Secret Chamber

This is the first level where the player can acquire a Fire Pearl: a crucial object to make the Sphera more powerful. Most of the Fire Pearls can be found on hidden levels and some of these levels are easy to find, some of them will need some thinking to uncover. The player has to free the pearl within the time limit, but as with the Golden Credits, as soon as it's free, the level is considered beaten. The plan is to have some hidden / secret levels without these Fire Pearls, where the player can uncover something else, but no less helpful.

Upgrades

The game has 17 possible upgrades. 13 for the Sphera levels to make it more powerful. For example, the Steel ball's Coverage upgrade adds an extra ball if the firebat dies and respawn. This upgrade is coupled to the 3 Ease upgrades, to extend this effect to the other ball types too and lowering the Bricks to Break number on every level by 2. Other upgrades can make the Sphera periodically damage bricks, or do something when leveling up. Unlocking these is crucial on levels to progress and score up faster. There is one upgrade for the Machine (pad), to amp up its speed, making it easier to maneuver around. To unlock the upgrades one by one, a certain amount of score has to be earned. Basically this is an experience point system.

Multiball

On top of these, the player can upgrade the Multiball from 2 to up to 5. This means that when starting the game, only 2 Spheras can be on a level, earned from Extra Ball powerups. Should the player be able to bounce around the 2 Spheras for 2 minutes in total (only when they are released, mind you), the Multiball levels up to 3. From that point, 3 Spheras has to be kept in and bouncing for 2 minutes in total for the next level and so on, until Multiball 5 is unlocked.

How do you like hidden and secret levels in video games? :)

See You next time!

László (Coyote) Eszik