I'm Zach Barth, the creative director of the game studio Zachtronics. We just released our last game, Last Call BBS, and are shutting down the studio. AMA!

Hi Zach. Love your work. Do you think a Scrubs reboot is in your future ? Do you and Donald Faison hang out still?

ಠ_ಠ

What life-shattering trauma led you to take revenge on the world by creating Ω-Pseudoethyne?

It's more like utter indifference to the suffering of others.

Would you consider releasing obfuscation mappings for opus magnum to help out the new modding scene?

Figure out who is in charge and reach out to me directly by email.

Hey Zach. I just have to say, Opus Magnum is the greatest puzzle game of all time. Everything from the open-ended nature of the puzzles/solutions, to the satisfyingly mechanical sound design, to the beautiful and mesmerizing gifs that a finely-tuned solution produces-- it's just a perfect 10/10. Thanks for making it.

So my question will also be about Opus: What are your thoughts on the game? How does it rank among your other titles? Do you even have preferences for some of your games over others, or is it an "I love all my children equally" situation?

So my question will also be about Opus [Magnum]: What are your thoughts on the game? How does it rank among your other titles?

I always thought it was funny that our most successful game was also one of the most formulaic. As detailed in ZACH-LIKE we mostly made it because we needed a good idea fast. It's hard to dislike your most successful game, though, so it's definitely somewhere at the top.

Do you even have preferences for some of your games over others, or is it an "I love all my children equally" situation?

Definitely the former, they are not all equal. The gameplay in EXAPUNKS might not be the best but I love the content and the zines and the ambience, so that puts it at the top of my list. Ironclad Tactics, on the other hand, we all kind of look back at and wince.

I remember when I met you at an indie event and said I remembered you for Ironclad Tactics, having played it at a SIX in ages past and later bought it on Steam, and you were absolutely flabbergasted that that's what I knew you for.

Yeah, that sounds about right!

Greetings Zach!
I'm a big fan of all the Zachtronics game and first of all I wanna thank you and all the team for all the work and love you put in your games

What was your inspiration to develop puzzle-programming games? It's probably a not so popular videogame genre

What was your inspiration to develop puzzle-programming games? It's probably a not so popular videogame genre

I was just making the things that seemed interesting to me, and only years later did it turn into a way to make money.

The real answer to this question is found in my free game design retrospective ZACH-LIKE. I spend a ton of time showing my inspirations and process in there. It's 400 pages long!

Hi zach, I'm a big fan of all your games, especially Spacechem. How does it feel knowing that some people played your games for hundreds and thousands of hours?

How does it feel knowing that some people played your games for hundreds and thousands of hours?

It's less about how much you do it and more about what you do with it.

Wow I have absolutely no idea what the fuck this is

That is the correct response.

Thank you so much for the games you made! I think Shenzhen I/O is an absolute masterpiece and that people like you make the world a better place.

The question: do you know of any attempts to use your games "officially" for educational purposes - e.g. at schools?

do you know of any attempts to use your games "officially" for educational purposes - e.g. at schools?

I mean, yeah, we've given away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of copies!

https://www.zachtronics.com/zachademics/

I used a bunch of them in my high school CS classes too.

Has there been any thought about making legit educational games? Teaching ladder logic, coding, etc

There's plenty of educational material out there already, but very few Zachtronics games.

You've said that you hoped you'd love teaching, but have ended up deciding that you'll likely stay in game-dev in some form. Does this mean we can expect to see more zach-like games in the future? Or perhaps you'll join another team elsewhere? I honestly get sad thinking that there won't be anymore of these games to melt my brain with.

As a second question: When Minecraft turned into the success that it did, how did you feel knowing that Infiniminer was the main inspiration for it?

Does this mean we can expect to see more zach-like games in the future? Or perhaps you'll join another team elsewhere?

I have no idea! I really do like making those kinds of puzzle games though...

When Minecraft turned into the success that it did, how did you feel knowing that Infiniminer was the main inspiration for it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Nq2vNcpIo

What are some activities you like that don't involve a screen?

I've been obsessed with Rocksmith since the pandemic started, except wait, that definitely involves a screen.

I like... walking?

How does it feel to have your name on a whole gaming subgenre?

It was embarrassing at first, but I'm starting to come around to it.

I’ve played them all and was sad to hear that you will quit.

With the last couple of games being somewhat different from the classic zach-like puzzlers, was that a way to try and break away from the concept? And how come it didn’t work?

With the last couple of games being somewhat different from the classic zach-like puzzlers, was that a way to try and break away from the concept? And how come it didn’t work?

It was less about "breaking away" and more about exploring some ideas that seemed interesting to us and happened to be different from other games we'd made in the past.

