Cuphead

Cuphead is an extremely interesting game from a design perspective, because the authors tried to make a game so perfect and unique that it could be played casually or speed-runned. The art of the game is the first thing that will pop into anyone’s heads and take them back to old American cartoons. The art is actually based on the old style of American cartoon animation, which is better known as Rubber Hose animation. Rubber Hose animation refers to the extremities of the model, this include things like arms and tails, where the do not have any joints and instead wiggle and bend like robber. Usually the rubber hose effect alone would make a game look interesting, but the creators wanted more; therefore, they went a step beyond and added filters, sounds, and color profiles that would fit that of old cartoon animations. All of this combined creates a extremely unique piece of art.

The art style will steal the attention of anyone, but Cuphead is not just a cool show of art assets. The game takes extreme pride in its movement system and how it inserts the retro feel into its game design decisions. everything from character movement to the way projectiles behave and it is able to take all of those mechanics and push the boundary of what a player can do. As it is stated in Critical Play “ Play is grounded in the concept of possibility , then critical play is the avant- garde of games as a medium” (Mary-Flanagan 251). Cuphead takes this quote to its maximum, it applies all the key features and feelings one could get from having an old cartoon animations, and then it pushes those boundaries to the extreme. The unique weapons with switching to allow a player to combine attacks and the fact that all these movements have been made for speed runners in mind, but yet allow for the casual user to pick up the game and use these features in different ways. Cuphead is by far a game that pushes the meaning of critical play.

Citation:

I., Flanagan, Mary (sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor. Critical Play — Radical Game Design. Mit Press Ltd, 2013.