User Guide

Overview

Blindfold Breakout is a fully accessible breakout game for both sighted and visually impaired people, designed for rapid audio play.

You control this game using iPhone gestures.
First, in the main menu, select one of the Breakout games.

In the eight brick breakout game, there are 8 bricks in a row, and you need to smash all of them.
After you have calibrated your left and right movements, position your paddle by swing the phone left or right.

As you move your paddle left and right, you will hear two things.
In your left ear, you will hear the brick column number, from one to eight, that is directly in front of your paddle, in man’s voice.
In your right ear, you will hear the number of bricks for that column, in a woman’s voice.
For example, if there are 3 bricks in the 7th column from the left, the man says 7 and the woman says 3.
If you don’t hear anything, that means all of the bricks in that column are gone.

You will also hear the sound of the ball after you launch the ball. The ball sounds a little like an engine sound, or the sound of a ball rolling on a table.
As the ball moves from the left towards your paddle, you will hear the ball in your left ear. If the ball bounces off of your paddle to the right, you will hear the ball in your right ear, with the sounding getting weaker as the ball moves away. When it hits either bricks or the back wall, it will bounce back towards your paddle, and you should hear it in either your left ear, if it’s approaching from the left, or your right ear, if it is approaching from the right.

Each time your ball hits a brick, you will hear a smashing sound, that brick disappears, and the ball bounces back.

Once you decide where to position your paddle, tap the screen to launch the ball. The ball will travel towards the bricks, and then hit one or more bricks, and bounce back to your paddle. If the ball hits the left side of your paddle, it will bounce to the left; if it hits the right side of your paddle, it will bounce to the right. if the ball hits the wall, it will bounce away from the wall, but in the same direction – either towards the bricks or towards your paddle.

Move your paddle left or right so that the sound of the on-coming ball is in the center of your head.
This game is best played with earbuds, headphones or stereo speakers.
When the ball touches your paddle, you will hear a bounce sound. The ball will bounce away in the opposite direction.
When the ball bounces on the left or right side, you will hear the bounce sound in that ear.
When the ball bounces off of the back wall, you will hear the back wall sound in both ears.

If the ball gets behind the bricks, it will bounce back and forth between the back wall and the bricks, removing multiple bricks. Eventually, the ball will bounce towards you, and you must position your paddle to bounce the ball back. In the settings screen, if you change GROW PADDLE to ON, your paddle will grow about 1% wider each time the ball hits the back wall.

The Tutorial teaches you how the ball bounces on the left, right and back walls, and what happens when a brick is hit.
In the Tutorial, there are 6 bricks in one line, and there is only one level.
Beginner Breakout gives even more practice controlling your paddle, has only one level of 8 bricks, and lets you launch as many balls as you need.

In Simple Breakout, you have 3 balls to complete the game. If you miss the ball with your paddle, you get another ball. Position your paddle, and then tap the screen to launch the ball. A good strategy is to position your paddle to a column that has more bricks than the other columns; keep in mind that when you launch the ball, it moves directly towards the bricks in front of you, and doesn’t veer to the left or right until you hit it with your paddle when it returns back to you.

The trick to completing each level is to keep the ball in play as much as you can; eventually, it will hit all of the bricks.

If you get all 8 bricks in level 1, you move onto to level 2 where there are two rows of bricks. Each time you complete a level, you are given another ball.
You win the game when you complete level 10, where there are 10 rows of bricks.

To recalibrate your left and right hand positions, swipe down with 3 fingers prior to tapping the screen for a new game.

Paddle and Balls

You can change the game to use your body movements to move the paddle, or your finger on the screen. If you move the paddle with your iPhone, tap the screen to launch the ball. If you move the paddle with your finger on the screen, tap the phone with a second finger to launch the ball.

You can change the ball speed to be SLOW, MEDIUM, FAST or SPEED-UP. SPEED-UP means that the ball starts out slow in each level, but gets about 5% faster each time it bounces off of the paddle, until it gets very fast (which is about twice as fast as the FAST setting).

There are several types of balls that you can use during the game if you have traded-in some of your points for inventory. The small exploding ball destroys 1 additional brick in all directions, and then it converts to a normal ball when it touches your paddle. The small exploding ball sounds like a slow warning alarm: beep, beep, beep. The large exploding ball destroys 2 additional bricks in all directions, and then converts into a normal ball. The large exploding ball sounds like a double warning alarm: 2 fast beeps, pause, 2 fast beeps, and so on. The exploding balls are only available when you launch your next ball; you can’t turn a normal ball into an exploding ball while it is bouncing around.

If you use an exploding ball, and it doesn’t hit any bricks, it reverts to a normal ball when it hits your paddle, so make sure you aim it.

