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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperPlaytestingZenzizenzic - published by Adult Swim Games
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Author Topic: Zenzizenzic - published by Adult Swim Games  (Read 9638 times)
ruudk
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« on: June 13, 2013, 08:39:22 AM »



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:
Quote
Zenzizenzic is a high paced, adrenaline infused, abstract, challenging and addictive twin stick shoot 'em up bullet hell game for Windows, Mac and Linux! It features a beautiful, cohesive and abstract art style combined with thrilling, addictive one and two player gameplay along with a soundtrack that is sure to get the adrenaline pumping!

Zenzizenzic gives the player a compelling and challenging experience that strongly motivates the feeling of "let's try one more time!". Expect five well balanced, thought out and uniquely varied levels which can be conquered with an exotic selection of weaponry, ranging from screen filling lasers to black holes and time manipulating jumps.

Zenzizenzic takes a well established genre of games and aims to lift it up to the next level through highly responsive controls, modern gameplay mechanics, a unique art style and a blasting beat. It doesn't try to reinvent the wheel of bullet hell and twin stick shoot 'em up games, it rather tries to make it the fastest, tightest and most agile of all.

The game is aimed at the players who seek a challenge. The progressive nature of the levels with each offering a new mechanic to overcome, the dynamically increasing difficulty as new enemies are introduced when the player performs well in the game and the rich and layered weapons offer the players a high skill ceiling, giving them the chance and means to test their skills to the fullest!

Zenzizenzic is scheduled for release for late July 2014 at a price point of €5.99 on digital distribution channels. It will be available on Windows, Mac and Linux. Grab it over at the Kickstarter which is currently running for 1€ off at the €5 pledge (or higher)!

And a couple of screens:
Quote

Thank you kindly for your time,
Ruud Koorevaar
Developer of Zenzizenzic
« Last Edit: August 22, 2014, 04:37:25 AM by ruudk » Logged

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« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2013, 10:46:35 AM »

A version without challenges enabled was uploaded, which is being fixed now. Give it a few mins for the new version to be available!

edit: fixed by now!
« Last Edit: June 13, 2013, 01:01:30 PM by ruudk » Logged

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« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2013, 04:18:04 PM »

I tried it out .. the bullets are so teeny I can hardly see them, even in fullscreen mode.  And there's tons of them everywhere on hard.  Found it difficult to focus on any of them to dodge .. also annoying is once your secondary weapon energy is used up, if you're trying to dodge in focus mode, you don't shoot anything, which leads to enemies flooding the screen.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2013, 04:23:23 PM by Udderdude » Logged
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« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2013, 05:31:52 PM »

I didn't have the same issue with the bullets, I thought they were fine.  A small thing I really liked was the menus, they felt really solid.  I felt it was a bit hard on normal, but I was using keyboard and trackpad so that wasn't ideal.  On the gameplay front it plays well but doesn't seem to really excel anywhere or do anything new but it was undeniably fun. The large range of weapons was another unexpected bonus Smiley
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« Reply #4 on: June 16, 2013, 12:35:24 AM »

Thank you for the feedback Udderdude and LevelUpJordan!

I tried it out .. the bullets are so teeny I can hardly see them, even in fullscreen mode.  And there's tons of them everywhere on hard.  Found it difficult to focus on any of them to dodge .. also annoying is once your secondary weapon energy is used up, if you're trying to dodge in focus mode, you don't shoot anything, which leads to enemies flooding the screen.
Good point on the shooting being disabled even if your energy is depleted and you try to fire a weapon, thanks. That is a bit disruptive. I'm going to change that.

There are a lot of bullets indeed on hard, to say the least. Going from easy to medium to hard the challenge shifts from purely dodging bullets to also destroying them and using the different weapons to their full effect. I'm still thinking of possible weapons to add that might further communicate this shift. If you have any ideas on a new weapon that might help you survive on hard (of course within reason ;p) toss it in here!

I didn't have the same issue with the bullets, I thought they were fine.  A small thing I really liked was the menus, they felt really solid.  I felt it was a bit hard on normal, but I was using keyboard and trackpad so that wasn't ideal.  On the gameplay front it plays well but doesn't seem to really excel anywhere or do anything new but it was undeniably fun. The large range of weapons was another unexpected bonus Smiley
Phew, playing it with a trackpad, that's pretty admirable! I've heard it more that the gap in difficulty from easy to medium is a bit large, and relatively smaller when going from medium to hard. So a bit of adjusting on medium might be appropriate. At what point in the level on medium does it feel too rough?

