Having touchpad support makes it easier to pull Gear VR out of a backpack and play with other people. Personally, I’m all about gaze and tap now :) Our team is split on whether they prefer touchpad or gamepad controls on Gear VR, which I’m taking as a good sign that they’re both on par. Swiping will spin the object to allow you to inspect all sides. The “Back” button above the touchpad will put an object down on the table, although can just look at something else to pick it up instead which feels really natural. Look at the thing you want to interact with and then tap on the touchpad to interact with it. The touchpad controls are also very simple. We tend to demo the game to players on PC where a gamepad is the easiest and most comfortable way to play, so for a long time we felt this was the only way to go on Gear VR. The gamepad scheme should be easy to pick up for anybody who has used a gamepad before and only uses two buttons and two thumbsticks. On Gear VR, we support both the gamepad as well as touchpad-only control schemes. The challenge of the game stems from deciding *what* to do rather than actually executing an action. They also need to be able to manipulate objects in space in order to inspect all sides for vital pieces of information. Players need to be able to select parts of the bomb and interact with them: push buttons, cut wires, and so forth. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is a relatively simple game to control. Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes can be played with either a gamepad or with just the touch controls, which should make it really easy to bust out at parties. All is not lost though: the Gear VR headset features a touchpad on the right side of the unit.

That puts game developers in a bit of bind, as requiring a gamepad to play will reduce the number of players who can actually play your game. When the Gear VR started shipping back in December of last year, there was no gamepad included.

Keep talking and nobody explodes demo