We don’t normally get to redo artwork for our games, so we were very excited when the opportunity came along with ROME: Total War for iPad. We then spread those commands along the bottom of the screen to make them immediately accessible.Ĭommands less frequently used, or more likely to be used in the deployment phase, were put into easily expandable sub-menus. In battle mode, we identified the commands used most regularly, including halting troops, activating a special ability, toggling walk/run, skirmish mode, guard mode, and fire at will.
When we discovered that some veterans of ROME: Total War hadn’t even heard of this awesome little feature, we decided to make it much easier to access. We also took the opportunity to pull some lesser-known features into the foreground, such as the ability to move Retinues between Generals. For example, if you select a Settlement, you’ll be able to control everything about it from a single screen. We were also careful to organise everything intuitively. We wanted to keep all of the desktop version’s juicy functionality, so set about making it accessible and perfectly visible on a smaller screen.įor a start, we used all available screen space to maximise the amount of information we can show. With its extensive User Interface, ROME: Total War gives you ample power to manage your burgeoning empire. We dedicated considerable time to collating this feedback, observing how people played, and trying out new tweaks to get the most intuitive touch controls possible. The controls were thoroughly tested by our own QA department, Beta testers, and eager staff keen to give it a whirl. You can even draw squiggly paths and circles with your finger like you would in a painting app, giving the iPad touch controls even more precision than the desktop controls. In ROME: Total War, the pinch, spread, rotate and pan gestures behave exactly how you'd expect. In the same spirit of keeping things simple, we made the camera controls match those already used on the iPad. We reserved the tap and hold function for tooltips and info panels. Navigating the UI with touch controls was kept pointedly simple, using taps, holds or swipes to interact with the options. We then brought these controls to the battlefield so players could draw paths directing their troops into combat. This is how we began thinking about touch controls.Ĭontrols that manoeuvre units on the Campaign Map were based around drawing paths onto whatever you want the units to interact with, be that a peaceful settlement or a threatening enemy army. We always knew we wanted the player to feel like a General in their tent, drawing directions onto a huge Campaign Map and pushing models of troops into position.
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