For all the cool stuff TGC do in their spare time, I haven't seen any talk about
Quartet, a game they released in partnership for the iPhone. I find most of TGC iPhone games to be unresponsive or disfunctional, which is a big deal when using a touch screen - but this little gem suffers no such problems. In fact, it is a great little game which I recommend to anyone.
Here's why:
Fun Factor
It appeals to our instinctive desire to match patterns. Then it puts our ability under pressure (with a time limit). So we engage in an instinctive activity (which is the basic cause of the more abstract 'fun') and are gradually made to do so more intensely (as the count-down gets faster) which in turn increases our 'fun' level. It's an old-skool design practice but it works with fluid functionality and appropriate feedback - which Quartet has.
Style
The game is well constructed visually and uses colours both asthetically and functionally. The interactive screen elements stand out from the darker background, making them immediately accessible - which can lead one to notice subtle artistic details only after several rounds of play. Meanwhile the 8bit nature of the graphics helps detract from screen-clutter and promotes the cultural theme. For a single-screen game, there is a hell of a lot of depth here.
Device-Specific
The 'pattern-matching' play this game uses couldn't be achieved as masterfully on a different device. It is perfect for the iPhone. The size of the iPhone accounts for the useage model of the game (5 minute sessions at convenience) and the touch screen removes that cognitive barrier put in place by input-devices like keyboards and controllers. Patern-matching becomes much harder when you have a physcial interface you need to translate into meaningful actions - the iPhone removes this barrier with direct access to the on-screen result you want to achieve. It is totally accessible.
Masterful Soundscape:
While subtle, the music in Quartet is really funky and well constructed. It's 8bit at heart, which links directly to the style and culture of the game, and particularly complements the sound effects, which provide obvious audible feedback for your actions. Because of the basic treble-nature of the sounds, they play particularly well on the iPhone either through earbuds or the normally sub-par speakers.
Culture:
Few iPhone games achieve 'culture' but Quartet does so in only four screens. The menu, tutorial and custom-content screens all relate directly to the central culture of the game -
authority through identity. Playing a game dedicated to the four characters therein smacks of worship and in-among the dark, electronic areas of the game, these four god-like alien creatures assume total domination of the theme. Dystopian cyberpunk at its best. That 'faces' are central to this culture makes the game accessible through use of emotion as feedback. Furthermore, their quadratic presentation on the screen is particularly suited to the iPhone's native resolution and looks really professional.
Adds?
I've had this game for so long I can't remember how I got it. It looks like it was designed to encorporate ads - but my version doesn't play any. Perhaps I upgraded it at some point? I imagine ads would destroy the presence of the game on screen and muck up the culture it has built so well. Nonetheless, I don't get ads. It's either free or really cheap - because I bought it back in my student days.
Conclusion
My definition of a perfect game is '
entirely logical' and that is a pretty sweeping statement being all-inclusive of every aspect of a game. Quartet, while much smaller than your average game, rates right up there with Ico, COD4 and Portal on the logic scale - its design, aesthetic, functionality and usage model are flawless. A great standard for all of us to aim for.
Just funny I haven't heard more about it.
