BurgerTime

If you are Old School, I am sure you heard of BugerTime. The game was on the NES game system and developed in 1982. Peter Pepper is the player, and the object of the game was to make Hamburgers while being pursued by enemy foods. The game player walks along trying to release various ingredients (bun, meat patty, tomato, etc.) and uses pepper shots to stun enemies. The player controls the movement of a chef being chased by pickles, eggs and hot dogs. Upon colliding with any of these three foods, the chef falls over and the player loses a life. To help prevent this from happening, the player has a limited ability to direct clouds of pepper which momentarily stun these enemies. Occasionally, stationary icons of French fries, ice cream or coffee appear on the game board which replenish the chef’s supply of peppers. On the game board there are various layers of burgers: buns, patties, tomatoes and lettuce. When the chef runs across the entirety of one of these burger parts, it falls to the level below the one it was resting on. If there is a burger part on a platform directly below a falling burger part, both fall to the next platform, creating a cascading effect. When all of the burger parts fall on to all the plates below them, the player moves on to the next level, which contains different arrangement of levels and burger parts Extra shots of pepper are obtained by collecting bonus foods. When all the ingredients are dropped onto the waiting plate, the game level is completed. Peter Pepper loses a life if he runs into or gets trapped by at least one enemy. The characters in the game can relate emotionally to the player. After all the player is trying to make Hamburgers, which can be associated with cognitive engagement (Mateas). The goal of the game is to move around the field without out getting killed. You have a way of stunning the food parts that are trying to destroy you. The game also offers graceful failure. When the player is killed, there is a funny sound, and if you have any lives, you continue your play. The player who is always being pressured has to develop a strategy in the game to win. BugerTime has the elements of game based learning. There is an Affective Engagement where there develops and emotional interaction to the playing and succeeding in the game. The Motivation of the game becomes evident do the ease in play and the ability to see the finish line, but not get there. You become self-determined in completion of the game. There is a definite behaviorist challenge with limited choices of the way a play can response. If wrong, the player gets a penalty. Elements of game design do exist in this game. There are good Game Mechanics, Visual Design, and music Score. There is even Content Skills that the game employs. Teaching new knowledge and skills with Practice and reinforcement of existing knowledge and skills. Like other arcade games from that era, it has a 2D platformer structured as a series of levels with the overall goals being to advance through levels and achieve the highest score possible. Each level contains different arrangements of staggered platforms with ladders connecting platforms on different vertical layers. This game contain many of the elements needed for game base learning.