Competitive Analysis: Charades
What is Charades?
This might seem like an easily answered question — but we’re going to break down the game of Charades into its formal elements to understand how it creates fun for its players. The version of Charades we’ll be talking about today is an iPhone App developed by FatChicken Studios. Players hold the phone up to their head and display prompts to their teammates, who then act out the prompt. The player holding the phone can tilt the screen down or up, depending on if they guessed correctly or they want to skip to the next prompt. Players are able to pick their desired number of teams and rounds, as well as the category to play in.
The themes of Charades are acting, high-energy, and creativity — how can players quickly act out a prompt in a way that can be communicated to their partner?
What are the Mechanics?
This theme is perpetuated by the Mechanics of the game design, which are defined as the actions and behaviors that players can utilize within the game context. Some Mechanics of Charades include acting-out prompts with verbal or non-verbal actions, not being able to directly indicate what the prompt is, skipping to the next prompt, and having a very short time limit. These are all baseline actions that rules that players can work with, and when combined, form the game space.
What are the Dynamics?
Dynamics are entirely based on Mechanics and are defined as how players use and engage with the rules of the game. For example, one dynamic of Charades is that the players act in a hurried and urgent way, because of the very short time-limit on each round of work. Another dynamic is that when acting-out their prompt, players try to get their partner as close as possible to saying the prompt, which is a result of not being able to directly indicate what the prompt is. Lastly, if a player isn’t able to guess the current prompt, they’re able to skip to the next one, which is a combination of the short time limit as well as having the ability to skip to the next prompt. These dynamics all create an exciting and fast-paced environment for players, which leads us into a discussion of the types of fun that Charades creates.
What Type of Fun is Created?
These Mechanics and Dynamics are able to create many types of fun for the player, specifically Fellowship, Expression, and Challenge. In Charades, players are promised gameplay that creates comradery between teams, allows everyone to think and express themselves creatively, and finally, challenges everyone to guess the prompt without explicitly referencing it. It’s a fast-paced and high-energy type of fun, and these are reinforced by the graphic design decisions. I played a game of Charades with my group of friends to test if this fun was actually realized!
Prompts are simple and take up the whole screen so that other members can work quickly to act them out. The time is displayed on the top of the screen, encouraging players to move fast and keep up with the pace of the game. This screen is blue but turns green when a correct answer is given and red when the prompt is skipped or time is up.
Players also have the option to skip the current prompt if they aren’t able to guess it, or just want to conserve on time.
How did the Graphics Support the Play of the Game?
All of these graphic design decisions — the simplicity, the large text, and the changing colors-all lend to the urgent and high-energy nature of the game. When guessing, this layout of the screen also encourages a unique kind of urgency, where players are almost trained to move faster as the color on the screen changes. A moment that stood out in terms of the graphics was when one of my roommates saw the time’s up screen and yelled in anguish. The intensity of the game is clearly driven by these graphics, and help contribute to the overall themes of the game.
Was the Fun Realized?
This is also true for the Mechanics and Dynamics of the game, which reinforce the overall themes of the game of creativity and high-energy play. The Mechanics are weaved seamlessly into the game to encourage players to act and guess faster, which creates a very exciting environment to compete. The types of fun were definitely realized, as my roommates and I found ourselves jumping around and squirming, trying to get our partners to guess the correct prompt. One particular moment that realized the fun was when I had 10 seconds left on the timer, and I was able to get my partner to guess three different prompts in succession. This is a perfect combination of me being able to creatively express myself, all while moving under the challenging time-limit of the game.
What is the Business Model?
While versions of this app that cost money exist-like Head’s Up, Charades is free on the app store. The app does offer extra categories for money, on top of basic categories that are provided for free. The way to pay makes sense because players who don’t want to commit to purchasing anything can play a basic version of the game. However, as players become more attached to the game and want to dive deeper into new categories, they have the opportunity to purchase them. This lends to the overall narrative of just allowing players to engage in the level of creativity they want to, when they want to.