Spring (Scratch) - Raphael Wreford (13), London
This simple game can be played by both sighted and blind people to try and catch the ball moving across the screen using realistic spring jumping physics.
You have two options on how to play the game. Either, if you are sighted, you can turn the sound off, or if you are blind, then turn the sound up. You must hold down the space bar to push the spring down. To release the spring, let go of the space bar. Just like a normal spring, the more you press down, the higher you will jump. Therefore to reach the higher balls, you need to compress the spring more than you would if the ball was lower on the screen.
As well as the height, the timing of the release is key. To get a point, the bottom of the spring must pass through the ball. In addition, whilst the spring is in flight, it can be moved to the right or left using the arrow keys, or ‘a’ and ‘d’ keys.
For blind people (or those seeking an extra audio challenge) they can play using only sound. The pitch of the sound will tell you how high the ball is on the screen and the time in between each ‘beep’ will tell you how fast the ball is moving from right to left.
The ‘Spring’ concept is simple, allowing it to be developed into a million different ways. I could make it harder (e.g. changing the size or number of the balls) or adapt the game idea (e.g. scoring within a time limit, or changing the ball to a platform which gets smaller throughout the game).
