Soluna

Soluna is a one-dimensional gesture-based game and controller design project that inspired from humanity's earliest survival rituals. The name fuses Sol (sun/fire) and Luna (moon/water), symbolizing the game’s core duality: creating fire through friction and transferring water with both hands.
Two players take on asymmetrical elemental roles using custom-designed physical controllers: The Fire player uses a vertical wooden stick embedded with a rotary encoder, mimicking the motion of drilling wood to ignite flames. Sustained rotation grows fire at ignition points, while pausing causes it to fade. The Water player operates a hand-held form resembling a cupped gesture, equipped with a GY-521 (MPU6050) accelerometer and four-directional buttons. The force and acceleration of their throwing motion determines how far the waterball travels and where it lands.
The game delivers vivid feedback: fire pixels grow or diminish based on friction and oxygen proximity, while water extinguishes fire upon impact.
"Soluna" aims to deliver an immersive and contrasting experience: one player’s success depends on continuous speed, the other on singular bursts of strength and precision. The interface transcends screens—making motion meaningful, ritual expressive, and elemental tension physically felt.