Prompt 2: Describe the challenge of the game as if the designer was working to thwart you.
Appl2000's game "Quasar Rush" is designed to make the player fail. It is up to the player when they will fail. It is clear that the player will fail because there is no mechanism to "beat" the game. The game's description reads "Try to land on as many planets as you can and avoid the quasar in the center!". Quasars are essentially black holes. The more times your spaceship lands on the planet, the more points you get. But there is no end point goal. It's just "get as many as you can". The game is played by mashing the arrow keys to get away from the center quasar and in turn land on a planet. When the player lands on the planet, the planet moves to a different area and the player has to start all over. This makes the game even more difficult becomes sometimes the planet is close to the quasar and having to land there and then move to a completely different area (which is sometimes across the screen) is quite difficult. There are no bonuses or things to help you other than your own arrow keys. The game ends when either you give up or the quasar takes you. This game reminds me of the realities of life. There are black holes which are slowly sucking up the entire universe. There is also death which is the one certainty of life. Try as you may to get as many "points" or as much money or whatever it may be, it doesn't matter in the end. There will reach a point where death comes for you. "Quasar Rush" points towards this reality with its game design and idea. It is designed to thwart the player and force them to lose at some point.