Peggle is a casual puzzle video game developed by Sukhbir Sidhu and Brian
Rothstein of PopCap Games. Initially released for Microsoft Windows and Mac
OS X systems in 2007, it has since had versions released for Xbox Live Arcade,
PlayStation Network, the Nintendo DS, Windows Mobile, iOS, Zeebo and Android;
the game has also been ported as a Java application, and an extended minigame
incorporated into the massively multiplayer online game World of
Warcraft. A sequel was released in September 2008, titled Peggle Nights.
Inspired by pachinko and bagatelle, each level of Peggle challenges the player to
shoot a limited supply of balls at a field of colored pegs to clear out
specifically marked pegs while attempting to achieve a high score
through skilled shot planning. Special powers associated with a number of
cartoon "Peggle Masters" can be activated to aid the player in this
task. Peggle initially sold slowly but was boosted by the inclusion of a
specially designed demonstration in Valve's The Orange Box, and has since
enjoyed over 50 million downloads from the Internet. Both its release on Xbox
Live Arcade and iOS have enjoyed similar success. PopCap, now a subsidiary of
Electronic Arts, have announced Peggle 2 at the E3 2013 convention.
Gameplay Within the game's main "Adventure" mode,
Peggle is divided into fifty-five levels. Each level features an
arrangement of approximately one hundred blue "pegs", positioned to correspond
with the level's background picture, inside of three walls on the top and
sides, along with other fixed and moving features. The goal of each level is to
clear the board of the twenty-five random pegs that are turned orange at
the start of the level, by using a ball launcher located at the top center of
the screen to strike one or more of the pegs. Pegs light up when hit, and once
the ball either falls through the bottom of the screen or is caught by the ball
catcher that moves back and forth along the bottom in a fixed manner, the pegs
will be removed. Struck pegs are also removed if the ball is stuck on them.
The player begins each level with ten balls to clear the orange pegs, but may
earn more by landing the ball in the ball catcher, or by earning high scores
on single shots. Failure to clear the board with the allotted number of balls
will require the player to restart the level, while completing this objective
will allow the player to progress forward to the next board.
Every five levels in the Adventure mode correspond to playing with one of ten
"Peggle Masters", cartoon characters that help the player. Each of the Peggle
Masters has a unique special ability that is activated when the player
strikes one of the two randomly selected green pegs on the board. Some abilities
activate immediately; one ability causes a second ball to be generated from the
green peg when struck. Other abilities will have effects that activate on the
next shot or for several more shots; one ability shows the ball's path including
rebounds, while another will extend the length of the ball catcher. In the final
five levels of the Adventure mode, called "Master" levels, the player can
select which of the Peggle Masters they want to use.
In addition to clearing the board, the player is challenged to get high scores
with each shot. Points come from two main sources: striking pegs, and style
points. Each struck peg earns points, with further bonuses gained by hitting
numerous pegs on a single shot, and by clearing orange pegs, which builds up a
scoring multiplier up to 10x when all but a few orange pegs remain.
Additionally, for each shot, one random blue peg will be marked purple and
revert to blue after the shot if it is not struck; striking this peg will
further boost the player's score. Style points are awarded for making difficult
shots such as striking two orange pegs consecutively that are a distance apart,
or by getting lucky bounces off the ball catcher. When the player clears the
board of orange pegs, as announced by the song "Ode To Joy" and the message
"Extreme Fever", the bottom of the level is replaced with five bins of different
point values that the ball will fall into. The player is awarded this score
in addition to any unused balls remaining to get their final score for
the level. If all the pegs on a level are cleared, a bonus is awarded and all
the bins turn to the maximum value and the message "Ultra Extreme Fever" is
displayed. In addition to the Adventure mode, the
game features a series of challenges that require the player to complete
boards under stricter requirements, such as having to clear more orange pegs or
remove every peg from the board. A "Duel" mode allows the player to compete
against another person or a computer AI on the same board in attempting to reach
the highest score. The Xbox Live and PlayStation Network versions add a "Peg
Party" mode, in which up to four players compete on their own boards using a
limited number of balls, each attempting to get the highest score. In each of
these modes, the game generally offers the ability for players to select which
Peggle Master they wish to use. Development
Peggle was originally envisioned by PopCap's studio director, Sukhbir Sidhu,
who was inspired by pachinko machines. However, he recognized that pachinko was
mostly luck-based, and would not translate well into a video game. After
seeing a 2D game engine created by PopCap programmer Brian Rothstein, Sidhu
was able to realize his game, and worked with Rothstein for the first five months
of its development before bringing in additional programmers. Initial designs
focused on bringing together elements of pachinko with Breakout. The team
initially incorporated a "rapid-fire" mechanic used in pachinko, along with
numerous moving targets, but they found this made the levels either too
fast-paced or too demanding of the player. They found over time that a
static field of pegs provided a more enjoyable experience for the player; the
path of the ball would be more predictable, leading to the gameplay
mechanic of requiring only a random subset of orange pegs to be cleared.
