Ponon-like Game - Concept

Hello Gao,

In order to give you the best new concept ideas I took a thorough look at Ponon! Deluxe before writing this
document, going through various gameplay videos, player reviews and playing the game myself. Although I only
played about ~10 levels from the 1st section, I think I got a good feel of what the game has to offer, so here are my
thoughts on how to improve it (in no particular order).

Presentation

The presentation in the game is currently extremely basic and generic, making the game look uninteresting at best
and awful at worst. This game definitely needs a lot more visual appeal by adding some characters, special effects
and having a different theme for each of the worlds. It would also not be bad to have a very basic story to
introduce the game to the players.

Block Types

It’s interesting that the game has a variety of block types which are different from the usual Tetris blocks, however
there is a missed opportunity by not having any of the original pieces in the game. It would actually be a good
learning curve if the game started with just the original Tetris blocks, and then slowly introduced new block types
as you progress through the adventure mode.

Power Ups

Something that is really baffling about this game is that there are no power ups of any kind in the game, not even
special items tied to different levels, which makes the game very predictable and kind of boring after a while. If the
game had some power ups those could be used to keep the game fresh and to help out struggling players.

Goals

Whilst it’s quite good that there is a goal in the adventure mode outside of just reaching a high score, it is again
way too simple and always remains the same, which gets boring after a while. The game definitely needs a much
faster pace in adding new things and in changing things up. Something that you could do for example is to have a
variation in the shape of the level as a whole (not just its content) and to have special goals that you have to
achieve (example: free up a specific section, create a specific shape, etc.). You could also add special tiles to add
more variety in the game over time.
 Ponon-like Game - Concept
Moves vs Time Limit

Currently the way the game tries to challenge the player is by having a basic goal that has to be reached within a
specific time limit. Whilst this basic approach is not bad, it would be better if the game limited players to a specific
number of moves (or pieces). This would make the game easier to balance, as well as make the challenge the same
across all players, no matter how fast they are at tapping.

Monetization

This is again something that I find really baffling, but I don’t see any real monetization in the game. Whilst I like
that there is nothing as invasive as time limits, having some soft monetization in the form of power ups or maybe
cosmetic items could be really good, and is definitely a missed opportunity here.

Final Thoughts

Overall I think that with the right changes this sort of tetris-clone could be a great game. Already what you have
now with Ponon! Deluxe is quite fun, so by adding these elements it could be even better.

Best Regards,

Gaetano