Storyboard and Concept Sketches: Warping Block Breaker
Pearl Willmer-Shiles, Mango Team
There are two of these sliders that sit on either side of the room for two different players. They are about waist height with an erganomic handle for easy grip by the player. Wheels on the bottom of the sliders sit in two tracks that run the length of the room. A digital projection of a block on the proejected game floor follows the physical slider, allowing the player to bounce the ball off the block.
One player is tasked with controlling the center wheel which is connected to the projector above controlling the game board projection. In the normal state the four sides of the room are aligned with the side of the center block directly in front of it. That is, if one of the side players bounced the ball off of the center island, it would return back to them.
The wheel on the center island can warp the projected game board effectively twisting the path of the ball. If a player on the side bounces the ball on their slider block and then the middle player twists the projection, the ball will then travel to another side of the room.
To avoid the mechnical and resetting difficulties of physical blocks, the blocks covering the exit door will be a projection on the wall. This will also allow for animations when the ball hits a block. When a block is hit for the frist time, it cracks and only on a second hit will it explode and the entire stack fall down. Not all of the blocks have to be broken, only the ones in front of the exit door. This design simplifies setup of the entire room and makes resetting between groups fast and simple.