Once the team had established the core mechanics of the game, they brought on
character artist Walter Wilson, background artist Marcia Broderick and
an additional coder, Eric Tams, to help complete Peggle within its two-year
development period. Even with their game established, Sidhu and Rothstein faced
internal challenges at PopCap to increase the level of interactivity with
the game, but the two defended their vision of the game.
The design team struggled with a theme for the game, and for a while the game
was based around the mythelogical god Thor. During this time the game was
called Thunderball and was much darker in theme than the final product.
Eventually the game changed themes to be more lighthearted and the team realized
that the name no longer fit the game. From there the designers came up with
calling the game "Pego" and then "Pogo". The team later discovered that, since
Pogo was already the name of EA's Flash portal they wouldn't be able to use it.
Though the game was technically completed within a year, PopCap opted to
spend more time to polish it, improving the visuals and background images. The
team spent time refining the various sound effects used in the game, in order
to provide an appropriate atmosphere. In some cases, they found the desired sound
quickly; the sound of the ball hitting a peg was borrowed from another game in
development at PopCap, but was considered perfect for Peggle. Other
cases required iteration; the sound of the ball shooter was originally closer
to that of a cannon, while a "plunk" sound effect was used when the ball
catcher caught a ball. These were changed to more airy sounds in order to
make the elements sound as if part of the game's music. The team found it
helped to create a defining moment at the end of each level when the player is
moments from clearing the final peg. This initially was programmed as a
simple message stating "Extreme Fever" and the music of Ode to Joy as a
placeholder. Sidhu wanted to recreate the "wild sounds and visuals" that were
present on winning pachinko games. However, the team found that the players
reacted well to the simpler placeholder elements, and the team focused on
improving the presentation of these, including adding a zoom on the current
ball as it neared the last orange peg to be cleared.
Versions and sequels Peggle Extreme was packaged with the
Windows version of The Orange Box, featuring levels inspired by Half-Life
2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. It includes ten levels with one Peggle
Master, and five Challenges. Peggle Extreme was eventually made free to
download for anyone with a Steam account. The game was developed in
conjunction with Valve Corporation after PopCap's Tams learned that Peggle was
played often at Valve's offices and that the company had helped to promote the
game on Steam. PopCap proposed a version that would pay tribute to Valve's games,
which Valve readily warmed up to, helping PopCap with its development,
including providing graphical assets and artwork.
Peggle has been ported to Xbox Live Arcade, the PlayStation Network, the
iPod, and iOS. The Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network versions includes
the "Peg Party" mode in which up to four players can compete simultaneously. Both
the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and iOS versions include the
"Duel" mode, with the iOS version having the players share the iPhone between
turns. Peggle has also been ported as a minigame inside World of Warcraft,
featuring levels based on the game, though including a limited set of Peggle
Masters to use. Warcraft players can also use Peggle to decide how to
distribute loot from successful raids or dungeons. Subsequently, in July 2009, a
free standalone, ten-level edition of Peggle themed around Warcraft in a
similar manner as Peggle Extreme was released.
