Zenzizenzic Kickstarter & Greenlight - Need your support!

[Zenzizenzic]

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:

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:

Thank you kindly for your time,
Ruud Koorevaar
Developer of Zenzizenzic

[Doctor Butler]

Did it.

[Lord Satori]

What's up with the pilot guy on the title? It's pretty cool but also a little weird.

[Zenzizenzic]

Did it.

Thank you, much appreciated!

What's up with the pilot guy on the title? It's pretty cool but also a little weird.

That's of course the pilot of the ship, staring at death on every turn! Nah, it's just a cool piece of art to serve as a nice contrast to the abstract aesthetic of the game :)

[Patashu]

Supported.
I hope you have a way to invert colours in the final product, btw. Since I'm not sure I'll be able to play black-on-white games late at night

[Zenzizenzic]

Supported.
I hope you have a way to invert colours in the final product, btw. Since I'm not sure I'll be able to play black-on-white games late at night

Haha thanks! I was thinking about adding an alternative playmode with a black background (not necessarily invert) to up the challenge a bit and play with the senses.

[Pretas]

Zenzizenzic takes a well established genre of games and aims to lift it up to the next level

Groan. How many times have we heard this before from an overzealous Western indie developer ignorant of the genre and its history? Not that you necessarily are, it's just that statements like this appear overly pompous.

The art style is not "beautiful." Certainly, there is aesthetically pleasing abstract art, but this is too harsh, abrasive and cacophonous, with too much emphasis on the square (the least pleasing shape to the eye).

Also, developers don't get to call their own game "well balanced." That is decided by the players.

[ciox]

That title art is really cool and not weird at all, you should post something like a full stage being played though, can't figure out much from the snippets in the trailer, greenlit you since it's no trouble.

Zenzizenzic takes a well established genre of games and aims to lift it up to the next level

Also, developers don't get to call their own game "well balanced." That is decided by the players.

I dunno, if you can boast about having created good graphics or a lot of levels for your game, then you can boast about how much work you put into the balance, after all you would need to provide SOME kind of info about how much development time has been spent on the balance and saying "the balance is good......but your mileage may vary.........." does not sound like a feature or even something worth mentioning.
If you still think developers don't have a say in it, then have a quote from the ol' Battle Bakraid website: "Exquisite game balance, we will give a sense of urgency and sense of exhilaration to players."

That's true about the old "reinventing the genre" spiel, it's pretty grating, but I think that's what the average player needs to hear to not think they already played your shooter based on having played R-Type a couple times like 15 years ago, terrifying as it is these quotes are starting to make sense to me.

[amdiggywhut]

I would think about limiting the amount you use the word "abstract" in your game description. Twice in the first paragraph is overkill.

[Captain]

You are reviewing the description instead of the game.

[BulletMagnet]

Gave the demo a quick go, here are some thoughts off the top of my head:

- Unless I was missing something, it seems that you have to go through the entire tutorial sequence at least two or three times to earn enough points to unlock the sole playable level; I'd definitely recommend removing that particular barrier if you put out a revised beta.

- Using a third-party 360 controller on the game's default settings the right stick was very finicky, but after adjusting the sensitivity in the options menu it felt fine.

- I personally have no problem with the visual style here, but I did find it hard to keep track of things at times; maybe I just need to get used to it. I would suggest including some sort of color adjust option either way.

- Power-ups have an irritating tendency to vanish off the edge of the screen near-instantly if they spawn near there (or you take a hit around there), allowing them to bounce back into play at least once after hitting a wall might help.

- Shields give you a bit of extra wiggle room and the "sacrifice points to earn back lives" thing is interesting (though I wonder in the back of my head if it's possible to semi-break it; perhaps an increase to the required point amount as you use it more is warranted?), though the lack of invincibility time after taking a hit means that getting caught in a laser beam or other "thick" attack pattern can wipe you out near-instantly, which is tense but could also be frustrating.

Some good stuff happening here, especially coming from someone who started from scratch, though IMO it still needs a bit of tweaking.

[Patashu]

- Power-ups have an irritating tendency to vanish off the edge of the screen near-instantly if they spawn near there (or you take a hit around there), allowing them to bounce back into play at least once after hitting a wall might help.

Twice, or with a time limit - don't forget corners.

[Mortificator]

After that awesome pilot guy artwork, I'm a little disappointed when I scroll down and see the game's a Geometry Wars clone. Well, it looks better than the other one on Steam.

The 360 controller's pretty common nowadays, and I understand wanting to idiot-proof controller setup, but the input menu's pretty annoying with other hardware. I think that'd be true even with a 360 controller if the player wanted to map buttons to functions other than the default. It'd be more user-friendly to have the first column list the action, the second list the recommended 360 input, and the third and fourth for the primary and secondary player-assigned input as they already are.

Also, the speed-up and slow-down controls can only be assigned to analog triggers. You'd expand compatibility a little if they could also accept digital buttons.

