GOOGLE EXPERIENCE
Google Cubeslam
Project: Online game WebRTC
Made by: North Kingdom
Disciplines: Art Director / Lead Designer
Client: Google
Year: 2012
Behance
Google contacted North Kingdom to help create an experience that would celebrate the launch of WebRTC, a new standard that enables real-time communication on the web. The brief NK received said; re-imagine the game Pong in a way that not only blows the minds of developers admiring the code, but also utterly entertains millions of people who couldn't care less about the underlying tech. Something easy to learn and completely magical to play.
Cube Slam is a video game that you can play with your friends, face-to-face in real time. Built in Google Chrome, it is an experiment that uses WebRTC, an open web technology that lets you video chat right in the browser without installing any plug-ins. 10,000 max concurrent users at once. 2 million unique visitors in the first month. FWA Site of the Day Adobe The Cutting Edge Project of the week Runner up for Cutting Edge Project of the Year Awwwards Site of the Day. Without installing any plug-ins means you can quickly and easily play Cube Slam with your friends, no matter where they are in the world, just by sharing a link. To win Cube Slam, hit the cube against your friend’s screen three times until the screen explodes. Shields, obstacles, and gravity fields change with every new level, and you can unlock power-ups including fireballs, lasers, multi-balls, mirrored controls, bulletproof shields, fog, ghost balls, time bombs, resized paddles, extra lives and death balls––though you might want to avoid the death balls. If none of your friends are online, you can always play against Bob the Bear and see what level you can reach. If you install the Cube Slam app, you can even play Bob when you’re offline. Cube Slam’s graphics are rendered in WebGL and CSS 3D, and its custom soundtrack is delivered dynamically through Web Audio. WebRTC, which enables the two-person game, is available on desktop Chrome and Chrome OS, and will be available on mobile later this year. In the meantime, you can play Cube Slam against Bob the Bear on your phone or tablet.
Some rough initial design ideas based on the classic pong game.
