|
 Inspired by SpaceChem, Silicon Zeroes is a hardware design puzzle game by the creator of Manufactoria. (That's, ah, me.) It's set in a semi-fictional startup at the dawn of modern computing, and takes you from building humble, simple circuits to world-dominating processors.    Preview (Gaming Nexus) Zach Barth posted:This is the best game about CPU design that I can imagine existing. The game's music and sound effects are just about done now. Three weeks to launch, and there's not much left to put in! It's coming out soon, and I figured that people here might be interested in it, so I'm giving away a few keys: #1: #2: #3: The game is out now. Let me know what you think! Discord: Here. PleasingFungus fucked around with this message at 17:04 on Sep 18, 2017 |
#
?
Jul 15, 2017 02:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 7, 2024 19:20 |
|
|
Posting to say I took a key, I'll let you know what I think after playing with it a bit!
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2017 05:55
|
|
|
yergacheffe posted:Posting to say I took a key, I'll let you know what I think after playing with it a bit! Great! That was the last one, too 
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2017 06:09
|
|
|
I haven't gotten far (only on 2* levels) but I like what you've got so far. The game is about playing with building blocks in a CPU architecture. Your basic parts are higher level constructs like adders, flip flops, memory readers/writers which you then use to piece together useful CPU parts like counters and muxes. The solutions have been pretty easy so far partly due to the limited amount of building blocks you start with. I'm hoping when more parts unlock things will become more open-ended and getting the ideal solution with minimal parts will be harder. The concepts are pretty grounded in real world digital design, so it feels very "edutainmenty" to me. I'm guessing the target demographic would be people who are actually studying this kind of stuff? One last thing: is there some kind of right click menu or something for objects you've saved to the palette? It'd be useful to be able to name some of the stuff you've saved at least.
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2017 01:29
|
|
|
yergacheffe posted:I haven't gotten far (only on 2* levels) but I like what you've got so far. The game is about playing with building blocks in a CPU architecture. Your basic parts are higher level constructs like adders, flip flops, memory readers/writers which you then use to piece together useful CPU parts like counters and muxes. The solutions have been pretty easy so far partly due to the limited amount of building blocks you start with. I'm hoping when more parts unlock things will become more open-ended and getting the ideal solution with minimal parts will be harder. How far have you gotten? yergacheffe posted:The concepts are pretty grounded in real world digital design, so it feels very "edutainmenty" to me. I'm guessing the target demographic would be people who are actually studying this kind of stuff? I mean, I'm trying to target it at 'people who are interested in puzzles', but you're certainly not the only one to smell edutainment in the air. Probably I'll end up making a variant for the educational market at some point. yergacheffe posted:One last thing: is there some kind of right click menu or something for objects you've saved to the palette? It'd be useful to be able to name some of the stuff you've saved at least. The UI could be more obvious, but at least it isn't core/essential functionality. Here:
|
|
#
?
Jul 17, 2017 19:26
|
|
|
I will definately buy this game when it is released, as I both loved Manufactoria and the Zachtronics games. Really looking forward to the massive headaches!
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2017 05:47
|
|
|
Zteuer posted:I will definately buy this game when it is released, as I both loved Manufactoria and the Zachtronics games. Really looking forward to the massive headaches! Excellent! Looking forward to giving you those headaches
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2017 17:29
|
|
|
Count me in too - Manufactoria was excellent, and I'd really like to see more engineer puzzle-type games. oh god, is the Malevolence Engine coming back
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2017 21:48
|
|
|
Yo this sounds like my jam. I'll buy your game, sir.
|
|
#
?
Jul 18, 2017 22:57
|
|
|
overeager overeater posted:Count me in too - Manufactoria was excellent, and I'd really like to see more engineer puzzle-type games. Haha! Not by that name, but there's something very similar. Mandatory Assembly posted:Yo this sounds like my jam. I'll buy your game, sir. I'll be counting on it!
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2017 00:09
|
|
|
Also, I started a new devlog over on TIGSource a few days ago, and I thought people here might be interested. Not much there so far, but I made a post talking about the design of the new right-click menu yesterday. If there's any topic people would like me to write about, please ask!
|
|
#
?