PopCap released a sequel to the original game, Peggle Nights, in September 2008
for Windows. The sequel expands upon Peggle by adding one new Peggle Master
in addition to new levels and challenges. The Xbox Live and
PlayStation Network versions of Peggle received Nights as a downloadable
expansion to the game on November 19, 2009. Peggle Nights was made available
as an in-app purchase for iOS devices. Peggle: Dual Shot is a Nintendo DS port
of the game, developed by Q Entertainment; the game includes content
from both Peggle and Peggle Nights. This version of the game awards the player a
star each time a purple bonus peg is hit, activating a new bonus minigame
upon collecting five stars. The minigame requires that the player continually
bounce a ball with pinball-like bumpers to collect diamonds and extra balls.
Reception Peggle was well received by critics.
Alec Meer of Eurogamer found the game to be a "constant series of rewards" in
gameplay, graphics, and audio that would continue to satisfy the player. Gus
Mastrapa of The A.V. Club considered the game "comfort food for the omnivorous
gamer", with its ability to draw even hardcore gamers into its fantasy
visuals. IGN's Erik Brudvig cited Peggle as being "simple enough for anybody to
pick up and instantly start having fun". The Xbox Live version was seen as
truthful to the PC version, and while the Peggle Party mode was considered an
interesting addition, Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer felt it was a "curiously
remote approach" that did not fully integrate a multiplayer experience into
the game, a point also stated by Mastrapa who lamented the lack of online
leaderboards. The game did not initially perform well
in sales when released for Windows, but according to Sidhu, sales of the game
took off following the release of Peggle Extreme as part of The Orange Box; Sidhu
stated that the special version of the game helped to bring in video game
players that would "never be caught dead playing a game with unicorns and
rainbows". Peggle has been downloaded more than 50 million times from the
Internet as of early 2009, though PopCap has not released how many of these
downloads were for full sales of the game.
Upon its release on Xbox Live Arcade, Peggle was the top-selling game on the
service for two weeks, and remained in the top ten applications for several
weeks afterward. Within a month, over 100,000 players were listed on the Xbox
leaderboards for Peggle, though this number also includes players who
purchased the game through the PopCap Arcade Volume 2 retail package, which
contained the game as well. IGN editor Cam Shea ranked it eighth on his top ten
list of Xbox Live Arcade games. He stated that while its theme could easily
turn players off, they should not let it, as it is "It's infectious, and most
importantly, fun" according to him. In a list compiled by the IGN staff in
September 2010, Peggle was listed as the 10th best Xbox Live Arcade of all time.
The release of Peggle on iOS was extremely popular, placing in the top
ten applications purchased through the App Store for the first two weeks it was
available. During a weekend in June 2009, the title was put on sale for $1;
the sale caused the game to become the most purchased application in the App
Store. A PopCap representative stated that they made as many sales during this
four-day period as they had in the three weeks prior, after the game's launch on
the Store. Peggle is considered to be an addictive
game. The game is stated to have a simple premise that follows the KISS
principle, but requires some amount of repeating playing to master, similar in
fashion to early arcade games, leading to its addictive qualities. Peggle is
also claimed to entice the user to play "just a few more minutes". The
accessibility of the game across multiple platforms is also considered to
contribute to its addictiveness. MSNBC named Peggle one of the "Top 5 most
addictive computer games of all time." Despite its addictive nature, the game,
like many of PopCap's casual games, is also considered a stress reliever. A
study underwritten by PopCap at East Carolina University found that across
132 subjects, Peggle was found to increase their mood by 573% across all
subjects, with a 45% reduction in depression. Peggle along with other
PopCap games were also found to help children with ADHD improve their
attention span and memory recall, in a survey done by Information Solutions
Group on behalf of PopCap. Peggle was nominated for the 2007 Game
Developers Choice Awards for "Best Downloadable Game", "Best Handheld
Game", and "Innovation" awards. The game was also nominated as the "Best
Downloadable Game" for the 2007 Interactive Achievement Awards by the
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Peggle appeared as #40 on the 2007 PC
Gamer Magazine list of their 100 favorite computer games of all time.
References "Making of Peggle". PopCap Games. 2008.
External links Official website
Edge magazine's "The Making of Peggle"