It’s easy to miss how this game related to the themes in a quick 1-minute play-through or if you’re unaware of the USA/Iran relationship and history, as some are symbolic and subtle. Here’s an in-depth explanation on how it relates to #TAGJam11’s gamejam’s themes of “Satan”, “Implosion”, and “Glomp”:

“SATAN”:

This is figurative/symbolic - easy to miss if you don’t pay attention. It’s based on Iran’s leader’s perception of America as “The Great Satan” in a very famous quote from 1979. To this day, anti-American jihadists, and some Iranian foreign policy statements still call America the “Great Satan”. The modern history of how Iran politics came to become anti-American is very interesting, complex, and sad (worth your time to read the Wikipedia pages on it).

If you look carefully at the walls of the procedurally generated canyon hellscape/dreamscape, you’ll see that it is made of bones and corpses, draped under the red and white stripes of the American flag. For Iran’s leadership, it symbolizes the perceived evil of “The Great Satan” America, and death of many innocents, casualties (on all sides), and suffering caused by the wars/sanctions perpetuated by American and “western greed”.

To American “patriots”, it symbolizes the veterans’ sacrifices to keep the flag flying against the evil threats to America’s “freedom” (by the perceived “Axis of Evil” and others who stand in the way of American politicians’ agendas). It is left to the viewer to determine their own interpretations of it. It is the developer’s hope that it inspires some deeper thought and reflection on what is done in the name of good/evil (God and Satan), and how we often demonize the other side.

In this game, the background music is “America the Beautiful”, played satanically backwards with a pitch change. In many horror movies, satanic music is normal religious music/hymns/prayers played backwards. The “Great Deceiver” (Satan) often likes to deceive without it being seen as deception, and without the source of the deception being known. If you didn’t see the theme Satan in this, then you have been successfully deceived.

“IMPLOSION”:

In-game, if you reach critical mass, the red/white striped landscape will literally implode into the star-spangled blue-colored ball.

If you look carefully at the ball, you’ll see that the texture and size of the ball actually changes. It starts out shiny, smoothish (but cracked), and small. Although it remains blue, the texture gradually changes to become the same bones/corpses texture as the corpse-textured canyon walls as it grows closer to critical mass.

To the Iranian leadership and the war-weary or peace-loving portion of Americans, this symbolizes the extra weight and burden that America carries as it extends its “empire” farther and gets involved in more conflicts.

At some point, just like with all other empires, it will implode under its own weight. The question is not “if”, but “when”. With annual military expenditures more than the next 15 countries COMBINED, at what point will America’s economy implode underneath this cost? Including non Department of Defense expenditures, military spending was approximately 28–38% of budgeted expenditures and 42–57% of estimated tax revenues. (~Fifty cents out of every American-taxpayer dollar!) Will America learn from the economic and political implosion of the Soviet Union, which chose “guns” in the age-old choice between “guns vs butter”? (Soviet Union was deemed as the “The Lesser Satan” by Iran.)

To American “patriots” and disgruntled American veterans, this implosion could symbolize the recent VA Hospital failure/implosion in its ability to handle the needs of the rapidly increasing number of veterans, their disappointment in hawkish politicians for getting them into wars without thinking about long term costs (veteran care, injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, spending, innocents killed, global perception, privacy). Will America become more isolationist in its foreign policies as it did after World War 1 up until the Pearl Harbor bombing? Was 9/11 the modern Pearl Harbor? How long will the current “war on terror” last? It is up for the American voters to decide at the next election cycle.

“GLOMP”:

Definition: to embrace enthusiastically; to pounce on and hug, often from a running start.

In the game, the skeleton-looking figures try to glomp onto the star-spangled ball. This glomping action symbolizes both how other nations often glomp onto America for aid, whether it is military/defense related, with natural disasters, or for “moral” aid; and also how America has been glomping to other countries to “aid”them, whether it is for political gain, greed, resources, or even due to moral principle. In the game itself, players are not actually instructed whether to aim the ball towards the skeletons or to avoid them. How each player plays is influenced by their perception of the ball, and the skeletons.

With each skeletal figure that glomps onto the ball, the ball grows in size, making it harder to avoid being glomped, easier to gather skeletons, and harder to maneuver. With each commitment or conflict that America becomes involved in, does it make it harder for America to choose the wise thing to do or not do? Does it gain more enemies or friends by making these commitments?

Who are these skeletal figures? Are they the brave American veterans, the innocent civilians killed, the enemy combatants, the poor and hungry that could have been educated or fed with the money spent by modern American “imperialism”, or our children and our children’s children? It is left to the player to come to their own conclusion.

I wanted to leave the interpretation up to the player, but I understand that many players may need some hints due to the art-as-game allegorical nature of this game. I hope this explanation helps the player to come to their own thoughts on the themes and issues.