Footwork:
A game by Jacob Le.
Footwork is a dueling game about speed, lightning fast reactions, and outsmarting your opponent. Duelists square off in a tense fight where one misstep could result in a swift defeat: a duelist that extends themselves to block a strike that will not come leave them open to a counter-attack. The outcome of the game can be decided upon how well a duelist can feint and create openings in their opponent’s defense.
Gameplay rules:
Basic gameplay:
The two duelists are equipped with sparring foils, which will be used to strike their respective “duel pads.” They stand an equal distance away from each other on opposite sides of a table, where their respective duel pads are laid out. Both duelists can move freely while waiting to find an opening in their opponent's defense. Only one player will be attacking at a time. An opening is signaled by one of the duelist’s duel pads lighting up. A duelist may score a point against their opponent by hitting said opening.
Blocking and counterattacking:
The defender may block incoming attacks by predicting which duel pad their opponent is aiming for and hit it first, resulting in tying the round. Due to the “opening” being known to only one of the duelists, they are able to feint towards a pad. If a duelist falls for the feint and hits a pad that does not result in a block, one of their opponent’s pads will light up green, signaling a pad that said opponent may strike to win the round.
Background:
The earliest iteration of Footwork was inspired by a video of Jugging martial arts (linked here). I wanted to reproduce that feeling of a calm, rhythmic environment that would be broken by bouts of frantic combat. It involved the same duel pads as the current iteration: 2 players, each with their own set of 3 pads. Since I no desire to wire up juggling pins nor require players to know how to juggle, I settled with the pads. Players would tap out a frantic pattern on their respective pads: Left, center, right, right, center, left, left, and so on. They would score points on each other by reaching over to disrupt their opponent’s pattern. The problem with this iteration was that the pattern tapping was not engaging enough to create that “calm before the storm” atmosphere I wanted for the game. Constantly disrupting the opponent’s pattern was too easy.
The latest iteration of Footwork was inspired by my competitive martial arts background. Timing, speed and counterattacking were one of the prime tenants in the particular style that I practiced. It shifted the game’s focus from pattern memorization to a more combative nature. This, in conjunction with competitive sparring sessions in which one good hit could end the round, produced the tense back and forth atmosphere I was searching for in my first iteration.
Hardware:
Piezo elements are attached to the bottom of each duel pad to sense when a particular pad is hit. A LED (visible to only one of the players) is attached to each pad’s cover that faces the player. This lights up to signal that the player is attacking and should hit this particular pad. Another LED is attached to the top of each pad (visible to each player) to signal a counterstrike opportunity.
