Big Fat Awesome House Party

Infobox VG
title = Big Fat Awesome House Parties


caption = The "Big Fat Awesome House Party" logo
developer = Powerful Robot Games
publisher = Cartoon Network
distributor =
designer =
series = "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends"
engine =
version =
released = USA—May 15, 2006
genre = Role-playing
modes = 1 Player
ratings =
platforms = Windows, Mac OS X
media =
requirements =
input =

"Big Fat Awesome House Party" is an online Adobe Shockwave video game created by Cartoon Network's interactive division and Powerful Robot Games featuring the characters of "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends". Availability is limited to the USA and its territories. The game is a "massively-singleplayer online role-playing game." Unlike an MMORPG, in which the players interact with each other, no player in this game can interact with another directly. The game began on May 15, 2006, and updated monthly. It was originally intended to end on April 16, 2007, but was extended to October 15, 2007. One year after its launch, Cartoon Network announced that the game generated over 13 million player accounts. [cite news | url = http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=17104 | title = CartoonNetwork.com Extends Year-Long Foster’s Interactive Game | date = 2007-05-21 | accessdate = 2007-07-17 | publisher = Toon Zone]

Registration for the game is free of charge, only requiring the user to give a screen name and password. The user must also give a state and birthday. The state information gives the game the player's time zone, which supposedly determines the relevant day and night cycles in the game; however, the time is determined from the system clock of the user's computer. On the player's birthday, the other residents of the house will throw a party for the player. As a gift, the player's citizenship and popularity bars are filled and they are given a party hat to wear.

The main purpose of the game is to go on adventures with Bloo. To do this, the player must perform chores to build up their citizenship. Going on an adventure with Bloo is their reward for doing enough chores. Additionally, doing favors for other friends and going on adventures with Bloo allows the player to unlock minigames, giving them the ability to win various in-game prizes.

Gameplay

Top-down scrolling makes up the majority of gameplay, with the exception of some of the minigames. Action within the game is limited to interacting with various objects and people. Every task in the main game involves talking to a character, picking an object up, triggering a specific object, or transporting an object from one point to another.

In the bottom lefthand corner are the status bars, which show the player's citizenship level (nine points total), their popularity level (nine points total), the number of tickets, and the number of favors they are owed (four total). In the bottom righthand corner, an exclamation mark will appear when the player can interact with an object.

Progress in the game is saved each time the player logs off. Premature disconnections do not result in a loss of progress, but require that the player give the system five minutes to log the user out automatically, since logging in requires the account be inactive. Chores and favors in the game are based on a 24-hour clock, and only a few can be done within a given day. The game is reset at 12:00 a.m. EST, allowing the player to repeat these actions and progress further. Minigames offer no progress other than the collection of decorative items, so they are not restricted by this.

Character customization

After creating an account, the first thing the player does is design their imaginary friend. The player can select the head, body, and feet, each of which have six different options. The player can also choose the color of each body part. The game gives three options when creating imaginary friends. The first option creates a friend with a head on a body. The second option creates a friend with a head attached to a pair of legs. The third option creates a complete imaginary friend. Players can also choose a randomizer option, which assembles a random combination from one of the first three options into a working friend, and can be used repeatedly until a desirable result is achieved. Each option gives different body parts, but always the same number of total choices for each part (six). Once the friend is completed, it can be named and begin the game. Although they do not appear in the character customization screen, hats, buddies and costumes can be used to "enhance" the look of the player's imaginary friend.

Noteworth Bookingham

Noteworth Bookingham (known to his friends as "Notey") is the player's personal assistant. He appears at the beginning of the game to narrate the tutorial. Afterwards, he can be called on at any point to give a player the status of their chores, favors, and adventures. He also allows a player to review the tutorials and previous conversations. Any items (photos, furniture, etc.) the player collects are also stored by Notey. Finally, he'll allow a player to change various settings (current music, current buddy, etc.) and redesign their friend if they wish.

The November 6, 2006, update added a special code area to Notey, indicated by a lock icon. When the correct six-character code is entered, the player will receive a gift. The codes are given in various "Foster's" media, such as episodes of the series and podcasts.

The May 21, 2007, update added a friend code area, allowing players to track other players within the game through the use of six-character codes, which players must give to their friends to use. It also contains a separate photo album which features various cultural landmarks. Should the player have a specific friend code active, that friend will appear in the picture along with their own character. The character in question also appears randomly throughout the house and the associated player's high scores will be listed in each minigame.

Chores

In "Big Fat Awesome House Party", a player's imaginary friend will be assigned three random chores (referred to as duties) daily by Mr. Herriman. Once the chores are done, the player must wait until the next day to do more. Should the player neglect to finish their chores, they are made twice as difficult on the following day. Completing a chore increases a player's citizenship bar by one point, which will allow a player to play with Bloo once it's full. Chores include various gags on the show, such as collecting Scribbles or picking up laundry. During holiday months, chores can also consist of appropriately-themed tasks for the occasion, such as feeding turkeys in the month of November (Thanksgiving). Other examples include collecting footballs from the school playground, turning on/off Mac's robot, turning on the radar in the airport control tower, watering the plants in Mac's apartment, turning on the heater in the hut of the junkyard, raising the flag at Mac's school, pulling weeds from the backyard, feeding the unicorns in the backyard, opening the umbrellas in the backyard, switching off monitors in the computer room of Mac's school, removing viruses from the computer's in Mac's school, picking paper aeroplanes from Mac's classroom, painting the benches in the park and picking the candy wrappers from the candy store in the shopping mall, etc.