[Zenzizenzic]

After that awesome pilot guy artwork, I'm a little disappointed when I scroll down and see the game's a Geometry Wars clone. Well, it looks better than the other one on Steam.

The 360 controller's pretty common nowadays, and I understand wanting to idiot-proof controller setup, but the input menu's pretty annoying with other hardware. I think that'd be true even with a 360 controller if the player wanted to map buttons to functions other than the default. It'd be more user-friendly to have the first column list the action, the second list the recommended 360 input, and the third and fourth for the primary and secondary player-assigned input as they already are.

Also, the speed-up and slow-down controls can only be assigned to analog triggers. You'd expand compatibility a little if they could also accept digital buttons.

Unfortunately the input menu is built in like that in Unity, the engine used. So I can't really change that. I am however thinking of adding an in-game input setup. It would be a fair bit if work though, but it's on the list of things to look at. It definitely needs some work still, so thanks for the feedback.

Gave the demo a quick go, here are some thoughts off the top of my head:

- Unless I was missing something, it seems that you have to go through the entire tutorial sequence at least two or three times to earn enough points to unlock the sole playable level; I'd definitely recommend removing that particular barrier if you put out a revised beta.

That is actually not intended and a fixed version is being uploaded. I messed up on that. A new version should be up in an hour or so.

- Using a third-party 360 controller on the game's default settings the right stick was very finicky, but after adjusting the sensitivity in the options menu it felt fine.

Yeah, that's the reason that option is there in the first place. The returned values for the right stick on different types controllers seems to differ a lot of times, so its nearly impossible to accommodate for it all. It seemed like the best solution to stick with the 1st party 360 controllers settings and leave further adjustments on the player's end.

- I personally have no problem with the visual style here, but I did find it hard to keep track of things at times; maybe I just need to get used to it. I would suggest including some sort of color adjust option either way.

- Power-ups have an irritating tendency to vanish off the edge of the screen near-instantly if they spawn near there (or you take a hit around there), allowing them to bounce back into play at least once after hitting a wall might help.

- Shields give you a bit of extra wiggle room and the "sacrifice points to earn back lives" thing is interesting (though I wonder in the back of my head if it's possible to semi-break it; perhaps an increase to the required point amount as you use it more is warranted?), though the lack of invincibility time after taking a hit means that getting caught in a laser beam or other "thick" attack pattern can wipe you out near-instantly, which is tense but could also be frustrating.

Some good stuff happening here, especially coming from someone who started from scratch, though IMO it still needs a bit of tweaking.

All noted, thank you, I'll try some things out and see how they feel :)

[Vexorg]

Backed. Reminds me a lot of the various Kenta Cho games (particularly rRootage).

[Lord Satori]

After that awesome pilot guy artwork, I'm a little disappointed when I scroll down and see the game's a Geometry Wars clone.

A Geometry Wars clone? Are you kidding me? Have you played either of those two games?

[Zenzizenzic]

Backed. Reminds me a lot of the various Kenta Cho games (particularly rRootage).

Thanks! :D

I've heard that reference a lot, but actually did not know Kenta Cho until a few months ago, of which I feel a little bit embarrassed about.

[Zenzizenzic]

Sharing a quick update!

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

[Zenzizenzic]

The first week is over! Happy to share that we reached 50%, passing the €1000 euro mark on the Kickstarter. There is still a ways to go, but I'd say we are on the right track!

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

[Zenzizenzic]

Every Thursday during the Kickstarter campaign I will share a gameplay video of a level (level 1 up to 4, level 5 will remain hidden!) and share some of the things you may encounter in that level.

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!

[spadgy]

Just stumbled upon this on Kickstarer doing some research for work, and thought I'd come and see if it was here on the forum. It looks lovely, but then I really adore the style of Kenta Cho's games. I'm definitely considering backing it, but it's always tricky as a games journalist, because (at least I feel this way) once I've backed something, I feel there's a conflict of interest that means arguably I couldn't write about it.

But I'll definitely keep watching it closely! And good luck!

[Zenzizenzic]

Just stumbled upon this on Kickstarer doing some research for work, and thought I'd come and see if it was here on the forum. It looks lovely, but then I really adore the style of Kenta Cho's games. I'm definitely considering backing it, but it's always tricky as a games journalist, because (at least I feel this way) once I've backed something, I feel there's a conflict of interest that means arguably I couldn't write about it.

But I'll definitely keep watching it closely! And good luck!

Thank you for the kind words and the support! Even if you can't back it on Kickstarter, every bit of support is appreciated so much, be it just following its progress or simply checking the Kickstarter out, it's all good!

And a quick update:
For a strong push to reach €2000 on the Zenzizenzic Kickstarter I have raised the immediate full beta access reward to the first 130 backers (previously 80) for all €12 and higher pledges!

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

[cools]

Sigh, I miss the PD and shareware scene of the 90s.

[spadgy]

One day people will feel nostalgic about the crowdfunding era.

