Critical Play — Theme Only Games

I played angry birds and cut the rope. As someone who tends to focus more on the systems and objectives of a game rather than the flavor, the effect of the theme felt fairly subtle to me.

When I think about how the theme affects the game, I think about what would change if the game’s theme was radically different. For example, in angry birds, there’s no inherent need for the game to be about birds and pigs. In fact if anything there’s some comedy in this, since birds usually fly on their own as opposed to needing to be flung out of slingshots, and pigs aren’t known for their particularly complex architecture.

So, what if angry birds was instead about shooting rockets and missiles at enemy fortifications? The gameplay would be the same, the target audience would shrink. Instead of hitting casual gamers of any age, it would likely appeal to the gaming audience that is more invested in brutal war games, and would demand more skill-intensive mechanics.

Theme in these games also establishes our emotional payoffs. In angry birds the player is very much set up to derive satisfaction from destroying the pigs’ structures. In cut the rope the player’s main objective is to see the creature be happy when it gets the candy. These are relatively simple emotional arcs that are easy for a wide audience to get invested in.