To some degree I tried to justify it to myself by saying that maybe we'd have another situation like TIS-100 and accidentally make something that was more successful than we expected, but it's not like we were trying to deliberately make new games that would make more money. It was all about following our curiosity.

Just wanted to say thank you for making native Linux versions of all of your games! Were there any additional challenges in porting?

Not really, we got the expert to help us out once and it's been good ever since!

In the post about Zachtronics closing you seem pretty happy to be moving on. Do the rest of your employees feel the same way? How much notice did you give them before they had to move on?

Do the rest of your employees feel the same way?

Some of us are more about the lifestyle, and some of us are more about the job, so I think it varied a bit.

How much notice did you give them before they had to move on?

At least two years! We made the decision somewhere between Eliza and Möbius Front '83.

If you had to give some advice to anyone aspiring to continue zachtronic’s legacy by creating Zach-like games, what would it be?

Maybe don't try to make any money, at least at first? It was over 15 years ago, so I guess things have changed enough that this advice is probably useless, but I tend to think that the fact I gave away all my early games was the secret to my success.

This may be the exact wrong place for a feature request, but can we get a zoom in function for the Steed Force Hobby Studio in Last Call BBS so we can paint stuff more accurately? Like mouse wheel zoom?

There's a feature request thread on the r/lastcallbbs https://old.reddit.com/r/lastcallbbs/comments/vrmrpx/official_last_call_bbs_feature_request_thread/

This is the correct answer, but you can also work around this in the meantime by using the magnifier tool built into your operating system. (Your real operating system, not the Sawayama operating system.)

Hi, Zach! I absolutely love your games/work. Which books and courses can you recommend for improving general problem-solving skills?

Which books and courses can you recommend for improving general problem-solving skills?

I don't know if you can learn these skills in a way that transfers, and I certainly don't have any books or courses to recommend. I would imagine the best thing you could do is to go out and just... solve problems?

I played most of your games and find them fun until about 1/3 to half, then i get punched in the face with a enormous difficulty spike and is always from, "i can do it without problems" to "what the fuck is this"

Is that in some way intentional?

It's not, uh, unintentional? If it was an accident we'd surely have fixed it by now!

People who play games tend to come in at a certain skill level and only grow slightly over the course of the game. This is why dynamic difficulty and RPG-style progression are so popular with the designers of successful games. Our games don't do those things, which means that some people will play them a little and get stuck, some people will play them to the end and find it a good satisfying challenge, and others will never be able to play them at all. It's not ideal, but it's maybe unavoidable for games that provide more "real" challenges.

I love that this is basically you telling us "tough shit, be smarter!" I've loved many of your games and also never make it all the way to the end!!

Noooo, it's more like I'm bad at my job and you have to suffer the consequences! ;)

Were you ever a user of classic BBS systems? What was your favorite door game or experience?

No, I'm actually a little too young for that, or at least didn't have the right influences at a young age. I was in middle school when I learned about internet-based MUDs and MOOs, though, which I always thought filled a similar niche for me.

Is there anyone that DOESN'T like working there? If so, do they call you "Barth Vader" behind your back?

Probably not? "Barth Vader" is fun though, I've never heard that one before!

I feel like video games often put storytelling in the backseat to gameplay, and the Zachtronics games always seemed like they were pushing for more. Now that the studio is closing, would you try working in a different form of media?

Even though I wish I was a cool Hollywood director like every other game designer out there, the reality is that I know nothing about anything other than games. Other people at the studio do other things though; our artists make art and our writer likes to write!

Greetings. You may have heard of me, the SpaceChem player gggol.

With Zachtronics shutting down, is there any reason not to release source code, and publish everything under a copyleft license, if not right away, perhaps in 5 years? I am particularly interested in hearing about the programming languages and libraries you considered using, evaluated, and why you chose the ones you did.

How much time did you have to spend on business issues, rather than on game design? And, what limitations do business concerns impose on you? You have to look the other way should fans recreate the games in some form or do anything else that might be considered infringing?

With Zachtronics shutting down, is there any reason not to release source code, and publish everything under a copyleft license, if not right away, perhaps in 5 years?

Maybe one day, but not while we're still actively selling and supporting the games.

How much time did you have to spend on business issues, rather than on game design? And, what limitations do business concerns impose on you?

Arguably, all of the game design issues were business issues; the only games you can sell are the ones you make. But maybe you mean stuff like paying taxes and not breaking employment laws? Our parent company took care of that since we sold in 2016.

Hey Zach, hope you're well. How do you evaluate and execute the instructions on your games TIS-100 and SHENZHEN I/O?

