Today, I'm going to discuss what I believe is a spectacularly designed game. I saw my roommate playing it and I thought it was pretty neat. It wasn't until I actually tried it out on my own that I realized how much fun it really is. The game is called Robot Unicorn Attack and is an original game made by Cartoon Network's [adult swim]. Usually, [adult swim] games are more about the tongue in cheek humor of the game concept, rather than the actual execution of the game. Most of their games are either excessively violent (Candy Mountain Massacre), sexual (PoleDance Hero), or just plain bad (Worst Game Ever). I was very surprised to find that, not only does Robot Unicorn Attack not fall into any of these categories, it was also very fun. If you wish to try it out to get a better idea about what I'm talking about, you can find it here.
It's not a revolutionary game concept. It's simply an exercise in obstacle avoidance. Games have been doing that for a long time, so why am I talking about this game? Simply put, it's a great example of this style of game done right. Every aspect of the game is crafted with a kind of precision to get the absolute maximum amount of enjoyment from the experience.
First, the visual appeal is very nice. It's a very pretty game. The backgrounds are nice, but the light palette won't draw your eye from more defined the foreground. The animations are smooth and they utilize sparkles and rainbows in all the right places to maximize the effect. The HUD is clean and clear. You can see your score and how many lives you have left. That's all you need. They could have stopped there, but they didn't, they took it one step further to maximize on the player's emotions. When you gain points for collecting fairies or smashing stars, the points are clearly displayed in the center of the screen apart from the running total, but don't obstruct the player's view of the terrain or obstacles. There is also the added visual appeal of robot dolphins once your points start to breach 5000 points. Additionally, as you chain larger combos, the score at the top increases it's scale proportionate to what you earned. This is an image of a combo of 20 consecutive stars versus the default score size.
The score on top isn't that big because the number is so high, but rather because the combo was so great. This coincides with the player's emotions while playing. The longer you do well, the bigger the rush you get, but the game just keeps getting harder and the pressure increases as well. Just by adding that little bit of scaling to the number, it increases the player's peak enjoyment by letting them know just how awesome they are.
The visual appeal is good and works well in the game. What about the controls? Clunky controls can easily ruin a player's experience through frustration if the game doesn't respond as intended. Do the controls of Robot Unicorn Attack pass? With flying colors, and I'm not talking about rainbows. The game only has two controls: Jump and Dash. What they do with those controls is what's important. The game plays very intuitively, when you lose, there's no question as to why because the game responds exactly the way you think it should, consciously or not.
The jumping mechanism is more complex than it might seem at a glance. The longer you hold the jump key, the higher you go. You can let go at any time to begin you descent. The interesting thing is, even after you reach the peak of your jump, if you still hold jump, you'll descend significantly slower than if you were to release. Couple this with the ability to jump twice in the air and you have a lot of control over where you go in the air.
The dashing mechanic is similarly simple. You dash forward in a straight line, preventing any descent for a short time. Once the game speeds up and there are stars on many of the platforms, one dash to break a star may cause you to miss the platform entirely. If you've already expended your double jump, it seems obvious that the only place left to go is down. However, that is not the case. After a dash, the player is granted another mid-air jump, allowing the player to remain airborne for as long as may be desired. I was surprised by this mechanic initially, but I didn't need the game to tell me that's how it worked. It was intuitive. Once I reached the edge of the platform while dashing, I jumped. That's the way I played the whole time, the fact I was already in the air didn't change the fact I wanted to jump. It worked. That's intuitive control at its finest.
In addition to the controls being smooth, the game is very forgiving. There hasn't been an instance where I feel I've been cheated out of a life. In fact, on more than one occasion, I almost feel I've cheated the game to keep going. Not in a bad way, though. All of the platforms are very smooth and curved. Because one of the lose conditions is hitting a wall, the smooth platforms function as more of a guide than something to avoid. You can usually dash "into" most walls and not die. This is because the game will automatically adjust your direction by up to what appears to be 45 degrees. Dashes are also extended for about half a second longer than the actual animation. You can actually destroy a star while descending moments after the dash finishes. Any close calls are favored towards the player to allow longer play sessions. That's what the player wants: To play the game.
The structure of the game is well formulated as well. While the platforms are randomly generated, the first two are always the same. The player doesn't have to do anything for the first two platforms to survive and collect two fairies. In addition, even though there are only two controls, when the first few stars appear, the game tells the player to dash and even reminds them what key to press. The three life structure for the scoring system is rather clever too. Giving the player three times to play levels out their score to a reasonable value, reducing the effects of outliers. It also gently requests a certain amount of replay value. Each game session is a total of three, that's what makes it so addicting. Maybe you have that one really good life, but you still have to play at least one more round to see if you get a high score. What if you get that good life at the end of a game? Then you can't help but think, "What if I did that well three times in a row?" Then, you try to beat that score by signing up for three more tries instead of just one.
The sound in the game meshes with the action very well. The music is mellow but upbeat allowing the player to easily zone into the game without having the music be intrusive. The game responds each time the player scores with a subtle whoosh and ding to let them know they've been rewarded. The stars are smashed with a satisfying bang and the dolphins cry happily when they come on screen. Every time the player takes to the skies, a sparkling sound is played. Because the player is in the air so often, it creates a sort of magical overtone for the game.
Gameplay-wise, we've established that the game works beautifully, but there's much more to it than that. I believe this is a good example of gestalt in a video game. Gestalt is "a structure, configuration, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties not derivable by summation of its parts" according to Merriam-Webster. What I mean by that is the game plays very well and is fun in its own right, but the really cool part is what they've done with the theme to enhance that experience.
Robot Unicorn Attack by itself is a ridiculous title. The concept of a robot unicorn is downright absurd, and an attack involving one is just silly. That's the point. The game itself is a strange blend irony that just works. The designers probably thought, "Can we make a game about unicorns that a bunch of guys will think is awesome?" So they took unicorns and added robots and explosions to make it "cool" without skimping out on the "girl stuff" like rainbows and sparkles. In addition, the music chosen for the game probably wouldn't get much attention from the demographic of those playing the game in any other circumstance. However, by simply adding rainbows and a robot unicorn smashing through giant stars, the music somehow takes a life of its own and is more enjoyable as a result.
There is just so much more that makes this game fun than meets the eye at first glance. That's why I decided to break it down a bit more, to let people in on all the little things that can make the gaming experience great.
