What have I been working on?
Precisely one year ago, I started working in earnest on an idea that I have been thinking about for a long time.
Elevator pitch
Imagine that you are sitting at a table with friends, like in a dining room or at a bar. You lay your mobile devices side-by-side and start playing a game.
Something like Air Hockey or Breakout being played across the screens of your devices.
This is Space Hockey, and it’s what I’ve been working on.
My vision
Inspired by the multiplayer games of my youth, I want to create a new kind of gaming experience.
Everyone has a mobile device nowadays.
Our mobile devices are physical artifacts in the real world.
Why not use the physical aspects of our devices for gaming?
I want a new kind of game.
Ad-hoc and spontaneous.
The games are impromptu and are different depending on which devices are used.
Devices are different shapes and sizes and every combination is different.
But more than a single game, I want to make a platform, a platform for mobile-first gaming.
Details
How do the devices connect?
How do games look good across screens with different resolutions?
How many different devices can be connected? 2? 3? more?
These are all problems that need to be solved and I am solving them.
An insane amount of engineering has been done to ensure that games work in hostile Wi-Fi environments.
Timeline
Like how Doom and Quake were fun games and impressive tech demos, I want Space Hockey to be a fun game and an impressive tech demo.
I am slowly releasing milestones of Space Hockey.
The current plan is to release the simplest thing that can work: Android only, 2 devices, same Wi-Fi network.
After the actual Android release, there will be an iOS release, and perhaps other platforms like Windows.
Then there will be work to not require an existing Wi-Fi network, and instead have devices talk directly to each other with Wi-Fi Aware.
And then of course, supporting more than 2 devices.
Check it out!
I have a channel where I post milestones: https://www.youtube.com/@haltingsoftware
I also want in-person play testing, so email me at haltingsoftware@gmail.com if you want to be added to the Google Play internal testing group for Android.