For the competitive analysis, I played the game The Floor is Lava by Ketchapp for mobile devices. The theme of the game is jumping over obstacles. It is a single player game which led to the types of fun of challenge and submission. The world is moving towards the player that is running into the screen which means that the person must tap the screen to make the player jump. Another mechanic is that the player cannot touch the ground or they die which adds pressure to the challenge. They are also powerups that the player can get to make them last longer. This complements the challenge to not make the game too hard to play and players will try again. Another interesting mechanic is that in the beginning of the game the floor is normal so the player can jump over the obstacles but not die if they miss them. Around 10 seconds into the game, the floor becomes lava and the player needs to jump and land on the obstacles. This increases the difficulty of the game and adds to the fun challenge. I think we can take this idea into our game for zones that change to available or not available. Another type of fun for this game is submission because it has simple mechanics of tapping the screen. Players don’t have to think a lot to play it and they can zone out.
The graphics of the game are simple with many square and rectangular objects. The color pallet complements the red lava floor so nothing really pops out on its own. This makes the game good for submission because nothing tries to grab the player’s attention quickly. The graphics also show the player that the game is not too serious.
Other games in the genre are similar with a slight challenge for fun but not too difficult to create submission. Some games have more interesting visuals such as Stack where blocks have to line up on each other but the aesthetics are similar.
The game is simple so it is not really possible to abuse within the game. To improve the game, I would build out the game more such as adding more levels or different characters. This would increase the challenge and expression of the players. I would also add to the world to make the interaction more dynamic where the player could go in different directions instead of just running straight.
