Context

Mechanics:

The control inputs, the players controls the paddles to make them go up and down, these inputs are inportant because the game would not be a game with out the player controlling something.

The ball bouncing of the paddles and the top and bottom walls is needed because without the ball having collision with anything the game wouldn’t work.

The score mechanic is are really important feature of pong because without the score players have no competative reason to player the game, the score gives the players of pong a way to tally how many points they have won.

The sound of the ball bouncing off the paddles is important because it indicates to the player that they have hit the ball back to the other player.

The restart option of pong is really important because after you have finished a game to start your new one you will need to restart so having that option is needed.

appeal of pong:

the fact that pong has a two player feature, which was quite new at the time really made people want to play the game, because playing against your friend was fun.

The scoring system was an appealing feature of pong because it was a good way to show the amount of points the player had.

the difficuilty, the difficulty in pong was really clever for the time because after a player scored a point the speed of the ball is quicker which in turn makes the game harder. Making the game harder gives the players a need to go back to the game.

What have modern versions of pong tried to do?

People who have made modern versions of pong have introduced new mechanics to make the gaming more appealling and interesting. for example: paddle force a game that adapts on the original pong, they have added the new mechanics of spining which lets the player do a powerful shot with the paddle giving the game more skill.

Most other modern versions of pong give it a new theme, to make it feel different from the original game, like pong by LemonsuckerGames The game doesn’t introduce any new mechanics, but it adds a theme to pong, which the original pong did not have. the theme they picked was 90’s inspired which has a really bright and colourful feel and look. The paddles and ball have different animations when they collide and makes the game feel more complete.

Another remade version of pong, is paddle force

Paddle force is a fast-paced update of the classic pong game designed for head to head play. Score to expand your terrain until you control the entire board and win, using zany power-ups to help you along the way. This adaptation of pong introduces new mechanics, one of them is the ability to spin the paddle which lets the player hit hard shots towards the other side. I found this mechanic to be very interesting and fun, but it can be quite hard to control for new players.

reflection:

I have successfully reviewed the context of pong. I have learned new things like the appeal of pong when researching the context, and how other people have remade pong in amazing new ways. I felt like I have done the sufficient amount of work, but maybe next time I can write more on the context of pong. What was good about researching the context of pong, was that I learnt new things like the appeal of pong and seen different versions of pong made by other people. I can now also explain why pong was so good back when it was first made, and what made it appealing to the player. I could have gone into more detail when explaining the remade versions of pong, and I will think about doing that if I had to do it again.