Wow.. I haven't gone back to Zen for a while, but these retro/nostalgia levels, they're definitely something I have to check out. Cheers for such an awesomely arty title.
Frand, I said a while ago, when we were talking about paying for upgrades, that I wouldn't mind paying if it was for updates that bring something new instead of just trying to milk gamers. This update looks like it's definitely one of those I'd be happy to pay for! The whole theme, execution and new colours just ooze of Zen Boundedness!
Hi Frand, are they final screenshots? They look rather crude compared to what the game currently offers. The lo-res background, bland colour harmony, etc.
There's obvioulsy something with the resolution of the screenshots, look at the shot of the tree and flower, and compare that to your iDevice (low resolution with less colours). Other than that I don't think there's anything to it... it'll be all fine when it shows up on the store.
Have to say I like the screenshots, the change in perspective for the invader and the rougher look. .. and I see the invader rope has dropped to 50m
The shots are direct grabs from the device, and PNG with no compression artifacts. So what you see is what you get. So here's what's going on: The theme of this level set, as mentioned, is Nostalgia. The objects and the tree are nearly black-and-white on purpose, to visually emphasize the effect and contrast of the colored paint. The tree itself is divided into four thematic groups: Childhood, Old Days (1920s or so), 50s Sci-Fi and Retro Gaming. Each group contains objects that we hope will at least somehow resonate with the player. Like with the other Trees, the objects are not directly named, but instead the level names are loose associations to the iconic properties they represent (the level with a wooden toy airplane has been named "Freedom", for example). Why black-and-white? We wanted to try something different from the other trees. The lighting of this tree and the levels is a bit more contrasty and the "lens" a bit more blurry than with the other two trees. We want this level set to deliver a feeling of old days long past. So everything starts out black-and-white and the player's actions make everything more vivid (a loose metaphor for the old memories returning). As for the level backgrounds, again it's a visual change that we feel makes a nice difference. The other two trees have a "flat" background behind the object, whereas Nostalgia has backgrounds with subtle depth cues. On the subject of difficulty, this set does not have anything as devious as the Obfuskation puzzles in the Tree of Challenge, but the lantern flower requirements are slightly more demanding than in the Tree of Reflection. We hope you enjoy this update - we certainly enjoyed preparing it
Wow, you guys take pride in your work. But notice what I put in bold letters. It that a hint it's done?
I'd also like to take it as a hint that if they liked preparing this, they might like preparing more content updates as well! (I can hope and dream, right? )
Honk the horns, bang the drums! Here's our new press release. For those who don't want to read too much: 1) Zen Bound is at 100 000 sold copies (hooray!) 2) Tree of Nostalgia is waiting for approval 3) Celebrating the above, $2.99 for one week, starting May 8th Thank you to everyone who has supported our work by buying our games, spreading the word, translating the game to exotic European languages and just participated to the conversation threads. It's been an incredible time from the pre-launch anxiety to the sensory overload at GDC, from early teasers to iTunes user reviews, from prototypes to Nostalgia. To the Touch Arcade community and staff, I tip my hat!
