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Exapunks (2018)

zachtronics.com

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Re: Exapunks (2018)

#31

Post by computerliker »

krispykrem wrote: post #29
comeonbro wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without specifically looking into it but just going off of Steam releases and headline, I'd assumed Zachtronics closing was Zach Barth leaving the scene, and the company that made Kaizen etc were some of his former colleagues continuing on without him. But apparently the Kaizen-making company is still Zach Barth? So what was Zachtronics closing then? Him changing his mind and coming back a year later? Why throw away…

Here is something I (Zach) wrote up a while ago in an attempt to explain it: > Back in 2016, we sold Zachtronics to a company called Alliance, who we worked for as employees and made all the Zachtronics games from SHENZHEN I/O onward. In 2022 we stopped working for them and started a new studio called Coincidence, which we own and run as a sort of co-op that allows us to work on projects together, or not together, or…

Hi Zach, Fortune’s Foundation is my favorite game ever. Thank you!

Re: Exapunks (2018)

#32

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

krispykrem wrote: post #29
comeonbro wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without specifically looking into it but just going off of Steam releases and headline, I'd assumed Zachtronics closing was Zach Barth leaving the scene, and the company that made Kaizen etc were some of his former colleagues continuing on without him. But apparently the Kaizen-making company is still Zach Barth? So what was Zachtronics closing then? Him changing his mind and coming back a year later? Why throw away…

Here is something I (Zach) wrote up a while ago in an attempt to explain it: > Back in 2016, we sold Zachtronics to a company called Alliance, who we worked for as employees and made all the Zachtronics games from SHENZHEN I/O onward. In 2022 we stopped working for them and started a new studio called Coincidence, which we own and run as a sort of co-op that allows us to work on projects together, or not together, or…

Any chance of making it onto GOG? I prefer to pickup games from there whenever I can.

Re: Exapunks (2018)

#33

Post by omgbear »

Printing the physical zines in exapunks as a reference was very cool, and a good throwback to when games shipped with boxes and detailed manuals.

Spacechem was my intro to Zachtronics, and it consumed me when it came out. The concept of instructions inside the actual work area is amazing and still makes my head spin. I consider beating Ω-Pseudoethyne one of my top coding/steam achievements.

I fell off for a bit because the leaderboard grind against friends felt draining, but rekindled my joy by mostly ignoring them (Unless I'm way out of distribution). I'm so glad Zach and the team are back.

Re: Exapunks (2018)

#34

Post by CWuestefeld »

I haven't played this, but just reading the description...

> Learn to hack from TRASH WORLD NEWS, the underground computer magazine.

It seems like a missed opportunity not to name-drop 2600. But I guess they wouldn't be allowed to do that anyway.

Re: Exapunks (2018)

#35

Post by sejje »

figbert wrote: post #15

Reminds me of one of my favorite games: Hacknet ( https://hacknet-os.com - https://store.steampowered.com/app/365450/Hacknet/ ). Likely contributed in a meaningful way to me becoming a programmer. I think I have Zachtronic's SHENZHEN I/O on my wishlist—will have to check out his whole catalog.

85% off and $1.49 USD right now for the summer sale

Re: Exapunks (2018)

#36

Post by krispykrem »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #32
krispykrem wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is something I (Zach) wrote up a while ago in an attempt to explain it: > Back in 2016, we sold Zachtronics to a company called Alliance, who we worked for as employees and made all the Zachtronics games from SHENZHEN I/O onward. In 2022 we stopped working for them and started a new studio called Coincidence, which we own and run as a sort of co-op that allows us to work on projects together, or not together, or…

Any chance of making it onto GOG? I prefer to pickup games from there whenever I can.

It's unlikely. We do have a DRM-free version of Kaizen on itch.io, which also includes a Steam key so that you can enjoy the best of both worlds:

https://astralogicalgames.itch.io/kaizen-a-factory-story

Re: Exapunks (2018)

#37

Post by saghm »

comeonbro wrote: post #13
jawarner wrote: post #9

For those who don't know -- while Zachtronics is no longer making games, Zach Barth is still active now under the company Coincidence Games. They just game out with a spacecraft engineering puzzle game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2536720/UVS_Nirmana/?cura... .

Without specifically looking into it but just going off of Steam releases and headline, I'd assumed Zachtronics closing was Zach Barth leaving the scene, and the company that made Kaizen etc were some of his former colleagues continuing on without him. But apparently the Kaizen-making company is still Zach Barth? So what was Zachtronics closing then? Him changing his mind and coming back a year later? Why throw away…

> So what was Zachtronics closing then? Him changing his mind and coming back a year later? Why throw away the brand? As cringingly shallow as that sentence was to type, a new "Zachtronics" game was a reflexive auto-buy for many people.

It's not clear that this happened here, but I could imagine that someone successful enough not to need the money might literally prefer to have their work evaluated on its own merits and not have the outsized level of attention that being well-known brings. I remember reading in Eric Clapton's autobiography (which might or might not be an accurate retelling of course) that the original plan for Derek and the Dominoes was to name them "Del and the Dominoes" and basically hide the fact that he was the guitarist since he was tired of all of the attention. According to him, "Derek" was a slip of the tongue from someone on stage one night, and the record label eventually decided to try to capitalize on his hype by marketing the fact that he was behind it.

Re: Exapunks (2018)

#38

Post by [deleted] »

jna_sh wrote: post #7
deelowe wrote: post #4

I wish Zach would start making games again. :-(

He never stopped, he’s just under a different label: https://coincidence.games/ They’ve released two Zach-likes, Kaizen and UVS Nirmana. Blatant self promotion, but if you want the full story, he chatted to me about it on Software Engineering Daily after the release of Kaizen: https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2025/12/18/designing-in...

[deleted]

Re: Exapunks (2018)

#39

Post by __sy__ »

markx2 wrote: post #2

Their catalogue is well worth buying. https://store.steampowered.com/developer/zachtronics

i loved playing ShenzhenIO! So much so that i ended up buying and registering the domain of the fictitious company you were hired by in the game. That domain redirects to Seam now

Re: Exapunks (2018)

#40

Post by krispykrem »

computerliker wrote: post #31
krispykrem wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is something I (Zach) wrote up a while ago in an attempt to explain it: > Back in 2016, we sold Zachtronics to a company called Alliance, who we worked for as employees and made all the Zachtronics games from SHENZHEN I/O onward. In 2022 we stopped working for them and started a new studio called Coincidence, which we own and run as a sort of co-op that allows us to work on projects together, or not together, or…

Hi Zach, Fortune’s Foundation is my favorite game ever. Thank you!

Thanks! I still play it often, which is not true of any of my other games.
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