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Zenzizenzic [Win/MAC/Linux]
Tube
Registered User admin
Registered User admin
in Indie Games
90 MB - Unity - Win/MAC/Linux
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlF5qbNteI4
Please support Zenzizenzic on:
Intro
You don’t have to be that masochistic to give Zenzizenzic a shot, really, trust me! Have faith in your abstract little ship and blast thou foes into the unknown two dimensional beyond with the help of a wide variety of destructive and exotic weapons. It’ll be fun. There’s a myriad of enemy variety, bonus levels, upgrades, dynamic difficulty, unlocks and all that good jazz. You can even grab a buddy and kick back to the insanely awesome soundtrack while cooperatively being slaughter… eh, positively challenged! Currently in beta, the full game is planned to be available in Q1 2014 for a couple of bucks.
I'd love to hear what you think of Zenzizenzic and receive your feedback to make it as good as it can be! I hope you'll give it a spin!
The beta currently consists of level 1 and 2 (the image above features level 2 and 3). In the near future other levels will be made available during the beta. You can both play it with a gamepad (preferably Xbox360 controller) or mouse and keyboard. Trackpad will probably hurt.
Download Zenzizenzic at bithuffel.nl.
About
Without any practical knowledge on game design and development, except for what was garnered over the course of 15 to 20 or so years of playing games, I set out to build a game myself. I didn't know a damn thing, except for what feels right and what doesn't in a game. Over the following months I spend as much time as I could muster familiarising myself with the ins and outs of game development and all that comes with it (which is a lot as it turns out!). Zenzizenzic is the first result of my efforts.
Features
- Singleplayer and local co-operative. Play with a buddy (aka scapegoat)!
- Beautiful abstract style
- A large arsenal of weaponry to choose from. We got lasers, pods, charge shots, black holes, time jumps and more to come!
- Mindblowing speed and movement accuracy. All the tools necessary to get out of the tightest of fits.
- Dynamically increasing difficulty. We can't have things to be too easy right?
- Bonus levels with unique challenges. Earn enough points and you shall be given entry.
- And a blasting beat by bignic, known for the multi-platform hit Zombies.
Probable additions down the road
- Cosmetic unlocks
- Unlocking bonus levels as a separate level to master them
- … Let me know what you'd like to see!
Thank you for your time!
~ Ruud Koorevaar
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Posts
A fair bit of balance changes have gone through and also a separate level selection for the bonus levels, so you can now learn them and complete them before you head on in to get that coveted number 1 spot on the scoreboards. And, you can now also freely skip or rewind songs while playing. So pick your favorite track and blast away some fools!
Also, here's a fresh screen of an enemy you might encounter in level 5!
The Kickstarter and Steam Greenlight campaigns for Zenzizenzic are as of now live!
You'll find lots of cool stuff there, like a new trailer, beta download, exciting plans, awesome rewards and tiers and if you're quick at it you'll be able to grab the early access reward!
So check it out and if you like what you see, every bit of support would be hugely appreciated. If you have feedback, I would especially love to hear it.
Here's a bit of info about the game:
And a couple of screens:
Thank you kindly for your time,
Ruud Koorevaar
Developer of Zenzizenzic
To start it off, the first 50 backer exclusive full beta access rewards (how's that for adjectives) on Kickstarter were handed out in just a few days! We can't have that, so I threw my hands up in the air, said "screw it!", went over to edit the Kickstarter page and changed the 50 to 80. You lovely folks who decide to back Zenzizenzic deserve nothing less!
So all in all, the past couple of days have been good! Here are few snippets of some awesome articles that popped up this week:
"Zenzizenzic can be favorably compared to Geometry Wars, with it’s excellent, minimal art style, high difficulty and precise gameplay. Highly recommend, it’s so damn pretty!" - Alpha Beta Gamer
"Can the world handle it? No. Absolutely not. It’s crazy. If you like crazy, however, you should check it out." - Cliqist
It seems like "crazy" is a fairly common word to describe the game, as Kotaku also states in a short:
"Announcing a new contender in the category of games with names that are difficult to pronounce, Zenzizenzic is a old-school bullet-hell style shmup that looks about as crazy as a game with that name should." - Kotaku
Crazy it is I guess! As Kaiochi in the comments at the Kotaku article says in the response to the image below:
"what the fuuuuuck is goooing onnnnn?"
