Game plan Rag Pool

Introduction

Rag Pool is a game that is played in a setting with a big rag, and (round) objects situated on top of this rag. The objects move according to certain physics when the rag is distorted, with the specific type of movement depending on the game mode and type of object. Each game mode is accompanied by a set of goals, where players sometimes have to cooperate and sometimes can oppose each others efforts to complete their own goals.

Setting

The game world in Rag Pool consist of a giant rag with materialistic properties like that of trampoline fabric, with scattered across this rag some round objects, like billiard balls. These billiard balls react to distortions in the rag by rolling away from elevated parts of the rag, while rolling towards nadirs present on the rag.

Interaction

Players can influence the rag by excersising pressure on the touch screen at the points where they would like a nadir to appear on the rag, after which the objects near the nadir react accordingly. By cooperating, players can make objects travell allong complex and twisting paths, with the added challenge of getting each object to it's destination without getting them stuck along the way.

Game Modes

One example of a game mode is the color-pair mode, where the goal is to get each of the differently coloured balls to the same-colored destination area. There are also a lot of possible interesting extesions for this concept, such as certain obstacles along the way, a time limit for the set goals, or billiard balls that move to elevations and roll away from nadris. Last but not least, a game mode where players have conflicting goals is also a possibility.

Hardware possibilities

A significantly sized touch screen offers collaboration possibilities that are impossible to achieve on simpler hardeware; one could think of dexterity challenges that would be impossible to complete by just one person, where communcation between players is key to successfully completing these challenges and advancing in the game.

Challenges

There are some issues that need to be researched before this game concept can be refined;

• Pressure sensitivity of the hardware
• Amount of measurable surface contact points on the hardware

Provided that these issues have been researched and mitigated, there are still some technical challenges that we might run into when developing this game;

• Implementing/integrating a sound and simple physics system
• Keeping track of scores for each of the players

Closing words

The biggest advantage of this game concept with respect to the other game concepts is the fact that this one is relatively simple. Although this doesn't neccesarily implies that we won't face any serious challenges while implementing and extending this concept, it does imply that we can instead pay more attention to the user interaction and visual presentation of the game.