I just rediscovered this gem after getting hooked so hard on 868-Hack. Sure this is a bit lighter with a lot of luck, but you can really see some of the common threads between Z33 and 868H! I think I actually like some aspects of this one better (dang tough but don't need to worry if you can afford to use a skill and I love the needing to rediscover artifacts' use each game like Rogue).
Agreed--great game in both style (including audio) and play. Can't put my finger on it, but it works for me! I still play it every now and then, even though my luck seems to have nosedived! I actually won the game a couple times in the first few days I had it... but seldom since. Fun regardless, and doesn't ask for much of my time if I lose. Have to try 686-Hack soon.
Haha, though I haven't bought this one yet (I know whats wrong with me) watching it on the stream, it reminds me a lot of 868. 868 is different in ways but I'd say buy Zaga first since it's $.99 and see how you like it. If you do, definitely get 868Hack. I'm a big fan of Hack - offers plenty for lots of replay. I'm sure both are good RL investments.
I found 868 HACK pretty hard to get into at first: a low but steep "learning wall" where I didn't grasp how a person could ever survive past the 2nd or 3rd screen. I just don't "think" the way it "thinks" I suppose. It didn't click. Whereas Zaga made sense very quickly. It's the simpler of the two, and lacks depth, but as a result, I think it "gets fun" quicker. Plus it doesn't hurt that I beat it on about the second play But it's NOT that easy, I just lucked out. I lose much more often than I win. (I've heard people say 868-HACK is easier, but not for me.)
868-Hack is really easy if you don't go for score. The most important program for me was .reset, which allows you to heal. Once you also understand that you can 'mine' resources out of squares that don't cause any enemies to spawn, it becomes fairly trivial to win. Unlike many psuedo-roguelikes, 868-Hack isn't really about winning, but getting high scores/repeat wins. Winning with a score of 0 (which is usually how I play) isn't too hard. I preferred 868-Hack to Zaga, although to be fair, I haven't played Zaga that much. I really liked that winning unlocks new programs (abilities) in 868-Hack, which make the game more complex horizontally.
I'm pretty sure I'll end up preferring the deeper 868-HACK (it's on my home screen so I remember to get back to it). Zaga-33 just happened to hit me as fun really quickly.
Woohoo!!! I've been hoping this would get an update! Sorry it doesn't work on iOS 8... I'm still on 7 because of the controller issues, but hopefully it'll get fixed quick. Great dev support here. =oD Love it... And with Helix I've been in a total Brough mood lately. So yuppa, THANK YOU Mr. Brough!!! Wonder if Glitch Tank's gonna get updated too? Anyone know?
Love this. The thread bump convinced me to take it off my wishlist (wishing that I can buy a 99c game is a pretty low-rent wish). I mostly find that it's the games that initially leave me so confused that I wonder why I wasted my moolah on this which end up being permanent favourites. The real hardcore Rogue experience is too much for me- I hate going back to basics and starting over after my inevitable crash- but this bite-size version I can dig. Level 25, I'm coming for ya! Great write-up on the game by Brough here, by the way: http://mightyvision.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/zaga-33-assorted-comments.html Eta: Woah, anyone else found the secret warpgate to level 26?
If it's any help, the crashes occur during use of an artifact. It's not specific to one artifact though.
Thought I'd crack open some Brough today for lent and opened this one up again. Quite a lot of crashes though. Not a big deal at all, played the heck out of it on long train journeys in the past - just fancied playing it all over again.
Yeah I've spent a while trying to track this down. I haven't been able to get the usual ios debugging tools working on it anymore (possibly because it's using old versions of some libraries? I don't know) so I can't get hold of what line it's crashing on.. without that and without any consistent pattern to the crashes it's turning out really hard to find the problem. I'll have another stab at it later, I really want to get it fixed, but honestly right now I have to prioritise making new games because 1) constantly fixing old things is super depressing for me and 2) I need new things to make money. I'm sorry =[ I will fix it one day
Hi Michael, Good to hear that you're going to fix it when you have time. I bought it last year with all your other games. And they are all fantastic!!! I know it's a pain to update all these games, especially when you're alone. I hope that you will make some new iOS games too!? That would be great! P.S. I've read at Twitter that Helix didn't sell that good, so that you won't bring it to other platforms. That's really a shame! It should've sold more copies. Helix is one of my favorite iOS games ever. Every platform should have their Helix. So thanks for your brilliant work on all these games & much success for the future!
