Gears of War Developer Talks About Controls As Translation

Gameological has a fascinating article that takes a look at controls, particularly within the context of iOS and the new game Republique. Republique has to deal with creating controls from scratch on a platform with a new interface that has not standardized many of the elements that will be included in the game. Leading up to that is talk of how other developers approach and think of controls, and this is where Gears of War's Rod Fergusson comes in. The former direction of productions at Epic Games had the following to say about Gears of War and how it handled:

“Controls are about finding a way for players to not have to do too much translation,” 

Basically, when you look at what’s happening from a player’s perspective—I want to move over here, I want to look that way—they can’t do that directly, so there’s a translation layer to let them do that. So what you’re trying to do is to look at the ergonomics of the controller, and you begin to map the important things in your game in terms of what’s most important and then what’s most accessible.”

“Players are meant to feel like they’re there. Take rumble, for example. The vibration of the controller is meant to put you in that place. Games are, especially [those like Gears], aspirational. They’re meant to make you feel what we want you to feel—the tension, the fear, the adrenaline—so you can connect more when the controller ceases to be a part of the equation.”

Anyone that has played Gears of War knows exactly what the man is talking about. Personally I'd go so far as to say that Gears of War has perfect controls–and is probably the only game for which I'd say this. Thinking about controls as "translation" is apt, and perhaps iOS doesn't have to translate in the same way as controllers do. But, the nuanced dissection of this talk is found in the article, which I highly reccomend reading!