frustrated when that character speaks lines of dialog they would not say themselves or
performs other stupid actions.Loomworks around this problem by putting Bobbin
Threadbare inside a cloak, with players only ever seeing his eyes. This keeps the main
character anonymous enough that players could believe that, in fact, it is themselves
inside that cloak. At the one point in the game where Bobbin takes off his hood, the
game quickly cuts away to a different scene, almost poking fun at the continued ano-
nymity of the main character. And Bobbin’s dialog is kept level and anonymous enough
that he never says anything that might annoy players. Many game developers and pub-
lishers speak of creating strong characters, perhaps ones that can be used for action
figures and movie rights later on. But what often keeps a game enjoyable for players is a
more anonymous character — one players can sculpt in their minds into their own idea
of a hero.
Loom as an Adventure Game........................
For all of its strengths,Loomis still an adventure game, and indeed a fairly linear one.
Adventure games are the genre of computer games most concerned with traditional
storytelling, while at the same time often being the least encouraging of player creativ-
ity. The story being told in an adventure game is the designer’s story, one that was
clearly established ahead of time and one that allows players only to experience it with-
out really being able to change its outcome. The critics of adventure games are quick to
point out that, really, adventure games are not games at all, but merely a series of puz-
zles strung together with bits of story between them. The puzzles, regardless of their
form, serve as locked doors between the different parts of the story, and in order to
experience the rest of the story, players must unlock that door by completing the puz-
zle. Games, they say, are required to react to players, while a puzzle provides a more
static challenge, one that, once solved, is not nearly as much fun to try again. These
critics suggest that once the story is experienced, because of its static nature it is
hardly worth experiencing again.
Chapter 12: Game Analysis:Loom 235
Loom’s gameplay centers
on the player solving
simple yet elegant
puzzles. Once solved,
the puzzles do not
provide much replay
value.