Big Fat Awesome House Party
Big Fat Awesome House Party is an online Adobe Flash 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.
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 time of day in the game, However the time is determined from the system clock of the users 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 popularity bar is filled and they are given a party hat to wear.
Gameplay mainly revolves around doing adventures with Bloo. To do this, the player must perform chores to build up their citizenship. Doing 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 game involves either picking up or transporting an object from one point to another. In the bottom righthand corner are the status bars, which show the player's citizenship level (nine points total), their popularity level (nine points total), 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 something.
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 recover their progress. 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. Because these are imaginary friends, the player does not necessarily have to include every single body part. The game gives four options when creating imaginary friends, the first three of which are customizable. The first option creates a friend with just a head on a body, and nothing else. The second option creates a friend with a head attached to a pair of legs. The third option creates a complete imaginary friend. The fourth option creates a random combination from one of the first three options, 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. Once the friend is completed, it can be named and begin the game. Although they do not appear in the edit character screen, hats and buddies can be used to "enhance" the look of your imaginary friend. These items are unlocked in the games and equiped to your character via the collectibles page in Notey.
Noteworth Bookingham
Noteworth Bookingham (known to his friends as "Notey") is the player's personal assistant. He can be called on at any point to give a player the status of their duties, chores, favors, and adventures. He also allows a player to review favors or tutorials, stores the various items a player collects, and allows the player to sort any photos into their respective albums. Finally, he'll allow a player to change various settings, such as music and sound, as well as redesign their friend if they wish.
Chores
In Big Fat Awesome House Party, a player's imaginary friend will be assigned three random chores 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. As of July, the chores specify the floor on which they are to be completed.
Favors
When not doing an adventure, the player can speak to Frankie, Wilt, Eduardo, or Mac and do a favor for them. 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 one of their regular chores. For example, if the chore was to collect 5 snails, calling in a favor would collect 3 of them. 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.
Adventures with Bloo
After three days' worth of chores (nine total), a player's citizenship bar will be full and they can go on an adventure with Bloo. The adventures are most often based on episodes from the series. Other imaginary friends will sometimes have information about an adventure, indicated by an exclamation point hovering over their head. Favors can't be done during an adventure, so any exclamation point will specifically relate to the adventure. Once an adventure is complete, the player receives a photo commemorating the event and earns six popularity points. The adventure can also have an actual purpose, such as repairing the elevator. The elevator remains out of order until the adventure is completed. The player's citizenship is reset to zero after the adventure.
The Mansion
The Foster's mansion consists of five floors and the basement. Of these, only the first three floors and the basement are accessible. 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.
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. With the exception of the front and back yards, each floor has both a staircase and an elevator to access other floors. The elevator remains in the same location on evey floor, and only becomes available after a specific adventure with Bloo. Before that point, an "Out of Order" sign will merely be hung on it. The main characters can be found in various rooms in the house. They remain in a specific room, but their locations are reorganized every so often. They usually will be found in a room other than their own personal rooms. They can be spoken to and some give the player certain quests. Additionally, some of the secondary characters make appearances in random areas of the house. They can be spoken to, as well, but offer no quests.
During holiday months, the house will be redecorated with appropriate items, such as pumpkins and orange rugs for Halloween.
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 newspaper room is located past the bottom-left door.
First floor
The first floor is the starting point of the game. When a player first creates their character or logs in to continue playing, they will walk in from the front yard and stop in the lobby section of this floor. From the lobby the upper 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 all the minigames that a player can access. The dining room is used for the player's birthday party.
Second floor
The second floor consists of a long hall. This is the floor on which Bloo can be found, so many of the activities in the game center around it. Players can access to the first or third floors through either the elevator or the stairs, which are located on the right and left sides of the hall, respectively. Madame Foster's room is located past the top-middle door on the left side of the hall. Frankie's room is located past the top-right door on the left side. The laundry room can be found past the bottom-left door on the right side. Bloo's room is past the top-middle 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 various items won by playing the minigames. The furniture themes vary between minigames, with five themes available thus far. Some themes include an outer space theme and a cowboy theme. Different furniture from different themes can be mixed and matched. Aside from the player's room, the third floor remains relatively empty. Chores are seldom assigned on this floor, and few other activities take place here. Like the other floors, lower floors can be accessed through either the elevator or the stairs.
