2026 / INTERACTION DESIGN · PHYSICAL COMPUTING
Bubble Blitz
Reimagining a nostalgic arcade game through physical interaction
Bubble Blitz is an underwater shooter inspired by Nokia’s Space Impact. I built it to explore how a simple digital game could become more playful through physical controls.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Interaction Design, Prototyping, Development.
TOOLKIT
p5.js, Circuit Playground Express, MakeCode, ChatGPT, Gemini.
Let's Play Bubble Blitz!
The Experiment
How can the simple mechanics of Space Impact be reimagined in a new setting?
Bubble Blitz started from my nostalgia for Nokia’s Space Impact. Rather than recreating the original game, I borrowed its simple side-scrolling shooting mechanic and reimagined it as an underwater experience. I kept the gameplay intentionally simple: move, dodge, and shoot.
Nokia Space Impact. Original inspiration.
Designing the Interaction
One game, two ways to play.
I designed Bubble Blitz so it could be played directly from a laptop or with the Circuit Playground Express. On the laptop, players use W to move up and S to move down. On the CPX, Button A sends the W input and Button B sends the S input, allowing the physical controller to trigger the same movement in the p5.js game.
The fish shoots bubbles automatically, shrimp continuously enter the screen, and colliding with an enemy resets the game.
Building & Iterating
Learning by building, testing, and fixing.
I built the core gameplay in p5.js first, using ChatGPT and Gemini to help me generate the initial structure and troubleshoot the code as a first-time coder. I did not always understand why something worked right away, so a lot of the process involved testing changes, seeing what broke, and adjusting from there.
Once the game was working, I programmed the Circuit Playground Express in MakeCode so its A and B buttons could control the fish in the p5.js game. I also generated the underwater assets with Gemini, cleaned them up in Photoshop, and kept refining the sizing, positioning, movement, and collision behavior until the game felt smoother and more cohesive.
From Experiment to Insight
Bubble Blitz reminded me that an experience does not need to be complex to feel engaging. A simple loop of moving, dodging, and shooting was enough to make the game fun, especially as I refined the timing, controls, and feedback.
The bigger shift for me was becoming comfortable building something I did not fully understand at first. As a first-time coder, I learned to make progress by testing one change at a time, seeing what broke, and figuring out what to adjust next.