Project Space

Nicole Alibutod

Sean Pessin

English 114B

16 April 2012

Project Space

By definition, space means the unlimited or incalculably great three-dimensional realm or expanse in which all material objects are located and all events occur (dictionary.com). The space provided in the game matters as much as the person playing the game. Without the space there is no player of and in the game. Your surroundings in where you want to play also take on a big role when you want to play the game comfortably and in full focus. When playing in an awkward place, for example not at home or where ever you play most often, can make the game a bit harder for yourself and when playing in a familiar environment your mind is at ease which makes you put your full focus into the game, especially playing on a handheld console.

In our surroundings we try to engage ourselves in things that make us feel comfortable. We choose to live in a house with things we are familiar with and own. All of our necessities take up a good amount of space. No matter how much things we may have, there would be an extent where space is shortly limited.  The way we interact with it is crucial to how we run our lives. We dictate our boundaries and organize them freely.  In every video game you play there is always a limit amount of space that you are allowed to be in. In some games it can be very small or can seem infinite, but there is always a limit.

The Fairly OddParents: Breakin’ Da Rules is a video game released for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and the PC in 2003. It is based on the famous Nickelodeon cartoon, The Fairly OddParents. It was developed by Helixe and published by THQ. The main goal of this video game is to restore peace. Anti-Cosmo arrives to steal the book, and you defeat Vicky at the very end to restore peace. The backstory to this is that when Timmy was going through school (before his fairly oddparents) he was always miserable because of his evil babysitter, Vicky, and his evil teacher, Mr. Crocker. Every day they would “ruin” Timmy’s life, and because of that he was granted fairly oddparents, Cosmo and Wanda. Along with Cosmo and Wanda came a rule book, Da Rules, which are a set of rules on wishes that are not allowed to make by a child. “Da Rules” book is an essential part of being a fairy for whoever, other than the fairy, has it can cause serious trouble.

Each “regular” fairy always has an “anti-fairy,” sort of like an alter ego. They are usually meaner and are the opposite of the “original” fairy. For example, Cosmo’s, who is quite stupid, anti-fairy is quite intelligent and as for Wanda, who is the smart one between the two, is stupid. And because they are evil, they are out to steal “Da Rules” book. Each level of the game you are to cruise along until the “finish line.” During the “walk” there are certainly obstacles that come your way.

 There are various anti-fairies who are out to kill you. There are some that you can kill in one hit, some in two and some quite a few. You are to avoid their red zaps, and if you are hit, you lose a life. Some fairies have more than one zap at a time. Other than the fairies being there, there are also other creatures there that can also hurt you as much as a fairy can. Some of these creatures are frogs (that jump up and down), flies (that obviously fly around), jellyfish and fish (that also obviously swim around), and other alien type creatures. 

These so called enemies take advantage of the space given to them. They take on full force on what the game gives them. A lot of the time when the level starts getting harder, more fairies appear in the screen, making it harder to dodge the red zaps. In parts of the levels there are several ambushes. In these ambushes many of the creatures pop up and your goal is to shoot them all and not get hit. You are only allowed a small space in the game; you are not allowed to move backwards or to move forwards until cleared. Timmy Turner is the character who you are playing, and is the only option in the game, and you are free to move about in the game. He is allowed to move forwards, jump up and down, but can only move back to a certain extent. You are not allowed to move back all the way, only forward.

At the end of each level you collect a page of the book, various amounts of coins, and a password. The password is a crucial part of the game. Say for example, you decide to stop playing the game for a moment and would like to resume the game later on you will need that password to either move on or to resume the level. There are 4 levels, which each has sub levels along with it. As the levels go on the harder it becomes. But it still has the same concept of fairies and creatures in the level. You are only allowed a limited space in this two-dimensional game, as for three-dimensional games, the space seems infinite.

The equipment of the game can determine how well you can survive throughout the game. One part of your equipment is your gun, which zaps the creatures and fairies. With this gun you are allowed infinite zaps. Along the way you can pick up power up to change the setting of your gun. Some power ups allow your gun to kill with one shot and some allow your gun to shoot more than one zap at a time. With these power ups you are able to kill your enemy quicker and move along the game quicker.

