Thanks for replying - I see the rational, it's tricky one isn't it? It's hard to come up with an entertaining fun game which is actually unwelcoming to the player... I see the thought process of taking an existing game and then making it different enough that it's unexpected, I get that :) For me, I went full-on with the theme. in a (hopefully) comedy way so there was no question it was driven by the theme for the Jam...
Like I say, the game is awesome - I love it, it's a great achievement! However, I'm sure you can also see how the end result can be viewed as being outside of the theme completely, and could've been implemented separately... I don't think it has been, but you did such a good job on the polish and presentation of the game it's kind of sparked that kind of cynicism.