Jul 19, 2017 00:12
|
|
|
It's been a few weeks, so I thought people might appreciate a few more keys: #4: #5: #6: Most of my time has been spent hiring a musician/SFX artist, rewriting big chunks of the story, and getting the game on Steam (those itch.io links now come with associated steam keys!), but there's also a few new puzzles in the 'Asides' area. PleasingFungus fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Jul 29, 2017 |
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2017 18:57
|
|
|
Grabbed 5, thanks!
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2017 19:45
|
|
|
Oh man, I got completely obsessed with Manufactoria when I first found out about it. This looks awesome. What release date and price point are you shooting for? The site doesn't have much information on that front.
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2017 20:00
|
|
|
PleasingFungus posted:#6: Some comments: It didn't take me too long to figure out what to do (maybe 2 minutes), but the very first level could do with a little bit more explanation of what different things are (i.e. the # is the input, "sum" is the output). Explaining the interface a little, like being able to delete connections and move modules, might help too. It's all reasonably discoverable, but that first impression is important. I do appreciate that it's not a hand-holdy tutorial though, and the subsequent levels seem to do a good job of building up concepts. The writing seems good, not too wordy and has enough personality to make me actually read it rather than just click next to the next puzzle. The "Writer" puzzle took me longer than it should have because it wasn't clear how the module worked. Only just realized hovering over each slot tells you what it does. Done all the beginning puzzles. Nothing particularly hard yet, but a good intro. Explaining the UI, whether in that intro level or on a help screen is the only thing I'd suggest so far.
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2017 20:20
|
|
|
TheOneAndOnlyT posted:Oh man, I got completely obsessed with Manufactoria when I first found out about it. This looks awesome. I'm aiming for sometime in September, probably the $15-20 range. Will make a more formal announcement once the Steam page is up. Peaceful Anarchy posted:Took this one, thanks. There was no steam key that I can see, no big deal but FYI. All noted down, thanks! I'll see if I can make some simple tweaks to make the UI clearer.
|
|
#
?
Jul 29, 2017 20:25
|
|
|
Oh man, this looks neat! I was eyeballing MHRD but this looks much more approachable. I've heard of Manufactoria ages ago, too. How do you even design puzzles for a game like this? Oh, I did want to ask if there were any "visual" puzzles involved (like VFD stuff or TIS-100's Visualization module, or even grander like Shenzhen I/O's CAD) as I always found those particularity fun for whatever reason. Also, are there any narrative elements?
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2017 00:48
|
|
|
Oh my god I have played Manufactoria so many times you are amaziinngggg If you happen to have any more keys, I would be just the happiest circuit builder
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2017 00:58
|
|
|
Doom Goon posted:How do you even design puzzles for a game like this? Puzzle design is really tricky, and I don't have any kind of standard approach to it! There's a 'main path' of puzzles, which are focused on building up the concepts needed to make really complex machines, there's custom tutorial puzzles, there's puzzles that started with 'that's an interesting idea. But surely I can't actually build it in the game? No... huh, wait, actually I guess I can make this after all!' Doom Goon posted:Oh, I did want to ask if there were any "visual" puzzles involved (like VFD stuff or TIS-100's Visualization module, or even grander like Shenzhen I/O's CAD) as I always found those particularity fun for whatever reason. Doom Goon posted:Also, are there any narrative elements?
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2017 07:23
|
|
|
Calef posted:Oh my god I have played Manufactoria so many times you are amaziinngggg Thank you! I'm not giving away any more keys right now, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if a few more showed up before launch.
|
|
#
?
Aug 1, 2017 07:27
|
|
|
PleasingFungus posted:But surely I can't actually build it in the game? No... huh, wait, actually I guess I can make this after all!' PleasingFungus posted:Yeah, I've actually put a lot of work into that! There's a whole cast of characters that chat with you as you go through the puzzles, an evolving plot, drama, love, betrayal... it's a lot more elaborate than what I've made for previous games, but so far people seem to like it! I think I read you got a musician recently? I have a certain fondness for "programming music" if you'd like to share any samples!
