Blocks and Lasers

Prompt 2: This game wants you to lose because the goal of the player is to survive for as long as possible, which is apparent by the “time survived” clock. The game tries to make the player lose by having numerous enemies which are red squares, or lasers, be thrown around in random directions within a closed space where they bounce off of walls and move faster, on average, than the players own avatar. If one of these lasers comes in contact with the player’s avatar, then the game is over and the survival clock is frozen - denoting the player’s ‘score.’ The enemies do not seemingly care about the player; that is, they do not actively seek the player, rather they move quickly in their own random orientations - which leaves it up to the player to avoid them by predicting the paths of the lasers. There are also larger blue/green squares that act as allies. These larger squares do not harm the player - that is, they do not end the game when contact is made, but rather they just displace the player based on movement directions - and any lasers they come in contact with are deflected. Because of this, using these squares as a sort of shield becomes a viable strategy. Having so many enemies makes the game difficult and assuredly the player will not survive long when on their first playthrough. However, with practice, the player can keep getting a better and better survival time through predicting the laser movements and utilizing the blue/green squares as shields.

Prompt 2: The game clearly wants the player to lose due to all the different moving pieces push the player and other pieces the player must avoid. The combination of being pushed around and trying to avoid small red objects makes it clear that the designer wants the player to lose. Additionally, the player is very small and hard to keep track of. The color of the player character blends in well with all the different moving pieces that are on screen, so I found myself losing track of myself often as well. The game doesn’t anticipate the player’s moves, but there are so many moving pieces that the player is confused and unable to keep track of what to expect in the upcoming future of the game. There are no enemies per say, but there are moving red blocks that “kill” the player. They don’t come off as enemies, rather lose conditions because they don’t seem like they’re out to get the player. The interaction of the enemies in the world is completely random. The enemies are concrete objects that seems to want to find me as a player because I have such a hard time avoiding them. Nothing in the game wants to help the layer, besides maybe the large collision blocks, since they also block the red blocks from the player. However, these blocks also push the player around and possibly put them in a vulnerable position. The level does not have a solid path or any other bonuses to help the player, so they are just left to find how to interact and dodge different parts of each game they play.