The handlebar moustache that operates independently of a follower's face is funny. GodFinger's little followers alternate between cute and silly. There is one more reason GodFinger is such a superior social game to ngmoco's We Rule: emotional connection. Keep going to look at your galaxy of friends. Reverse pinch to zoom out and see your entire planet. While there is a piece of me that wants to visit a friend's planet and wreak havoc, I do appreciate that interaction is limited to benevolent acts. Here, you have goofy little dudes you name after your friends and can regularly gift them gold or mana. Placing orders at shops in neighboring kingdoms just feels sterile. I like the social elements of GodFinger much more than We Rule.

You can also name your own followers after Plus+ friends, which gives them a little bonus gold on their end – provided they have GodFinger, too. Once added, you can check in on their planetary progress and enchant followers so you get a cut of the gold they produce. Through Plus+, you can add friends' planets to your system.

Unlike this solar system, your followers are not alone in the corner of the galaxy. I wanted that tavern up, like, yesterday. None of this is required, but if you like GodFinger, you'll want to grease the wheels of planetary development by purchasing some awe. Real world money buys awe points, which are traded in for huge stacks of gold, refilled mana, instantly complete buildings, and the resurrection of the dead. Really, there is a whole lot of waiting in GodFinger… unless you want to spend a little cash. You must wait for followers to replenish their strength before they can get back to work. You have to wait for buildings to be constructed by your mini-minions when placed on the planet. You have to wait for farming to complete in order to generate gold. It's quite the little ecosystem and though ngmoco says GodFinger is about to undergo some additional tuning, it feels decently balanced right now. After all, you need that mana to keep your farms and relaxation sites going via divine acts, like rain showers or bursts of sunlight. After your followers are refreshed, you put them back to work or send them to worship the totem and speed mana production. More on awe in a minute.) You must give them time off at a campfire, tent, or watering hole to replenish their spent energies. (Well, you can, but then you have to spend the third precious resource – awe – to resurrect them. You cannot work your followers to death, though. Your followers produce gold by working farms. Though mana powers divine intervention, money still makes the world go 'round. You generate a little mana every few minutes, but you can speed that up by dropping followers around a sacred totem dedicated to you. The energy needed to power acts like lightning bolts or flooding (which is how you fill lakes that your followers use for fishing) is called mana. It's a small, immediate reward that keeps you playing. One of the most enjoyable things in GodFinger to me is to drag a sunbeam across the ground and watch colorful flowers grow. But divine acts also result in small changes, too. You must zap the skeleton with a lightning bolt, thus introducing you to a few new concepts: followers can die if you do not protect them and that lightning bolts are always fun to flick down from the heavens. For example, you're given a storm cloud at the exact same time a skeleton rises from the ground and attacks your followers. As you move through the first ten levels of GodFinger, you have a set of smaller goals designed to help you understand how the game works. Or, in a move inspired by Pocket God (which seems to be the primary impetus for GodFinger), fling them around the planet for kicks. Place them where they need to be, such as at a farm. You can also pick up your followers by tapping them and pulling them into the air.

You move the sun and clouds around the world to direct weather patterns and satisfy needs, like sunshine on crops. As the unseen deity, you manipulate the planet and its inhabitants.

The general goal is to grow this planet, dress it up with a little terraforming, and keep your followers happy. You begin GodFinger with a rock floating out in space, occupied by a handful of followers.

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