Well yes, of course. The way the different angles are computed isn’t intuitive. If a ball bounces off a table, it doesn’t change direction from its normal reflected bounce just because it didn’t hit the center.

That’s why I’m suggesting there must be something that guides the idea that hit position changes the angle. If the paddle was actually parabolic, and just drawn as a rectangle, that’s an intuitive reason for the different reflective angles.

> That’s why I’m suggesting there must be something that guides the idea that hit position changes the angle.

Fun. The guiding principle for all games should be: is it fun?

The reason the position of impact determines the angle is because it’s more fun, Not because it’s realistic.

Realism is rarely fun.

It’s a game, not a physics simulation.

Edit:

Additionally, if you only implement perfect reflection and have a rectangular arena, then the only bounce angles that can occur are the initial ball angle A and 90 - A on the top and bottom sides. That’s not fun.

I believe the idea was to give the player more control with limited input signals.