Favors

When not doing an adventure, the player can speak to Eduardo, Frankie, Mac, or Wilt and do a favor for them. Favors follow the same pattern as chores, but only consist of two actions at the most. After completing the favor, the person the player did the favor for will owe the player a favor. The player will also gain a popularity point. Calling on a favor will allow the player to skip half (rounded up on uneven numbers) of the total amount of one of their regular chores. For example, if the chore was to collect five snails, calling in a favor would collect three of them, regardless of whether or not some of the snails had been collected previously. If a chore only has one goal, calling in a favor will complete it instantly. One favor can be done by the player per day. Only four favors can be owed at one time, but they can be from any character in any order. An example of a favor is getting a jug of ice water from the Foster's Home Kitchen for Mac.

Adventures with Bloo

After completing nine chores (three days' worth), a player's citizenship bar will be full and they can go on an adventure with Bloo. The adventures are usually based on episodes from the series. Favors can't be done during an adventure, so any exclamation point will specifically relate to the adventure. The adventures follow the same pattern as Mr. Herriman's duties, but take longer to complete. Once an adventure is complete, the player receives a photo commemorating the event and earns six popularity points. Some adventures can also have an actual purpose, such as repairing the elevator. The elevator remains out of order until the particular adventure associated with it is completed. The player's citizenship is reset to zero after the adventure.

Each month adds the same number of adventures as there are new minigame levels (two new minigames means six adventures, for example) or unlockable items (one per toy in Mac's toy chest). Once the player completes every available adventure, they can no longer go on adventures until the next update. When the adventures for a given update are completed, the game allows the player to make up any adventures they might have missed in previous months, starting with the earliest. The characters are also moved to the locations they were at during that time.

Mansion

The Foster's mansion consists of six floors and a basement. Additionally, the front and back yards can be accessed. Originally, only the first and second floors were accessible. New areas are usually unlocked each month. During holiday months, the house is redecorated with appropriate items, such as pumpkins and orange rugs for Halloween.

Each area has various features taken from the show, such as the library or the unicorn stables. The various tasks the player can perform take place in these areas. On the third floor is the player's personal room. The main characters can be found in various rooms in the house. They remain in specific rooms, but their locations change depending on how many adventures with Bloo the player has completed. The secondary characters from the series make appearances in random areas of the house. They can be spoken to, as well, but offer nothing other than amusing dialogue.

Outside

The outside of the Foster's mansion holds several notable locations, but no main or recurring characters. Many of the chores take place out here. Beyond the Foster's gate is the bus, which both brings the player to the house upon first playing the game and allows them to visit locations in the city. To either side of the house are pathways between the two yards. The left-hand pathway also allows access to the basement. The backyard holds many notable locations: the unicorn stables, the forest, the Extreme-o-saur cage, Cyrus the Sea Serpent's lake, the greenhouse, and the pool. Cyrus and the Extreme-o-saur are usually hidden within their respective locations, but the player will occasionally be assigned chores that allow them to see the characters.

Basement

The basement is the smallest area of the mansion, consisting of only three rooms. A staircase and a ladder are near the top-left corner, allowing access to the backyard and kitchen, respectively. The boiler room is located past the right-hand door. A combination kitchen and study can be found past the bottom-left door. The printing press room is located past the bottom-left door.

Lobby

The first floor is the starting point of the game. When a player first creates their character or logs in to continue playing, they end up in the lobby section of this floor (new players have a short animated sequence of their friend leaving a bus and walking into the house). From the lobby, the other floors can be accessed by taking the stairs or the elevator. The basement can be accessed through a trapdoor in the kitchen. The outside of the mansion can be accessed from the front doors and a rear door in the lounge. Notable rooms on this floor include the lobby, the kitchen, the dining room, Mr. Herriman's office, the lounge, and the arcade room. The arcade room holds minigames. The dining room is used for the player's birthday party.

Second floor

The second floor consists of a long hall.The laundry room can be found past the bottom-left door on the right side. Finally, the library can be found by passing through the double doors in the middle of the hall. The remaining rooms are simply maintenance closets, bedrooms, or bathrooms.

Third floor

The third floor is where the player's personal room is located. It is past the top-left door on the left side of the hall, marked with a large "My Room" sign. While the room itself is originally undecorated to the point where even the wallpaper is peeling off, it can be decorated with items won by playing the minigames. The furniture themes vary between minigames. Different furniture from different themes can be mixed and matched. The wardrobe room is past the top-right door on the left side of the hall. The file room is past the bottom-right door on the right side of the hall. Like the other floors, lower floors can be accessed through either the elevator or the stairs. In between the smaller halls, there is a larger hall full of pillars. The double doors at the top of the hall lead to the tea room while the door at the bottom leads to a nap room.