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2017 02:31
|
|
|
Doom Goon posted:What's the weirdest puzzle you've designed for it so far (that you'd like to spoil)? One of the ones I'm fondest of is a pretty early one, called 'Spares'. The objective looks like this:  The puzzle gives you access to Subtractors, Readers, Writers, and Latches (as many as you want), and asks you to build a doubler with them.  It's not the hardest puzzle in the game, but it uses parts in a very backwards way. I smile a little whenever I think about it! For a different take on 'weird'.... much later in the game, there's an optional side puzzle called 'Faux-Reg'. It was originally designed as a tutorial puzzle, but it didn't do the job very well - the first playtesters who tried it were stuck for a very long time, and then both built this insane monstrosity (old programmer art alert!):  I replaced it with another puzzle that does a much better job of teaching the concepts I actually wanted to teach, spun off a few of the ideas from my playtesters' solutions into other side levels, and made 'Faux-Reg' optional. As I did more playtesting, though, I noticed something really cool: every playtester who went through the puzzle had a different solution for it! Not just little tweaks, but completely different approaches to the puzzle. I was so impressed that I built support for some of the more interesting variants into the game. After you beat the puzzle once, you get some new text in the level description:  It's totally optional, but hopefully people enjoy messing around with it as much as I did!
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2017 17:14
|
|
|
Doom Goon posted:I think I read you got a musician recently? I have a certain fondness for "programming music" if you'd like to share any samples! I only hired him a week ago, so we're still in the early stages - I'd rather not share anything quite yet. Soon, though!
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2017 17:20
|
|
|
I loved Manufactoria! Gonna keep my eye on this one. Love a good puzzle game.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2017 15:58
|
|
|
BluJay posted:I loved Manufactoria! Gonna keep my eye on this one. Love a good puzzle game. Thanks! I hope you like it I've been working on smaller unspectacular stuff for the last few weeks, along with some stuff that's not quite ready to show off yet, like the music work I mentioned in my last post. I'll try to push out a new build this week, and probably a few more keys along with it! For now, have a little post about a silly thing I worked on today.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2017 22:56
|
|
|
As an EE this game looks amazing! I'll definitely keep my eye on it
|
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2017 02:32
|
|
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDNywILJMGg Trailer is up! More news coming this Saturday.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 18:53
|
|
|
Looks interesting, I'll keep an eye out (and probably have to juggle my CE capstone to play it!)
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2017 21:59
|
|
|
PleasingFungus posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDNywILJMGg I think I get the weird example actually because I have a rudimentary understanding of how to convert between logic gates. Maybe! Has there been a puzzle that always seems to be the first "wall" that playtesters hit? It's got to be one of the strangest things to program a (more or less) programming game. It's pretty meta!
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2017 02:26
|
|
|
OAquinas posted:Looks interesting, I'll keep an eye out (and probably have to juggle my CE capstone to play it!) Haha! Please do not jeopardize your education for my game. Doom Goon posted:Has there been a puzzle that always seems to be the first "wall" that playtesters hit? There have been a few! It took me a long time to make a good first puzzle for demultiplexers; my earlier attempts were just frustrating and bad. The 'palette' and 'register file' puzzles also really gave people a ton of trouble before I figured out better ways to communicate them. In the current state ofthe game, I can think of two good candidates. The puzzle 'Accumulate' (the first one involving recursion) tends to really slow people down, especially non-programmers. And then a little later, there's this guy:  It's a 'four-star difficulty' puzzle, in the middle of a board of mostly 2-stars. Most of the other puzzles around take about 8 modules to beat; the best solution I've seen for this one takes nearly twenty. It's optional, of course, but very good for giving players pause!
|
|
#
?
Aug 11, 2017 18:19
|
|
|
Silicon Zeroes is coming soon on Steam! In celebration, there's a new release up today. Highlights:
EDIT: Apparently itch.io isn't giving out steam keys without money being exchanged, so just email me (pleasingfung@gmail.com) a link to your itch.io profile if you want a Steam key. I'm really excited, everyone! Release is getting closer and closer... PleasingFungus fucked around with this message at 04:39 on Aug 13, 2017 |
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2017 23:50
|
|
|
Wow, I got #7! Thanks a ton! I'm, um, actually not that familiar with itch.io, is it okay to download now? There wasn't an option for a Steam key but I'm guessing that's after release? One month out! Is there a public roadmap somewhere on the dev blog? I'm getting flashbacks to the first time I tried TIS-100's Signal Multiplier. I don't want to think about that one but now I guess I'll have to! Doom Goon fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Aug 13, 2017 |
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2017 00:50
|
|
|
PleasingFungus posted:Silicon Zeroes is coming soon on Steam! Grabbed #8, thanks! How do I get the steam key?
