There is No Arkanoid

Key Words: Arkanoid, Puzzle Game, Retro Style, Meta Element

This is a creation for the UI GameJam held by the BRAINET Research Group.
I won the first place in the activity and invite other participants to play and provide feedback.
It is a solo project and I handle the coding part, game design and art assets (using some free assets from Unity Assets Store).

The theme of gamejam is Glitch. As faults gradually erode the essence of things, they are also endowed with a unique beauty that belongs to time and imperfection.
In my game, I want to explore a novel UI interaction way that break conventions and be unexpected. It allows UI elements not only serve basic functions, such as information prompting and control support, but also integrate into games more deeply and closely. They are the core part of game.
The initial inspiration comes from 'There is No Game: Wrong Dimension'. It is a Point & Click comedy adventure , also a unique puzzle game with meta elements. Below, a '!' falls and transforms into a paddle and a ball, which letters of the title become bricks. So I think about incorporating the UI elements in to the 'play' part of the game as well.

The entire game can be divided into two parts: the Surface World and the Inner World.
In the Surface World, it looks like an ordinary Arkanoid game, where you strive to break all the bricks. But there seems to be some wrong with the UI, just after pressing that button...
To solve the puzzle, you have to carefully observe the environment....

When the ball hit bricks or UI elements, there will be particle effects, which can bring some feedback on hiting things and optimize the experience.
After you truly completed the game, a full screen particle effect is used to celebrate.

The Title Text has a bouncing effect, which is achieved by dynamically changing the Text vertex postions with mathematical calculation.