The Big Idea
Round One (and two, and three)
Making a PopCap game can take many months just to get the right gaming concept: we create many prototypes to try out lots of different ideas, but we'll have to dump most of them along the way. Nothing is set in stone early on, so we never expect our first attempt to be perfect.
The first version of the game was very much like Pachinko, with lots of balls falling at once and scoring that was based on the number of balls that landed in the jackpot bucket. After testing it out, Brian and Sukhbir still really liked the concept — which, actually, was a big deal! — but the game was too difficult and too chaotic. It was "too random and luck-based" recalls Sukhbir. "The main issue was finding the right balance of luck versus skill."
They knew there was a game in there, but at the time they "just had a whole bunch of different ideas that mostly didn't work" says Sukhbir. They needed a little more time.
And so began a four-month process of creating handfuls of prototypes using various game designs. As with every other development project at PopCap, they added some basic graphics and sounds, ignored special effects for the time being, and tested and shared the results with coworkers in hopes of finding the perfect blend to fit the fun model of game play they envisioned.
They wanted to pack every level with obstacles and many goals to achieve, which made the project very challenging. "Each level was like designing an entirely new pinball table" Brian recalls. Things like spaceships and windmills began to emerge, crowding the screen with obstacles that kept the player hoping that at least some of the bouncing balls would find their way to the jackpot bucket.
It was definitely fun; but sometimes the levels got too cluttered and messy again. At other times, the game seemed way too hard to succeed at.
Then, Sukhbir thought up a sample level that changed everything.
