 On the story side , McMillen explained that the religious tone is based on his own experiences with his family , split between Catholics and born @-@ again Christians . McMillen noted that while both sides born out faith from the same Bible , their attitudes were different ; he found some of the Catholic rituals his family performed inspiring , while other beliefs they had were condemning of several pastimes McMillen had participated in like Dungeons & Dragons . He took inspiration from that duality to create Isaac 's narrative , showing how religion can both instill harmful feelings while also bringing about dark creativity . McMillen also considered the scare tactics used by the Christian right to condemn popular media of the 1980s , such as heavy metal and video games . McMillen noted how many of the propaganda films from this period features satanic cults that would sacrifice children , and he noted how many Biblicial stories mirrored these concepts , subsequently building the story around that . He also stated that he also tended to like " really weird stuff " relating to toilet humor and similar types of off @-@ color humor that did not sit well with his family and which he had explored in previous games before Super Meat Boy . While Super Meat Boy helped to make his reputation ( including being one of the featured developers in Indie Game : The Movie ) , he felt it was a " safe " game considering his preferred type of humor , and used Isaac to return to this form , considering that the game could easily be " career suicide " but would make a statement about what he really wanted to do . 
