The Return of Balance

As an undergraduate assistant, I was responsible for porting The Return of Balance, a game led by Greg Niemeyer and Joe Mckay, from Max/MSP to Processing.

The game challenges players to improve their sense of balance by having them participate in whimsical puzzles of dexterity. A weight-sensing pad is used to track the movements of the participants as they try to bounce virtual beach balls into their respectively colored rings. As the player becomes more adept at honing their ability to balance, the game increases in difficulty.

In the later stages of development we added a laser and light sensor to the installation, allowing onlookers to participate by throwing real physical beach balls. When thrown over a wall, the beach balls trigger the release of a virtual ‘joker ball’ that allows the current player to score in any ring they wish.