We tokenize the code into a simple abstract syntax tree and then execute it step by step in the simulation. The tokenization part is certainly much more complicated than the simulation part, especially when figuring out how to show errors to the user.

Thank you for the great games you and our team managed to put out there.

I have not played al of the games you put out there, but I loved Infinifactory and spacechem. There are fond memories for me waking up in the middle of the night, writing down a possible solution I literally dreamed up. Noting it down so I would not forget the following day. To bad my handwriting sucks, especially late at night. So that turned out to be no help at all.

Thank you and good luck with your future plans. Hope they resolve in low cycles with a tiny footprint. =)

Seems there is not really a question in here yet.

Did you enjoy making the puzzles and did players solve them in ways you did not see yourself?

Did you enjoy making the puzzles and did players solve them in ways you did not see yourself?

Famously! I think there's a segment in this talk where I show off a bunch of crazy player-built contraptions that surprised me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df9pz_EmKhA

What made you dislike teaching?

As a teacher transitioning into tech (software) I completely understand why teaching might not have worked out lol.

As much as I love teaching itself, it's actually the minority of what I really do. All the other bullshit surrounding teaching fucks up a job that could otherwise have been very rewarding. Not to mention the shit pay . . .

Good luck!

I don't have a concise answer for this, but one of the main reasons was that I was bored all the time!

I taught programming, so I always felt that I was doing my job right if the students were busy working on their programs and not necessarily interacting with me. Add in all the unused office hours and planning periods and... let's just say that I spent a lot of time on my laptop reading Hacker News.

I remember watching a talk you did years back about making Zachlikes, which mentioned communicating as much as you can inside a single screen of space. Do you have any other tips for developers who want to carry the torch of this puzzle genre?

Do you have any other tips for developers who want to carry the torch of this puzzle genre?

Whatever you do, don't make your players program in JavaScript.

Sorry, that was a bullshit joke answer. The REAL answer is that you should never have a solution in mind when you design a puzzle. Make interesting tools, make interesting tasks, let your players figure out the rest.

After reading Zach-like was curious if there was any one particular 'failed' idea you really wish worked out better or would want to revisit?

You'll find them in Last Call BBS!

Hey Zach and Zachtronics team! Thank you so much for your work these past years, it's been a big part of my life, but it's nice to be able to see it end now rather than wither away slowly.

I want to ask about the idea of auteurs in the indie games industry. It's so easy to think of Zachtronics as the work of Zach Barth alone, but I do my best to remember other team members, like Keith Holman, Matthew S. Burns, and Kyle Steed. What do you think about the discourse over your games and others? Do people focus too much on the creative leads and discount the effort of the entire team too much?

What do you think about the discourse over your games and others? Do people focus too much on the creative leads and discount the effort of the entire team too much?

Probably? But putting your name in the name of the company doesn't help either...

I have a lot of conflicted feelings about this, but at the end of the day I think you just have to go with what feels right.

Do you usually have a perfect solution in mind when designing a level? Have there ever been times when a histogram revealed a solution/exploit you hadn't considered?

Thanks for the years and years of fun.

Do you usually have a perfect solution in mind when designing a level? Have there ever been times when a histogram revealed a solution/exploit you hadn't considered?

I say it in like every talk and Q&A I do, but no, I specifically design puzzles without a solution in mind. Some of them, like the last few puzzles in SpaceChem, I've never even solved myself! I like to think this is where that real Zachtronics "authenticity" comes from, being too lazy to solve my own puzzles.

Before the game is released, do you know if all the puzzles have solutions? Has there ever been a puzzle you made that was unsolvable?

We do make sure that someone is able to beat every puzzle before we release the game, even if it's going to Early Access. It's just not always me.

I have made many puzzles that were unsolvable. Someone on our team once played an Infinifactory puzzle for like six hours before we realized that it was obviously impossible based on the way that welders worked.

After reading the article, it makes sense why last call. Sounds like you guys got everything out of Zachtronics as you can.
As someone who is 27, starting on my Unity Journey this week. How did you keep your inspiration up?

Thanks!

As someone who is 27, starting on my Unity Journey this week. How did you keep your inspiration up?

For me, at least, it was never about inspiration, it was about obsession. I had to make games. From there it was just a question of how.

Thank you! To you, and the team, for a series of incredible and unique games that gave me hour upon hours of fun and mind bending. All the luck in the future and I hope we'll hear about some of your projects, whatever shape or form they end up being.

The question part: There are a few of your games that I have yet to buy. If I buy them now would the money go to Zachtronics or Alliance Media Holdings? If I buy them later would only Alliance profit?

There are a few of your games that I have yet to buy. If I buy them now would the money go to Zachtronics or Alliance Media Holdings? If I buy them later would only Alliance profit?

