{"id":135089,"date":"2023-10-03T20:00:35","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T20:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/news\/?id=goqmr9xs"},"modified":"2023-10-03T20:00:35","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T20:00:35","slug":"the-gorgeous-gadgets-of-automatoys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2023\/10\/03\/the-gorgeous-gadgets-of-automatoys\/","title":{"rendered":"The gorgeous gadgets of Automatoys"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Steffan Glynn\u2019s Automatoys<\/em> is a mix between a Rube Goldberg machine and a boardwalk arcade game \u2014 and there\u2019s a very good reason why. <\/p>\n

In 2018, the Cardiff-based developer visited the Mus\u00e9e M\u00e9canique, a vintage San Francisco arcade packed with old-timey games, pinball machines, fortune tellers, and assorted gizmos. On that same trip, he stopped by an exhibit of Rube Goldberg sketches that showcased page after page of wildly intricate machines. \u201cIt was all about the delight of the pointless and captivating,\u201d Glynn says. \u201cThere was a lot of crazy inspiration on that trip.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/div>\n

That inspiration turned into Automatoys<\/em>, an Apple Design Award finalist for Interaction in games. Automatoys<\/em> is a single-touch puzzler in which players roll their marble from point A to point B by navigating a maze of ramps, elevators, catapults, switches, and more. True to its roots, the game is incredibly tactile; every switch and button feels lifelike, and players even insert a virtual coin to launch each level. And it unfolds to a relaxing and jazzy lo-fi soundtrack. \u201cMy brief to the sound designer was, \u2018Please make this game less annoying,\u2019\u201d Glynn laughs. <\/p>\n

While Automatoys<\/em>\u2019 machines may be intricate, its controls are anything but. Every button, claw, and catapult is controlled by a single tap. \u201cAnd it doesn\u2019t matter where you tap \u2014 the whole machine moves at once,\u201d Glynn says. The mechanic doesn\u2019t just make the game remarkably simple to learn; it also creates a sense of discovery. \u201cI like that moment when the player is left thinking, \u2018OK, well, I guess I\u2019ll just start tapping and find out what happens.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"To<\/div>\n

To design each of the game\u2019s 12 levels, Glynn first sketched his convoluted contraptions in Procreate<\/em>. The ideas came fast and furious, but he found that building what he\u2019d envisioned in his sketches proved elusive \u2014 so he changed his strategy. \u201cI started playing with shapes directly in 3D space,\u201d he says. \u201cOnce a level had a satisfying form, I\u2019d then try to imagine what sort of obstacle each part could be. One cylinder would become a ferris wheel, another would become a spinning helix for the ball to climb, a square panel would become a maze, and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Getting<\/div>\n

The game was a four-year passion project for Glynn, a seasoned designer who in 2018 left his gig with State of Play (where he contributed to such titles as Lumino City<\/em> and Apple Design Award winner INKS.<\/em>) to focus on creating \u201cshort, bespoke\u201d games. There was just one catch: Though he had years of design experience, he\u2019d never written a single line of code. To get up to speed, he threw himself into video tutorials and hands-on practice. <\/p>\n

\"Welsh<\/div>\n

In short order, Glynn was creating Unity prototypes of what would become Automatoys<\/em>. \u201cAs a designer, being able to prototype and test ideas is incredibly liberating. When you have those tools, you can quickly try things out and see for yourself what works.\u201d <\/p>\n

Learn more about Automatoys<\/a><\/p>\n

Download Automatoys from the App Store<\/a><\/p>\n

Behind the Design is a series that explores design practices and philosophies from each of the winners and finalists of the Apple Design Awards. In each story, we go behind the screens with the developers and designers of these award-winning apps and games to discover how they brought their remarkable creations to life.<\/em><\/p>\n

Explore more of the 2023 Behind the Design series<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steffan Glynn\u2019s Automatoys is a mix between a Rube Goldberg machine and a boardwalk arcade game \u2014 and there\u2019s a very good reason why. In 2018, the Cardiff-based developer visited the Mus\u00e9e M\u00e9canique, a vintage San Francisco arcade packed with old-timey games, pinball machines, fortune tellers, and assorted gizmos. On that same trip, he stopped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-developer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}