Ska Studios » ZSX4

Awesome: ZSX4 is #5!

James — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:59:05 +0000

According to Major Nelson, ZSX4: Guitarpocalypse is now #5 on Xbox Community Games! I have no idea what this means in terms of sales (after all, Swords and Monsters is #10), but I’m still pretty excited! (Check it out if you haven’t yet)

In Dishwasher news, we’re in the final stretch before cert. Thanks to all of you who keep asking about the release date, it’s great to know that The Dishwasher’s got fans! Hang tight, peoples, we’ll get there, and, as I keep saying, I don’t think anyone’s more anxious for the game’s release than I am.

ZSX4 passes peer review, will be live soon!

James — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:20:59 +0000

Sweet!

Well, the first iteration was causing errors because the game title contained a colon, so now it’s up as “ZSX4 Guitarpocalypse.” Kind of loses something, doesn’t it? Anyway, I got this form email from the XNA team:

Dear Jamezila,

The XNA team is delighted to tell you that your community game has been approved by your fellow Creators. You should see the game appear within 48 hours of the time of this message on the community games area of Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

…

Since you are now a successful game author, you might consider sharing your tips and tricks on forums.xna.com, celebrating, or just bragging a little.

Thanks again for making our community great!

The XNA Team

Oh yes, there will be bragging…

Anyway, for a good party game (and only $2.50–I mean come on!), you can check out ZSX4: Guitarpocalypse. If it’s not up yet, I’m guessing it will be by Turkey Day. Gravy, stuffing, turkey, zombies, ninjas, and Neko: it’s like a party of overflowing pleasantness!

Let's see how this Peer Review thing works anyway…

James — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:46:33 +0000

When XNA 1.0 beta came out, I started off by working on a game called Zombie Smashers X4: Guitarpocalypse. It’s a knock-your-enemies-off-the-platform arena game (I shall not be mentioning any successful Nintendo franchises here) with a pretty crazy Guitarpocalyptic Power Chord mechanic worked into it–knock guys off the world (or break boxes, kill zombies, etc) to get red orbs, then play guitar solos to turn red orb energy into Guitarpocalyptic charge, then release devastating Guitarpocalyptic Power Chords. Also, Neko’s in it.

Anyway, as The Dishwasher is entering another bit of testing, I took a few free hours and brought ZSX4 up to 3.0 speed and tried putting it up for Peer Review on XBCG. I honestly have no clue how it’ll pan out–the game hasn’t crashed in like forever, but then I haven’t really touched it in forever, so who knows if it’s all sorts of secretly buggy. If it passes, everyone will be able to pull it off XBCG for the modest price of 200 points (that’s the minimum I can charge). Hopefully I can get a much-need cash infusion (I survive on a lot of ramen) while The Dishwasher plods toward Cert. If it fails, well… back to the drawing board.

Of course, if ZSX4 becomes some crazy cult hit, I might end up trying to move my focus to XBCG–or at least trying to keep some sort of little XBCG project in the pipeline when possible. It would be cool to make a smaller-scope street brawling ZSX5 or something or a Zombies and Pterodactyls remix.

Anyway, I’ll keep updating on ZSX4′s progress.