Boulder Dash Review
Boulder Dash’ was released in 1984; the platforms used for the game series were various home computers such as the Atari 400/800 and commodore 64, it was later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System, PC and Amiga amongst others. It was created by 2 people by the names of Peter Liepa and Chris Gray, the game was later bought by a company called "First Star Software".
It has been suggested that "Game Structure is Multi-dimensional, because it allows players to take many possible paths throughout the game space" - (Costikyan, Greg 2002.20). In "Boulder Dash" the player controls a protagonist called "Rockford". The player has to control Rockford by using only the movement arrow keys which are: up, down, left, and right to manoeuvre Rockford through the caves and terrain. The player is then free to move in any direction he chooses’ as long as there are not any obstacles in the way. The camera is positioned in a top down view; the player can see the whole level layout as soon as the level begins. The outside of the levels are confined by rocks which are there to prevent the player from walking off the side of the level to empty space. The players’ task is to collect the various treasures which are in the form of diamonds and gems. Some of the gems are well hidden and have multiple pathways to obtain them. This relates back to Costikyan’s theory that games should have “many possible paths”.
It has been suggested that "There can be no game without struggle" (Costikyan, G. 2002.17) and this is true in the case of ‘Boulder Dash’. The levels are not just seemingly straight forward with Rockford collecting treasure and reaching the exit; there is also the inclusion of various hazards to prevent Rockford from achieving this goal. There are two main obstacles throughout the game. The first are monsters which constantly move around; although they cannot move through the dirt unless Rockford first clears it. The second are falling rocks which fall when dirt is moved; Rockford has to move very fast from these as they will land on him and kill him; or in the harder stages the fallen rocks can create avalanches of rocks which are even more challenging to avoid. The player is also restricted by a time limit and after collecting all the treasure, the player then has to reach the exit before the time runs out. If the player fails to achieve this they then lose a life. The game starts with three lives and once all three are gone the game is then over, and the player has to start from level one again. These are the different types struggle in the game.
When describing the aesthetics for a game it has been stated that there is a need to move away from words like ‘fun and game play’ (Hunicke, Robin et al. 01.2) for Boulder Dash it would be easy to say "fun" and "game play" though it would be better to delve deeper than that. I would say it was "Fantasy" considering there is not much of a story other than knowing Rockford is a archaeologist searching caves for treasure; so you could make up your own back story for the character and his motives. There is also no story through out the game so the player is again free to think up a story as the game progresses.
There is also a "challenging" aspect to the game as it is like an obstacle course such as with the need to dodge the monsters and rocks; as well as planning ahead of your movement to make sure the next piece of dirt your digging will not let a monster roam free or let a boulder fall on you. You must also make sure you can collect all the treasure and reach the exit before the time limit. I would also say "discovery" as at the time there was nothing else like Boulder Dash; it was truly original, and the discovery of the next level to see what Rockford has to face to collect his treasure.
Thinking about the people who would play this game, I think achievers (achievers are gamers’ that always want to achieve high scores, or completing the game) would be the main type of players, always playing to better there own score, to beat the current high top score or to try to keep the high score if they are already at the top of the leader board. I would also say explorers (explorers are gamers that play to discover new ways to tackle a level, or discovering new things in games that most people would not think of trying) as you would have to explore the levels to find the best way to navigate through the various obstacles and to collect the treasure in the fastest possible time. It could be possible to say Socializers (socializers are gamers’ who play to see what other people are talking about, or play for socializing aspect of gaming) play this game also when friends played round each other's houses in competition for who was the better Boulder Dash player, they would compete for the high score, fastest times, they would also share knowledge of the game with each other telling each other tricks and tips for beating certain levels or ways of beating levels in a faster time.
Boulder Dash I feel is a Ludus game as the player is being confined by rules; they have to collect all the gems to be able to uncover the exit. They are also confined to that one screen to move the character about on; there are no other goals in the game except collecting the gems and reaching the exit; so the player is confined about what they can do. I would also say Boulder dash was a Alea game as you have the randomness of the enemies movement around the play area there is not any other randomness other than the enemies. Boulder Dash I would say is a Agon game as well, as the player has the competition of the leader board trying to beat that high score or even the competition of friends trying to compete who can get the furthest in the game. It is also very possible to say Boulder Dash is a Mimicry game as it is make-believe; there is no story through out the game so the player is free to think of a story as it progresses.
My thoughts on Boulder dash are that it is one of the all time classic games, and definitely left a mark on gaming in it’s originality and pure simplicity, yet its still very appeasing to a wide range of people and gamers’, it manages to attract three different types of gamers’ the Achievers, Explorers and socialisers. It allows the player to move around and explore the level in any direction, which means there are multiple ways to solve collecting all the treasure which makes it pleasing to play.
Bibliography
"Game Structure is Multi-dimensional, because it allows players to take many possible paths throughout the game space" - Costikyan, Greg (2002) I have no word & I must design: toward a critical vocabulary for games New York: pg 20
"There can be no game without struggle" - Costikyan, Greg (2002) I have no word & I must design: toward a critical vocabulary for games New York: pg17
"In describing the atheistic of a game we want to move away from words like "fun" and "game play" Hunicke Robin, LeBlanc Marc, Zubek Robert (2001-2004) MDA : A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research San Jose : pg 2
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