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[Farbs]

Wow - it's like Tetris and Tron made babies!
 

[MekanikDestructiwKommando]

Would you kindly explain the idea of enclosed loops for more points? I've only seen 24, 26 and 32 points scored

[jph wacheski]

Well that is a sweet little game you got there!  is original enough to not be dismised as a simple Tetris rip,. but recognizable in how it workes,. there is fine line betwen the familiar and the new. some of each helps,. IMHO.

I do like your glitchy tune,.  it does have a nice happyness to its insainity,. I am a big fan of the realtime synth method,. and your generation creates interesting phrases,. what type of math you use to generate notes?   .,or do you have any good pointers to such info.s I am currently researching such things.

One thing I think your game could benefit from, is a very lightly drawn in grid, not lines, but half-sized squares just a few degrees off from the backbround that would lead the eye to the 45 degree rows and collums,. you get my meaning?  I can make a mock-up if needed.  but for me anyway I have a bit of difficulty seeing that I am in the row I think I am,. esp. when the thing gets moving quickly,. I think it would add a simple visual referance and could be optional. 

nicely done good sir.

[mechturk]

Although recently I've been furiously playing your game trying to get a handle on Tim W, I finally managed to pull myself away the game for long enough to post about it instead. 

Scoring

• I think the scoring is awesome as it stands.  To me, the game is fun largely due to the challenge of beating your own and other players high scores.  The current system encourages the creation of big loops as the main way of obtaining a high-score, which felt right to me when I played it.  The creation of really big loops with lots of enclosed cells is pretty difficult and requires very precise timing, so it only makes sense that you are rewarded well for them.
  
  
• I'm torn about whether or not you should increase the points scored for making loops later in the game.  On the one hand, making big loops towards the end is much more difficult and thus should be rewarded more.  On the other hand, having loops score the same throughout the game encourages more accurate play in the early game, which keeps things interesting even when the pieces are moving relatively slowly.  On balance, I like the way things stand now.
  
  
• Similarly, I've thought that it might be better to link the speed of the pieces with the current number of points.  It feels time based at the moment, but correct me if I'm wrong.  This would make it easier to judge how you were doing across games.  e.g. 10,000 on an empty board would be equivalent to 10,000 on another empty board.  Yet the current system rewards accuracy at every stage of the game.  You need to score extremely well at the start because as the speed increases, it becomes harder and harder to score well.
  
  
• This makes the placement of every single piece played throughout the  duration of the entire game very important.  While at times this can make the game feel very unforgiving, it also provides a tension, a need for perfection and dare I say adrenaline buzz that lasts throughout the game.  ZICZAC is one of the most technically demanding puzzlers I've played in a long time and one of the things that makes it so fun is that the real action starts from the the very first second of play.
  
  

In other words, the current scoring is awesomesauce.  Please don't change? 

Manual/Instructions

• The instructions you posted above are great.  The screenshots pretty self-explanatory really, and the scoring implications of everything are explained well in the text.  An animation in the manual would be better, and best would be an arcade-style demo.
  
  
• Speaking of demos, the ability to record replays of a game that then could be shared with other players would be very awesome.  If you decide to take the game further after the competition, then this is one way you could go.
  
  

This game definitely gets my vote.  It's my absolute favorite.   

[MekanikDestructiwKommando]

Thanks! I'll try out those loops.
I agree, I like the scoring remains the same.. you have to maximize your points

[zradick]

I love the art style and of course the title is great. 
The controls were tough to get used to, especially at first.  Once I got the hang of it a bit I still had trouble lining things up, but I guess it just takes some practice.  I like the non-standard window size, adds some flavor.
Cheers,
--Zack

[moi]

Nice new mechanism, very fresh and interesting. I liked the loops (although I was disappointed when I made an "8" and it wasn't counted).
I noticed a couple of annoyance, for example When the piece starts to fall you can't know which direction it will be going and if the upper board is full it makes it too difficult.
Also if for any reason you leave one single square in the upper part of the board it becomes way too dangerous.
Overall the game becomes too difficult when the pieces are piled high. Making comebacks almost impossible.
Overall very nice game, although the PG aspect isn't really its strong point.