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2017 00:58
|
|
booo i missed the keys  I can't wait to see how my education can fail me!!
|
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2017 01:36
|
|
|
TheOneAndOnlyT posted:Grabbed #8, thanks! How do I get the steam key? According to itch, "Keys will be distributed to a purchaser when they first click the request key button on their purchase page." Since you didn't buy the game, I'm not exactly sure where that is - maybe the download link? If you can't find it, hm... I'll try to sort something out. Doom Goon posted:Wow, I got #7! Thanks a ton! I'm, um, actually not that familiar with itch.io, is it okay to download now? There wasn't an option for a Steam key but I'm guessing that's after release? Yeah, download it now and let me know how it goes! A public roadmap is a good idea, and I might put one up in a bit! The situation is pretty straightforward, though. I'm waiting on music & sound effects from my musician, and intro/ending art from my artist. Aside from that, it's all incremental improvement and responses to feedback until release! (I might slip in a few other fun features in the meanwhile... but no promises.)
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2017 01:47
|
|
|
PleasingFungus posted:Since you didn't buy the game, I'm not exactly sure where that is - maybe the download link? If you can't find it, hm... I'll try to sort something out.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2017 02:51
|
|
|
Yeah, it's odd. I think the Steam keys are supposed to be on the download link but there's just the Win and Mac links. I also tried their FAQ's "Recover purchases" link but it just said a request was submitted (and no email... yet?). I wouldn't kill yourself over fixing it for testers or anything, but you might want to double check and make sure it works for real paying folks! Also, the download link worked and ran (and I got a laugh out of getting the Modules Ideal solution by adding 0 to 5) but I'm going to need a bit to get to gaming. I did think it was odd the Sound Effects menu option didn't produce a test sound but it reads like that part is not finalized yet anyway! Oh, I was Googling around and I'm going to suggest like a slowish gameplay montage trailer if that's not already in the pipeline. Something a bit more Let's Play-y.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2017 02:58
|
|
|
TheOneAndOnlyT posted:There doesn't appear to be any option to request a steam key, just a couple links to download the windows and mac versions. It's not a big deal, I can still download it and play, but it'd be nice to be able to add it to Steam when the game is officially released. Definitely. It looks itch.io isn't giving out steam keys without money being exchanged, so just email me (pleasingfung@gmail.com) a link to your itch.io profile if you want a Steam key. Very sorry for the trouble! Doom Goon posted:I did think it was odd the Sound Effects menu option didn't produce a test sound but it reads like that part is not finalized yet anyway! Yeah, sound effects are currently disabled - I have a few implemented, but I consider them too rough to be in the public build. Doom Goon posted:Oh, I was Googling around and I'm going to suggest like a slowish gameplay montage trailer if that's not already in the pipeline. Something a bit more Let's Play-y. It'd make sense to have an actual Let's Player go through the game (I have a pal I could tap for it), if I'm going in that direction. What made you think of slower trailers? Was there something else you were modelling the idea on?
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2017 04:42
|
|
|
Email sent! Nothing in particular about the trailer, but I was linking the other one to a buddy and realized it doesn't really show the mission structure or the tip UI (it's more sandboxy which I actually prefer but it doesn't show how it "plays").
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2017 09:43
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 7, 2024 19:20 |
|
|
So I've got my Steam key (thanks!) and I've played through the first set and a half of puzzles. I know that's still basically tutorial-land, but so far I'm really liking the game! Even though it's not really a "puzzle", I especially liked how you introduced palettes by pointing the player outside the level. Since having a key makes me an unofficial beta tester, I should probably report that I've found a couple bugs:
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2017 06:34
|
|
