Leveling the Playing Field

Papering the hallway leading to the office of PocketCake Project Manager Jim Bassett are 10 five-foot strips that, in black and red ink, outline Lucky's journey level by level. They won't be 100 percent accurate to the game: the level layouts were conceived when LavaCat included forced movement effects such as push, pull and slide. LavaCat will instead hinge on playability; Lucky is freely controlled by the user.

"If the person playing the game wants to linger in one area, they can -- their actions aren't dictated by the computer," Bassett says.

In levels one and two, the platforms are long and the dangers few: the occasional falling stalactite. As levels advance, however, the obstacles gradually become greater in frequency and scope. Lavafish join the fray along with flaming lava balls, mini volcanoes and cave ins.

"The arc of difficulty for LavaCat is nuanced," Bassett says. "LavaCat won't be one of those games where a low-level baseline suddenly becomes damn near impossible."

Levels one and two are rated as "novice"; levels three and four "beginner"; levels five and six "intermediate"; levels seven and eight "hard" and levels nine and 10, well, "insane."

In the beginning, LavaCat unfolds on a horizontal or vertical plane. As the game progresses, the angles of entry are sharper and deviate at random. There is one path to victory. And umpteen ways to perish.

"It will be frustrating and challenging," Bassett says, "and reward timing, strategy and memorization."

Pressure pads must be pushed to access hidden chambers, which sometimes open for just a few blinks of the eye. In a blackout, nothing is visible beyond the small radius of light encircling Lucky. Flaming balls fire from revolving cylinders -- "Gatling meteors," Bassett calls them. On the other hand, players can saunter through the early levels, which can be replayed, where found items are more for recreation than life or death.

"Late in the game, if you don't find those power-ups, you won't make it across that ravine or swim through that level that's mostly under lava," Bassett says. "It's the old saying: If you don't use it, you lose it."