Agency and hedgehogs

So I was playing "Hedgehog Adventure HD" for iphone/ipod on my way back to Auckland yesterday. The game is a puzzle game that looks like a children's game with the cute graphics but requires precise timing and skill with the terrible physics engine and unforgiving save points.

I don't really want to write a full review so I'll just skip to what I found interesting about this game. The game is stupidly hard but its an excellent example of the game designers intended agency and the player who fights this. I found it really surprising how determined I was to beat a level and I was constantly finding my "emergent behavior" senses tingling. The game rarely provides the player with any other paths but the one that the game designer intended and so any and all attempts at beating a level another way usually leads in death or a forced restart. However this did not stop me from doing repetitive and mundane tasks to try and beat a level in an another way. I find it interesting how people will quit a game if the game is too difficult or forces people to do repetitive things like stacking boxes if they can tell it was planned by the game designers. However, if they think their actions are emergent and from their own agency they can spend hours trying the same things as long as they think they are beating the system. I hope some people who have played this game or other similar games will understand what I mean.

game link here: http://appshopper.com/games/super-hedgehog-hd

Jacob Hui