Quick Time Events - solution?

I've mentioned Quick Time Events (QTE) before, but playing a quick game of Prince of Persia on the PS3 reminds me of how badly these can be implemented.

First a quick recap of what a QTE is. Normally when playing a game you can press any control at any time and get a response - press Square and swing your sword, press X and jump etc. You can do this at any time the game doesn't care if you've pressed Square or X it just blindly follows your instructions. QTE are scripted, you have to press the correct button at the correct time or be penalised in some manner. The first problem is this pulls you out of the immersive feel of the game, the second problem is that somehow the game has to communicate which buttons the player is supposed to press and this is where so many fail.

I'll start with the worst example, the rhythm game. A string of button presses appears and you hit the appropriate key when it reaches a certain point. Why is this so bad? Well while watching the string of characters can you tell me what's happening on the rest of the screen? For something like Guitar Hero this is taken into account, there's enough going on around the QTE to entertain the non-players watching, and it makes no difference to the player themselves. However some games like to tie QTE presses to big sweeping events on screen that the player can't watch.  I'm sure these types came about when developers decided they needed big scripted action sequences and sat watching someone else work through them with oohs and aahs not realizing that the person playing it wasn't oohing and aahing along with them. Offenders include Haven on the PS2 and annoyingly the just released Brutal Legend.

So fixating on a scrolling set of instructions was found to be lacking, the next stage up was to flash up the key to press at a fixed point of the screen, then have an action performed, then repeat. This knocks away the flaw that the player can't witness the results of their actions, but introduces a higher pull away from immersion. When playing a game you don't focus on the keys, I 'm not pressing Square I'm swinging my sword. Then suddenly a QTE kicks in and I'm told to press Square, Press X etc. In the mindset of playing the game I've never done this and I stutter "Where's Square?" too late you're dead. Offenders include pretty much every game that uses a QTE.

So we come to the final iteration that all games, if they have to use QTE at all, should use - positional cues. Don't flash the Square button at the top of the screen flash it to the left, X at the bottom etc. Humans have good peripheral/motion sense and that means that a player doesn't need to switch focus from the events unfurling on screen just register a change and move their thumb to that position without needing to analyse which button they need to press or even which button they're pressing. Successes include Sly Cooper on the PS2, Force Unleashed on the PS3 and the forthcoming God of War III.

There's one other problem with QTE in that the developers try to vary things up a little. First off the Triggers or d-pad should never be included in a QTE, just the face buttons, and finally any QTE should require only one press of the button not a repeated hammering. Having the same button appear flashing repeatedly or animated to show results in two problems. Firstly the attention of the player is being pulled from the action, and secondly try hammering a face button with your thumb, the easiest method is to use the index finger which means the player needs to shift their grip on the controller.

The games are evolving and the developers are listening so at some point QTE won't elicit the groans that they do at the moment.