Kid Icarus Uprising 3DS Hones Creative Control Scheme
Kid Icarus Uprising 3DS
Nintendo announced Kid Icarus Uprising, at this past Electronic Entertainment Expo, as a release title for the upcoming Nintendo 3DS. The designer taking charge of Kid Icarus Uprising has made a goal for overcoming an issue that he feels is plaguing the FPS genre.
Masahiro Sakurai is the mastermind behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the new Kid Icarus game, and he says that too many shooting games are derived from the same template due to a standardized control scheme. He insists that this hinders the creativity allotted for developers.
He goes on to say that he has observed that, in established genres, that the control schemes will always be the same. In shooting game,s you find that many FPS’ use all of the buttons on the controller and do the same thing every time. For example, the analog stick is for moving and the triggers are for shooting. This hinders the developers creativity, and it creates a “very restricted framework” for gameplay. At times, it may feel as if people take this general template and swap out stories and artistic direction, he says.
This is true, to some extent, but can you blame the developers? There is a right way to do things in the video game industry. Many gamers do not like change, whether it is a change of platform, policy, or even controls. Having a standardized controls scheme allows for gamers to smoothly transition from one game to the next, having little learning curve to experience. This is a luxury that many gamers are enjoying, currently.
Having a different control scheme is not the only way to be able to offer creativity to the developers anyway. Creativity can also come from the features and experiences presented in the game. A control scheme does control the direction that the development of a game may take, but it is a poor excuse for a lack of creativity.
Clearly, the controller does have an impact on how creative a game can be, though. Take a look at Sorcery on the PlayStation 3. It makes use of the new PlayStation Move, a motion controller made for the PS3. This game allows you to move your PlayStation Move in such a way that you are able to cast spells and conjure up mini-tornadoes. This is an extremely creative game, a game that will most likely meet success solely because of its creative control scheme.
So you have to look at it from both perspectives. A standardized control scheme can be beneficial in some cases, such as if you want your fanbase to be able to transition from a popular video game franchise to yours, smoothly. But having a creative control scheme, such as that provided by the PlayStation Move, allows for developers to take the creation of a game in a different direction, which offers a refreshing sense of creativity in th video game industry.
Kid Icarus Uprising’s control scheme will make use of the 3DS touchscreen, an analog stick and the L button for most of the action. This is a simple control scheme, but listening to the position that the designer, Sakurai, takes on creativity, you can expect for a control scheme that is innovative to say the least.
