Building Rome: The help function of ROME: Total War on iPad

Rome wasn’t built in a day – and for iPad it took a while. Here we describe our journey in a series of five enlightening dev diaries, from our first experiments with touch controls right through to completing the full and glorious experience of ROME: Total War on iPad.

When ROME: Total War reached the hands of testers who’d never played it before, some found it tricky to master Total War mechanics and touch controls at the same time. So we teamed up with the Advisor and set about making it easier.

First we took the help text displayed next to the Advisor and made it full-screen so it couldn’t be missed. We also implemented an archive feature, so you can swipe back through the help to refresh your memory.

After upping the accessibility of the help text, we implemented some extra crib-sheet style help for anyone needing a quick 'how-to' for their current predicament. As well as a manual in the pause menu displaying a list of controls, we added context-sensitive guides to show you what each on-screen element does. All you have to do to bring up these guides is hold your finger over the Advisor for a few seconds, anywhere in the game.

We made sure to keep veterans happy too, of course: the advice level can be lowered or switched off entirely.

ROME: Total War is now available for iPad on the App Store. Advance to the minisite for videos, screenshots, and tips on building and ruling your empire.