Swipe This!
The Guide to Great Touchscreen Game Design
Scott Rogers
Swipe This! The Guide to Great Touchscreen Game Design
This edition first published 2012
2012 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
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ISBN 978-1-119-96696-8 (paperback); ISBN 978-1-119-94054-8 (ebook); 978-1-119-94052-4 (ebook); 978-1-119-94053-1 (ebook)
Set in 10 pt. Chaparral Pro by Indianapolis Composition Services
Printed in the United States by Bind-Rite
Game Copyrights
Angry Birds (Rovio Entertainment, 2009)
ARDefender (int13, 2011)
Barry Steakfries, Jetpack Joyride, Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick, 2012)
Beat Sneak Bandit (simogo, 2012)
Bejeweled (Pop Cap Games, 2001)
Bumpy Road (simogo, 2011)
Canabalt (Semi Secret Software, 2009)
Columns (SEGA, 1990)
Crash Bandicoot (Sony Computer Entertainment, 1996)
Crush the Castle (Armor games, 2009)
Cut the Rope, Om-Nom (Chillingo, 2012)
Dance Pad (EA, 2012)
Die Zombie Die (Andy Reeves, 2011)
Doodle Jump (Lima Sky, 2009)
Draw Something (OMGPOP, 2012)
Dude with Sword, Bedbug, Grave Robber, Steampunch, Farm Wars (Scott Rogers, 2012)
Enviro-Bear 2010 (Blinkbat Games, 2011)
EPOCH. (Uppercut Games Pty Ltd, 2012 )
Family Guy (20th Centruy Television, 1999)
Flight Control, Flight Control Rocket, Real Racing 2 (Firemint, 2012)
Formula Nova (Gil Beyruth, 2012)
Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick, 2010)
G.I. Joe and all related characters (Hasbro, 2012)
Game Dev Story (Kairosoft Co. Ltd, 2011)
God Finger (ngmoco, 2010)
Helsings Fire (Click Gamer, 2011)
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure (EA games, 2009)
Homerun Battle 2 (Com2uS, 2012)
Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye (Disney/Lucasfilm, 1995)
Jason Call (Gameloft, 2010)
Keyboard Cat (Brad OFarrell, 2007)
Killer Moth, Batman (DC Comics, 2012)
Knights Rush (Chillingo, 2011)
Link (Nintendo, 1986)
Mickey Mouse, Wheres My Water?, Swampy, Cars 2 AppMATEs (Disney, 2011)
MiniGore (Chillingo, 2009)
Nathan Drake (Sony Computer Entertainment, 2007)
NeverMIND (Erin Reynolds, 2012)
No, Human (vol-2, 2011)
Puzzle Juice (Colaboratory, 2012)
Rolando (ngmoco, 2008)
Scribblenauts (WB Games, 2009)
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing (SEGA, 2011)
SpellCraft School of Magic (Appy Entertainment, 2011)
Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor (Tiger Style, 2009)
SpongeBob Squarepants, Patrick Star, Squidward Tentacles (MTV Networks International, 1999)
SPYMouse (EA 2012)
Star Wars Arcade Falcon Gunner (THQ, 2011)
Star Wars, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi and related characters and vehicles (Lucasfilm Ltd., 2012)
Super KO Boxing 2 (Glu Games Inc., 2012)
Super Monkey Ball (SEGA, 2001)
They Live (Universal, 1988)
Triple Town (Spryfox, 2012)
WarioWare: Touched! (Nintendo, 2004)
Wizard of Oz (MGM, 1939)
Publishers Acknowledgements
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Editorial and Production
VP Consumer and Technology Publishing Director: Michelle Leete
Associate DirectorBook Content Management: Martin Tribe
Associate Publisher: Chris Webb
Assistant Editor: Ellie Scott
Development Editor: Gareth Haman
Copy Editor: Debbye Butler
Technical Editors: Graham Jans, Paul OConnor, Noah Stein
Editorial Manager: Jodi Jensen
Senior Project Editor: Sara Shlaer
Editorial Assistant: Leslie Saxman
Marketing
Associate Marketing Director: Louise Breinholt
Senior Marketing Executive: Kate Parrett
Composition Services
Compositor: Erin Zeltner
Proofreaders: Jessica Kramer, Tricia Liebig
Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC
About the Author
Once upon a time, Scott Rogers played video games, Dungeons and Dragons and drew comic books without realizing he could do these things for a living. After being discovered in a coffee shop and realizing game designers have more fun, Scott helped design video games including Pac-Man World, the Maximo series, God of War, Darksiders and the Drawn To Life series. A lecture about his two favorite things level design and Disneyland led to writing Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design, lecturing at the prestigious Interactive Media Division at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and employment with the Walt Disney Imagineering R&D team. Scott is currently living happily ever after in Thousand Oaks, CA with his family, action figure collection and an iPad full of games.
Evelyn and Jack Thank you for being so patient
while Dad worked on this book. I love you both.
Now lets play!!
Well, dont literally swipe this book.
Swipe This! The Guide to Great Touchscreen Game Design is all about making touchscreen games, like the kind you play on tablets such as your iPad, on smartphones such as your iPhone, and on handheld gaming systems like the Nintendo DS or Sony PS Vita. Youll learn how to design gameplay thats as simple as moving your finger (or stylus)or swiping itacross a screen. Its a pun . Ugh. Now Ive just explained the title of the book to you: thats as bad as explaining the punch line of a joke.
Look, would it help if I told you that it took a long time to write this book? I (and my publisher) would prefer that you buy Swipe This! rather than actually swiping it... or pirating it electronically, or memorizing it in the bookstore, or borrowing it from a friend and never giving it back. What can I do to convince you to not swipe Swipe This! ?