Traditional gaming consoles use controllers, joysticks, and buttons for operation, with screens solely responsible for “display.” Touchscreens, however, integrate “operation” and ‘display’ into one unit. You can directly “tap” objects on the screen with your fingers, and it responds. This brings many intuitive and fun functional changes to gaming.
1. Direct Control: This is the core functionality. When you see buttons, cards, or sliders on the screen, you simply press, swipe, or drag them with your fingers.
Practical Applications:
Gambling Machines (Slot Machines, Poker Machines, etc.): Players directly tap buttons like “Bet,” “Spin,” or “Hold” on the screen, or drag chips directly to the betting area. This feels more intuitive than physical buttons, mimicking the experience of handling real cards and chips.
Puzzle game tables: For example, on a Whack-a-Mole table, you can tap the exact spot where a mole pops up—the response is incredibly direct.
2. Multi-touch: The touchscreen can recognize multiple finger touches simultaneously. This diversifies gameplay interactions.
Practical Applications:
Cooperative Games: Two players can operate simultaneously on opposite sides of the screen without interference. For example, in a puzzle game, both players can drag different pieces together.
Complex Gestures: In strategy games, you can pinch two fingers together to zoom out on the map or spread two fingers apart to zoom in—exactly like smartphone gestures.
3. Dynamic Interfaces, Flexible and Adaptive. Traditional consoles feature fixed physical buttons. But touchscreen “buttons” and “interfaces” are software-generated, dynamically changing throughout gameplay.
Practical Applications:
Contextual Options: Different functional buttons appear at the bottom of the screen during various game phases. For example, during combat, “Attack” and “Defend” buttons appear; during construction, these disappear and transform into ‘Build’ and “Upgrade” buttons. A single screen area can function as countless physical buttons at different times.
Gambling Games: When a player wins a free spin, the screen dynamically highlights and displays new options, guiding the player to the next action—the interface is “alive.”
4. Precise Targeting and Quick Interaction: Directly tapping a specific target on the screen with your finger is far faster and more accurate than moving a cursor with a joystick or directional pad.
Practical Applications:
Spot-the-difference games: When identifying subtle variations between nearly identical images, directly tapping the differences with your finger is the fastest and most natural method.
Strategy or tower defense games: Quickly tap your units, then tap a destination to move them; or directly tap a location on the map to build a defense tower. This “point-and-click” feel is exceptionally fluid.
5. Simplify complex actions: Operations requiring button combinations on traditional controllers may be achieved with a single drag or swipe on touchscreens.
Practical Applications:
Racing Games: You don't need to memorize which button controls the handbrake or nitro boost. The screen might feature a simple slider for steering, where swiping up in a designated area triggers a drift and swiping down applies the brakes.
Rhythm Games: Notes fall from the top of the screen. You simply tap, hold, or swipe precisely when they reach designated positions—operations streamlined into direct reactions to visual cues.
Ultimately, the functionality of touchscreens in gaming boils down to two words: “direct” and “flexible.”
Direct: Eliminating the intermediary of a controller creates seamless interaction between hands and the game world.
Flexible: The screen functions as a “universal panel,” capable of displaying any controller layout as needed. This greatly enriches gameplay possibilities and lowers the learning curve.
It is precisely these simple yet practical features that have enabled touchscreens to secure a vital place in gaming—from basic touch-screen game tables to complex gaming machines.