This week I played Factory Balls FOREVER which was released in 2017 based on a version that was first released in 2007 on a web browser. The game was developed by Bart Bonte, as was the original. It is an online game that can be played on the Bart Bonte website, steam, itch.io, kartride, app store, and google play. The target audience for Factory Balls Forever are for both children and adults who enjoy puzzles. The game uses simple colors and visuals which make it approachable for young children and the challenge increases as the levels progress making it engaging for adults. I played this game on the Bart Bonte website.
“How do the mechanics of the puzzle(s) influence the experience of the game?”
Factory Balls is a puzzle game that utilizes simple single-click mechanics and aesthetics to make the game accessible and engage a large audience. It has high frequency interaction loops that creates the complexity and challenge which make this game fun. However, the game can lack 100% engagement since it is neither a narrative puzzle (where the story is captivating) or has any urgency created by restricting time or number of moves.
When I first started playing the game, I was amazed by how simply the rules were conveyed. There was a small graphic on the bottom right corner that showed what single-click the player should make and what it’s effect looks like. Each click is a simple mechanic that helps the player recreate the factory ball displayed on the box. The simple instructions are approachable for most age groups, especially to play the beginning levels which have less complexity. Additionally, the aesthetics are really important since Factory Balls is mostly a visual color-matching puzzle. This makes it less accessible to colorblind individuals, but the game could easily incorporate higher contrasted colors to increase their accessibility (wordle, New York Time’s game, has a button that makes the clue’s colors higher contrasted for colorblind players). The mechanics to successfully play a level are very simple and easy to learn.
This is what the instructions looked like on level 1
There was a high frequency of interaction loops which started with the step-by-step introduction on the first level. Seeing the changes happen help the player start to learn game mechanics and rules. In this introduction, players learn what actions look like and what success means: creating a ball that matches the image on the box. Then as the player moves into the second level, this shows the glasses for the first time but there are no instructions. The players are expected to transfer rules learned from the past to learn what the new objects do or keep playing around until players figure out the new tool’s capabilities. Taking what was previously learnt, players decide and act to replicate the new ball, then generate additional hypothesis as to what the rules are based on the visual feedback received. As the levels progressed, the game also incorporated skill chains by having players combine the use of multiple interaction loops or rules they were starting to understand. The interaction loops and skill chains that were developed made the game incredibly more fun! The first 10 levels, I did not feel challenged. It felt more monotonous just clicking the right buttons to pass the level. However, somewhere past level 12-13, I started to get stuck. The new factory balls had all these crazy designs that became increasingly more difficult to replicate using the multiple tools I had. For example, the image below is the first level I had to take a break from and come back to later! I was incredibly close to the final output, but I could not understand how the given tools worked together to create the final product I was looking for. I really appreciated that additional challenge, which existed purely from the complex skill chain that this game relied on.
This was level 16 where none of the tool shapes I had felt like they were helpful in getting from my current ball to the image on the box. In the end, I realized I had to start over with a completely black ball and cover that diamond in the middle so it never got filled!
Lastly, puzzles are meant to be challenging and engaging. When I first started playing the initial levels which lacked difficulty, I realized there was no incentive for me to think critically before my next action. I simply kept clicking different colors and tools as quickly as my brain could process, until I stumbled upon the solution. Many times, I would create a ball that was the “inverse” of what was actually needed. 
The colors I created were close to the opposite of what was needed! For example, to get the “black eyebrows,” the part I made yellow, should have actually been black.
When playing puzzle games that lack narrative like wordle or mastermind, I would sit for 5-10 minutes before each turn just to make sure I was making the most of each action I take. However, Factory Balls does not have any time or number of moves restraint, which felt like it was missing urgency/precision. It made the game less appealing to me in the first 10 levels, where I would have appreciated having x moves for each level before I fail and restart the level. I believe that additional mechanism would have increased challenge and replayability, which this game also lacked. I tried replaying some levels after I completed all 25, and did not find any excitement in that process. Forcing players to restart after running out of moves can make each level replayable until it is successfully completed.