And thanks! I wasn't really trying to reinvent the wheel, but just to create solid, challenging gameplay which is fun. And I'm really glad to hear it succeeded in that to some degree Smiley

A more general question. I was thinking about easing out the difficulty a little bit, but without hurting the highscore driven gameplay. One thing I came up with is exchanging score to replenish lost lives. For example 250k points on easy to replenish a single life, 500k on medium and 750k on hard, or possibly the same value across the board, like 500k. This would lower the threshold a bit on actually getting through a level and progressing, but still keep the score attack gameplay and accompanying difficulty in tact. It also balances itself out fairly well if the same value (like 500k) would be used across the board since on easy you naturally get less points as there are less enemies and bullets to destroy, so less opportunities to gain back a life (to not make the difficulty completely obsolete), while the amount of enemies and bullets increase on medium and hard, so you have more opportunities to gain back a life and as such smoothing out the increase in difficulty a bit more. What do you think?
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« Reply #5 on: June 16, 2013, 04:08:14 AM »

Wait what?  Where is it mentioned anywhere that you can destroy the enemy bullets .. D:

In any case I feel like the game's current graphics are designed for people with HDTVs the size of their living room, which I don't have ..
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« Reply #6 on: June 16, 2013, 05:36:23 AM »

Wait what?  Where is it mentioned anywhere that you can destroy the enemy bullets .. D:

In any case I feel like the game's current graphics are designed for people with HDTVs the size of their living room, which I don't have ..
Aah it's in some of the weapon descriptions and in the tutorial where it's explained how you can detonate the shield powerup.

I wish I had one of those TVs as well. But it is noted, I might size up some things if the feedback is recurring.
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« Reply #7 on: June 16, 2013, 06:03:03 AM »

Maybe you can take a look at some screenshots from my shmups in fullscreen mode and get .. ahem .. bullet envy >_>
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« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2013, 04:30:36 AM »

Indie Statik posted quite an awesome article on Zenzizenzic! :D

http://indiestatik.com/2013/06/23/zenzizenzic/

Also some things I've been working on:

The balance: the difference between easy and medium is a bit too large at the moment compared to medium and hard
- I’ll probably make medium and hard a little bit easier
- The gain life mechanic as described below could balance things a bit more as well
Adding Gameplay options to the Options menu, including:
- Resizing the GUI to make it larger if the player would prefer that
- Floating points text when you kill an enemy and doing other things that reward points (with option to turn on/off)
- Option to turn off screenshake
Add a mechanic in which you can sacrifice points to gain back a life
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« Reply #9 on: June 25, 2013, 08:48:01 AM »

Okay, this isn't going to be deep, because I only played two levels on easy. But it was fun and I know I'm going play it again!

I love the music.
I love the graphics - enemies, there patterns, bullets, bullet patterns - it all works really well.
Maybe the players' ships could get jazzed up a bit, and the menu text can get pretty tiny.

I will let you know when I get around to playing more of it. Good job!
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« Reply #10 on: June 28, 2013, 01:19:42 AM »

Okay, this isn't going to be deep, because I only played two levels on easy. But it was fun and I know I'm going play it again!

I love the music.
I love the graphics - enemies, there patterns, bullets, bullet patterns - it all works really well.
Maybe the players' ships could get jazzed up a bit, and the menu text can get pretty tiny.

I will let you know when I get around to playing more of it. Good job!

Thank you for checking it out! And for enjoying it!

The game has been designed to play on a pc monitor from a fairly regular pc desktop viewing distance. I've been wondering if I should adjust a couple of things to make it a bit easier on the eyes if you were to, let's say, play it on a tv in a livingroom setting. Didn't really give it much thought before, but that would mean making a few things a little bit larger, like text indeed or some of the smaller bullets and enemies. It would also make it a bit more friendly to play with a buddy, since it's more likely you'll be further away from the screen when sitting side by side behind a desk. Might be a good idea?
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« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2013, 05:59:50 PM »

Well, I've played a few more times, tried out some different weapon combinations, and despite the fact I can barely make it past the first couple waves, I'm still having fun.

I wouldn't say that my inability to beat it is a flaw of the game. This is supposed to be challenging, right? And it's not like it's frustratingly difficult - anytime I die, its my fault, I can see what I did wrong and what I could've done to avoid it. That's exactly the kind of thing that keeps me playing particularly difficult games.

Really, the only problem is the teeny tiny menu text - I'm running it fullscreen 1366 x 768 - but it looks like you're well aware of that.

Good job, mate!
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« Reply #12 on: July 03, 2013, 10:21:24 AM »

Well, I've played a few more times, tried out some different weapon combinations, and despite the fact I can barely make it past the first couple waves, I'm still having fun.

I wouldn't say that my inability to beat it is a flaw of the game. This is supposed to be challenging, right? And it's not like it's frustratingly difficult - anytime I die, its my fault, I can see what I did wrong and what I could've done to avoid it. That's exactly the kind of thing that keeps me playing particularly difficult games.

Really, the only problem is the teeny tiny menu text - I'm running it fullscreen 1366 x 768 - but it looks like you're well aware of that.

Good job, mate!
Cheers that you kept playing and enjoying it! It's what's all about!

