Balloon
Fighter
◦ How does the level layout contribute to the
tutorial?
The
layout of the game is in 2D. It has many large and small platforms that
the
player’s
character
can walk on. Some of them are floating in the air and
there is a wide stream of
water
at the bottom of the screen in the center.
◦ How is the pacing and flow managed to keep the
player challenged but
not bored?
The
challenge in the game is to pop all the enemy’s balloons and make it
to the
next
level.
Note: there is no time limit in this game. Each time you
take down an enemy
you
get
points. Each point is added to the player’s
high score in the game. The game
gets
harder
as the player completes
each level by the fact that more enemies are added
into the
game
as the
game continues. Also, they added a bonus round to keep the player
interested
and
challenged.
◦ How much is left to the player to figure out on his
own vs. how much is
handed to
him?
Well, it took me only one round to understand the objective in the game
because
I
noted
the tutorial in the main menu before pressing “Start”.
The game uses a joystick
or a
controller
to “RUN” the game and by
pressing “A” allows the player’s character to fly
from
one platform to
another platform in the game. Since it's a “balloon
popping fighting
game”
the player’s objective is to take down as many enemy balloons. NOTE: At
the
beginning,
it was very hard to understand how to take down the
enemy’s balloons, but as
I
continued to play, I found out that you had to
pop them from above in order to
pop the
enemy’s
balloon. You also
needed to hit them on the ground/platform.
◦ What kind of obstacles are presented to the player?
The
game had different numbers of enemies within each level. As each
level was
completed,
more and more enemies appeared faster throughout
the game. The other
obstacles
that could “kill the player’s character” in
the game were the environmental
factors:
the clouds, the water and the
objects attached to the platforms. The clouds could
shoot
lightning and hit
your character. The water was dangerous because it could drag
your
character
down. The water also hid dangerous
creatures because a huge
fish could
suddenly
jump out of no where and swallow up your character.
The objects on and below
the
platforms could be lethal too, if your
character happened to bump into
them. On the
other
hand, the bubbles
were the “good” environmental objects. The bubbles gave you
extra
points
to add to your score.
There were also
unknown balloons that added
more
extra points to your overall score and gave extra life in the bonus round.
◦ How do they ramp up the difficulty as the tutorial
advances?
The
difficulty in this game increases as each level is completed. It will get
harder
and harder for the player to win the game.
◦ What kind of positive and
negative feedback is given to the player?
I
think it is a relatively a simple game that gives positive feedback early in
the
game by allowing you to easily complete the beginning levels. It hooks
you into believing that the game is
easy, but in fact, as one moves up the
levels, the degree in difficulty
accelerates. I noted that it was harder to
control the balloons in the air
with my controller. There were more
enemies, more dangerous environmental
obstacles and a faster pace in
the game as I completed each level. This
increased my chances of my
character being killed.
How many times would my character be
killed?
How many times would I have to
start over to complete the level to win the
game?
This is the negative feedback given to the
player as the player
moves up in the levels.
How
is the story integrated (if any)?
There was no story integrated into this game.
