Paddle Square

A neon-infused, single-player twist on the classic Pong formula. Defend the lower goal with your paddle, trick the AI opponent, and use precise angles to build combos before the arena camera jolts from every impact.

Gameplay Overview

• Each rally begins with a brief countdown and the ball spawning at center court.
• You control the bottom paddle while the top paddle is driven by a lightweight AI that constantly biases toward your last shot.
• First paddle to reach the target score (default: 3 points) wins the match and immediately restarts another round.
• The ball always keeps its vertical speed while its horizontal velocity depends on where it hits the paddle, producing controllable bank shots.

Controls

• ← / → – Slide the player paddle left and right.
• Esc – Quit the standalone builds (default Unity input).

Features

• Fast rallies framed by a spring-mounted camera (Assets/Scripts/LivelyCamera.cs) that reacts to hits and misses.
• Tight collision logic (Assets/Scripts/Ball.cs and Assets/Scripts/Game.cs) with particle bursts on every bounce.
• AI opponent (Assets/Scripts/Paddle.cs) that varies paddle width, targeting bias, and glow to telegraph score momentum.
• Lightweight presentation suitable for web or desktop builds—no external dependencies beyond Unity’s built-in packages and TextMesh Pro.

Play It Now

1. On macOS, run the signed build under PaddleSquare.app (for Apple Silicon) or paddle square.app (Intel export). Grant the OS permission the first time you open it.
2. Use the arrow keys to rally. The game restarts automatically when either paddle hits the score limit.

Development Setup

1. Install Unity 2022.3.55f1 (matching ProjectSettings/ProjectVersion.txt).
2. From the Unity Hub, add the root folder (Paddle square) as a project.
3. Open Assets/Scenes/SampleScene.unity.
4. Enter Play Mode to iterate, or select File ▸ Build Settings to target Windows, macOS, Linux, or WebGL.

Building

File ▸ Build Settings ▸ (select platform) ▸ Build

The repository already contains macOS builds for reference; feel free to delete and regenerate them for other targets.

Repository Map

Path	Description
Assets/Scripts/	Core gameplay logic (ball physics, paddles, camera, game controller).
Assets/Scenes/SampleScene.unity	Main scene with arena layout and prefab wiring.
Assets/Prefabs/	Paddles, ball, boundary, VFX prefabs, and score text objects.
ProjectSettings/	Unity project configuration (input, quality, etc.).
PaddleSquare.app	macOS standalone export (Apple Silicon).
paddle square.app	macOS standalone export (Intel).