During this Jam, I wanted to interpret the theme of "Free"  in a unique way. I knew I wanted to create a high score based Arcade Game for this jam, so I could complete the game within the limited time period and also focus on design fundamentals. My initial game idea was about flying as a bird, but I felt it would have been a too obvious interpretation of the theme.  The phrase "Free Up Some Space" stuck out to me as unique, and the idea of destroying buildings seemed satisfying. When developing the story I tried to incorporate the theme of "Free" as many times as possible. This is where the idea of the ball and chain came from so the player is using object that trapped him in order to free up some space.

When creating the game I used particle effects and sound effects in order to make destroying the buildings enjoyable. In order to create challenge I added Enemies that the player has to manage alongside destroying building. There is also the ongoing pressure of decreasing stamina which serves as a time limit. The enemies also serve as the method refilling the stamina by consuming the bananas they drop. This creates two tasks the player has to juggle with destroying buildings for points while defeating enemies in order to continue playing for longer.

Smaller quality of life decisions were made towards the end of development such as being able to call back your ball and not having to destroy all the buildings to continue to the next wave. Previously when ball got too far away it was hard to get back to and essentially ended your run. By adding a limited number of uses for your ability to call the ball back, the player is able to avoid those annoying situations, while still having to interact with the core gameplay loop of chasing the ball. Not having to destroy all the buildings also prevents situations where the player can not find the last building and thus can not progress to the next wave.