Bubble Mania: Interactive Haptic Spatial Game

Digitisation is pervasive in our everyday lives. We get less and less exercise and spend most of our time in front of small and large screens. This is why the student project “Bubble Mania” sought to get people away from the screen – and entice them into an interactive, haptic play space.

Inspired by arcade games of the 1980s, the students from the Media University transformed a two-dimensional game world into a three-dimensional space. Players became part of the game and had to take action, master challenges together with the aim of releasing tones.

The project brought together a retro gaming aesthetic and modern technology. The interfaces and controllers were designed specifically for this purpose and manufactured with the help of 3D printers. Every controller had a specific colour and responded visually and haptically to the actions of the players. The bubbles in the room lit up in different colours and in a random sequence – it was up to the players to recall which colour lit up where. Perspectives and dimensions were manipulated to create a captivating “Alice in Wonderland” effect.

The realisation of the project was within a narrow timeframe of 3.5 months. Attention to detail resulted in a scenographic setting that enabled the players to immerse themselves in the fascinating world of Bubble Mania.