“The full impact of fruit destruction”: How Halfbrick cultivated Super Fruit Ninja on Apple Vision Pro

Fruit Ninja has a juicy past that stretches backmost much than a decade, but Samantha Turner, pb gameplay programmer astatine the game’s Halfbrick Studios, says the Apple Vision Pro mentation — Super Fruit Ninja connected Apple Arcade — is genuinely bananas. “When it archetypal came out, Fruit Ninja benignant of gave caller beingness to the touchscreen,” she notes, “and I deliberation we person the imaginable to bash thing precise peculiar here.”

What if players could compression foodstuff retired of an orange? What if they could rip isolated a watermelon and screen the array and walls with juice?

Turner would know. She’s worked connected the Fruit Ninja franchise for astir a decade, which makes her particularly good suited to assistance turn the crippled connected a caller platform. “We needed to recognize however to bring those accepted 2D idiosyncratic interfaces into the 3D space,” she says. “We were afloat of ideas: What if players could compression foodstuff retired of an orange? What if they could rip isolated a watermelon and screen the array and walls with juice?” She laughs, connected a roll. “We were truly playing with the environment.”

But they besides needed to get radical into that environment. “That’s wherever we came up with the flying menu,” she says, referring to the old-timey location surface that’ll consciousness acquainted to Fruit Ninja fans, but for however it hovers successful space. “We wanted a affable and welcoming mode to bring radical into the immersive space,” explains Turner. “Before we landed connected the menu, we were doing things similar generating 3D substance to enactment connected virtual objects. But that didn’t springiness america the originative state we needed to acceptable the taxable for our world.”

That theme: The bully citizens of Fruitasia person discovered a portal to our satellite — 1 that magically materializes successful the room. “Sensei steps close done the portal,” says Turner, “and you tin peek backmost into their satellite too.”

Next, Turner and Halfbrick acceptable astir creating a satisfying — and splashy — mode for radical to interact with their space. The main question: What’s the astir logical mode to motorboat effect astatine people?

“We started with, OK, you person a mates meters quadrate successful beforehand of you. What volition the playspace look like? What if there’s a seat oregon a array successful the way? How bash we enactment astir antithetic scenarios for radical successful their bureau oregon surviving country oregon kitchen?” To find their answers, Halfbrick built RealityKit prototypes. “Just being capable to spot those truly opened up the possibilities.” The answer? A acceptable of cannons, arranged successful a semicircle astatine the optimal region for businesslike slashing.

Instead of holding blades, you simply usage your hands.

It besides fto them determination onto the question of however players tin carve up a clump of airborne bananas successful a 3D space. The squad experimented with a assortment of manus motions, but nary felt arsenic satisfying arsenic the last result. “Instead of holding blades, you simply usage your hands,” she says. “You go the weapon.”

And you’re a almighty weapon. Slice and dice pineapples and watermelons by jabbing with your hands. Send bombs distant by pushing them to a acold wall, wherever they harmlessly detonate astatine a distance. Fire shuriken into floating effect by brushing your palms successful an outward absorption — a question Turner peculiarly likes. “It’s satisfying to spot it up close, but erstwhile you spot it hap acold away, you get the afloat interaction of effect destruction,” she laughs. All were results of manus motion explorations.

“We ever knew hands would beryllium the halfway of the experience,” she says. “We wanted players to beryllium capable to drawback things and sound them away. And we tin tailor the arc of the effect to marque definite it's a comfy fruit-slicing acquisition — we’re really utilizing the vertical presumption of the instrumentality itself to marque definite that we're not throwing effect implicit your caput oregon excessively low.”

The effect is the astir immersive — and perchance astir entertaining — Fruit Ninja to date, not conscionable for players but for the creators. “Honestly,” Turner says, “this mentation is 1 of my favorites.”

Find Super Fruit Ninja connected Apple Arcade