matching games w/o story or elaborate theme

[oldschool]

Hello, I'm making(non match 3) matching game. I can't find a theme for my game (undersea, atlantis?,ancient civilization,etc). I'm wondering is an overarching story or theme nessasary? Do these convey a sense of value to the customer and/or portal?

My game is centered around:
clicking -making connection w/ adjacent pieces
getting board changing powerups
scoring within time limits
new levels bring new pieces
pieces with limited personality(like chuzzle maybe less)

[Bmc]

you can always just make it vanilla (like Super Collapse, Tetris, Bejeweled) but most games nowadays have some type of theme

[smiles]

You don't need elaborate themes...good gameplay will overcome the need for great graphics. My favorite match-3 game of the year was Xmas bonus:

http://greyaliengames.com/

and, while it did have a xmas theme, it didn't have the standard move-along-the-map progression or spectacular graphics.

[Grey Alien]

wow Smiles, I can't believe you said that! thanks :-) :-)

actually my game was pretty popular but I'm sure it would have made more sales with better graphics and some kinda fake plot/map thing with "goodies" you get every few levels, as that's what people expect now. I just concentrated on good gameplay and the comments I get back seem to reflect this.

[oldschool]

thanks for your replies.