games_Daniel_Ackerman: January 2010

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The game I played on Flash-games.net was “Twisted Tennis.”

Was the game fun? At first no, it was not. Possibly because I had never played before and instead of putting the difficulty on easy to get a feel I put it on normal. Initially I kept loosing to the computer and felt the mechanics of the game were not fluent, awkward, and difficult to get a hang of. Although I may have been running to the ball if I was not standing the correct way, and although I swung, I missed. And I did this quiet often. As a result I lost all 3 matches but in the process I gained patience and learned. In the middle of Match 2 is where it got fun because I grew accustom to predicting the direction the ball from how the computer was positioned and continued to line my self up for the shot. It worked! And from that point on we were able to have volley’s, making the game even more fun. You can get closer and closer in distance between the two players causing the ball to go back and forth faster an faster and faster until someone does a surprise shot to the left or right. You can dive for the ball too! Also the biggest surprise was how you can perform a power shot across the court making it very difficult for the opposing player to save. Overall I would say this game is successful at delivering exciting yet simple Tennis mechanics.

The goal of this game, in my opinion was to create a simple Tennis game in which you’re able to beat the other player by scoring a certain amount of points before they do.

The theme of the game is competitive sports.

From experience, I believe the designer wished that the player experienced a rush. Since this is a sport game at the surface level, one is bound to feel ups and downs when it comes to scoring. I remember getting a smile on my face when I was beating the computer until he started to catch up. At this point my experience became motivation and frustration as I hunched forward a bit to maintain focus. I went from excitement of winning due to great shots to a low of disappointment after I fumbled and made careless errors. Wrapped up in this is a different experience every time of victory and defeat, in the sporting world. I think unlike other genres, you want a “victory” and not just a “win.” So, the excitement of pummeling your opponent, and for this purpose, playing on a computer while sitting in a chair is also interactive. You may find yourself focused and happy to be winning while hunched forward, or shoot back in your seat after a loss or shift to the left when the ball goes that way. Every maneuver I believe is part of the experience rather than just clicking a few buttons and because of these experiences and surprises invested in the games potential, the designer succeeded.