Infinite Loops

Some nice details in AlphaBounce (flash game)

Just played a few minutes of an interesting Breakout-style game with adventure/RPG elements, called AlphaBounce (tragic name, IMO). I’d like to quickly call out a few small details of this game that I really like.

I’ll post the images (with text, I hope… still not too familiar with Tumblr) after this.

1. When the paddle/mouse goes outside of the game’s screen (it’s Flash-based), the borders go red and a very obvious, simple message comes up alerting you to this
2. The bricks with special value (as far as I can tell) to the adventure/RPG part of the game are green, with a special texture to them, which makes it very visually obvious which bricks are most important to me. (and thus how much value I will get out of this “level” (which is a sector in the game’s 2D space)
3. When there are only a few bricks left, the game automatically gives you a powerup (as far as I can tell) that causes your paddle to fire an energy beam directly up once every few seconds. You’re given plenty of time to aim your shot as the warm-up animation takes its time. This is a much better mechanic than that found in many downloadable Breakout games, where a “end level” powerup will simply grant victory with little skill required.