The answer to this question depends a lot more on you than on me, but at least from our end nothing has meaningfully changed. If you would have bought them before I think it still makes sense to do so?

Hi Zach, I'm a huge fan of your games!

What's your favorite programming language?

What's your favorite programming language?

Ever wonder how we put out a game a year and they almost never crash?

C#

Fan of TIS-100

With the studio going EOL any plans to open source previous projects?

Is there ever a good time to turn a paid product open source?

We are going to keep selling and supporting the games, even if we're not making new ones.

How did working remotely affect the development of Last Call BBS? Did different team members take charge of different subgames, or did everyone still contribute to every subgame?

The project that became Last Call BBS was originally meant to be a full-sized version of 20th Century Food Court. That didn't work out for many reasons (to be covered on an upcoming episode of the ETAO podcast) but the short answer is that Last Call BBS and its collection of games was designed as a solution to the problems of working remotely. When it came to actually building the games, they were mostly made as two-person programmer/artist teams instead of our usual five-person blob.

While you didn't love teaching computer science, have you considered teaching game design?

I was about to say that I suspect I'd like that even less, as game design is kind of disappointingly nebulous, but I can also imagine a version that doesn't suck. Email me at [email protected] if you'd like to sign up for my new online game design course!

What is/was the process for deciding what commercial project to work on next at Zachtronics? Internal pitches, prototyping, etc.?

The TL;DR is that I would come up with an idea and then we would make it! Sometimes it would be a bad idea and then we would stop early, but it was never really a prototype per se.

How many Puzzle game concepts have you scrapped for each one you released?

We had a tendency to start and then abandon about one project for each one or two games shipped. Lots of fun details about this await you in ZACH-LIKE, like sketches and screenshots and sometimes even playable builds.

Hey Zach, loved your unique style of puzzle game for a long time now, and I've always wondered, why did KOHCTPYKTOP: Engineer of the People never get a commercial re-release? It was always my favorite of your old games, second being Ruckingenur II. It was such a unique concept even from your other games, what prevented it from working as a paid game?

Last Call BBS actually has a very similar game if you weren't aware

Yeah seriously LOOK AT OUR NEW GAME I MADE THIS JUST FOR YOU!

Hey Zach, huge fan of Zachtronics' games and others in the genre. You've released deluxe versions of a lot of your games, is there anything you wanted to get into one of those deluxe versions but couldn't due to cost, manufacturing issues, etc?

When I was designing the deluxe edition for EXAPUNKS I had a dream where we shipped fake beer labels that you could put on a bottle of beer so that you could pretend you were drinking in-universe beer while you played the game. We never ended up including these because there wasn't a strong enough plot connection and stickers cost $$$, but if you look closely at the room screen in EXAPUNKS you can see some beer bottles that were placed there mostly for this purpose.

Most of your games look like perfect fit on tablets. Is there any plans to bring them to iPadOS and Android?

No, not really. We did iPad ports of both SpaceChem and TIS-100 but neither one did well enough to justify the time. It seems like a bad audience fit, and my over-reliance on mouse and keyboard controls certainly doesn't help either.

What's up with people named Zach being so good at making super addictive indie puzzle games? Zach Gage being the other one.

It's a good name, I guess.

Are there some game concepts that you've really liked and wanted to work on, but just couldn't fit it into the development pipeline, or started but cancelled in early development?

You'll find them in ZACH-LIKE, although that predates Last Call BBS which actually includes a few of my favorite unmade ideas from that collection.

Why are you shutting down the studio?

https://www.pcgamer.com/why-last-call-bbs-is-the-last-call-for-indie-studio-zachtronics/

A couple of questions that are probably too old/random for answers - In Infinifrag 2 I'd say that I can work out what most of the biomes are meant to be, but then there's some kind of floating island biome that the map labels as 'Ar'? I have no idea about that one.

Ar - ?
Ci - City
De - Desert
He - Hell
IP - Ice Plains
Ju - Jungle
Mo - Mountain
Pl - Plains
Sw - Swamp

LF - ? (1x1)

Also, sometimes a jungle will have a large clearing labeled '+T'. I'm guessing that there was going to be a temple there?

+L - Labrynth?/Lava? (3x3)
+S - Desert Clearing?/Placeholder? (1x1)
+T - Jungle Clearing?/Placeholder? (2x2)
+V - Volcano (2x2) (Plains Clearing(1x1)?)
+W - Watchtower? (2x2)
+Z - Pyramid (2x2)

All the best with things post-Zachtronics!

Oh geez, do you have a picture of what that biome looks like?

