One of my most distinct memories from quarantine is getting together with my friends almost every night to play Zeeple Dome, a Jackbox game in which each player is a little alien and players must coordinate in order to delete monsters, avoid attacks, and advance through each level. I was curious to explore what mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics kept me and my friends coming back for more.
The main mechanic involved in Zeeple Dome is the slingshot control system. In order to aim and launch a player in a certain direction to hit or avoid a monster, you drag and release on your phone. Each player also has a health meter based on how much damage they have taken. When your health gets to zero, you die but can be revived by a teammate. There are also optional power-ups that can be collected and elements such as a bouncy surface or portal to another part of the screen. When all the monsters are defeated, you win the level. When all the players are dead, you lose the level.
The dynamics created by these mechanics are extremely exciting and emphasize cooperation. The precision of the slingshot, unpredictable monster movements, and portals/other elements scattered throughout create a very random rhythm where everyone is constantly moving, either to get out of the way of an enemy, hit one, revive a teammate, or collect a power-up. All of the mechanics encourage moving around the screen, sometimes forcing you to, and make moving around a very random and chaotic experience. In addition, winning or losing the level is a team achievement, which creates a dynamic of helping out teammates by acquiring power-ups or reviving them whenever possible. Zeeple Dome relies highly on reacting and adapting in the moment.
The core aesthetics of Zeeple Dome are Fellowship and Challenge. Working cooperatively as a group is at the core of why Zeeple Dome is so fun and challenging. Every little advancement felt like a huge win. Even if we lost the level, if we figured out how to beat a new monster or got a bit further than we did the previous time, it was incredibly fulfilling and we immediately wanted to try again.
