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The legal language for it is "expanding boundary". That’s the terminology PomPom settled on back in 2005, when it decided that its new control scheme was so good that the team should probably patent it. The technical definition makes it sound a lot more complicated than it actually is, of course: place a cursor on the playing field, and it simply creates a little circular puff of air, pushing outwards against any object it comes into contact with.
PomPom first used the system with Bliss Island on the PSP, but it was hampered by Sony’s analogue nub. On an iPhone’s touchscreen, however, it’s a lot more enjoyable, and considerably more tactile, too. The expanding boundary’s already been employed for Poppi, the micro-studio’s wonderfully abstract iOS puzzle game, and now it forms the basis of Monkey Bump, a smart reworking of the Canabalt auto-runner formula.
Monkey Bump may be the most traditional game PomPom’s ever made when it comes to visuals: shorn of the studio’s darkly uterine artwork, it’s entirely lacking the slack-jawed antibodies and slithering bacteria you might have come to expect. Instead, PomPom’s latest sees you controlling a strange little chimp, with each tap of the screen pushing him higher and higher through the branches of a never-ending tree, one shunt of air at a time.
It’s instantly appealing, but it’s not without its complications. This monkey needs juice to keep moving, so you have to push him between clusters of falling fruit to keep his energy levels up. Kissing any passing monkey heads, meanwhile, will raise your score multiplier, and knocking into coconuts will reduce it. Finally, there are patrolling hordes of wasps and spiders in place to sap your juice and break your racing line – and to stop you from lurking at the very top of the screen. All of these elements come together to create a game with a simple agenda, but a handful of different things to think about along the way. It’s all about the points, but points are worthless if you’ve run out of energy, or if you’ve tumbled through the bottom of the playing field.
Monkey Bump lacks the gooey intricacy of the team’s best games, perhaps, but it’s still an elegant time-waster with fine-tuned controls and an excellent handle on the things that keep score-chasing gamers happy. Slight and chirpy, this may be PomPom at its least idiosyncratic, but the expanding boundary has never looked more at home. [7]