Zune Lover: So, we are previewing a Zune? Do we get free Movies or-
Me: No no, Zoon, it’s a spaceship creation and maintenance game.
Zune Lover: Oh… any music?
Me:…No.
Zoon is the first game created by Glitched Software Ltd, a one man team out of University set to make their mark on the world with their ambitious first endeavour into the game making scene. Having to go against over games like Space Engineers can Zoon set itself apart from its 3D counterparts? Let’s see… damn I’m spinning around again.
Story
Currently there is no story to be had in Zoon as it is in its first press release build, besides the fact you are lost in space in your start ship. From this point the game allows you add on to the current ship or simple get out of it to make an entirely new one from scratch, letting your imaginative side fly free.
Gameplay
In this early build you can create a ship from scratch, simple press spacebar in empty space and you are given a small square block to begin creation from. Making rooms, floors and machines from the toolbar on the top of the screen you begin to create your ship from its shape, outline and energy lines. Once you get a basic ship design down little drones start to fly around your ship to build the blocks and machines you have placed.
Zoon sticks to a realistic design in its ship creation and maintenance, requiring you to create generators and power devices to send electricity to your ship as well as down the power lines you set throughout the ship and its different parts. Taking damage can disconnect these lines which just adds to the tension when you make a mistake or hit something, setting plenty of your systems offline in crucial moments.
Besides the basics of a ship you must also place down thrusters on the outside of the ship, which thrust you in the direction they face so several of these are required for turning, accelerating and breaking. All the thrusters can also be mapped to buttons on your keyboard but the easiest set out I found was to set the back thrusters to W, the side thruster to A and D and the front thruster to S to emulate the layout of movement on other PC games.
Once you get thrusters working and are flying through space you might also want some stabilisation on your ship, as the side thrusters can feel very overpowering at times. This is where the stabilising and dampener systems come into play, slowing down rotation and speed of your ship bringing it to a straight directory or for slow approaches on objects.
From here the universe is your oyster, simple get a warp drive up and running and warp to any nearby space for “Missions” and Events of randomly generated goodness. From enemy ships, asteroids to even black holes that all aim to destroy your well-crafted ship and reduce it to scrap. With new features in the pipeline like grappling guns, AI and more systems there is a lot to look forward to with Zoon.
Overall Thoughts and Feelings
The one current song in the game fits very well in the atmosphere, an eerie but well-made space tune that makes the dullness of space just that little less dull.
There isn’t much I can say on the game at this point, as there isn’t much else in it during this early build but from what I have been able to play I found enjoyable. Simple ship making is fun on its own, designing you ship the way you want with hardly any restrictions put on you in the building phase.
http://www.glitchedsoftware.com/Zoon.php
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=271352936
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