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. It's not possible to pass the Foster's gate, but both the back and front yards can be accessed. To either side of the house are pathways between the two yards. The left-hand pathway also allows access to the basement. The back yard holds many notable locations. These include the unicorn stables, the forest, the Extreme-a-saur cage (from "House of Bloo's"), Cyrus the Sea Serpent's lake, the greenhouse, and the pool.
Cyrus and the Extreme-a-saur are usually hidden within their respective locations, but the player will occasionally be assigned chores that allow them to see the characters.
Minigames
In the arcade room, there are a selection of minigames available to the player. Each minigame has three different modes, sorted into levels. Currently, there are twelve playable minigames, but more are added each month. Only two of the minigames, Bloo's Brothers and Curse of the Bloo Pearl, are unlocked to begin with. The former has two levels unlocked while the latter has one. To unlock more levels 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 level on an active one. In either case, only one level can be unlocked at a time.
Every game has no ending, only an ever-increasing difficultly level. Each level is timed, sometimes requiring the player to earn more time for the next level. The player's overall score is mostly based on how long they can play before losing. How fast the player completes each level sometimes has a small effect on their overall score. The levels on each minigame tend to remain the same, but the higher-leveled game modes have extra elements added to make them more challenging.
Each game has a list of high scores by other imaginary friends from the show. Next to some of these are an image of a present, indicating a reward should the player beat 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. This, however, 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.
List of minigames
- Balloon Attack: Players try to pop alligators' balloons while keeping their own ballons intact. Egyptian-themed furniture can be won from this game, as well as a skeleton buddy and a zombie buddy. The gameplay is similar to the arcade game Joust.
- Bite Night: Players must help Eduardo get a good night's sleep by swating away the mosquitoes trying to bite him. Rickety-themed furniture for the player's room can be won from this game.
- Bloo's Brothers: Based on the episode of the same name, the goal is to find the real Bloo among the clones. The first two levels of this minigame are automatically unlocked when the player starts the game.
- Cracking Up: The objective of this game is to destroy Coco's plastic eggs, which are bouncing around the house.
- Curse of the Bloo Pearl: Based on the episode "Squeeze the Day" and an obvious reference to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, this game involves searching for treasure buried beneath the mansion. The gameplay is similar to the arcade game Dig Dug. The first level of this minigame is automatically unlocked when the player starts the game.
- Go With the Flow: Players must make a pipeline connecting a water source to a drain without droping any water. Halloween-themed furniture can be won from this game, as well as a vampire buddy and a witch buddy.
- Go Po Go!: Players guide their imaginary friend on a pogo stick in the Foster's attic, collecting letters to spell out "FOSTER" whilst avoiding the insects. Island-themed furniture and a bat buddy can be won from this game.
- Library Panic: In this game, players must get books off of the library shelves for the residents of the house before they get bored and leave.
- Potatoes Calientes: In this game, Eduardo is juggling potatoes, which must be speared with forks. At the same time, anything else he's juggling must be avoided, as well as Eduardo himself.
- Shutterbug: In this game, players take pictures of various characters, making sure to avoid those who will break the camera. Western-themed furniture can be won from this game, as well as a butterfly buddy and a Pterodactyl buddy.
- Something Fishy: Players paddle a buoy or boat, attempting to catch fish and treasure, while avoiding trash, electric eels, rainclouds, and even Bloo. Space-themed furniture, a fuzzball buddy (level 2), and a hummingbird buddy (level 3) can be won from this game.
- What's Cooking?: Players need to help Bloo and friends by serving steak, water, and ice cream. Ocean-themed furniture can be won from this game.