Reverse Scrowdriver 2

For this Scrowdriver I decided to change the mechanics of a classic NES game that some people may or not be familiar with, Balloon Fight. In Balloon Fight , you play as a man attached to balloons who tries to disarm other pilots and enemies by popping their balloons and hitting them out of the air. This is done by flying up above your enemy and colliding your feet into their balloons. It's an incredibly simple game that only requires the D-pad and one other button. The A and B button both do the same thing. The game is extremely fast paced though and it is multiplayer. In the multiplayer, players compete with one another cooperatively to get a high score and  defeat the enemy waves in order to move onto the next round. They can also battle against each other to try and defeat one another by popping each others 3 balloons.

My new mechanic has to do with the controls. The game has one input for both the A and B button. I think that utilizing one of those buttons would make the game more intense and more enjoyable. I think that the B button should lay down a mine (that floats in the air) or a bomb that drops below their feet. Having an attack other than just your feet would add new strategy and ways to play. This mechanic would be great for co-operative play and vs mode. In the co-operative mode the mines could be laid down in strategic ways so that enemies that are programmed to simply just chase, can get off the players backs more easily. I think this attack would shine better in the vs mode though. The controls to the game are really fun but they are also extremely floaty which makes it hard to be accurate on what you want to do. Having a droppable mine would make obstacles for players and make them fly more cautiously. If it was a bomb that drops down, the players would have a longer range of attacking enemy players and it would make their aggressive attacks seem more controlled and responsive.

Of course, I think this mechanic would need to be balanced. Perhaps their could be an item select screen before the match so you could choose to either use the bomb or the mine. This would add a customization aspect to the game that players could really enjoy. To further balance it I think each item would have their own specific number of times it could be used in a round. After playtesting the new mechanic it would be easier to see how limited a player should be. Perhaps you can only use the bomb twice per round since its more of an aggressive item where the mine could be used 3 times because its more defensive.


In conclusion, I think that instead of having the B button do the same thing as the A button, Balloon Fight should implement battle items.

Reverse Scrowdriver

Reverse Scrowdriver: Frogger
I know this game isn't on the list but it said it could be any classic game so I hope this is okay.

For this blog I want to throw back all the way to the Atari. For the people out there that are unfamiliar with Frogger, here's a quick explanation of what the game is about. You play as a frog named Frogger. Your goal is to get from one end of the highway to your lily pad on the either side of the map. The mechanics are just straight hit detection. If you touch a car, fall in the water, or hit an alligator you lose a life. Make it past all the obstacles and you win. All the obstacles/enemies traverse horizontally. All the obstacles/enemies also move at the same patterned speed.

I think that changing the rule of enemy traversal would make the game way more intense. If some enemies were able to travel vertically down the screen you would have to be extremely aware of your enemies patterns and your own surroundings. I think for people who love a challenge like bullet hell games this rule would definitely enhance their experience.

In case that is too basic a rule switch, or in updated versions of the game that has happened, I thought of a different rule which changes the game quite a lot but seems way more fun. The ability for the player to control time for a split second every so often would be very cool. They could use it to narrowly escape cars and trucks, or land on an extremely fast log. This mechanic is similar to mechanics in video games like Burnout and GTA V.

I think the first mechanic I wrote about would be much more easy to implement than the second. The slow mechanic though would be much more fun I believe but would need a lot more tuning. Like making the map larger so it cant be done in the slow period and changing the way cars move so it isn't such an easy pattern.