I spent some time yesterday playing around with Higher!, a charming Flash game which has you trying to lift a house with balloons.
“Definitely worth a mention in Dev.Mag,” I thought. “I’m totally going to be the first person on the Internet to talk about this. Everybody will love me forever.” Then I checked my RSS feeds and realised that NAG Online had beaten me to the mark. D’oh.
Higher! is a pretty simple game, and even though it’s clearly just a relentless grindfest of collecting coins, dodging bombs and fetching more balloons to attach to your house, one kinda gets hooked on it. Maybe it’s the soothing piano music, or the charming blue-on-white visuals. It could even be something as droll as the control scheme. Whatever the reason, this game kinda makes you feel like you’re lifting a piece of your soul with all of those balloons. That silly old house is just a placeholder sprite.
Serving suggestions: play with a cat on your lap. It just feels like the right thing to do.