Erik

RTS as you've always wanted to play it

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AMAZING! This truly bring a new meaning to the word STRATEGY game. I can't wait to try this stuff. I love this new wave of touch screen technology that is popping up everywhere. With a bit of streamlining it could be a whole new way of experiencing games. Astounding.

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Although I'm quite content in playing my RTS games as I always have, that sure looks neat. It seems touchscreens are going to be the big thing in a few years, but you never know how those things turn out. Microsoft had some really cool touchscreen features to show off at their last conference, including a table-thingy that read and scanned things you placed on it as well as being receptive to touch input. What I'm getting at is that being able to either sketch out a quick battleplan with your fingers or drawing one in advance and then sharing that with your allies seems like a really cool thing to have in an RTS.

Perhaps it'll never catch on though, and just turn into something like all that shitty force feedback technology companies tried to sell a few years back, like rumble-chairs etc. Maybe they still produce that stuff?

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Pratical applications for that type of technology are still 5-6 years off.

But don't get me wrong, I'd love to play some starcraft on that thing.

But then how would I be able to play my favorite game series, Homeworld, on that seeing as it's 3d?

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I gotta say, this isn't how I've always wanted to play an RTS.

It's a cool idea, but not particularly practical. In order to play a game like Warcraft III, you'd have to be hunched over this thing for 10 - 12 hours of gameplay time. And that's just the single player campaign.

And yeah, Chepito's right. A game like Homeworld, where the game is played on a completely 3D plane, wouldn't work at all in this setting. It needs to be top down to function properly.

I think better uses for this technology are social ones, where multiple people sit around a digital table playing together. The Philips entertaible may have the worst name imaginable, but it's a better use of touchscreen technology than a traditional RTS.

Instead of thinking of how cool an RTS would be, think broader. How cool would a tabletop wargame be, if there were physical pieces and a CGI board that changed as you played? Or even just a touchscreen version of Ticket to Ride?

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I use a tablet (well, not at this moment, I need to buy a new one) and I've played RTS and strategy games with it and it beats the mouse by far, IMO (though it obviously sucks for FPS games.) So if a game like Homeworld can work with the mouse or a tablet, then it can work with this. People here seem to be lacking in imagination.

The fact is, not the entire screen of this has to be dedicated to the game. You can create a virtual keyboard. So you can imagine moving the cursor on the main area, and then you can have a 3d-depth virtual slider on the side. If you're using your finger to move a cursor, you can possibly use your thumb (much like how some mice have thumb scrollers on the side) to rotate. There are a lot of ways an interface like this could be used and used well.

The only minor problem is that virtual keyboards have no tactile response, but that doesn't ruin the whole thing.

I imagine a simple tablet (no display) would benefit from technology like this and if so, that requires no more hunching over to play than a mouse does already.

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I can imagine something like that working beautifully.

It really does make you wonder what the future holds for strategy-games.

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I'm a bit skeptical. I think your fingers would get tired relatively quickly.

Did your fingers get tired typing that reply too?

I don't think it looks very taxing at all, except for perhaps your triceps as you have to hold your arms slightly elevated at all times as to not disturb the table (I'm guessing here, maybe they worked that part out).

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I think that with something like Warcraft, you'll play it now and then for the novelty way of commanding an army. But I estimate you'll return to the mouse soon enough and just use this to spice up your gamelife.

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How cool would a tabletop wargame be, if there were physical pieces and a CGI board that changed as you played? Or even just a touchscreen version of Ticket to Ride?

Oh damn that would be awesome. I spend a couple of hours (2-5-ish) every friday geeking out with Ticket and occasionally Game of Thrones. Either of those would be incredible on a table like that. Seeing your armies fight and watching the world conform to your game would be amazingly immersive. Considering how much I get sucked into these games already, that may not be a benefit, but it's still damn cool.

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I am really amazed by how well that touch screen works in the first video!

I don't understand why 3D RTS games couldn't work with that device. At least that 3D map seems to be pretty easy to use.

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I don't understand why 3D RTS games couldn't work with that device. At least that 3D map seems to be pretty easy to use.

I think the fear is about misplacing the camera through a sudden move in a game like Homeworld.

Given that this engineer came up with different forms of "hands-combinations" to execute different actions (pan the map, group selection...), and that apparently even in this early prototype stage the table makes the difference between them : we could imagine more subtle combinations to control the camera in the future.

Let's say based on the number of fingers you touch the screen with ; like panning with 2 fingers up and down would control height, left and right for the width, 1 finger pan up/down zoom-in and out, etc...

But as I said in the first place, I believe a pair of high tech gloves could replace the last buttons needed on the mouse ; consider your right hand, you could have a scroll wheel on the left side of your forefinger, controlled by your thumb.

We can only imagine, but our examples are made of games whose interface and controls have been designed with and for a keyboard/mouse set. I can't think much of how an interface would turn out with this table.

As for the tactile response with virtual devices, I'm pretty sure it exists alone, not combined with a screen yet though.

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Did your fingers get tired typing that reply too?

I don't think it looks very taxing at all, except for perhaps your triceps as you have to hold your arms slightly elevated at all times as to not disturb the table (I'm guessing here, maybe they worked that part out).

The only way there could be a comparison is if you type by only using your index fingers. Normal keyboard use isn't very taxing in fingers at all, but it would seem to me that a combination of making a pointing fist and repeated pressure on the index finger would get quite tiresome as the hours pass.

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The first video is much more interesting than the second and I can't help but fell that for games like Warcraft or Black&White a separated horizontal touch board would be better.

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The only way there could be a comparison is if you type by only using your index fingers. Normal keyboard use isn't very taxing in fingers at all, but it would seem to me that a combination of making a pointing fist and repeated pressure on the index finger would get quite tiresome as the hours pass.

So you've never used a pen? What you describe is essentially like using a tablet, and I've gone full 16 hour work days using a tablet and let me tell you, that is a lot easier on the hand and the wrist than using a mouse.

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