For my competitive analysis critical play, I played “Make it Meme,” an online version of the popular analog game “What Do You Meme” which shares similar elements with our game. As suggested, I played with a group of friends while on a Discord call together. The theme of the game is centered around memes and the fun in the game is derived from matching captions with meme pictures to make funny memes. This is a somewhat similar concept to our game, where players must come up with creative and funny answers to prompts in order to impose rules on the opponent’s city.
The mechanics of the game are quite similar to the prototype for our game so far, as there is some form of matching prompts with answers to appeal to the other players. I think that our game is more open-ended than “What Do You Meme,” as our prompts are fill-in-the-blank and can let the imagination run wild, whereas in “What Do You Meme” there are predefined captions and images.
“What Do You Meme” promises fun in the forms of expression and fellowship. The creation of memes by matching cards is definitely a form of self-expression and conveying how one feels about certain situations or images. Fun in the form 0f fellowship occurred as my friends and I laughed and bonded while playing the game. Our game hopes to generate similar kinds of fun for players, with the added element of narrative that “What Do You Meme” lacks. In “What Do You Meme,” each round is distinct and independent of other rounds, whereas in our game each round adds more to the narrative of destroying your opponent’s city.
This game differentiates itself from other games in its genre with its unique theme. There aren’t any other similar party games that are based on memes. We intend for our game to also have a unique theme of destroying each other’s cities.
One thing I would consider changing about the game to make it better would be to have teams. This would make the game more exciting by increasing feelings of camaraderie and fellowship. Our game will have the option to play alone or in teams.