Well, you know, it's just bullets and stuff and dodging enemies and things, right?
Also, last night Bestio (Twitter) streamed a bit of Zenzizenzic on his Twitch channel. If you want to see some more bits of gameplay, go check it out! And if anyone wants to stream the game, give me a shout (Twitter), I'll be sure to hang out in the chat and answer any and all questions.
Thanks for the support again!
Cheers, Ruud
Promotion on the game could still use a boost, so I started this initiative on the Steam Greenlight page to look for YouTubers / Twitch streamers who would be interested in playing and showing the game. Those who do will receive full beta access, and those who recommend channels will have a chance on receiving access as well. Please check it out, and if you got something to add, let me know!
Also, winners of the Steam Greenlight contest have been contacted by friends request on Steam!
Feedback on the game has been great overall. So thank you to everyone who contributed. Most notable of what I picked up and look to improve is the menu interface and 'juiciness' of in-game feedback. The menu could be a bit less clustered with stuff, so streamlining it would be a good idea. The feedback such as hitting enemies with bullets or getting hit yourself needs to be more impactful. I also want to more strongly enforce feedback on aspects such as when the player has no energy or when a boss enters the fray. A general larger amount of oomph-ness (that's a thing) will make the game feel more richer and solid and is definitely something to strive for.
So, on to week 2! Let's make it a good one!
Cheers, Ruud
This week level 2, where things get a little bit more heated as enemies actively work on making survival quite the challenge! Do note that if you do not want to get spoiled on the gameplay, then do not watch the video.
Check it out over here!
Level 2 was the level where it all started with! The enemies you see in this level are actually the enemies with which I learned a lot of basic coding bits and bobs with, such as target following and movement patterns. A lot of time was invested in this stage of development to finds ways to create interesting and effective patterns and it was probably also the most important stage.
This level was actually scrapped completely at one point and rebuilt from the ground up. While building the other levels I kept on learning about ways to make the gameplay more and more exciting. Naturally, this old level started to fall behind the others and the best way to bring it up to par was to completely redo it. A tough decision, since it feels like a step backwards, but in the end most definitely worth it!
That decision of scrapping and rebuilding was in general an important method of working during the development of Zenzizenzic. When you're quickly learning new things and you want the quality of the project to be at a stable level, it is damaging to the project in the long run if there are still, for example, old and archaic snippets of code in there. Starting from a clean slate may feel like "Oh shit, what the hell am I doing, this is going to take forever?!", but again, in the long run it will be worth it.
Also, we reached the €1300 mark on the Kickstarter! Getting closer!
As we are now on 109 backers, there are 21 more chances left to get the immediate beta reward.
Come on over and check the Zenzizenzic Kickstarter out, give the trailer the spin!
Enjoy!
~ Ruud
Week 1 got us to 50% (amazing!), week 2 to 70% and week 3 almost to 90%. I'm quite happy that we were able to carry over the progress from week 2 to week 3 and I'm sure we will be able to get a good run this final week!
As usual, expect a gameplay video this Thursday, covering some of the intricacies of level 4, and possibly some cool and exciting updates in between then and now and after.
And don't forget about the Steam Greenlight campaign! If we could get Zenzizenzic on Steam it would mean the world.
So again, thank you for the support and if you might know someone who would enjoy Zenzizenzic, spreading the word really does help a lot. Let's try to get to €2000 this week!
Cheers,
Ruud
Also, you can now support the Kickstarter by PayPal! All the proceeds will go towards funding the stretch goals of the Kickstarter. For more info, please head on over to: zenzizenzicgame.com
Remember that Zenzizenzic is also on Greenlight, and the support there would be hugely appreciated. It just takes a vote, nothing more, easy like that!
