Patent Publication Number: US-2018043267-A1

Title: Ball Reflecting Video Game

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
     The current state of video games includes 2d and 3d gaming. The state of video game input methods includes: touchscreen/touchpad (2d input), gamepads (2d and 3d input), specialized 3d input for virtual reality and augmented reality. The available inputs for video games provide for numerous systems for players to quickly and accurately select points in 2d spaces and 3d spaces. The current invention leverages this ability to select points in 2d and 3d to create a new and unique game to test the player&#39;s skill. Video games are often organized in levels. Levels serve to introduce new concepts into a games gameplay. The first levels often utilizes minimal core components required to play the game. As the player progresses through levels, new elements are brought into the game to add depth and further test the player&#39;s skill. By the final level all game elements have been introduced and utilized to test the player&#39;s skill. 
     SUMMARY: (USUALLY ONE PARAGRAPH DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION) 
     The invention is a video game to be played in two dimensions or three dimensions. The goal of the video game is to navigate a continually moving “ball” (a circle in 2d and a sphere in 3d) from its “starting point” to the “goal”. Once the ball is moving in a direction it continues in that direction until the “player” places a “reflector” (a circle in 2d and a sphere in 3d) in the ball&#39;s path. When the ball and the reflector collide the ball will reflect off the reflector and change its direction. To place a reflector, the player must choose a point to “grow” the reflector at within the “game space”. The reflector starts at its minimum size at the point the player selects using the “input method” when he activates his “Input”, and then immediately starts to grow (increasing in radius) as long as the player keeps the input active. The player can stop the growth of the reflector by deactivating the input, but if the input is left active for too long (or radius gets too large) the reflector will be destroyed and cease to exist. Both the size and the location of the reflector will affect the ball&#39;s trajectory. Only one reflector can be placed at a time, and when the player places a second reflector the first reflector will be destroyed and cease to exist. When the ball touches the goal then a “score” is recorded. If the game ball touches a “boundary” then the ball is destroyed and a “fault” is recorded. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       Drawing  1  is a 2d representation of the game and minimal game components. 
       Drawing  2  is a 2d representation of the game with full components. 
       Drawing  3  is a 2d representation of the reflector growing. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF HOW THE INVENTION WORKS 
     The invention is a new video game where the underlying mechanics rely on game object collision detection and the physics of ball collisions. 
     Drawing  1  is an illustration of an example 2d circular shaped game area with minimal components. In Drawing  1  we see a game space, designated by the number  3 , with a ball object  4 , a reflector object  1 , and a goal object  2 . Drawing  1  lacks a starting point object, because the invention in the simplest form can utilize a random starting point and launch direction, or utilize the goal  2  point as the starting point and randomise only the launch direction. The game is started by launching the ball  4 . It is then up to the player to place reflectors  1  within the game space  3  to guide the ball  4  to the goal  2 . The player places a reflector  1  by selecting a point in the game space  3 . Drawing  1  assumes the player has access to directly input into the game space  3  (i.e. touchscreen for 2d input). If the player does not have a direct access to input into the game space than a cursor  16 , as depicted in Drawing  2 , is needed to select points in the game space  3 . Once a point is selected by the player the reflector  1  is placed into the game world at its minimum size and a timer is started. As the player holds the input active the radius of the reflector  1 ,  11  grows as a nondecreasing function of the timer, as seen in Drawing  3 . Drawing  3  shows the player input point  21 , the initial radius  19 , the initial edge  21 , the maximum radius  20  and the ending edge of the reflector  1 ,  11  The arrows in Drawing  3  depict the growth of the reflector  1 ,  11  over the time the input is held active by the player. A reflector is destroyed when a ball reflects off of it, or when the player leaves the input active for too long such that either the timer or the radius surpasses its respective prespecified maximum value, or if the player places a new reflector  1  into the game space  3 . When the ball  4  collides with the reflector  1 , then the ball  4  will change its path direction based on a physics based reflection between the ball  4  and the reflector  1 . The ball  4  is destroyed when it collides with the goal  2  resulting in a score and the ball  4  is also destroyed if it leaves the game space  3  resulting in a fault. 
     Drawing  2  is an illustration of an example 2d game area with full game components. In Drawing  2  we see a game space  13  surrounded by a boundary  5  and safe-boundary  17 . There is also a boundary  7  within the game space  13 . Drawing  2  also depicts a starting point  6 , a reflector  11 , the ball  12 , the goal  8 , a moving boundary  9 , destroyable-safe-boundary  10 , a input cursor  16 , a moving safe-boundary  18 , a moving destroyable-safe-boundary  14 , and a collectable-object  15 . When the ball  12  collides with a boundary  5 ,  7  or a moving boundary  9  then the ball  12  is destroyed resulting in a fault. When the ball  12  collides with a safe-boundary  17 ,  18 ,  10 ,  14  then the ball  12  is reflected off the safe-boundary  17 ,  18 ,  10 ,  14 . A safe-boundary can also be destroyable. If a safe-boundary is a destroyable-safe-boundary  10 ,  14  then the destroyable-safe-boundary  10 ,  14  will be destroyed directly after reflecting the ball  12 . The starting point  6  gives the point and direction to launch the ball  12 . Collectable-objects  15  are collected by the player when the ball  12  collides with them. Collectable-objects  15  are destroyed when the ball  12  collides with them and do not alter the ball&#39;s  12  path. Only the ball  12  and the reflector  11  have predefined shapes, circular for 2d implementation and Spherical for 3d implementation, all other objects are free to take on other geometries. 
     The 3d implementation of the game is a simple mapping from 2d into 3d and conserving the same gameplay by letting the ball  4 , 12  and reflector  1 ,  11  become spheres rather than circles and by letting the game space  3 , 13  become a volume as opposed to an area. All other objects are still free to take on any geometry. 
     The objective of the game is for the player to guide the ball  4 ,  12  to the goal  2 ,  8  by means of placing reflectors  1 ,  11  in the ball&#39;s path to direct the ball  4 ,  12  towards the goal  2 ,  8  without having a fault. A fault requires the player to start over by re-launching the ball  4 ,  12 . The game allows for many levels to be designed from the components. Guiding the ball  4 ,  12  from its starting point  6  to the goal  2 ,  8  successfully clears a level. 
     A multiplayer variation can easily be implemented by allowing any number of players to take turns placing the reflector  1 ,  11 . For scoring purposes the player that placed the last reflector  1 ,  11  touched by the ball  4 ,  12  before the ball touched the goal  2 ,  8  is credited with the score.