![]() Spacechem has these wild, often infuriating end bosses to each node and while I kind of hated them, they were also some of my most memorable expeiences with the game. I'm interested in the thought process behind end bosses in your games. I think the next Zachtronics game is going to kick your ass, but maybe don't hold me to that. Finally adding an option for global records on the leaderboards? Experiment!) Translating the game at launch into five additional languages? Experiment. ![]() ![]() Having a puzzle editor at launch? Experiment. (As a side note, we try to do a lot of experiments like this. We've always wanted to explore the idea of making a game where the puzzles were easier to solve but still interesting to optimize, and with Opus Magnum we've gotten the chance! Some people liked the extreme constraints of SHENZHEN I/O, but lots of people also complained about it, so maybe this is a good experiment? Maybe making a more casual Zachtronics game will open it up to a larger audience? It's too soon to tell, but we'll know eventually. Opus Magnum wasn't necessarily envisioned as an "easy" game, but once we figured out it was we chose to embrace it. This tracks with something we continued to see in our puzzle games: very few people beat them, but many people love to optimize the early, easier levels. I'm paraphrasing here, but they lamented the fact that the puzzles were so hard to solve that they didn't get as many opportunities to optimize as they would have liked. :)Ī year or two after the release of SpaceChem, Keith (our other programmer/designer) and I had dinner with some programmers at Bungie who were fans of our games. Thank you so much for your amazing games! And for taking the time of reading my question ofc. Pretty much all of them up to the last chapter can be solved with a single arm, and possibly a short rail. The only thing I dislike about the missing limitations, is that puzzles got a whole lot more alike. I just wasn't expecting to breeze through one of your games (optimizing for time will be a whole different story though, I'm sure). I'm not at all saying this is a bad thing by the way. Have you taken inspirations by other Zachlikes, like the fantastic Silicon Zeroes by any chance? Will there be more "hardcore" Zachtronic games in the future again, or are you happy how OM turned out? You also took away the need to keep the parts in sync, as they do so on their own now. Was this a concious decision for OM, so that the game is easier and more accessible to more players? Or are there other reasons for it? It's been a while since I've played Codex, but afaik there too are both spacial and programming limitations. Most other titles I got stuck way earlier. So far I'm almost through the campaign, and I have optimised perfectly in cost for every solution. What this means is, that the puzzles are a whole lot easier to complete. Some games like Shenzhen I/O even have multiple limiting factors (physical space and loc per module for example). A big part of why the other titles are as hard as they're are, is that the player is running out of space very quickly. But I've noticed there is a key difference to other Zachtronics games - There are pretty much no limitations. Despite that, I have no intention of making this a Rampart-style AMA, so please ask us about anything that interests you! We've been at this for a long time and have a lot to talk about!ĮDIT: Looks like we're done for now, thanks for all the questions everyone! If there's something you still want to know you can always email me at and I'll try to help you out! Today I'm here with most of the Zachtronics team to answer your questions! Our newest design-based puzzle game, Opus Magnum, was just released to Early Access on Steam last Thursday, which is ostensibly why we're here. We can talk about that too, if you want, but try not to ask too many questions about working at Valve. I guess there was also that time that I closed down Zachtronics for a year and worked at Valve on the SteamVR team, where I was one of a few people who worked on Xortex 26XX for The Lab. ![]() ![]() Possibly also real-time, card-based tactics games, but we don't talk about that game much. We've arguably pioneered multiple genres of games, including Minecraft clones and design-based puzzles. Also, some dubious educational games that were 66% about pooping. I've been making "indie games" for about 10 years now, including Infiniminer, SpaceChem, Ironclad Tactics, Infinifactory, TIS-100, SHENZHEN I/O, and the newly released Opus Magnum. I'm Zach Barth, the creative director of the game studio Zachtronics. ![]()
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