Snack-Happy Pyro

An idea for a game.

By Dan

OK, so whats he up to now?

I had, recently, an idea. Yes, I know that that doesn't sound particularly likely, especially if you know me, but nevertheless I did. Sadly an idea about my impending thesis would have been most welcome, but sadly, inspirons^[1] aren't that choosy about where and when they strike, and so I ended up with an idea about a little flash-based game instead. One day I will have to learn enough about flash to make it. But until then I'll stick to the principles of Vogon Poetry and just throw it out into the general world arena and let you all suffer by seeing how insane I really am.

What I thought I'd do is start by briefly describing the type of game, giving you the rationale and then discussing the bits that I am clear about (as to the many I'm not). Here goes:

Game Genre: platformer-business-manager-look-at-the-swirly-pictures-in-the-sky

No, really.

I'm not making it up. Er....

[*rustle rustle*]

[*checks notes*]

Erm.... Okayyyyy.... I have just noticed that I am, actually, making it all up. Oh well. Tough.

Yes, I am serious about this. Maybe it'll help if I explain where this is coming from. I currently have a copy of flash. I am trying to learn it. I like computer games. I want to make a flash game. I wanted to make a game that was pretty, addictive and yet had more depth to it than would immediately meet the eye. Something that anyone could just pick up and play but had enough gameplay to keep an adult hooked for hours.

The idea. You are the snack-happy pyro of the title. As the game will confirm you are most definitely a pyro, although why you are snack-happy is lost in the mists of time. The idea is this. It is November the 5^th. (Note for americans and other non-British people here). You are an air traffic controller, and are very unhappy about missing bonfire night. So much so, that you go more than a little nuts, walking out of your job armed only with a flight schedule for some Chinese supersonic firework air-freighting company, a mad grin and a skip full of fireworks. Your aim: to subject cities the world over to bonfire night, skipping around the globe in the freight planes giving firework displays while it is still November the 5th. Air traffic control not being as lucrative as you might think, you only have a small pile of cash. So you charge an entrance fee. The better the fireworks, the more people you get, the more money you get and the bigger the fireworks you can buy, attracting more people.

The aim of the game: Each level you must loose off £80,000 + 10,000 / level worth of fireworks. You start with £2000.

Types of fireworks:

Bonfire. Cost: £50 for 30 seconds. Hotkey: Z

Bangers. Cost: £100 each. Hotkey: X

Catherine wheels. Cost £200 each, last 20 seconds. Hotkey: C

Roman Candles. Cost £200 each, last 20 seconds. Hotkey: V

Rockets. Cost £400 each, one shot. Hotkey: B

Starshells. Cost £800 each, Very pretty. Hotkey: N

Starbursts. Cost £1500 each, Exceedingly pretty. Hotkey: M

Specials. i.e. stinger missiles, orbital bombardment, UFO's, whirly-death-lasers, ICBM's etc. Cost £FREE (as in puppy, not speech) each, Exceedingly very pretty. Hotkey: S

Righty-ho. Now how to make money. Each person in the crowd generates £1 per second. You may have up to 1000 people in the crowd. Each pound expended has a 0.5% chance (minus 0.002% per person already present) of attracting another person to the display. In addition, your friends in the cargo planes, which happen to be transporting fireworks, might see your display as they fly overhead and airdrop extras to you, with a 0.1% chance per pound expended - i.e. they'll likely notice starshells and starbursts but bangers are unlikely to be noticed at 30,000 feet....

To start with, your fireworks are pretty boring - you only have access to one colour. As your chinese friends drop you new things (like weapon crates in "worms") then you get access to more colours and effects, such as red, green, blue, gold, sparkle, screamers, and extra-loud bang, say. You can build these into your fireworks by pressing a number. For instance hitting N and then "5" would fire a five-effect star shell that has a random five of the seven properties. This would look (and probably sound) pretty spectacular on screen and would almost certainly get the attention of your suppliers as well as get more people into the crowd - the base chances before subtractions are multiplied by the number of effects used. Due to the relative ease of firing things off, large combos can be done relatively quickly by whoever's playing the game.

So as you play longer and get more money and more bonuses the game gets much prettier. At the beginning its a bit humdrum but get a few bonuses from on high and you'll gather more and more people. As soon as you've loosed off enough fireworks, you'll have enough money to skip bail and get on a plane to the next locality to do it all over again!! Different localities will have different specials and different quirks. In the american deep south, for instance, hitting Z to keep the bonfire going might cause some locals to throw on some more books on Evolution, or in Britain during the foot and mouth crisis maybe more farm animals. In Iceland the bonfire would be a disproportionately big draw as its so damn cold but last half as long, while in china all fireworks would be half-price (a short, but very pretty level).

Essentially the "point" of this game is just to make the prettiest explosions possible (and collect your bail money).

2. November the fifth is a date celebrated in Britain to mark the failure of some catholics to blow up parliament. Opinion is divided as to whether this was necessarily a good thing. Nevertheless Brits like to burn things on November the fifth (scrap wood, cars, Milton Keynes) and let off fireworks.