Neither have I, most games I've played uses the accelerometer