What makes ridiculous special effects in a simple brick-breaker so addictive to invent?
The spectacle takes over
A brick-breaker needs a paddle, a ball and some bricks. Apparently it also needs meteors, holy beams, an ultimate explosion and a golden retriever with no respect for personal space.
The concept escalates fast: Meteor rains rocks across the board. Holy drops columns of white-gold light. Ultima charges a glowing sphere before detonating it. All this to remove a handful of blocks. The disproportion is the joke.
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Then comes Summon. A golden retriever leaps across the screen and scoops up the letters in its path. Mission accomplished, it approaches the camera with a proud grin until its enormous nose blocks the game. An effective summon, an extremely needy coworker.
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It's easy to compare the flashing spectacle to a jackpot animation. The difference is that the creator is chasing the pleasure of inventing the spectacle, not a cash payout. Every silly addition suggests an even sillier one.
Whether it plays well remains a design question. Keep the dog's close-up brief, protect the controls, avoid excessive flashing and make the effects run smoothly on phones.
The punchline: the ultimate power in a game about breaking bricks is a dog that breaks your view of the bricks. No wonder brainstorming can eat an entire night.