Fourth floor

The fourth floor consists of a hall similar to the second floor. The left side of the hall consists of a medical ward, with two rooms of sick beds to the far left, a padded psychiatric room and a pharmacy in the middle, and an examination room and medical lounge to the right. The north hall consists of a snack room, a periodicals room, and a bathroom. The south hall consists of a laboratory, an x-ray room, and another bathroom. The right side of the hall makes up a school, with a toy room past the upper-left door, a music room past the middle-top door, classrooms of varying color in the bottom three rooms, and a computer lab behind the door to the far right.

Fifth floor

The Fifth floor consists of one hallway shorter than the other floors, and follows a theater theme. The top-left door leads to a janitorial closet (sometimes referred to as the cleaning room), the bottom-left leads to a generator room, the bottom-middle leads to a computer room, and the bottom-right door leads to an auditioning room complete with a small stage with a trapdoor on it. Bloo is seen in the computer room. A bathroom sits at the end of the hallway. In the top-middle of the floor is a ticket booth and theater lobby. The theater consists of a large stage and several rows of seats. Madame Foster is around this area. In the back-left corner, a dressing room can be found, and Frankie is seen here. A Batman costume can be seen hanging on a hook.

Sixth floor

The sixth floor consists of two parts. The right side consists of one large atrium with a fountain in the center and a small hall to the right. In the hall, there is a bathroom past the right door, a sauna past the top door, and a conditioning gym through the bottom door. In the atrium, there's a locker room past the top door and a basketball court past the bottom door. A door to the far left provides access to the left side of the roof.

The left side of the floor contains an outdoor roof. A door on the top leads to an attic. A staircase in the attic leads to an observatory, where Coco resides.

City

With the May 21, 2007 update, players can take the Foster's bus to various locations around the city. Mac's apartment, the shopping mall, Mac's School, the Junkyard, the Park, and the Airport are the locations that can be visited.

Mac's apartment

Mac's apartment consists of the living room/kitchen and a hall with the bedrooms and bathroom. The bathroom is past the upper-left door, while Terrence, Mac's mom, and Mac's rooms are past the upper-right, bottom-left, and bottom-right doors respectively. Within Mac's room is Mac's toy chest, which allows players to unlock various toys in lieu of a minigame level.

Shopping Mall

The Mall has several stores, most of which are simply decorative. The two active locations are the arcade and the movie theater. Various "Foster's" videos can be seen at the theater, after the player has unlocked them by playing the arcade games. In addition to the games at the arcade, tickets can be exchanged at the desk for various prizes.

School

Mac's school, as one would expect, consists of a gym, a cafeteria, several classrooms, a chemistry lab, a library, and a playground in the back.

Junkyard

The Junkyard consists of a hut, a broken down bus, and several areas with various types of trash such as cars, garbage blocks, and tires.

The Park

The park consists of a garden, a playground, and a pond, which are past the left, right, and top-hand doors, respectively. The pond also leads to a wooded area and a rocky area, accessible by doors on the left and right sides, respectively.

The Airport

The Airport has a runway, gift shop, snack shop, hangar (named Hangar 18), and a control tower.

Minigames

In the arcade room, there are 27 minigames available to the player. Two or three minigames are usually added each month. Each minigame has three different modes, referred to as "levels." Only two of the minigames, "Bloo's Brothers" and "Curse of the Bloo Pearl", are unlocked to begin with. The former has two modes unlocked while the latter has one. To unlock more modes and other minigames, the player must do favors and complete adventures with Bloo to fill their popularity bar. When their popularity bar is full, the player can either unlock a new minigame or unlock a new mode on an active one. In either case, only one mode can be unlocked at a time.

Every game has no ending, only an ever-increasing difficulty level as the player progresses. Each level is also timed. The player's overall score is mostly based on how long they can play before losing. Various in-game elements can be also exploited for additional points, such as repeatedly killing a single, regenerating enemy (time permitting). The levels on each minigame mode tend to remain the same, albeit it with more enemies or distractions, but the higher game modes have extra elements added to make them more challenging.

Each minigame mode has a list of high scores by other imaginary friends from the show. Next to certain scores is an image of a present, indicating a reward should the player equal or better that score. Rewards can include pictures, extra clothing for the player, furniture for their room, and even background music. The buddies Goo is consistently seen with can also be earned through minigames. Players can also try to beat the high scores of other players, which are recorded by the site and updated weekly; however, this has no reward.

Unlike the normal gameplay, gameplay styles between each minigame vary. Some use the same style as the regular game, while others involve point-and-click actions using the mouse. On a side note, Bloo is in almost every game by the third level and tends to hinder the player when he appears. Like many online games, some of the minigames are based on other popular arcade games.

References

External links

* [http://awesomehouseparty.com "Big Fat Awesome House Party" website and game]
* [http://www.powerfulrobot.com/web/index_content.html Powerful Robot Games]