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Blocks Arcade

How to Play

You can play the game on most VR systems, or on a desktop, using keyboard.

Desktop/keyboard works fine for 2D games, but it's pretty hard to play 3D games in that setup, since you really need the ability to look at the play area from different angles, which it's only easy to do in VR.

This is not intended for use on Mobile devices, and there are no touchscreen controls. Sorry!

VR controls

Move around the arena using left trigger to teleport (or if you have a big enough room-space play area, just walk!)

There's a tutorial in the center of the arcade, which will teach you the game & controls, but in summary...

  • Start a game using B or right trigger

  • Move blocks around using the left thumbstick.

  • Rotate blocks using the right thumbstick, or by using right grip and rotating the controller in the way you want the block to rotate.

  • A, X or Right Trigger to drop a block quickly.

Which game you control gets determined by the direction you are looking + the distance to the game. The game that is currently under your control will light up around the base & top.

Keyboard controls

You can move around the space using WASD, or cursor keys, and mouse to move the camera view.

However it's much easier to get into a good playing position by using the number keys (the ones on the top of the keyboard, not the number pad).

  • 1 for the tutorial
  • 2-8 for the games
  • 9 for the high scores table
  • 0 to return to the start position.

If you move your view around while you are playing using WASD/mouse, you can always snap back to a good default playing position using these keys.

For in-game controls, there's a tutorial in the center of the arcade (press 1), which explains it all, but in summary:

  • Enter to start a game
  • Z/X to move blocks L/R on 2D games
  • YGHJ (like WASD) to move blocks on 3D games
  • Enter & R-shift to rotate clockwise or counter-clockwise on 2D games
  • Number pad 4/6, 7/9 & 8/5 to rotate around 3 different axes in 3D games - I recommend you try this out in the tutorial to get used to how it works.

The keyboard controls are fixed in space, so even if you walk behind the machine, the orientation of the controls remains fixed to your original position. Maybe it would be better if they auto-adjusted, but I think there's a risk of confusion either way. I'm not expecting keyboard players to change their point of view much anyway, so I don't think this is such a big deal, but please give feedback if you disagree!


Further information at
Github