Blackbox: Rebooting an inventive puzzle game for visionOS

If you’ve ever played Blackbox, you cognize that Ryan McLeod builds games a small differently.

In the inventive iOS puzzler from McLeod’s studio, Shapes & Stories, players lick challenges not by tapping oregon swiping but by rotating the device, plugging successful the USB cable, singing a small tune — beauteous overmuch everything but touching the screen.

“The thought was to get radical successful interaction with the satellite extracurricular their device,” says McLeod, portion ambling on the canals of his Amsterdam location base.

I’m trying to fig retired what makes Blackbox tick connected iOS, and however to bring that to visionOS. That requires immoderate originative pursuing of my ain rules — and breaking immoderate of them.

In fact, McLeod freed his puzzles from the confines of a instrumentality surface good earlier Apple Vision Pro was adjacent announced — which made bringing the crippled to this caller level a fascinating challenge. On iOS and iPadOS, Blackbox plays disconnected the familiarity of our devices. But however bash you transpose that acquisition to a instrumentality radical haven’t tried yet? And however bash you interruption boundaries connected a canvas that doesn’t person any? “I bash emotion a bully constraint,” says McLeod, “but it has been amusive to research the lifting of that restraint. I’m trying to fig retired what makes Blackbox tick connected iOS, and however to bring that to visionOS. That requires immoderate originative pursuing of my ain rules — and breaking immoderate of them.”

After a little onboarding, the crippled becomes an all-new visionOS acquisition that takes vantage of the spatial canvas close from the archetypal level selection. “I wanted thing a small floaty and magical, but inactive grounded successful reality,” helium says. “I landed connected the thought of bubbles. They’re similar soap bubbles: They’re natural, they person this hyper-realistic gloss, and they determination successful a mode you’re acquainted with. The shader cleverly pulls the reflection of your satellite into them successful this truly believable, intriguing way.”

And the puzzles wrong those bubbles? “Unlike Blackbox connected iOS, you’re not going to play this erstwhile you’re walking location from schoolhouse oregon waiting successful line,” McLeod says. “It had to beryllium designed differently. No substance however breathtaking the inheritance is, oregon however beauteous the dependable effects are, it’s not amusive to conscionable look astatine something, adjacent if it’s bobbing astir truly nicely.”

Now, McLeod cautions that Blackbox is inactive precise overmuch a enactment successful progress, and we’re surely not present to connection immoderate spoilers. But if you privation to spell successful wholly cold, it mightiness beryllium champion to skip this adjacent part.

In Blackbox, players interact with the abstraction — and their ain senses — to research and lick challenges. One puzzle involves moving your assemblage successful a definite manner; different involves sound, silence, and a blob of molten golden floating similar an alien successful beforehand of you. A 2nd puzzle involves Morse code. And solving a 3rd puzzle causes portion of the country to illness into a portal. “Spatial Audio makes the full happening benignant of alarming but mesmerizing,” helium says.

There's an vantage to not knowing expected oregon communal patterns.

It's harmless to accidental Blackbox volition proceed evolving, particularly since McLeod is fundamentally gathering this level arsenic he’s flying it — thing helium views arsenic a positive. “There’s an vantage to not knowing expected oregon communal patterns,” helium says. “There’s conscionable truthful overmuch possibility.”

Download Blackbox for Vision from the App Store