All work

Pop a Loon

A 2D arcade popper built around escalating spawn pressure — balloons rise, you pop them, and the spawner keeps getting meaner.

Engine
Unity
Language
C#
Platform
Mobile
Role
Solo developer
Balloons rising under increasing spawn pressure
Balloons rising under increasing spawn pressure
Multi-tap balloon types
Multi-tap balloon types
Score and combo feedback
Score and combo feedback

What it is

Balloons rise from the bottom of the screen and you pop them before they leave. Simple to state, and entirely dependent on the spawner feeling fair.

What I built

  • Balloon variants. Some need several taps, some move faster, some pay a bonus — enough variety to make target selection matter.
  • Dynamic spawning. Spawn rate and count scale over the session rather than following a fixed script, so no two runs play identically.
  • Responsive touch input with immediate visual and audio feedback on every pop, which is most of what makes the loop feel good.
  • Score and combo tracking to give players a number to beat.

What I took from it

Most of the work went into feedback timing rather than mechanics. A pop that resolves a few frames late makes the whole game feel unresponsive, even when the hit registered correctly.