The Ignition Factor is a 2D adventure where the player controls a firefighter through emergency situations in differing locations. Each level consists of multiple rooms, areas, or building floors where players can possibly explore, extinguish fires, and rescue people. Most levels dictate a specific number of people that must be saved within a set time limit for the mission to be considered a success.
Fire spreads throughout an area automatically, and the player can be injured when touching a patch of fire on screen. The player can also be harmed by falling through holes in the floor. The player has various tools of firefighting at their disposal. Before a level begins, the player may choose the primary and secondary equipment with which they wish to begin the level. Only one of each type of equipment can be equipped at once.
Primary equipment consists of an oxygen mask and tank and three types of fire extinguishers that correspond to the different types of fires that can be encountered in the game; regular, chemical, and electrical. These fires and their extinguishers are red-orange, green, and blue, respectively. As these are used, a counter goes from 99 to 0. The counter of the regular extinguisher rapidly increases back to 99 after a brief period of inactivity, while the oxygen tank and mask and the other extinguishers can only go back to 99 after being resupplied by allies in the level.
Secondary equipment consists of a firefighter’s axe, a rope for crossing gaps, a metal pole to reveal holes by checking for weak places in the floor, plastic explosives to blow through debris and certain wall sections, and CO2 bombs to extinguish large areas of fire. Only five plastic explosives and CO2 bombs can be carried at one time and can be replenished by an ally on the map.
