AIr Hockey Arcade

Inspiration

I’ve always loved air hockey, the speed, the sound, the competitive energy. It’s a game that feels alive, and I wanted to capture that in VR.

Back in 2021, I released Air Hockey Arcade as a free single-player demo on the Meta Quest Store. Players loved the realistic physics and tactile gameplay, but I always imagined something bigger: a version that brings people together through shared presence, interaction, and real-world immersion. That idea inspired me to rework it as a true XR multiplayer experience.

What it does

Air Hockey Arcade brings the fast, physical fun of real-world air hockey into an immersive XR environment. You can challenge friends or compete against AI opponents, with precise paddle control, dynamic physics, and realistic sound and lighting.

The game supports full mixed reality play on Meta Quest 3 and 3S, letting players place their air hockey table anywhere in their own room for a uniquely social, “real-world” experience. Multiplayer sessions feel responsive and natural, with synchronized physics ensuring both players see the same puck motion and reactions.

How we built it

Air Hockey Arcade runs on a custom C17-based game engine I’ve been developing for VR, optimized around Vulkan and OpenXR for efficiency on the Meta Quest Platform.

Every part of the project is focused on responsiveness, from paddle control and physics to rendering and audio feedback, to make the experience feel instantly natural.

Challenges we ran into

Deterministic physics: Keeping results consistent between sessions required careful simulation tuning and a clever networking approach.

Latency and feel: In a fast-paced game, even small timing differences can break immersion.

Performance: Balancing visuals and a solid frame rate up to 120Hz on mobile hardware took aggressive optimization.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Seeing two players connected from different devices, playing seamlessly in shared XR space, felt like magic. Achieving deterministic physics across the network was a major milestone that gives Air Hockey Arcade its realistic and competitive edge.

I’m also proud that the entire experience. Engine, physics, rendering, and UI were all built from the ground up, custom-tailored for VR performance and precision.

What we learned

Multiplayer networking of a fast paced action game like Air Hockey is Hard. Since it's very first incarnation as a touch screen iPhone game back in 2010, I never managed to get multiplayer working in a reliable fashion over the internet until now.

What's next for AIr Hockey Arcade

Next steps include public multiplayer matchmaking, custom environments, customisation. and finally the music player I wanted to be in their from the beginning.