Sure! Here: https://www.reddit.com/user/robertskitch/comments/vtqjin/infinifrag_2_ar_biome/

It's the arena biome!

Hi Zach!

Sorry to hear teaching didn't work out for you.
What are your thoughts about using programming / puzzle games as teaching aids / exercises in general, and for introducing concepts in Computer Science in particular?

(TIS-100 was my first direct exposure to writing assembly, and I'll admit to having written an FPGA implementation of it, with an assembler that supports the game's puzzle file format for my Bachelor's dissertation. Sorry for the undocumented mess!)

Thanks for all the excellent games, and good luck with your future plans for everyone on the team!

What are your thoughts about using programming / puzzle games as teaching aids / exercises in general, and for introducing concepts in Computer Science in particular?

I used some of my games in my high school programming classes, but it was mostly just for fun. They're too confusing and puzzling to be used as actual teaching aids. I think for that you just need a decent programming curriculum and a lot of time to experiment.

Hey Zach. Big fan of your stuff, even though I'm not smart enough for most of it. :) I did a podcast review of Eliza a while back that I sent you and you were very kind in your response.

I have a bit of a business question cause I follow the games business as an interest. A few years ago, Zachtronics was acquired by Alliance Media Holdings. You've been sort of their "primary" developer and have accounted for most of their releases, aside from a couple of other indies that while cool, don't appear to have been big successes.

What's been Alliance's response to their main revenue driver shutting down? Are they pivoting to something else? I realize there's probably legal reasons you can't answer this, but I'm trying anyway. :)

Cheers, your studio will be missed!

They've always given us an immense amount of independence and creative freedom, but this comes at the cost of me being pretty oblivious to what they're up to. You'd have to ask them directly!

As the Head of Education for a game design school, would you be willing to hold a presentation and/or workshop on game design in November by any chance?

Sure, send me an email ([email protected]) and we can talk about it.

Understand the life of a game studio is very volatile, as someone that works in the 9-5 schedule and gone through the Great Recession and the pandemic, I am very curious about the mentality and the ways that people in the gaming industry cope of the insecurity of their job? Many thanks!

I am very curious about the mentality and the ways that people in the gaming industry cope of the insecurity of their job?

Working at Zachtronics is very different from working in the industry at large, so I'm probably not the right person to ask about this.

Hi Zach, big fan really. Can you tell more about your preferred tech stack? Do you guys plan to open source any of the engines (if any) that you developed?

It's not our actual engine, because that's just a big gross ball of code we bring from project to project, but we built something like it for other people to use:

https://github.com/zachbarth/minimalist-game-framework

What are the biggest challenges if someone would want to make a game and how much money and people would you need for an entry level project. I know it depends, but give me your best guess.

One more if I may. :)

What do you think about the new Unreal Engine 5? I'm an old fart and I think it is revolutionary for the game industry. Am I mistaken and why?

Also, thanks for doing this AMA. It is great to hear from people who have experience.

What are the biggest challenges if someone would want to make a game and how much money and people would you need for an entry level project. I know it depends, but give me your best guess.

Wikipedia says that Cyberpunk 2077 cost over $170M to make, and a bunch of my games didn't cost me anything, so I guess somewhere in between?

What do you think about the new Unreal Engine 5? I'm an old fart and I think it is revolutionary for the game industry. Am I mistaken and why?

I'm the wrong person to ask. We switched from using Unity to using our own homemade C# game engine. One of the best decisions we've ever made!

I'm curious. Are there any plans for this C# game engine after the studio splits up? Will it just be retired?

I'm also curious what kind of specialized features you all focused on, or if it was more about shedding some of the bloat of a more general-purpose tool like Unity. What kinds of things encouraged you to switch, and where did you start?

Anything you're up for sharing is appreciated! I got into your team's games relatively recently but have loved every one I've played so far!

It's nice being in control of the entire stack. We used to stay away from DIY because of platform compatibility risks, but Unity ended up being even worse in that regard and then we couldn't even fix the bugs!

My favorite part of our engine is immediate UI programming with live reloading. When it comes time to integrate the art for a screen I get to code it up piece by piece and just "slide" everything into place by live-scrubbing the numerical constants and then pasting them back into the code. I think we stole that from Guild Wars? Keith heard someone describe it somewhere and then implemented it for us.

Hey Zach, I've been obsessively following your work since the early days of the flash games era.

I even sent you a request for an intern position back in my college days.

This is less of a question post and more of a thank you for years and years of keeping my mind passionate about something, of all the many puzzle games I've played yours are the only ones that consistently led to me waking up in the middle of the night with a theorized solution for a game/stage I hadn't touched in years followed by me messing up my schedule trying to implement it.