And finally, a new gameplay video for level 4 is up! If you'd like to see a bit about what Zenzizenzic's level 4 is about, you can check that over here: Zenzizenzic - Gameplay Trailer: Level 4.
Thank you for the support!
- Ruud, developer of Zenzizenzic
We got over 100% funded and we are sitting at a comfortable 135% now, including PayPal proceeds. That puts us past the first stretch goal (Gauntlet mode) and well on the way to the second (new weapon)!
If you aren’t familiar with the principle, the Gauntlet mode is about going through all the levels in a single go, with a single set of lives. Very challenging, but a lot of fun. It will require adjusting a couple of the systems in the game, such as gaining back a life for 500.000 points as that could make things a bit trivial, but I’ll make it a challenge true for any Gauntlet mode!
Just a bit to go now until the Kickstarter is over, 40 hours to be exact. Let’s hope for a good sprint the last bit.
Also, be sure to check Zenzizenzic out on Steam Greenlight and, if possible, drop a vote there, add it to your favorites, leave a comment, anything. Getting the game on Steam would be so damn amazing!
Again, thank you all so much for the support!
Cheers,
Ruud
So I want thank you all greatly for the support and giving me the chance to do this.
The Kickstarter success not only means a success in funding, but it also raises the profile of the game by a lot. This means it will get a lot more attention, and with that new opportunities may arise. So we can fairly safely say that the future of Zenzizenzic is looking bright!
Unfortunately the dream of reaching the €10.000 stretch goal for the standalone expansion Zenzizenzic: Macro was not realized. It was worth the attempt though and I would be a fool to completely drop it. I mentioned in the Kickstarter FAQ that if the stretch goal was not reached that I would not develop Macro. This is mainly because I can't give you any promises on it. However, in reality it is not as hard-lined as that. Even though I can't say when or even if it will be released, I will still work on Macro when I have the chance since I believe in the concept. And those who have pledged for it will be kept in the loop, I won't forget about you!
All the backers have been contacted. And please stay tuned to the story of Zenzizenzic and where it may lead us! Follow me on Twitter or like Zenzizenzic on Facebook to stay in the loop!
Thank you all so much!
Ruud
It seems like you learned a lot over the course of this game -- what would you say was the most important thing your learned, or most important realization?
Apologies for the very tardy reply! I did not receive a notification for it
Hmm, the most important thing I think I learned is that as a one-man army you really have to divide your time well. And that it is hugely important to not underestimate the time it takes to do marketing related stuff, or well, anything that doesn't directly involve building the game. As a consequence it might feel like that progress on the development side of things is slow, but it is crucial not to neglect on all the other stuff, as that will improve your chances to have a successful game beyond anything else.
Also, good news!
Zenzizenzic is going to be published by Adult Swim Games! And this is very, very exciting because we can now do what was not possible before: making Macro, the rogue-like open world variant of Zenzizenzic, a reality. Also, with the support of Adult Swim Games the game will come to Steam.
Macro was a stretch goal during the Kickstarter campaign and unfortunately we did not reach that stretch goal. But! Adult Swim Games saw the potential in Zenzizenzic and Macro after the Kickstarter had successfully attained its core goal and they reached out with an offer to publish Zenzizenzic and Macro! After a bit of back and forth we finalized the deal just last week and we are now already busy working together to bring the game to new heights (such as a Steam release!).
However, Zenzizenzic and Macro will be now combined in a single release aimed at June 2015 next year. There are multiple reasons for this decision, such as to avoid confusion, to prevent doing a double promotional campaign (which would be very costly) and to make a single, very strong release.
It has been quite a journey already, but things are getting more and more exciting still!
Also, I whipped up a newsletter form, for if you want to be sure you stay up to date and also have a chance to get a beta key (the same list is used)!
Again thank you all for the support. Without it Zenzizenzic wouldn't be where it is right now!
Of course, as is with demo’s, it is a limited version. If you want to have a chance to get full beta access, sign up for the newsletter as I will occasionally send out beta keys for the entire game to a random number of newsletter subscribers!
Hope you'll enjoy it!
Cheers,
Ruud