Line Wobbler* is a one-dimensional, experimental hardware game with a wobble controller consisting of a steel spring and a five metre long LED strip display. Players of this "dungeon crawler" navigate through obstacles and fight enemies to reach the exit of a series of increasingly difficult levels. Movement is controlled by bending the wobble controller forwards and backwards, while enemies are attacked by wobbling the spring. Obstacles such as lava fields and conveyor belts put the player's navigation skills to the test.

The entire game runs on an Arduino, including sound, particle effects and over 120 frames per second, fps.

Line Wobbler is an experiment in minimalism in game design in terms of novel input mechanics and the incorporation of physical space into the game. The limitation to only one dimension poses a challenge for the creation of captivating gameplay, artistic direction and technical realisation. The player is introduced to the game through a limited number of obstacles (enemies, lava, force fields) and a familiar colour scheme (green - good, red - bad). At the same time, they are challenged by the unusual display format and the new type of controller.

The spring-based controller has been specially developed for this game to provide unusual tactile feedback and unique control options such as bending and wiggling with the spring directly to central game concepts (movement and attack). The flexible LED strip can be customised to suit the installation, for example by running the game along the ceiling, along trees or over other architectural features.

The sound has been kept simple and reminiscent of old arcade games, complementing the fast gameplay and converting the movement data of the spring directly into sound. Line Wobbler was originally developed at the Exile Game Jam in Denmark in autumn 2014. Since then, it has been further refined with a focus on a smooth difficulty curve, controller responsiveness and a fast LED refresh rate of over 100 fps.

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* Wobbler refers to an artificial fishing lure.