I've seen several mentions of people being led to computer science or engineering through your work but for me it was the opposite, diving head first without a clue of what I was doing or supposed to be doing is what kept things interesting for me and I actively kept that flame alive by limiting what applicable real-world knowledge I was exposed to.

Truly a life changing experience and I don't have a single regret about it.

But now, to fit the true topic here:

Am I wrong to expect a sudden release from you in the years to come following an idea you simply couldn't dismiss? Either way, I'll be hoping for it and keeping an eye out for others trying to fill the void Zachtronics will leave behind.

Am I wrong to expect a sudden release from you in the years to come following an idea you simply couldn't dismiss?

For a stranger on the internet you sure do know me well!

What eldritch secrets lie behind the X’BPGH runes?

The depressing truth that they're just randomly generated.

Hey Zach - Thanks for bringing such interesting games into the world, I caught Ruckingenur II right at the peak of my burgeoning interest in hardware reverse-engineering and it absolutely captured my imagination in a way no other game has since. It seemed like it just perfectly tuned to grab my curiosity and reward it, without being too hard as to be off-putting to a beginner like me.

I have always wondered how you come up with such depthful concepts for games - for example, for Ruckingenur, had you studied electrical engineering or are you just good at grokking complex things?

I have always wondered how you come up with such depthful concepts for games - for example, for Ruckingenur, had you studied electrical engineering or are you just good at grokking complex things?

I did study computer and electrical engineering, which is how we ended up with games like KOHCTPYKTOP that quite literally require you to have done the same thing yourself, but in general it's all just stuff I'm interested in. They're not simulations by any stretch of the imagination, but I like to make games that try to describe real-life systems, or at least my imprecise and incorrect understandings of them. It's fun to feel like you understand something.

I recently was working with the newish rasppi pico processors- which have an interesting feature called the "PIO"s which are a set of state machines to do input-output outside of the cpu. These feature 9 instructions, with two scratch registers- all other registers are bound to hardware or buffers.

The entire time I was working with them I just couldn't get over how much I was reminded of your games- an obscure instruction set with odd limitations!

I'm sorry to see your team go, your games might be one of the few puzzles ever created with nearly direct real life application- so much so I've recommended spacechem and others to people learning to program, just to get the mindset.

To that end- what started this track? How did the zach-like become a thing, and not just a one-off?

I have some RPPs but haven't used them for any projects yet, mostly because it's easier just to grab an Arduino and use that without learning something new. I'm familiar with the PIOs and how much they resemble our fictional architectures, though, and I think it'd be fun to check out once the right project comes along.

Regarding the history of Zach-likes, why not check out ZACH-LIKE.

1. How do you approach puzzle making? It's a broad question, but for example: Do you iterate on an existing concept? Do you first come up with a desired aesthetic/setting and then add mechanics that fit? etc.
2. How do you scale the difficulty across the entire range of puzzles in a game?

Thanks. Love all your work!

How do you approach puzzle making?

This is a big question, but I've covered it extensively in ZACH-LIKE and some talks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofz-BJI2bu4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4uH1ynH3Rs

How do you scale the difficulty across the entire range of puzzles in a game?

I make a bunch of puzzles and then attempt to sort them from easiest to hardest. Even though I don't design my puzzles with solutions in mind, I can usually guess how difficult they'll be based on my knowledge of the game's specific tools.

Good evening Zach and Zachtronics crew!

I love your games. TIS-100 in particular.

In "Open-Ended Puzzle Design at Zachtronics" you said that tangibility of design elements is important part of making game that doesn't feel like abstract puzzle. You mentioned bevels on a sides of a chip in SHENZHEN I/O which make you physically feel its existence. "It's super important in Zachtronics ... everything in the game should look like you can physically take it and trow it". You further explore that in manual binders which were intended to be printed and placed on a table next to the computer.

With that in mind. Why wouldn't you design TIS-100 interface so you can navigate in it using solely a keyboard input? It would be appropriate for a computer of that era. Seeing that tiny white mouse cursor all the time playing was a major immersion breaker for me. You can't even close the game without using a mouse!

I thought you could hold the Ctrl key and use the arrows to move between nodes? I thought we had some kind of shortcut for that...

The real answer is that they're games, and we do whatever seems right for that.

The dumb answer is that computer mice have existed since the 60s and the TIS-100 is presumably some kind of expensive research-oriented computer.

Have you ever thought about making actual hardware? I would 100% buy a Powerlance, especially if I had to assemble it and copy out the OS code from the back of a magazine. PS, all my Zachtronics physical media sits directly with my actual retro computing manuals and disks - your team did stellar work and it felt weird to store them separately

Have you ever thought about making actual hardware? I would 100% buy a Powerlance, especially if I had to assemble it and copy out the OS code from the back of a magazine.

