In the comments to the previous post, Charles pointed out that it was gameLab's Loop that was first to incorporate the innovative gameplay core mechanic of drawing 'loops' around animated sprites to collect them for points (in a browser game). And since the two games are indeed similar, I decided to post an entry about Loop, the game that quite possibly inspired Ferry Halim's Floats.

gameLab was founded in 2000 by Peter Lee and Eric Zimmerman, and Loop followed about a year later in 2001. In the book Design Research, edited by Brenda Laurel, Eric Zimmerman discusses gameLab's approach to game design and offers some insight to the impetus behind Loop:

"LOOP grew out of a desire at gameLab to invent a new core mechanic. There are ultimately not very many ways to interact with a computer game: the player can express herself through the mouse and keyboard, and the game can express itself through the screen and speakers. Deciding to intervene on the level of player input, we had a notion to cast aside point-and-click or click-and-drag mouse interaction in favor of sweeping, fluid gestures.

...In the end, LOOP managed to achieve the fluid interaction we had first envisioned, an entire game evolving from a simple idea about mouse control."

"My name is Ada. I'm going to show you how to catch butterflies."

So begins the game of Loop. There is a short tutorial that introduces you to the concept of catching butterflies: draw a loop around two or more of the same color; or, draw a loop around 3 or more butterflies of different colors to catch them. There is a sun that travels as time passes. You must collect enough butterflies before the sun sets or the game is over. Even the menus use the innovative control to select whether to skip the intro, play the game, ask for help, see the credits, or view the high scores.

Inside, the game offers a full-featured game playing experience complete with multiple levels of varying difficulty, and additional bonus rounds. There are three (3) types of butterfly: small, medium and large. The size of the butterfly determines their relative speed, and therefore how difficult they are to catch. There is a special cocoon that falls and hatches every 5th level. Catching this special butterfly awards the player with a dream sequence where Ada falls asleep and dreams of butterflies while the player is free to catch as many as she can before the moon sets.

From Eric's discussion of the game design process we know that a lot of thought went into designing the game of Loop, and it shows. The erratic behavior and flight of the butterflies is represented in the whimsical graphic style of the game. The ever changing butterflies, fluctuating soundtrack, and increasing number of enemies serve to keep the action appearing and sounding fresh with each new level; and by increasing the required number of butterflies to be caught in each level keeps the pace moving forward. The bonus dream sequences offer the player a reprieve from the frenetic pace, and a chance to simply rack up the points without fear of losing or running up against more enemies.

There are special powerups that drift at random adding spice to the mix when caught with the butterflies: freeze, longer line, more time, score multiplier, and flock. While most are self-describing, longer line allows you to draw a longer line and thus a larger loop; and flock makes butterflies of a color fly with each other. Very cool. Flocking is good fun.

There is a lot to like about Loop, and now if you will excuse me, I have some butterflies to catch. Click.

Thank you, Charles, for introducing me to this wonderful game. Incidently, gameLab also produced Blix, one of my all-time favorite Web games.