User Guide

Blindfold Invaders is a fully accessible arcade game inspired by the video game Space Invaders.
The objective is to shoot all of the invaders before they land on your planet.

In the practice game, there are 2 rows of 5 invading space ships, that move left and right, starting at the top of the playing field, furthest from the home button.
When the leftmost invader hits the left edge, or the rightmost invader hits the right edge,
all rows of invaders move down a little bit towards the bottom of the playing field, nearest the home button.
When the lowest invader reaches your planet, which is at the bottom of the playing field, the game is over and you’ve lost.

Your laser canon is positioned on the planet, at the bottom of the playing field.

If you destroy all invaders prior to any of them reaching your planet, you move to the next level.

Moving your laser canon

The first time you play the game, you will be asked to swing your arm left and right, so the game learns how far you can move your arm.
Each time you start a new game, keep the phone in front of you.
This places your laser cannon in the middle of the phone, just above the home button.

To move your laser cannon left or right, swing your arm left or right.
To fire your laser cannon, tap the screen.
You can fire about 1 shot per second, since the laser cannon needs time to recharge.
When you try to fire too quickly, you’ll hear an annoying beep sound, meaning that the laser cannon wasn’t charged up enough to fire.

You can change the speed of the laser cannon.
Tap with one finger for normal speed, which takes about three quarters of a second to travel from your laser cannon to the top of the phone.
Tap with two fingers for faster speed, which takes about half a second.
Tap with three fingers for fastest speed, which takes about one third of a second.
When using faster speed, you lose one health point.
When using fastest speed, you lose two health points.

Alternatively, you can swipe left instead of a 2 finger tap for faster speed, and you can swipe right instead of a 3 finger tap for fastest speed.

Sounds and Gestures

Each time the invader moves left or right, you will hear a click sound.
When the leftmost invader hits the left edge, you will hear a boing sound, and all invaders move down a little, and then start moving slowly to the right.
When the rightmost invader hits the right edge, you will hear a boing-boing sound.
All invaders move down a row, and all invaders start moving slowly in the opposite horizontal direction.
When there are 15 or fewer rows for the invaders to move down,
you’ll hear a man tell you how many rows before the invaders reach your planet.
If there are more than 15 rows, the man is quiet.

If you are playing with headphones,
you will hear the click sound in your left ear as the invaders move from right to left,
and in your right ear as the invaders move from left to right.
Keep in mind this is simply the direction they are moving in; hearing invaders in your right ear does not mean they are all on the right side of the playing field.
To find out where they are, read about targetting.

The invader’s sole purpose in life is to invade your planet.
To accomplish this nefarious goal, they will shoot at you to stop you from shooting at them.
Each time you get hit, you lose 10 health points.
When your health score reaches zero, the game is over.
When an invader’s missile is headed for you, you’ll hear a beep-beep sound.
If you don’t move out of the way, and you get hit, you will hear a metal clang, and you health score is reduced.
When your health score drops below 20, the phone will vibrate.

To shoot an invader, tap the screen, and you hear your laser cannon fire.
If your shot hits an invader, you’ll hear an shattering glass sound.
If it misses, you won’t hear anything.
If you are firing too quickly, you’ll hear an annoying beep sound.

To find out how many invaders are directly above you, turn on targeting: swipe down with 2 fingers.
If there are no invaders above you, you’ll hear a woman say zero.
Otherwise, she’ll say the number of invaders above you, from 1 to 10, depending on the level of the game.
To shut off targetting, swipe up with 2 fingers.
Targetting is most effective when you’ve eliminated many of the invaders.
Otherwise, it’s too wordy, and you can just shoot randomly and you’ll eliminate many of them.

To find out how many total invaders are still left, swipe right with 3 fingers.
To hear your score and your health level, swipe left with 3 fingers.

As you move from level to level, the invaders move faster, and there are more rows of them.

Moving your cannon faster: TILT mode

Alternatively, instead of swinging the phone from left to right, you can tilt the phone.
When you use this, you can move your cannon much more quickly.

First, in the SETTINGS screen, switch WHAT MOVES THE CANNON from SWING to TILT.
To place your laser cannon in the horizontal middle, hold the phone so that the screen is facing the ceiling.
To move your laser cannon all the way to the left, tilt the phone so that the screen is facing the left wall.
To move your laser cannon all the way to the right, tilt the phone so that the screen is facing the right wall.
To fire your laser cannon in this mode, tap the screen with 1 finger.

