A Little Praise for a Little Game: ZiGGURAT

In a certain way, the advent of the iPhone and other touch devices is a blessing and curse go gamers and developers alike. On the one hand, the appstore and marketplace (on iOS and Android) offer a quick and easy way to get smaller, independently developed games to the customer, making those places arguably the biggest testing ground for indie games ever. On the other hand, most touch devices lack an essential feature most games need: Buttons.

It is of course possible to make a great game without the need for buttons. Or rather, without the need for phyiscal buttons. Games on the touch devices usually fall into two categories. Those that wish they had buttons and emulate them – usually a pretty clunky affair – with on-screen button overlays; and those which are truly at home on the touch devices, those which make the fullest use of swiping, pinching and tapping.

Usually, it is the latter ones which make for the best games on the platforms. This is the kind of category Actionbutton Entertainment’s Ziggurat falls into. While Tim Rogers might not now the blessings of brevity when it comes to writing, he sure seems to have a better grasp on delivering only the essentials in game design. Which is exactly what Ziggurat does. It is a small, very tight game, very old school arcady and barebones. And it’s control scheme is not one that quietly sits in the corner weeping, wishing it had real buttons.

Ziggurat is essentially Horde Mode for your pocket. Wave after wave after wave of “alien freaks” rushes to the eponymous Ziggurat the heroine is defending. One hit, and she dies. Controls work simply and beautifully. Swiping on a horizontal axis on the lower end of the screen takes care of targeting, duration of the swipe takes care of charging the shot’s power and trajectory. The rest is endurance, skill, hand-eye coordination and some luck.

The game Ziggurat calls to mind with it’s 8-bit art style, chiptune soundtrack and oldschool, hardcore arcade gameplay is of course Super Crate Box. But while Super Crate Box was quite prominently a port from devices that had physical buttons, Ziggurat is equally prominently at home on a buttonless device. The beauty of Ziggurat lies in its simplicity. Shoot many aliens. Don’t let them touch or shoot you. Survive. Die. Try again.

And in the meantime, brag to your friends about it. Ziggurat has a bragging mechanism built in, that currently floods my twitter feed with messages from people playing Ziggurat. It’s interesting to see how they slowly get better, ranking up kills, comparing that to my own most recent score. And then trying to beat whoever is currently the record holder. It’s still a simple, bare bones thing, but beautiful none the less.

Due to it’s being “at home” on the touch devices, I admit I’d really like seeing more games like this. The touch devices are a new and unique platform that perform best at gaming when handled as such. Emulating buttons that aren’t there usually don’t do those device any kind of justice. While it might be possible to play using any kind of real gamepad on those devices, it’s hard not to see how this isn’t the best possible solution. The best possible solution for mobile touch device gaming is what Ziggurat does – embracing the button-less nature of the platform. To maximum effect.