[Exploration/Puzzle?] Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz

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Offline AA

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[Exploration/Puzzle?] Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz
« on: August 21, 2013, 15:17:26 »
Download page at Game Jolt (warning: comments in the page may contain spoilers)

Not really a game according to its creator Heiser Saint, Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz has you control a person apparently trapped in his dreams; the objective is to find a way to wake up, by moving from dream to dream. You can make the protagonist walk around, jump, in some instances run and fly, and press the Z key to perform a variety of context-sensitive actions, not always obvious. Dreams are generally small self-contained areas, and there are often different ways to 'exit' them (and end up in another dream). Discovering new dreams and new exits is the key to 'win' this game.

The different mechanics of each dream and the great variety of areas to explore make this a fun game to play, although some dreams can be a bit boring to go through (you'll be likely to explore each dream more than once). Presentation makes it look just like one of the hundreds of pixelated 'art games' we see around these days, but in this case it is entirely justified: the themes explored are interesting, the text is profound enough without sounding pretentious, the graphics are consistent, there are no severe technical problems (a feat considering the game was made with Game Maker).

Getting to the end of the game can take a long time: unlocking new dreams and finding things that make you progress at times require some lateral thinking, and finding your way without help isn't easy. There's also a couple of instances where some skill is required (platforming and other things). The most obscure part, though, is something at the very end (but there's a chance you won't have any problem with that). Finally, the game has several Rewards/Achievements if you're into such things.
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Offline egomassive

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Re: [Exploration/Puzzle?] Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2013, 23:44:00 »
Looks interesting. I'm downloading it.

[offtopic] This Game Jolt site intrigues me. Are you a member, AA? What's it like? [/offtopic]

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Offline AA

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Re: [Exploration/Puzzle?] Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2013, 07:33:13 »
[offtopic]No, I'm not. I usually browse JayIsGames for casual games to play (not a member there either), and Game Jolt seems to be a good source of downloadable games for them.[/offtopic]
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Offline egomassive

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Re: [Exploration/Puzzle?] Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz
« Reply #3 on: August 23, 2013, 01:14:59 »
Bah! It maxes out my RAM causing a game breaking error, yet it looks so simple. The little bit I could play showed promise. I'll have to give it a go on a better PC.

[offtopic]The writing style of Jayisgames' contributors is unbearable to me. Thank you for weathering the storm of golf-ball sized puns and thunderous analogies. Not to mention the deluge of overused catch phrases. See what I did there? True story![/offtopic]

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Offline AA

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Re: [Exploration/Puzzle?] Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz
« Reply #4 on: August 23, 2013, 19:37:15 »
Bah! It maxes out my RAM causing a game breaking error, yet it looks so simple.

I guess I was lucky then, the game only crashes on exit for me (no progress lost).

Quote
[offtopic]The writing style of Jayisgames' contributors is unbearable to me. Thank you for weathering the storm of golf-ball sized puns and thunderous analogies. Not to mention the deluge of overused catch phrases. See what I did there? True story![/offtopic]

I don't really read the descriptions of the games anymore, I just grep the text (not with the UNIX command :^^:) for keywords relevant for my tastes; at times just reading the tags or looking at the images is enough to decide.
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Offline zhynna

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Re: [Exploration/Puzzle?] Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2016, 10:51:58 »
Saint Heiser's site: http://digital-synthesis.com/

He made many good free games.

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Offline AA

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Re: [Exploration/Puzzle?] Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz
« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2016, 08:28:28 »
Thanks for the link C) I'll be checking some of those games. Although it seems he isn't making games anymore, and Zzz is likely his biggest project
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Offline egomassive

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Re: [Exploration/Puzzle?] Zzzz-Zzzz-Zzzz
« Reply #7 on: October 30, 2016, 18:26:54 »
Update: I got a better PC a long while ago, and this is a charming game. I'm sure I never figured everything out about it, but I found enough to be satisfied with my progress. Still, this is a game I've kept in case I ever want to revisit it again.