Virtual Joystick Locking for Single-Handed Skill Direction Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for controlling game characters on mobile devices result in high misoperation rates due to the need for coordinated hand movements, leading to reduced user experience, especially in tense gaming situations where precise directional skills are required.
Innovation Solution
A method that integrates the function of a virtual joystick with a skill button, allowing players to control skill release and direction with a single hand by locking the joystick during sliding operations and generating instructions based on vector calculations from the sliding track, thereby reducing the complexity of operations and misoperations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a virtual joystick and skill button are used separately for directional movement and skill release, then the game character can perform precise directional skills, but the operation complexity increases and misoperation rate rises due to requiring coordinated hand movements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the virtual joystick and skill button into a single integrated control component. The skill button serves dual functions: when pressed normally it releases a skill in the current character orientation, and when dragged it controls directional movement and skill release direction. This merging eliminates the need for coordinated two-hand operations while maintaining precise directional control through the drag gesture that naturally indicates the desired direction.
Solution Approach 2:
The skill button is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as a simple press trigger for skills and as a directional control substitute for the virtual joystick. By enabling the button to detect both press and drag gestures, it universally handles both skill activation and directional control functions, reducing the number of separate controls needed and simplifying the overall operation.
2Measurement precision
If a virtual joystick and skill button are used separately for directional movement and skill release, then the game character can perform directional skills, but the operation time increases due to requiring sequential or simultaneous two-hand operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the virtual joystick and skill button into a single integrated control component. The skill button serves dual functions: when pressed normally it releases a skill in the current character orientation, and when dragged it controls directional movement and skill release direction. This merging eliminates the need for coordinated two-hand operations while maintaining precise directional control through the drag gesture that naturally indicates the desired direction.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary action by detecting the drag gesture start point on the skill button and pre-calculating the vector direction before the skill is actually released. This allows the system to prepare the directional information in advance, so that when the player releases the drag gesture, the skill is immediately released in the pre-determined direction without any additional processing delay.
3Ease of operation
If a virtual joystick is locked during skill button sliding operation, then the skill release direction can be controlled through sliding track, but the virtual joystick functionality is temporarily disabled
Solution Approach 1:
The virtual joystick implements dynamic functionality by switching between two operational states: locked and unlocked. During skill button sliding operations, the joystick is locked to prevent conflicting directional inputs and enable the skill button to serve as the directional control. When no skill button operation is detected, the joystick is unlocked and returns to its normal directional control function. This dynamic state transition allows the system to adapt to different operational contexts, maintaining both single-handed operation capability and overall control flexibility.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for controlling a game character, comprising following steps: in response to a sliding operation started from an initial position of the skill button, locking the virtual joystick for disabling control of the skill release direction of the game character; monitoring a track of the sliding operation, obtaining a current position P2 of a touch point of the sliding operation, and calculating a vector a; determining whether the vector a meets the condition of |a|>a preset threshold L; if yes, generating a first operating instruction to release a skill in the direction of the vector a; and unlocking the virtual joystick; if no, determining whether the sliding operation has been released; if yes, generating a second operating instruction to release the skill, wherein a release direction is a current orientation of the game character; and unlocking the virtual joystick. The method may effectively reduce a misoperation rate.