As you may have already read, I got to stare into the wonder-vision that is the top screen of the 3DS this past E3. And yeah, barring what I think may have been a handful of badly-tuned demos showing off some distracting inter-eye flicker (hello there Resident Evil), the thing was just stunning.
Nintendo has positioned the 3D display as the system's key selling point, and very wisely so, as they become, by virtue of this announcement, apparent first mover in the portable 3D market. It's not even just about not having glasses (though that is indeed pretty handy!); it's about holding the 3D landscape in the palm of your hand.
But while this emphasis will almost certainly move an ungodly number of systems, I am somewhat concerned that it may have something of an adverse effect on games as developers take a look at what's going to wow consumers and what might, in the end, prove to be the smartest design decisions for their games.
Let's start with the facts:
First things first: tilt. Hudson has announced that, as part of their 3DS support, they'll be bringing over the excellent Kororinpa. "Highly responsive tilt-based marble-rolling action in 3D!" you say. Unfortunately, that particular dream won't come true. Refer to fact #2 above. When you start tilting your 3DS system to angle the world of Kororinpa and thus get your marble rolling, you'll quickly find the 3D image ruined unless you also incline your head perfectly in sync with your hands.
Does this mean that it's not worth making Kororinpa for 3DS? Hell no. A portable Kororinpa is clearly a fantastic thing. But I think the developers at Hudson are going to have to make a hard choice: do we stay true to the tilting feel of the game, or do we make the game 3D and try something else like a touch-slide control or use of the slide pad? Of course, they could even include both modes, though I expect consumers may find it kind of weird that they have to give up a play style to get their 3D fix. Heck, I understand the issues at hand, and I'd still be a little sad about not being able to tilt my marbles in 3D.
An even harder choice faces developers with ideas that involve drawing on the screen. But I do need you, dear reader, to be sharply aware of one thing before I proceed: there are two basic types of stylus-game interaction. The first one uses the touch screen like a computer tablet; you slide the stylus around but actually watch a cursor on another screen move as you do—the Nintendogs and Layton demos did exactly this. You can then press a button or something to activate whatever your cursor is on. 3DS presents no problem for developers whose games follow this design. But there's also direct touching, which puts game elements on the touch screen itself and uses your taps or strokes as input directly, without using a button to trigger action.
If you want to use the second mode in a 3DS title, you'll need to forgo 3D effects once again, at least for the gameplay elements that involve the touch screen. Games like Kirby: Canvas Curse can still be made, but they will not be able to sport 3D effects. And, once again, the developer is left with the burning question: do I stick to my game design guns and do this, or do I redesign the game so I can offer the player the 3D they crave and bought the system for?
Make no mistake about it: this will be a hard decision for developers to make. I think some will make the wrong decision, though maybe even some others may realize a better game design they might not have otherwise thought of because they were asked to go down that path. I certainly don't fault Nintendo for making the choices they made in designing the system—given the state of technology, I would have made the exact same decisions—and I definitely would rather have the 3DS designed as it is than have one of its features dropped because it got in the way of the 3D.
But I fear its consequences, a little. I am not really sure I can think of any system before that presented such a huge tradeoff—do you ride the 3D wave that will undoubtedly carry the 3DS to success, or do you stay true to your vision and make a game that says "I don't need 3D!"
It will be interesting to see how it plays out, and what developers decide to do.
Kororinpa image is from the already-released Marble Saga Kororinpa. No, we don't have screens from the 3DS game yet, though I'm eagerly awaiting the day we do.
Nintendo has positioned the 3D display as the system's key selling point, and very wisely so, as they become, by virtue of this announcement, apparent first mover in the portable 3D market. It's not even just about not having glasses (though that is indeed pretty handy!); it's about holding the 3D landscape in the palm of your hand.
But while this emphasis will almost certainly move an ungodly number of systems, I am somewhat concerned that it may have something of an adverse effect on games as developers take a look at what's going to wow consumers and what might, in the end, prove to be the smartest design decisions for their games.
Let's start with the facts:
- The 3DS' top screen in full 3D mode is indisputably awesome to behold.
- To maintain this indisputable awesomeness, the 3DS must be held perpendicular to and horizontally aligned with your line of sight. A special filter (a parallax barrier) in the screen directs a slightly different image to where your eyes are expected to be; if you tilt the system to the left or the right or pivot it in you hands without tracking it with your head, one or both of your eyes will begin seeing both of these images, creating what's called "crosstalk." (This will likely not improve. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said the screen quality already meets their standard in a VentureBeat interview.)
- The 3DS has a tilt sensor built-in. (Uh-oh.)
- The touch screen, while more impressive at its higher resolution, does not have the indisputably awesome 3D effect, since fingerprints tend to refract light and would thus also have a crosstalk effect.
First things first: tilt. Hudson has announced that, as part of their 3DS support, they'll be bringing over the excellent Kororinpa. "Highly responsive tilt-based marble-rolling action in 3D!" you say. Unfortunately, that particular dream won't come true. Refer to fact #2 above. When you start tilting your 3DS system to angle the world of Kororinpa and thus get your marble rolling, you'll quickly find the 3D image ruined unless you also incline your head perfectly in sync with your hands.
Does this mean that it's not worth making Kororinpa for 3DS? Hell no. A portable Kororinpa is clearly a fantastic thing. But I think the developers at Hudson are going to have to make a hard choice: do we stay true to the tilting feel of the game, or do we make the game 3D and try something else like a touch-slide control or use of the slide pad? Of course, they could even include both modes, though I expect consumers may find it kind of weird that they have to give up a play style to get their 3D fix. Heck, I understand the issues at hand, and I'd still be a little sad about not being able to tilt my marbles in 3D.
An even harder choice faces developers with ideas that involve drawing on the screen. But I do need you, dear reader, to be sharply aware of one thing before I proceed: there are two basic types of stylus-game interaction. The first one uses the touch screen like a computer tablet; you slide the stylus around but actually watch a cursor on another screen move as you do—the Nintendogs and Layton demos did exactly this. You can then press a button or something to activate whatever your cursor is on. 3DS presents no problem for developers whose games follow this design. But there's also direct touching, which puts game elements on the touch screen itself and uses your taps or strokes as input directly, without using a button to trigger action.
If you want to use the second mode in a 3DS title, you'll need to forgo 3D effects once again, at least for the gameplay elements that involve the touch screen. Games like Kirby: Canvas Curse can still be made, but they will not be able to sport 3D effects. And, once again, the developer is left with the burning question: do I stick to my game design guns and do this, or do I redesign the game so I can offer the player the 3D they crave and bought the system for?
Make no mistake about it: this will be a hard decision for developers to make. I think some will make the wrong decision, though maybe even some others may realize a better game design they might not have otherwise thought of because they were asked to go down that path. I certainly don't fault Nintendo for making the choices they made in designing the system—given the state of technology, I would have made the exact same decisions—and I definitely would rather have the 3DS designed as it is than have one of its features dropped because it got in the way of the 3D.
But I fear its consequences, a little. I am not really sure I can think of any system before that presented such a huge tradeoff—do you ride the 3D wave that will undoubtedly carry the 3DS to success, or do you stay true to your vision and make a game that says "I don't need 3D!"
It will be interesting to see how it plays out, and what developers decide to do.