Spite Cannon is an artillery simulator / Puzzle Game released by developers CuriousGaming, Tomf and Xarrion on September 16th, 2010. The game features thirty levels - each of these consists of a series of platforms floating in the sky, on which sit smiling shapes such as squares, triangles and circles. The player must use a cannon to destroy the shapes - either by smashing them to bits with cannonballs or knocking them off the platforms and into the great beyond. Destroying the shapes earns the player money, which is used to fire the cannon (each shot costs $100) or can be spent in an in-game shop to purchase upgrades to the cannon such as stronger cannons and better ammunition. The game also features a level editor, allowing the player to make their own levels and share them with others.
A sequel, Spite Cannon RELOADED, was released on May 5th, 2011. The sequel features eighty new levels, more powerful cannons and ammunition, and a new star shape that explodes when it has taken enough damage.
Since both games run on Adobe Flash they are no longer playable without using a Flash emulator; however, both games are archived at Flashpoint.
Both games only take around 10-30 minutes to complete, so all spoilers will be unmarked.
Both games provide examples of:
- Abnormal Ammo: You can purchase cannonballs made of gold and even cats from the shop. The second game lets you fire dynamite and exploding lemurs.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- The cannon costs $100 to fire, but you are allowed to fire it even if you do not have sufficient funds.
- If you are stuck on a level in RELOADED and cannot figure out how to clear it, you can spend $15,000 in the shop to skip it.
- Asteroids Monster: The shapes will break into smaller shapes when they have taken enough damage. If a shape is small enough it will simply disappear instead of breaking up.
- Bottomless Magazines: In both games the cannon has unlimited ammunition.
- Cat-apult: You can buy cat heads as cannonballs from the shop. They are the heaviest available cannonballs in both games.
- Discount Card: You can buy upgrades in the shop that reduce the cost to fire the cannon. The first game lets you eventually make the cannon free to fire, but RELOADED only lets you obtain a 50% discount.
- Expressive Health Bar: Downplayed. The shapes start frowning angrily when they're low on health, but they do not have visible health bars.
- Forced Tutorial: Whenever you open the game, you will need to click away the tutorial boxes if you wish to replay the beginning levels of the game, even if you have already completed said beginning levels.
- Inexplicably Identical Individuals: All of the shapes of a certain type look exactly the same, only differing in size.
- Giant Mook: The final level of both games features a very large square.
- Level Editor: Present in both games.
- Level in the Clouds: Every single level in both games takes place in the sky.
- Made of Indestructium: Any blocks that are brown in colour cannot be destroyed by cannonballs.
- Money for Nothing: This trope will be in effect once you have purchased all of the upgrades from the shop. Downplayed in RELOADED in that you still need money to fire the cannon, and you can still buy the skip level function in the shop even after you have cleared every level, if you really want to throw away money.
- No Plot? No Problem!: Just have fun blasting the shapes away.
- Perpetual Smiler: Downplayed. The shapes normally smile happily, but they adopt shocked expressions when they're disturbed, and angry frowns when they're close to breaking.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: The music of Kevin MacLeod is used for the soundtrack of both games.
- Rewarding Vandalism: Smashing the shapes earns you money. The bigger the shape, the more money you obtain. RELOADED exaggerates this trope with an upgrade available in the shop to increase the money earned from smashing shapes.
- Shows Damage: The shapes' smiles turn into angry frowns once they're low on health.
- Vague Hit Points: None of the shapes have visible health bars or any indication of exactly how much health they have left.
- Your Size May Vary: The shapes come in various sizes - larger shapes can take more damage before breaking and give more money when smashed.
- Made O' Gold: You can buy cannonballs made of gold from the shop.
- Baa-Bomb: A non-sheep example. You can buy lemur heads as cannonballs from the shop, which will explode after a few seconds.
- Captain Obvious: A few of the level titles. For example level 7 is named "Round things roll forever".
- Defeat Equals Explosion: The new star shape explodes into smaller stars when it has taken enough damage.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Level 80, the final level of the game, is named "This is the last level".
- Hint System: Sometimes the title of a level gives a hint as to how to clear the level.
- More Dakka: You can buy multi-barreled cannons in the shop for double and even quadruple the firepower.
- Shout-Out: Level 28, "Blow your house down", is one to The Three Little Pigs.
