The Mythology (?)

It's easy to chalk the whole world of Thumper as simply a couple of folks tripping balls when conceiving this game, but there has to be something more to that right? That little scarab beetle duder scurrying on a track of an unknown dimension, racking up "kills" (check scoring for each section) as he makes his/her way to some flaming skull or floating monolith must be in search for something, or running from something. But I'm really not sure what to make of it.

What is your theory?

I got the sense that you're trying to reach the beginning of everything and beyond. The track is constantly being made in front of you by the various bosses and the true boss. The Monolith is clearly the source of all things as it shows up before spike head, controls the tempo, and when you defeat it the track just stops.

I also feel like since Thumper demands perfection it's as if only the perfect being can top or stop God.

I got to ask Marc Flury about the beetle design at PAX east a couple years ago. As I recall, he said they were really looking for something the player would identify as a player character but would be low, sleek and stay out of the view of the oncoming track.

That being said, I think there is some interesting connection that could be made between the Egyptian symbol of the beetle as kind of a bringer of renewal, and the game's use. At the same time, beetles are fairly minuscule and deplorable creatures in western society. In promotional material, the developers have also referred to the reoccurring boss as CRAKHED, which has certain substance abuse indications.

I have some leanings toward the game being an allegory for the use of music, introspection, persistence and self-discipline as a means of overcoming substance abuse.

@sawtooth: @burncoat: Hey, those are both awesome and I haven't even played the game yet, only seen videos.

I definitely look at it as a journey into yourself. The substance abuse thing I didn't consider but that makes sense too. Whenever you score "kills" you can see the beat drop clear away those tendrils along the track, maybe like you're clearing up bad thoughts or something.

I kind of made my own fan cannon based on what was in the game. You as the Beetle do want to get to the inverted pyramid.

There is the triangle entity that teaches you new mechanics, but then shows up as a straight up boss. By that I mean some levels like 1-1, it's just called 1-1. But later he shows up and it shows the text Boss. So maybe you mentor got corrupted?

Crakhed himself gets more corrupted the more you play, in quite a spectacular way. The one boss where you apply jumping over obstacles also oozes this fleshy sounding wall, which doesn't repeat in later bosses I don't think. So maybe the more you spend in the thumperverse the more corrupted you become and maybe that's what we're trying to escape from?

Also you thump health out of guys and when you thump some of the tendrils seem to shy away from the shockwave.

Out of universe I'm not sure the game is trying to be an allegory for anything. It depends what you bring to it. To some it'll be a struggle, to others it might be just becoming good at the track like Jeff does with Trackmania.