If you have ever played Black boxYou know Ryan McLeod builds games a little differently.
In the inventive iOS puzzler from McLeod Studio, Shapes & Stories, players solve challenges not by tapping or swiping, but by rotating a device, plugging in a USB cable, singing a little tune — anything but touching the screen.
When McLeod wandered the canals of his Amsterdam home, his idea was to get people connected to the world outside of their devices.
I’m trying to figure out what it does. Black box Mark on iOS and how to bring that to visionOS. That requires following some of my own rules – and breaking some.
Ryan McLeod
In fact, before the Apple Vision Pro was announced, McLeod freed the puzzles from the device’s screen – making bringing the game to this new platform a formidable challenge. On iOS and iPadOS, Black box It destroys the familiarity of our devices. But how do you transfer that experience to a device people haven’t tried yet? And how do you break boundaries on a blank canvas? “I love a good constraint, but it was fun to explore the lifting of the constraint,” McLeod said. I’m trying to figure out what it does. Black box Mark on iOS and how to bring that to visionOS. That requires some creative following of my own rules – and some breaking.
After a short ride, the game becomes a completely new visionOS experience that uses the space canvas from the first level selection. “I wanted something a little floaty and magical, but still grounded in reality,” he says. “I landed on the idea of bubbles. They’re like soap bubbles: they’re natural, they have this surreal sheen, and they move in a way that you know. Schender cleverly captures the reflection of your world in this really believable and engaging way.”
And the puzzles in those bubbles? “unlike Black box On iOS, you don’t play this on your way home from school or while you’re waiting in line,” says McLeod. “It should have been designed differently. No matter how interesting the background is or how beautiful the sound effects are, it’s never fun to just watch something clattering along beautifully.
Now, McLeod warns that Black box It’s still very much a work in progress, and we’re definitely not here to offer any spoilers. But if you want to go in completely cold, it might be best to skip this next section.
in Black boxPlayers interact with space – and their own emotions – to explore and solve challenges. A puzzle involves moving your body in a certain way; Another involves sound, silence, and a blob of molten gold floating in front of you like an alien. The second puzzle involves Morse code. And solving the third puzzle will cause part of the area to drop into a portal. “Spatial audio makes the whole thing sound eerie but beautiful,” he says.
There is the benefit of not knowing expected or common patterns.
Ryan McLeod
Needless to say. Black box Especially since McLeod is building this plane while it flies it, so it will continue to grow – something he sees as a positive. “There’s an advantage in not knowing the expectations or the typical patterns,” he says. “There is so much opportunity.”