Command Control — Sam Billingham

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Command Control.readout

PROJECT

Overview

Command Control was a three-player physical computing game inspired by Spaceteam. Players operated handmade control boxes, called out increasingly absurd instructions, and raced to keep a failing spacecraft alive as every level became faster and more demanding.

cmd.sb.com ↗

Command Control installed at the Plymouth University degree show with three handmade controller stations — HW/01 · DEGREE SHOW INSTALLATION Open full size ↗

Field notes

Three controller stations combined 23 physical inputs—toggle switches, rockers, dials, sliders, and buttons—with Android phones acting as live game displays.
Control names changed each level. After ten seconds to study the new layout, instructions could refer to another player’s station, forcing the group to shout, listen, and coordinate under pressure.
Correct inputs advanced the level; mistakes or expired instructions damaged the ship. Each new zone demanded more successful operations while reducing the time available.
An Arduino Mega broadcast input changes over MQTT to the Node.js game engine. WebSockets returned synchronized instructions, health, level state, and results to all three browser clients.
The final degree-show installation added a large physical start button, a keyed hardware reset, mains power, and Ethernet so visitors could begin and recover games without supervision.
Command Control was also exhibited at the Virgin Media Game Space in London, where its physical take on Spaceteam was presented alongside other experimental games.

Technical details

System sketch

3 control boxes / 23 inputs
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Arduino Mega -> MQTT -> Node.js game engine
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                     WebSocket game state
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                    3 Android displays
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                    players shout / act