Line Wobbler

Line Wobbler is a one-dimensional dungeon crawler with a custom controller made out of a spring and a five meter long LED strip display. It is an award-winning experiment in minimalism in game design, use of novel input mechanics, and the incorporation of physical space.  

Line Wobbler at the FILE Festival 2019 in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Line Wobbler is an experiment in minimalism in game design, use of novel input mechanics, and the incorporation of physical space into the game. The restraint to only one dimension poses a formidable challenge for creating engaging gameplay, artistic direction, and technical realization. 

The player is eased into the game by a limited set of obstacles (enemies, lava, force fields) and a familiar color scheme (green - good, red - bad). At the same time he is challenged by the unusual display form factor and the novel controller. The spring-based controller has been created specifically for this game to provide unusual tactile feedback and provide unique control schemes such as bending and flinging the spring, which have been mapped directly to core game concepts (movement and attack). 

The flexible LED strip can be (and has been) adapted to wherever it is installed, for example by running the game along the ceiling, up trees or over other architectural features.The audio has been kept simple and reminiscent of old arcade games and compliments the fast gameplay by directly converting the spring movement data into sound.  

Line Wobbler won several awards, among them the IndieCade 2015 Award for Game Design and the WTF!? and Audience Awards at AMAZE Berlin 2015. In Japan, it won the Best Game Design, Best Presentation, and the Audience Awards at Sense Of Wonder Night at the Tokyo Game Show 2016. 

It has been exhibited at over 100 exhibitions in a wide variety of contexts, such as the Victoria & Albert Museum London, Burning Man, the Orlando Science Center, Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Experimenta 2020 Science & Art Biennale and many others. A longer list can be seen here.

Custom Spring Joystick
Using a spring, an accelerometer and a rigid surface, the Wobble controller is a tactile and surprisingly precise joystick with a unique 'wobble' action.
High Quality LED Strip
Line Wobbler is optimized to run at over 100 fps on a dense high-quality LED strip with 720 LEDs with cool 1D special effects.
Bespoke Gameplay
1D is a formidable restriction, so I'm extra proud that everyone loves the deep gameplay Line Wobbler has (and has won awards for)
Embedding in 3D
The flexibility of the LED strip makes very interesting 'tracks' possible, incorporating the architecture of the venue.
Group dynamics
I often show Line Wobbler without explanation, letting the audience figure it out and help each other
Multiple Wobblers
Since Line Wobbler is so flexible, I enjoy setting up multiple of them at once, sometimes along different tracks.
Custom Spring Joystick
Using a spring, an accelerometer and a rigid surface, the Wobble controller is a tactile and surprisingly precise joystick with a unique 'wobble' action.
High Quality LED Strip
Line Wobbler is optimized to run at over 100 fps on a dense high-quality LED strip with 720 LEDs with cool 1D special effects.
Bespoke Gameplay
1D is a formidable restriction, so I'm extra proud that everyone loves the deep gameplay Line Wobbler has (and has won awards for)
Embedding in 3D
The flexibility of the LED strip makes very interesting 'tracks' possible, incorporating the architecture of the venue.
Group dynamics
I often show Line Wobbler without explanation, letting the audience figure it out and help each other
Multiple Wobblers
Since Line Wobbler is so flexible, I enjoy setting up multiple of them at once, sometimes along different tracks.
Custom Spring Joystick
Using a spring, an accelerometer and a rigid surface, the Wobble controller is a tactile and surprisingly precise joystick with a unique 'wobble' action.
High Quality LED Strip
Line Wobbler is optimized to run at over 100 fps on a dense high-quality LED strip with 720 LEDs with cool 1D special effects.
Bespoke Gameplay
1D is a formidable restriction, so I'm extra proud that everyone loves the deep gameplay Line Wobbler has (and has won awards for)
Embedding in 3D
The flexibility of the LED strip makes very interesting 'tracks' possible, incorporating the architecture of the venue.
Group dynamics
I often show Line Wobbler without explanation, letting the audience figure it out and help each other
Multiple Wobblers
Since Line Wobbler is so flexible, I enjoy setting up multiple of them at once, sometimes along different tracks.

A special christmas-tree shaped version of Line Wobbler was shown at Kings Cross Station, London. Two tracks of 25m long LED strips wind upwards as a double-helix.

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