Another type of equipment in the game is the “big zap” by either Cosmo or Wanda. What this “big zap” does is that when you feel as though there are too many enemies attacking you at one certain time you are allowed to use the zap to kill all of your enemies at once. If you are playing without cheats you are only allowed 15 per level. But if you are playing with cheats are you use your coins to pay for the zap and have infinite zaps. The zaps are very useful when you are feeling overwhelmed by the fairies and creatures filling up your screen and making your space in the game smaller, which make it harder to dodge their zaps.

Something similar to the “big zap” is the wands. What this is that when clicking the same button for the big zap, instead of a big zap you either get Cosmo or Wanda to play for you for a bit. When either fairy is playing you kill your enemies quicker and with one shot. But these fairies are timed in how long you use them. The amount of space the fairies moves is more than what Timmy Turner has, and quicker too. The fairies can be all over the screen, from corner to corner, while Timmy I cannot really accomplish that space, and if he were to try to, it would be in a slower manner.

Another equipment of the game is the bombs. In the game you are allowed 3 bombs per game. What this bomb does is blow up what is in front of you. You are only allowed 3 at a time until you raise enough coins to play. If you reach the minimum amount of coins, you regain your 3 bombs again.

In the game you are given 10 lives. Each time you are hit by the enemies zap you obviously loose a life. But there is a power up throughout the level that lets you regain one full life. These are in the shape of a crown. The way you move about the game determines if you can gain or lose a life. Either if you move too much or too little, too fast or too slow all determines your life throughout the game. Everywhere you move around the space helps you a little bit. All these equipment benefit you in anyway. But how you use the space and time to use the equipment can either help or fail you.

This game has various versions in which you can play it on (consoles). This game is provided on the Xbox, Playstation2, Nintendo DS, and etc. The version I have been playing on is on the Nintendo DS, which a handheld console. For those who are not familiar to what handheld means, it simply translates to portable playing. You can take the game anywhere you like and at any time. You obviously cannot luggage around an Xbox or PlayStation around to play a video game.

Being able to bring the game around where ever I go was hassle free. The space I was allowed to play the game was almost about infinite.  Where ever I go, I was able to put the DS into my purse and play it when I please. It did not matter if there were hundreds of people or a small amount of people unless I find a good amount of space to play I was good. Being able to shift places, from home to somewhere else, to play made it easier to finish the game because I was able to play at any given time and day. Every movement you make takes up space and how we choose to move determines where we will go and end up.

 Being able to play the game other than home can also help you concentrate more (depending on your environment at home). Leaving the space you live in to move to another space can clear your frustration. For example I practically live in a full house, and playing video games can be quite a challenge with all the noise and distractions. But if I were to relocate myself, maybe the park, I would probably be able to play better. My space has dramatically changed from something all closeted up to something more open and free. I would not have to feel claustrophobic when playing. But because playing wherever you decide is great it does have its disadvantages.  

When bringing the game around you can also lose control. What that means is that you aren’t always able to hold on grasp in how you perform when playing the game. If you were to move to a space where there are a bunch of distractions, like a concert (even though those chances are unlikely) the way you perform the game can be quite difficult. Your space is limited to your seat and probably the bathroom. You are not allowed freely to move as you please. Another example if you were to a moving vehicle like your car or bus it can also be quite hard to perform on your game because of the frequent movements the vehicle is doing, taking you to point A to point B. Also another disadvantage of being able to play on a handheld can be that the screen is quite small and others around you would not be able to see what you may be doing. And because of that the person would so more than likely move closer to you, making your space much smaller and more awkward. You are not allowed to move.

The signs, signals and symbols in the game helped me conquer the game, if it weren’t for them you could not reach your goal: to defeat Vicky and the evil anti-fairies. With some of the signs in the game it would tell you that danger is approaching and you need to watch out. Also some of the so called signs could be the noises the anti-fairies gave to signal that they are coming. Signals such as the arrow to tell you to move forward or the sound of the fairies make also help determine your position in the game.  And as for the symbols you see the crown as a new life, the coins as money and the hand as a special equipment and etc. These signs, signals and symbols are crucial when playing the game. Space, whether in the game or in your surroundings determines your performance on how you play the game, every step and move you make can either kill or make you.