42 vector arcade games in colour and depth, all around you. The 3D ones build their world round you, in real stereo.
// The story
This year I made new interpretations of the most famous vector arcade games, written from scratch in C. They were made for a laser show and for XR headsets.
In XR the games don't have to stay on a flat screen. Each one plays the way its cabinet showed it, or in EXTENDED: the same rules, drawn with colour and depth.
// The line-up
In carousel order, each one in EXTENDED.
DUEL STARTwo ships duel round a star that pulls on ships and shots.
SHATTER BELTOne ship, a belt of rock that splits when shot.
CROSSINGStep a marker across a tilted board and back while the pieces close in.
TOUCHDOWNSet a lander down on a jagged ridge with a thrust lever and little fuel.
NIGHT DRIVEA dark country road against the clock, past slow cars and oncoming headlights.
SKYFIRE RUNSteer a gunsight over a rushing trench and shoot down weaving fighters.
SUN CATCHERSlam a grid square shut over the suns before they bounce through a gap.
REAR GUARDThe tail turret: shoot fighters swooping in by threes, shield up before ten get past.
BLADE KEEPTwo sword knights duel in a dungeon room; one touch of steel ends the round.
JEEP PATROLA jeep in a city of blocks against tanks whose turrets track you.
SHATTER BELT IIThe rock belt again, with a shield that runs dry and a hexagon that hunts you.
IRON PLAINA tank on an endless plain: hunt tanks, a missile and a saucer by radar.
IRON CADETThe gunner's seat on a training range: tell friend from foe, then fire.
KART CIRCUITTimed laps round a twisty little circuit of kerbs and tyre walls.
BIPLANE ACEHead-on dogfights in an open cockpit, an airship and ground targets.
FUEL RAIDERSGuard eight fuel canisters from raider tanks that drag them off the edge.
RING FORTRESSShoot a gap through three turning rings to the cannon at their heart.
GLOVE BUGSA cannon towing a boxing glove on an elastic cord against crawling bugs.
CORE BREACHA turning fortress throws every shot back; wait for its channel, hit the core.
BOUNDARY RUNBounce round a walled ring, shooting droids before they turn into command ships.
SUN SALVAGEA sun pulls on everything; rescued crews are worth more than kills.
MODULE STRIKESwirling alien waves, and weapon pods to bolt onto your ship between them.
TUBE RIMA claw on the rim of a tube, with flippers, spikers and pulsars climbing up.
WEB SPINNERA spider shoots in eight directions over its web and banks the grubs.
FALLING FIENDSShoot bat-winged imps that swoop down from a horned mask, then the mask.
GRAVITY WELLAlways falling: bunkers, fuel lifted by tractor beam and a reactor maze.
FIRST ORBITThe field-test lander: cratered moons, domed bunkers and a moon base.
CUBE BATTLEA gunner on top of a wireframe cube that rolls over when a face is cleared.
PARTICLE LOOPNo gun: close a glowing loop round the particles to destroy them.
TWIN LINKTwo ships on an elastic tether through tumbling shapes that split when shot.
DEEP PATROLA starship on patrol: scanner, bridge view, phasers, warps and starbases.
SQUADRON SCANA whole squadron on one knob, sliding and firing as one.
TRIPOD DEFENCEA cannon above a city against three-legged walkers and their heat rays.
ROBOT SWEEPA turn-and-thrust ship over eight cities drawn as lines on the ground.
REACTOR ALPHARun and jump down a station maze, set the reactor critical, race back out.
TURRET GUARDA tank with a free-turning turret guards six outposts round a fuel hub.
STATION COREFly through chambers whose walls close in, bomb the core, race the countdown.
REACTOR RUNShoot the guards, dock by hand, run the maze to the reactor and back.
STATION RAIDA cockpit raid in three runs: open space, the citadel's armour, the trench.
COLD FRONTA fighter over an ice world against probes and four-legged striders.
CARRIER ACECatapult off the deck, dogfight, strafe, and fly the glide slope back to the wires.
SKY GUNNERTreetop height over hills and coast, against gunships, boats and flak.// In XR
An arc of small screens round you, each one running its game's attract loop. The one in front is larger and shows its name, its story and its controls.
ORIGINAL is the cabinet: its screen, its phosphor, flat. B/W is every game in white phosphor. EXTENDED is the same game drawn with colour and depth.
Opens in the carousel and in a game, and pauses it: the display, the up and down of the stick, recentre, and back to the carousel.
The Magic Leap 2 controller; a gamepad works too. The special is the game's own: hyperspace, shield and so on.
// Magic Leap 2 · Laser
VECTORSPACE runs on the Magic Leap 2 today, and I show it at events. Which headsets come next isn't decided yet.
The games were also made for laser shows: all 42 drawn by a laser projector, at retro fairs and XR meetups. The first show is planned for spring 2027.
Leave your details below and you'll hear first when you can play it on yours.
On a Vectrex instead: VECTORSPACE for the PiTrex, in the Vectrex's own white phosphor.
// Keep me posted
VECTORSPACE XR isn't in a store yet. Leave your details and I'll email you when you can play it on your headset.