Enhancing Touch Screen Games Through a Cable-driven Force Feedback Device

An increasing number of touch screen interfaces have promoted plenty of applications. A great part of the applications is game. However, the lack of haptic feedback on touch screens also degrades the enjoyment of touch screen games. We present the design of a new cable-driven force feedback touch screen to enhance touch interactions especially in games. The implementation and principle of the force feedback touch screen are presented. We evaluate our design in a Mole Attack game. A lateral force was applied when the user tapped on a mole. The finger acceleration was measured when tapping on the force feedback touch screen as well as stroking on a physical button. The magnitude of the force feedback was adjusted accordingly to simulate the physical interaction. Players reported that the force feedback enhanced tapping was similar to that on a physical button and they preferred the haptic enhanced game which brought them more fun.