2004 Web and Downloadable Games White Paper 

IGDA Online Games SIG 

evaluated each one and eventually settled on the proposed game then known as Tube Tricks, 

later renamed to 

Rocket Mania

 after we hit upon the fireworks theme. 

The mechanic had a familiar Pipeline like feel, in which the player manipulates different types of 

tube  pieces  to  create  an  unbroken  line,  but  added  more  complexity  with  multiple  simultaneous 

pathways and powerups.. We felt that this was a novel twist on the mechanic to warrant moving 

forward with a proof of concept.  

In deciding whether or not to pursue a title for publication, PopCap looks to see that the following 

criteria are met by the game: 

1. Must have fun and addictive game play 

2.  The  game  mechanic  should  be  simple  enough  that  casual  users  are  able  to  quickly 

understand and enjoy the game in their first session, but there also should be enough depth to 

warrant plenty of replay that keep all types of gamers engaged for repeat play sessions. 

3.  The  production  level  of  graphics,  sound  and  music  should  be  professional  and  should 

provide excellent visual and audio feedback to the player. 

4. Ideally the installer package should be under 4 or 5 megabytes in total download size, but 

no more than 10MB. 

Since  the above criteria are important for PopCap in all games that we develop internally, they 

are also equally important for any title that we publish for third parties, and this causes us be very 

hands on in the development of third party titles.  

Nuclide  and  PopCap  worked  very  closely  together  on every aspect of the production, including 

game  design,  game  balance,  interface  design,  themes  design,  coding  framework,  etc.  This 

process included much back and forth communication, and the developer was very good about 

quickly prototyping new ideas. This was invaluable as many ideas sound interesting on paper, but 

usually it is not until you can actually try them hands on before you know if they work within the 

context of the whole game experience. 

There were a number of various themes that were suggested during the course of development, 

but  none  felt  right  to  either  of  us.  Eventually  Nuclide  and  PopCap  found  the  right  theme  in 

ancient looking Chinese fireworks. PopCap contributed some of the art assets used in the game, 

and provided mockups for interface design. 

PopCap  and  Nuclide  also  worked  very  closely  together  to  test  out  and  balance  various  game 

modes. PopCap suggested the Strategy mode since both Arcade and Classic were timed, and 

we felt that players would welcome an un timed open ended mode. 

PopCap provided C++ and Java development frameworks to Nuclide that PopCap had previously 

developed to speed game development. These simplify all sorts of issues such as animation, font 

creation,  sound  decompression/playback,  consistent  interface  elements,  and  a  host  of  others. 

Use of this framework also speeds up the test cycle since the framework is the core of all our 

titles, and has been extensively tested. 

Since the ultimate goal of Rocket Mania is to fire off as many fireworks as you can at one time, 

the visual effects are very important, but they can also be demanding on the CPU. By using the 

PopCap  C++  framework,  we  were  able  to  add  hardware  acceleration  support.  This meant that 

supported cards would be able to take the graphics load off the CPU, resulting in much smoother 

game play, even in low end computers such as a Pentium II 350MHz which had a decent 16MB 

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