I've thought about it many times, but then I remember how much harder and more expensive it is. And then it just becomes a niche toy for a small number of people, right?

I think the beauty of games like SHENZHEN I/O and EXAPUNKS and Last Call BBS is that they provide an experience that feels as much like the "physical" version as possible, but in a way that is maximally accessible, both in terms of price and availability years later.

Hi, what was the inspiration for the name Zachtronics?

My name is Zach and I am an idiot.

Hi Zach! I really enjoyed Eliza, and I didn’t even remember you folks made it! It feels so different from your usual thing (although the addictive side puzzle mode should have been a clue, haha). But the thoughtful way it dealt with things like the gig economy and the isolation of modern society really struck me. What led to you making essentially a visual novel, and are you happy with how it turned out?

Although I did a lot of the programming on it, that was the brainchild of our writer Matthew. He did a bunch of interviews about it like this one, that might be a good place to start.

As the owner of Exapunk's physical edition, what the hell is in this sealed envelope? Years later and I'm still chipping away at the game, all the while the envelope is sitting there, taunting me. I have the one for Last Call BBS as well. Will I ever open any of them?

Thanks for the wonderful games. <3

Will I ever open any of them?

Keep at it, you can do it!

Hi Zach, big fan!

What are some of your favourite non-puzzler games?

The only game I've seriously played in the last few years is Rocksmith. It's got just the right amount of made-up bullshit for where I'm at these days.

Who were the best Amiga warez group, Skidrow or Fairlight?

Already love Last Call BBS, it’s so evocative of that era.

Who were the best Amiga warez group, Skidrow or Fairlight?

I got my first Amiga in 2016 when I was working at Valve. Someone there was giving it away (!!!) and I picked it up and nothing has ever been the same since. Unfortunately, this also means that I'm really just a poser.

Hi Zach, I was reading the PC Gamer article about Last Call BBS and you mention that Speed Force Hobby Studio evolved out of a unreleased game called Miniatures, a tactics game where the player would assemble and paint miniatures and then battle them. It sounds like a really fun and interesting concept, but you mention that Zachtronics couldn’t make it work. Why not?

Do you think this is a concept that could be revisited at some point?

Thanks!

There's a bunch of information about it in ZACH-LIKE. I think the short version is that I was very focused on the way units were constructed and damaged, except that none of the interestingness of that system turned into interesting things for the player to do. I steal pieces from my old game ideas all the time, both made and unmade, but that's not really "revisiting" in a meaningful way.

[deleted]

Sometimes you'll find me saying that the second-to-last level in a game should be harder than the last, but then sometimes you'll find me doing shit like that and not listening to my own advice. ¯\(ツ)/¯

I can't really say I have a question, but thank you! I have a bunch of merch from your games and have often used them as my go-to recommendation when people ask me what it's like to code. Simple answer: play these games. Is it code? Nope. But it gives a really really good sense of the headspace you have to be in.

It's good to see you guys get to quit on your own terms. Best of luck with whatever comes next!

That's not a question, but thanks anyway!

I just checked and turns out I have 7 of your games but haven't put any significant time into any of them for some reason. So I guess my question is, what's your personal favorite? Anything that you play yourself more than others?

I kind of answered this here.

Opus Magnum is a good starting place but there's something to be said for starting with the one that interests you the most.

Just a curiosity, Why did you pick Romania as the setting for Molek-Sintez?

Someone we know took a business trip there once and I guess it kind of stuck in our imagination?

Hi Zach, I work in computer architecture/micro architecture and your games remind me a lot of the fun puzzles that I encounter in that line of work. Is there a particular part of your education that inspired that sort of focus for your games? I know you have a computer science background but that usually doesn’t come with as specific a focus on, for example, assembly language as your games can have.

Love the games! Sad to see a stop to them but excited to see what is next for you!

All of our assembly-programming games come out of trying to build a Z80-based computer as a weird side project. We all learned about MIPS in college or whatever, but that's a nuisance, not a puzzle.

With the team moving on to other projects, what studios should we be watching?

A lot of your solitaire games could be physical games. Have you ever thought about making board games for multiple people? Do you even play board games (if so, which)? I know you're not a huge fan of video games.

Have you ever thought about making board games for multiple people? Do you even play board games (if so, which)? I know you're not a huge fan of video games.

You are right that I don't like video games. I think I'm even less into board games? I really love the idea of them, and the way all the pieces look and work, but I just get bored so quickly, or turn into some kind of hyper-competitive monster. They seem like they'd be fun to make, but I think I'd need to be a different person first...