The easiest way to hold the phone using tilt mode is:
If you are right handed, cradle the phone in your left hand, with the base of your thumb on the left edge, and your other fingers wrapping the bottom of the phone to the right edge.
You can fire your laser cannon by tapping the screen with your thumb.
Your right hand can perform other gestures like swiping.

If you are left handed, cradle the phone in your right hand, with the base of your thumb on the right edge, and your other fingers wrapping the bottom of the phone to the left edge.
You can fire your laser cannon by tapping the screen with your thumb.
Your left hand can perform other gestures like swiping.

Strategy

The main strategy is to destroy the invaders which are at the ends,
that is the far left and far right, since they all move lower towards your planet when they hit the edges.
Also, since they’re down lower, their bombs are dropped closer to you, meaning that you have less time to get out of their way.

To help you take advantage of this strategy, you can turn on edge warning sounds.
If you are playing with headphones, you will hear a warning sound in your left ear when the leftmost invader is very close to the left edge,
and in your right ear when the rightmost invader is very close to the right edge.
You can turn on edge warning sounds in the SETTINGS screen.

Winning and Scoring

The game is over if the invaders land on your planet, or your health score goes to zero.

In the easier games, you get one point for each invader you shoot.
The more difficult the game, the more points you get for each invader.

Your score for each level is a combination of the score for the invaders, plus your health score.
For example, in the easier games, if you shoot 10 invaders, and you were hit twice, your score is 10 plus 80, for a total of 90.
In the harder games, for example, if you shoot all 55 invaders worth 2 points each, and you were hit 5 times, your total score is 110 plus 50, for a total of 160.
In the very hard games, if you shoot all 10 rows of 11 invaders worth 4 points each, and you were hit 3 times, your total score is 440 plus 70, for a total of 510.

Games

The practice game has 2 rows of 5 invaders with only one level.
Invaders are wide, so they are easy to hit, and when they hit the edge, they move down only a little , and fire at you every four seconds.
That gives you more time to destroy them.
You can play as many practice games as you want.

The easy game has 8 levels.
It starts with 2 rows of 5 invaders and each level adds another row of invaders, for a total of 10 rows.
The invaders are large and move slowly like in the practice game.
In the first few levels, the invaders fire at you every four seconds; in the higher levels, they fire at you every 3 seconds.

The medium game has 8 levels.
It starts with 2 rows of 5 invaders and each level adds another row of invaders, for a total of 10 rows.
The invaders are half as wide as the easy game, and move down more quickly when they hit the left or right edge.
In the first few levels, the invaders fire at you every four second; in the higher levels, they fire at you every 3 seconds.

The harder game has 8 levels.
It starts with 2 rows of 11 invaders and each level adds another row of invaders, for a total of 10 rows.
Invaders are the same size as the medium game, and move down like the medium game.
In the first few levels, the invaders fire at you every four second; in the higher levels, they fire at you every 3 seconds.

The difficult game has 32 levels. It starts with 2 rows of 11 invaders and each level adds another row of invaders.
In level 9, you start over again with 2 rows of 11 invaders, the game is moderately difficult.
In level 17, you start over again with 2 rows, and the game is difficult.
In level 23, you start over again with 2 rows, and the game is very difficult
The game ends after you completed level 32.
At the first few levels, the invaders fire at you every 4 seconds, by the highest level, it’s every 2 seconds.

The century game has 100 levels. It starts with 2 rows of 11 invaders and each level adds another row of invaders.
In each level starting with level 9, there are 10 rows of 11 invaders and the difficulty for that level is randomly chosen, being either easy, moderate, difficult or very difficult.

Making the game more difficult: The Invasion

You can adjust how far the closest invader is to your planet, in the SETTINGS screen.
The further the invaders are from the planet, the more time you have to shoot them.

In the easiest setting called VERY FAR, there are at least 10 empty rows between the lowest invader and your planet.
In the hardest setting called CLOSE, there are about 4 empty rows between the lowest invader and your planet.
Other settings include FAR and MEDIUM.

The Health Pack

If you purchase the Health Pack upgrade, you get one extra health point for each invader you destroy.

This lets you play longer, since health points are given as soon as each invader is destroyed.
Since you start with 100 health points, as soon as you destroy your first invader, you have 101 health points.

The Health Pack also increases your score.
For example, in the harder games, if you shoot all 55 invaders worth 2 points each, and you were hit 5 times, your total score is 110 plus 50, for a total of 160.
With the health pack, you get an additional 55 health points for the invaders you shot, for a grand total of 215 points.

How to use coins

To start a game, you will use one coin.
This game comes with 10 coins, so you can play 10 games of invaders.
You can buy more coins at any time; tap the GET UPGRADES button on the main screen.