Monday, December 17, 2012

Lesson # 43 : Why the world loves Temple Run

Imangi Studios made a fortune with Temple Run and while Rovio along with Angry Birds competes with Temple Run for the number one spot across platforms be it the android or the istore this is one battle that we'll just have to wait and watch. Angry Birds recently came out with Star Wars and as good and cool as it may look I more often than not choose to play Temple Run whenever I choose to game on my tablet.

The reason Temple Run actually succeeds is on multiple levels. But there are two which I thought are worth mentioning and therefore I am focussing on only those two points through the course of the remainder of this article.


Firstly, imagine this scenario. What are we all doing currently in our life? We are trying to get out of the rat race and we are trying our level best to do it. Now draw a parallel with the game.Ideally what are we trying to do. We are running across an endless maze collecting money and trying to get out of the rat race. So we are basically playing the game on a whole different level. The person running is actually a virtual impression of the person playing and he/she is going to try his/her level best to score the maximum points. And that is another insightful reason into the addiction of this game.

Secondly, what do most of us want? A million dollars, right? And that's what happens when people start out and start playing temple run. Imagine a scenario where you make it to say 20,000 points then you go on and on and on till the time you make your first million. And from there on you go on indefinitely breaking one million after the other. The same is the case with life. Lakshmi Mittal in an interview once stated that earning his first million was the hardest. It was a breeze after that. The creators of the game played with our psychology rather well and triggered the right brain cells.


All said and done is Temple Run a brilliant game? Probably not. Then why does it get downloaded so many times. The answer is as stated above. Imangi has hit upon a goldmine whether they did it by mistake I cannot comment upon that. But what they have managed to create is a wonderful game which plays mindfuck with out brains on multiple levels.

On behalf of Doodle inc
Udit Sabharwal