[Sar]

I'd concur with most of the feedback so far, really; stylish, a fun puzzler. I didn't have any trouble working out how the game played and how to make loops, but... well, it didn't behave exactly the way I was expecting. It's possibly a tetris holdover, but I was expecting the loops to be checked once the currently-moving section had finished moving, rather than during the progress... several times I'd lose a chunk of it as I brushed a bit too close to an existing section and got a "Yay! 2x2 'loop'!" score. :/

I'm just curious what the motivation was behind that particular design decision. It's quite nice to be able to keep steering the remaining sections after a loop as been made, it's not really a complaint as such, just wondering.

[Tommunism]

The new update is great. Excellent work, I'm officially a fan.

[superflat]

Hi Orel,

Your game is beautiful in its simplicity.  Just like Tetris itself.  Like others have said, the aesthetic is lovely and the gameplay is just different enough from the Russian wundergame to make it an original and unique experience.

I have no criticisms at all.  In fact I'd urge you to try and sell it, as it would be a perfect mobile phone game (although I'm sure you didn't make it with money in mind.)  I also love the idea of PG music - and you've done it well.

Great work man. 

[skaldicpoet9]

Very nice, very nice indeed.

Great aesthetic, even more so in the latest build. The music is very appropriate and gives it that quirky puzzler feel (Bust-a-Move comes to mind). The gameplay is simple yet complex and requires a good deal of strategy, concentration and reflex; I love moving the shapes about, they feel like I am herding enormous snakes into a pen lol.

You should definitely keep working on this past the compo though. I would love to see new challenges, levels and customizable skins. If you do work on it further please don't get rid of the minimalist design, I think it works really well for this game.

Oh and Orel...don't give up on Arcade games altogether, it seems like you have a real knack for these kinds of games

[Bezzy]

I definitely like this idea a lot, and the surrounding mechanic really adds to it.

I think my only tiny bit of feedback may be on the input windows.. it'd be nice to sorta "queue" your next move within the "step" time.

So I can maybe just tap right, rather than hold it while the next step occurs (though i could be wrong about that happening). And if that's possible, it'd be nice to see a "ghost" block of where the line is about to go, based on your current/previous input.

[DanLomez]

I absolutely loved this game. The simple design and art style coupled with enjoyable and challenging gameplay. I do hope that the game is developed further though as I feel that there is something missing from this game, I can’t quite put my finger on it though. I felt somewhat constricted from the size of the playing field. I did see in a previous post the designer was thinking of showing a grid that didn’t look good.

I don’t know if this version had the grid he was talking about, but if it did I could see the game greatly benefiting from an actual grid so a player can accurately predict when to turn and snake their pieces around. I found it hard at times to line up pieces, but that could be me.

Like I said, excellent job and I hope you continue developing it. This is a game I would purchase for a cellphone in it’s current state, I hope it gets even better. Excellent work!

Dan

[Melly]

Holy crap the latest version is unplayably slow for me.

[Massena]

I can't add more to what others have said, the game is addicting, polished and down right beautiful.  But the highscores don't seem to be working for me!  When I finish my game a screen saying ZICZAC High Scores appears but is blank. I just scored something over 7000 but nothing. In the high scores screen from the menu I can see them though...
And you have a small issue with responsivness, but I think that's already been adressed. Great work! 

EDIT: Updated my version, it all works. #1 here I come!

[Melly]

Hey 0rel, my video card is an NVidia GeForce4 MX 4000 and my processor is a Pentium4 2.4GHz, plus 512 MB of RAM. Testing those extra version they all ran very smooth, so I'm assuming it was the grid that bogged down the game for me. Hope this helps.

[Fifth]

Am I doing something wrong?  When I play the game, it just shows up as a series of dots...

Ah, wait.  That last update fixed this.  Now I can see the game.
The window is still a little low, though; the bottom portion is cut off by the bottom of my screen.

Seems like a fun concept, though.  I'll have to try it a bit more thoroughly.

[Melly]

Yep, latest version runs really well, thanks.

[Gainsworthy]

Yo 0rel, any new news on this game's progress? Maybe a thread in feedback? Because, you know, I'd like to see more of ZicZac.

[Annabelle Kennedy]

i dont know if ive mentioned but i really love this. excellent puzzle game.

i think the only thing id like would be some kind of multiplayer.. battle type mode.  i love puzzle games with compete element.

my only other *minor* quibble was that the name entry wasnt long enough

but this is great, and im still on the bottom of the highscore list! yesss