Why most mobile controls fail, and the few that don't

Nothing kills a good mobile game faster than bad controls. You can have gorgeous art and a clever loop, but if my thumb is covering half the screen, I'm out.

The best offline games I've played share one habit: they design around the thumb, not around a controller they wish you had. Neon Drift Circuit's assisted steering is a good example — it hides the complexity until you ask for it.

Radial menus beat crowded button rows almost every time. Iron Dominion uses one and it makes a dense strategy game playable on a phone. Compare that to games that cram eight icons into a corner.

My rough test: can I play one-handed on a train while holding a rail? If yes, the designers thought about real hands. If not, they didn't.

Tilt controls are a gamble. Some love them, I usually turn them off. A good game lets you choose.