Hey Zach,

Are you also sad of the death of 0x10c? Were you looking forward to it? I always hoped one day you'd make something like that.

I don't think I knew about it until after it was cancelled. I don't exactly, uh, follow Notch.

Hey Zach! I’m sad to see you shut down the company and you’ve created some of my favourite games (especially Shenzhen I/O). What made you decide to build games for such a specific niche and how did you get into it??

Still love the idea in Shenzhen where you need to read an actual pdf describing hardware specs, pretty unique take!!

What made you decide to build games for such a specific niche and how did you get into it??

I think the secret is that I was always making games for myself, not other people.

The history is long, but is also thoroughly documented in ZACH-LIKE.

big fan, what was your favorite part about working on scrubs?

ಠ_ಠ

What was your time at Valve like, what did you learn?

It was pretty weird, mostly because I'd never worked on a real game team before, but also because Valve is very weird.

The biggest thing I learned was that I'd rather work on small games where I have a lot of control than big games where I have very little control. It's hard to feed your creative ego on the latter, even if they're higher profile games that more people have heard of.

Hey! I'm enjoying Last Call BBS just as much as the other games. Do you have any interest in returning to game development whatsoever or do you feel like you're done with it for now?

I think I'm going to be stuck making games for the rest of my life. Could be worse.

Have you ever gotten stuck on a puzzle in one of your own games?

If I get stuck on a puzzle I'll usually change it so that I'm no longer stuck. Sometimes, though, I don't even bother attempting a puzzle, which makes it impossible to get stuck. That's probably not something to aspire to as a game designer though...

Hi Zach, is there any chance that "long term maintenance mode" includes ports of your games to other platforms?

Maybe, yeah. Which games? Which platforms?

I was re-reading ZACH-LIKE recently as I was waiting for Last Call BBS to come out, and I found it interesting how some games in Last Call may have had their beginnings in sketches seen in ZACH-LIKE. Obviously, KOHCTPYKTOP II has a direct parallel to CircuitWizard, but I'm curious how much influence J-Pla or Occupy Lizards had on Steed Force or X'BPGH.

I also had another question. In the credits section at the beginning of the book, Matthew Burns is credited for The Second Golden Age and Project Typhoon. Did he ever produce music for those games, and if so, is there any chance of it being made available?

Obviously, KOHCTPYKTOP II has a direct parallel to CircuitWizard, but I'm curious how much influence J-Pla or Occupy Lizards had on Steed Force or X'BPGH.

Steed Force is definitely the final realization of J-Pla, after discarding the notion of it being a puzzle game only to discover that putting together model kits is a kind of puzzle after all.

In my mind, X'BPGH has no connection to Occupy Lizards, and is instead a realization of the "BACTERIOPHAGE" game on the top-right of page 44. But now that I think of it, that was more about programming organisms, so maybe there is some Occupy Lizards in there after all.

In the credits section at the beginning of the book, Matthew Burns is credited for The Second Golden Age and Project Typhoon. Did he ever produce music for those games, and if so, is there any chance of it being made available?

I will ask him and see.

how did you come up with the programming language used in tis, exapunks and shenzen?

The architecture of the TIS-100 is nothing like a Z80, but the language was designed to capture some of the fun things we liked about its instruction set, like alternate register sets and DJNZ.

The languages in SHENZHEN I/O and EXAPUNKS, on the other hand, were designed to be both different enough from previous games to be interesting (see: conditionals in SHENZHEN I/O) and to give the player the game-specific tools they needed.

Did you ever consider putting any of your games on Stadia? If so, I'd be interested to hear your take on the platform, getting into business with them, etc.

We got about half-way through porting Opus Magnum and EXAPUNKS to Stadia until we all realized that controller support was required and there was no way that was going to happen. Oops!

Why was there never an infini factory 2 ? I need it xD.

Also bbs difficulty curve seems extremely steep, is that on purpose ?

Why was there never an infini factory 2 ?

Have we ever made a sequel?

Also bbs difficulty curve seems extremely steep, is that on purpose ?

No, not really. It was hard to make eight games at once and properly and fully tutorialize all of them.

I've had an indie game idea for years, just recently started learning Unity to realise a dream. What's the best way to ensure your new game is a success? How do you know when it's done?

Snarky answers, but:

• You cannot ensure that it will be a success.
• You'll know it's done when you are no longer working on it.

What platforms will the solitaire collection be released to? Have you considered porting your solitaire games to mobile?

We've done a bunch of mobile releases and none of them have been economically meaningful. I really want to see a mobile port of the solitaire collection, though. That's kind of the whole point!

I have no questions but love Zachtronic games. What question do you wish people would ask you? And what is the answer?

That's not a question...