There is a hidden rule of casual/quirky game design that few developers will officially acknowledge, but most understand all too well: if in doubt, add an ape.
Monkeys make games, you see. Their primate antics amuse us for reasons we don’t fully understand – other than the fact that they’re just like us but more hairy and silly. It’s sort of an evolutionary superiority complex. We laugh at them because we’re not them anymore. We hardly ever throw shit at things.
But there’s more.
With the 2000 puzzler Super Monkey Ball, Sega stumbled upon an extension to the ape rule: if possible, put the monkey in an unlikely form of transport. I’ve not idea why that’s even more funny – maybe for the same reason that people watch – and thoroughly enjoy – YouTube videos of dogs on skateboards. Here’s one. Maybe it’s something to do with the incongruity theory of humour, which suggests that we laugh at things that mismatch contrasting expectations. Whatever. Sega’s Super Monkey Ball series hasn’t lasted over a decade because of its excellent physics or clever level design; it has lasted over a decade because it has monkeys who ride around in giant balls. They also have massive ears.
So anyway, UK developer Electric Pixel Factory has been paying attention. Its first title, due for release on Windows Phones and iOS devices next month, is Gorilla Gondola, in which you control a gorilla as it bounces along on a gondala lift, avoiding obstacles and collecting… yes, of course, collecting bananas. All movement involves pinging the wire that the gondola runs along. So you have apes, unconventional transport AND physics. They’ve totally gone for the mother lode on this one.
Anyway, it’ll be available from 2 February. If they can add kittens to their next game, they’ll be the next Rovio.