I see you're right up the top now if you hit the games tab (taking you to all games - video and tabletop – ordered by 'magic'). Obviously a staffer at Kickstarter has seen it and been impressed! Hold onto that spot and I imagine you'll hit the target!

If I can't back it, I may as well give it a Tweet!

[cools]

I suppose. I really can't get my head around crowd funding digital distribution only software. I know its cheap, but with something physical you at least get something to try and resell if the project turns out to be bobbins.

But I guess people gamble with far higher stakes and rewards elsewhere, so its likely just me.

[spadgy]

I think the original spirit of Kickstarter wasn't (and to me isn't) about what the backer gets as a reward. It's about making products you are excited by become real. Let's say (to pluck a hypothetical example) you back a project for a library being made in some place in need; you wouldn't be doing so for any reward, or with preordering a project in mind. However, and utterly understandably, over in the world of media and physical products, people have grown to use crowdfunding as a preordering service. I certainly back projects where it's wicked to receive a copy - but I try and stick to that original spirit of crowdfunding; I only back projects where my main motivation is being inspired by a project, and wanting to be a small part of making it a reality.

Anyway - I just got your press release email to my work address Zenzizenzic; very professional and slick! I just need to update you (or whoever provided the release service) to my more current work email.

And, in lieu of backing, I gave a tweet as I do love the product (I'm @spadgy_OTA). My followers there aren't that high in number, but are mostly games industry and games press types, so hopefully it helps a little!

[Despatche]

How did I miss this? It's like a proto of the CCWI thread!

Groan. How many times have we heard this before from an overzealous Western indie developer ignorant of the genre and its history? Not that you necessarily are, it's just that statements like this appear overly pompous.

Because all developers have to in order to appeal to more than a handful of buyers, and because some types of developers think they're doing something that's never been done. If anyone is ignorant of this genre and its history, it's you.

The art style is not "beautiful." Certainly, there is aesthetically pleasing abstract art, but this is too harsh, abrasive and cacophonous, with too much emphasis on the square (the least pleasing shape to the eye).

Even though "beauty" is mostly opinion, unless you're crazy and can only see how efficient a mathematical equation is as "beauty", or something retarded like that.

Also, developers don't get to call their own game "well balanced." That is decided by the players.

The sad thing is that whether or not a game is "well-balanced" is also opinion, and that "well-balanced" can mean a lot of things. An example of both in action: I don't think most of the Raidens are well-balanced games at all and I could go on about why (hint: it's got nothing to do with sniper tanks), except this is the series that is generally praised by fans for being one of the most well-designed games in the genre.

[Zenzizenzic]

One day people will feel nostalgic about the crowdfunding era. :wink:

I see you're right up the top now if you hit the games tab (taking you to all games - video and tabletop – ordered by 'magic'). Obviously a staffer at Kickstarter has seen it and been impressed! Hold onto that spot and I imagine you'll hit the target!

If I can't back it, I may as well give it a Tweet!

Thank you spadgy. I hadn't noticed that it got up there, awesome! I just spotted it is the most popular Kickstarter project in the Netherlands through some weird algorithm, which is amazing. I guess indeed someone from Kickstarter spotted it and maybe pushed it a bit. And thanks for the tweet, every bit of support is very much appreciated :)

It's tough getting your game out there and being noticed. Starting a Kickstarter and simultaneous Steam Greenlight campaign gives the public and press a good reason to check it out. Especially when you're in a position like myself, who started from just about nothing, so without the network that you'd usually have to support your projects when you have a couple of years in the field under your belt and a few finished games out there, or even contacts you build up during a game related study. Which is also why I waited with the Greenlight and Kickstarter campaign until I actually had something decent to show of the game and that people could give it a spin themselves. It's difficult to trust a guy with no former experience of actually building games who's coming by and say "hey, could you help me get some funds to build this game of a rather niche genre, while I don't have the skills and knowledge at the moment to actually build it?". I would much rather give people the assurance that I'm able to deliver what I promise to deliver, which is a reason why I waited until the project was in a comfortable state and I had something close to the final product to show. As such it's not necessarily a "kickstarter" for the game, since it's in a later state of development to consider it the start, but also a kickstarter in the sense of building trust and a foundation for future projects.

---

I shared a quick update on the Kickstarter page, here it is for ease of access and to keep you all posted here about the progress!

Week 3 is past and we're steadily heading towards that €2000 goal on the Zenzizenzic Kickstarter!

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

[Lord Satori]

I'd just like to say that it would be amazing if the open world version was made, but I don't think its goal is remotely reachable.

[Zenzizenzic]

I'd just like to say that it would be amazing if the open world version was made, but I don't think its goal is remotely reachable.

Yeah, not very likely! Something very special would have had to happen to reach that goal. The setup of the Kickstarter is probably also not ideal to reach it as the values of the tiers are on average too low, it would require too many backers to reach it. It could've happened with a bit of a perfect storm, but the odds of that happening are naturally low.