It's a very difficult game yes, although I do have to say that I'm making it a bit easier both with adding a mechanic (trade points for lives) and balance-wise (it's a bit spiky at times). But nonetheless, it's still going to be difficult to beat, which is something I personally enjoy, so I went and built it that way ;p But I'm glad that it still feels as being difficult in an honest way and not in a cheap-ish way.

And I'm going to do something about the small text!
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« Reply #13 on: July 17, 2013, 11:11:41 PM »

New version is up. Not yet with adjusted text size, still on the to do list. Also, playing on a 16:10 resolution with the mouse returns in a few issues with mouse position, so either use a controller, or play in 16:9 resolution. Hope to get the time to have that fixed soon.

You can download the new version here: http://www.bithuffel.nl/zenzizenzic.zip

And here's a gameplay video I whipped up last night:

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« Reply #14 on: July 18, 2013, 01:31:33 AM »

Nice and clean visual style,and the controls are ok too!

A Suggestions: maybe add a single note every time an enemy dies? An procedural/interactive medoly maybe:)
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« Reply #15 on: July 18, 2013, 04:34:10 AM »

Nice and clean visual style,and the controls are ok too!

A Suggestions: maybe add a single note every time an enemy dies? An procedural/interactive medoly maybe:)
Thanks for checking it out Smiley

Sound design is definitely a big work in progress. Would be nice indeed if I could get some kind of tonal variation in the repetitive sounds to make it a bit more variable and less static. Good call Smiley
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« Reply #16 on: July 26, 2013, 08:36:20 AM »

And again, new version!

http://www.bithuffel.nl/zenzizenzic.zip

Lots of small changes and some cool features added. Give it a whirl and let me know what you think!
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« Reply #17 on: August 14, 2013, 07:27:32 AM »

Quick update from the devlog:

Been working on new content the past while and it's going pretty well, quicker than I expected actually!

I've figured out a level structure for now, which is guaranteed to offer a variety of challenging encounters as well as a nice variety of ways to die. The current level in the beta (download) would be level 2. Level 1 would be a more basic level, offering a way for the player to get familiar with the base mechanics. Levels following that will steadily toss new, unfamiliar stuff towards you. I won't spoil the details just yet, but it's all aiming for highly challenging gameplay while nurturing that feeling of "one more time! just one more!".

So I've been mostly busy building those levels, making sure each encounter feels good, challenging but fair and varied. I'm aiming for something between 5 to 8 levels, all of course balanced for easy (doable), medium (less doable) and hard (hardly doable) difficulties on both singleplayer and co-operative play.

Also been adding some features into the Options menu, such as adjusting screenshake amounts, or even entirely disabling the background for a clear playing field. I'm considering to add some playership customization, like different colours and shapes. That shouldn't take too much time to implement (and level design takes priority), but it depends on the inspirational juices.

If you have any cool things you'd like to see in the game, let me know, and I'll definitely consider adding it! Be it ideas on level design, weapons, mechanics, ship designs, anything!

Cheers!

- You can grab the beta over here: http://www.bithuffel.nl/zenzizenzic.zip

Ps. If you're willing, show your support! Drop a like on Facebook, a follow on Twitter. Would be greatly appreciated! Smiley
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« Reply #18 on: August 15, 2013, 05:42:58 AM »

I’ve been thinking about new weapons to implement for a while now and I may have come across a viable one to add to the arsenal: Quake!

The Quake weapon would be a fairly close range full 360 degrees area of effect weapon. In a sphere around the player the area of effect would slow down bullets and damage enemies for as long as you keep it activated and keep the enemies and bullets in the area of effect. The longer you keep it activated, the larger the radius becomes. This means you got to stick close to enemies to damage them, but will also slow down the bullets they fire (for as long as the bullets are in the effect area, when they exit the area they resume at their normal speed), giving you the opportunity to dodge them. You could also of course just use it to find a way through an oncoming onslaught of bullets in a defensive manner.

What do you say? If you have any cool ideas about this weapon, or possibly any other weapon, drop a comment somewhere! I’d greatly appreciate your input.
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« Reply #19 on: September 16, 2013, 01:54:27 AM »

Some news!

- New build: http://bithuffel.nl/zenzizenzic.html (balance changes, multiple fixes)
- New trailer:


- Support Zenzizenzic on Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=177371672
- Grab the soundtrack: http://bignic.bandcamp.com/album/zenzizenzic-soundtrack

Also some screens of work in progress bits:
- A new level selection screen


- Screen of level 3


- Screen of level 3


Note that the build only consists of a single level, which is going to be level 2. Level 1 will feature fixed bullet trajectories, level 2 aimed at location bullets, level 3 homing bullets, level 4 scaling bullets and level 5 (the final level) enemies that will use player abilities.

Give the build a whirl and let me know what you think!

« Last Edit: September 16, 2013, 02:16:17 AM by ruudk » Logged

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