You can change the sound you hear to better identify where the ball will hit the paddle, using the setting called Identify ball to paddle position.
Normally, when this setting is OFF, you hear the ball relative to where your paddle is.
When the ball is directly in front of the paddle, the ball sound will be in the center of your head.
A sound to the far right or far left means the ball will not hit the paddle.

If you change this setting to ON, when the ball is very close to the paddle and it’s likely that the ball will hit your paddle,
you will first hear a ding, and then the ball sound indicates where the ball will hit the paddle.
If the sound is in the center of your head, the ball will hit the center of your paddle.
If the sound is on the far left, or far right, the ball will hit the corresponding edge of the paddle.
If the sound is somewhere on the left or right, that tells you about where the paddle will be hit.

Trading-in points for inventory

As your garner more points, you can trade-in points for extra balls, or balls with special powers. To trade-in your points, use the TRADE-IN POINTS button, and get the items you want. For example, you can get extra balls, or balls with special powers.

To use one of your inventory items, swipe down with one finger prior to launching the ball, and a USE INVENTORY screen appears. Pick one of the items that you previously acquired, and that item will be used. For example, if you picked an extra ball, you now have one more ball to use in the game.

If the game is already in progress, and you are on your last ball, you can still get an extra ball by swiping down while playing.
When you do that, you’ll hear a ding-ding sound. If it’s not your last ball, your swipe down is ignored.
You should continue playing the game, but when you miss hitting your final ball with your paddle, and the game is just about to end, the USE INVENTORY screen appears, and you can select one of your inventory items.
If you select one of the balls on that screen that you previously acquired, you can use that ball to continue the game.

Scoring

In level 1, you get one point for each brick. In level 2, you get 2 points for each brick. Level 3 has 3 rows of bricks, and each brick is worth 3 points; level 4 has 4 rows of bricks, and each brick is worth 4 points, and so on.

Each time you do really well, you can post your scores to Twitter or Facebook.
First, in SETTINGS, select to post to either Twitter or Facebook.
Then, when you score really well, the game will tell you to tap the screen twice with 2 fingers to post your score.
With twitter, your scores are already shown.
With facebook, you must paste your scores using the standard method on the iPhone for pasting text.

Trading-In Points for Inventory

As you start to earn points in this game, you can trade-in your points for useful stuff to help you score even better.
To select an inventory item, swipe down with one finger.
The game is suspended, and the the USE INVENTORY screen appears.
Select an item from your inventory, and then the game continues, and that item will be used.
To cancel and just return to the game, use the CANCEL button.

Here are the inventory items you can get with the points you score in the game:

You can trade-in 250 points for 5 extra balls. After all of your balls have been used up in the game, you can do something to get the extra ball.
When selected in the USE INVENTORY screen, and you are currently playing your last ball, this ball gives you another chance to complete the current level.
If you are not playing your last ball, then you have one more ball to complete the game.

You can trade-in 100 points for a small exploding ball. The small exploding ball destroys 1 additional brick to the left, 1 additional brick to the right, and 1 additional brick behind the brick that was hit, and then it converts into a normal ball.
If you are currently playing your last ball, this ball gives you an extra ball.
If you are not playing your last ball, your next ball will be the small exploding ball.

You can trade-in 200 points for a large exploding ball. The large exploding ball destroys 2 bricks in all directions around the brick that was hit, and then it converts into a normal ball.

While most players earn points to get these inventory items, you may want to get some of these inventory items right away; if so, you can purchase points.
Go the GET UPGRADES screen from the main menu to buy points.

Games

Simple Breakout

There are 8 bricks across and level 1 starts out with 1 brick per position. You win the game when you reach level 10, which has 10 bricks per position.

Hole in the Middle

There are 8 positions across, but bricks 4 and 5 are gone, and level 1 starts out with 1 brick per position.
This is an easier version, since there’s more chance of your ball getting behind the bricks, where it can bounce between the back wall and the bricks.
You win the game when you reach level 10, which has 10 bricks per position.

Double Strength

There are 8 positions across, and level 1 starts out with 1 brick per position.
Each brick requires 2 hits to remove it.
On the first hit, you’ll hear a popping sound.
On the second hit, you’ll hear the brick sound.
You win the game when you reach level 10, which has 10 bricks per position.

Super Strength

There are 8 positions across, and level 1 starts out with 1 brick per position.
Each brick requires the same number of hits as your level. So, if you are in level 1, you need one hit per brick to destroy it.
In level 3, you need 3 hits per brick to destroy it.
You’ll hear a popping sound when you hit the brick, but you don’t destroy it.
On the final hit, you’ll hear the brick sound.
You win the game when you reach level 10, which has 10 bricks per position.