 Brown first drew inspiration from the final scene of Cauldron : the witch 's fight against the Pumpking , which bounced around a room . He felt the bouncing pumpkin looked " cool " and decided to base the sequel 's gameplay on this aspect . Although unsure about the idea , the other team members proceeded with development . Intended to mimic a bouncing ball , the pumpkin 's movement could change direction only if force is applied to it while it is in contact with a surface that provides friction . This mechanic prohibited the pumpkin from changing directions while in mid @-@ air , and proved problematic for the programmers to implement . Issues included difficulties with collision detection , unpredictable movements that led to glitches , and troubles with the firing mechanism . The pumpkin 's ability to fire projectiles was intended to provide offensive game mechanics to players . In early designs , however , the projectile inadvertently generated a force that changed the pumpkin 's direction . The programmers tried to correct this , but were unable to create a perfect solution . 
