Shenzhen I/O Review
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 พ.ค. 2018
- The fourth in a series of Zachtronics reviews. Start with the SpaceChem one if you're seeing these for the first time. Links below.
Series Playlist: • Zachtronics Review Series
SpaceChem: • SpaceChem Review
Infinifactory: • Infinifactory Review
TIS-100: • TIS-100 Review
Opus Magnum: • Opus Magnum Review - เกม
This game is a literal job for some people in electronics.
Yeah, as someone who recently moved away from EE to pursue another career path it hit a bit close to home for me lmao
The amount of people that criticize the fact that these reviews aren't generic zelda or mario games for the umpteenth time physically upset me. There are plenty of people with zero personality that exist on youtube to reinforce your opinion on those games.
Even as a fellow programmer, these games do not appeal to me either, but to borderline insult him based on reviewing games that he wants to instead of what you tell him makes you a terrible person. Grow some goddamn manners.
Zach is an incredible genius being able to develop so many varied games that have insanely deep levels of challenges. I haven't finished any of them, but I have played almost all of them, and I love them so much. I doubt I'll ever be able to finish SpaceChem, but I'm on the final challenges of TIS-100 I think, and Opus Magnum is accessible enough that I believe I'll finish it someday. Shenzhen is a bit of a different beast, and I haven't played much of it because of that, but I also regard it as insanely well made and I love that Zachtronics is putting out games like this.
The last levels in SpaceChem are indeed insanely hard, but if you completed most of the levels in TIS you're probably good enough to beat SpaceChem as well. Just don't expect to know what to do right away.
I highly recommend checking out Shenzhen! It seems very intimidating but once you know the code the difficulty curve is very nice
I'm so fascinated by your series of videos about games like this, because I have absolutely no interest in playing games like this. Seems like way more work than fun. But I like seeing what you enjoyed about it and what you found interesting
It's fascinating to me how different people's preferences can be. To me, zachtronics is the height of gaming (not TIS-100 that game is just too esoteric).
I have absolutely no idea what I'm watching.
You're probably the only "large" gaming channel that covers obscure gaming like this
It makes me love you even more
For good reason, these reviews have been like sitting through my System Mechanics lectures.
Mandalore Gaming does a lot of obscure games as well, highly recommend.
you should check out this guy Poodiepie, he also plays obscure games
Bunnyhop sometimes has some obscure stuff, but it's usually in the "games from my inbox" series
SHUT UP NIGGA
absolutely love shenzhen i/o, one of my favourite puzzle games, though looking at the comment section, i can see why people don't bother covering stuff like this, what a mess.
that said i agree with pretty much all your points, this video made me want to try solving the cold storage bot again, i've been stuck there for a long time and i haven't tried in months
Yeah seriously, these games are some of the most incredibly enjoyable and satisfying experiences on the planet, but so many of the comments are salty because they don't even want to try them.
Aeasde Yeah it's depressing. You'd think if any audience would be interested in exploring mechanics and the untapped potential of puzzle design it would be this one, but apaaaaaarently not.
I don't remember people who didn't give a shit about Zelda complaining this much during Ocarina-Skyward Sword, so it's weird to see this now.
That pronunciation of конструктор gets me every time =) (btw, it's "constructor" in russian)
These games definitely don’t interest me, but I am very glad that he is covering them. If he didn’t, then who else would? At least this series is providing something a little different than the rest of the extremely oversaturated youtube analysis community.
I just love the format of your reviews. They're what *real* reviews used to be like, with thought out sections and a conclusion that isn't boiled down to a single sentence, but wraps all the important parts up to few thoughts that are easy to understand and remember. The Zachtronics games aren't for me, but the reviews are enjoyable in themselves.
This is my first time looking at these comments and it was a mistake.
Matthew and Zachtronics games is like Guts and the boat.
probably the only good negative comment
It has been 20 years , but still be can't see it because of one particular white knight ...
This is maybe the single best analogy ever made
Holy shit. This is exactly the kind of game that I was looking for. I know that CynicalBrit covered a similar one a while ago that I can't find right now, but this is perfect. Thanks a lot! :D
I'm pretty much not into puzzle games, but I like you are talking about them. Actually, I want to give Shenzhen and Infinifactory a try after watching this series of videos. Thank you for your work.
Shenzen is hard as nails so, I wouldn't start with that one unless you're very brave, or are already fairly adept at programming.
Fortunately I am both :)
Well that's good. Hopefully you enjoy it.
Thanks for these reviews, Matt.
I was never exposed to these games and I'm unlikely to play them, but I've learned a lot about a part of gaming that I was largely unaware of.
Can't wait for the Opus Magnum review! :D My favorite game so far!
Welcome to the club of Kelp Harvester survivors! This difficulty wall in the middle of the second campaign is definitely an issue with the difficulty curve, but the puzzle couldn't be moved because of the story. The original version of the puzzle was even harder, but it was changed twice during Early Access to manage the difficulty, with limited success.
Minor nit: you don't need NEG because you can do "mul -1" now.
Looks like the club got another member. That was among the most insane things I ever did. I wonder, though, what were the previous versions like? I know one version is archived under 3113, but I can't find any information about the other one.
Everyone needs to understand that if Matt wasn't making videos he wanted to do, these videos would be substantially worse. Think about it, do you really want the MGS4 of matthewmatosis videos?
Reathonax X hear hear
MGS4 is great
Gabe Mewell Agreed I loved that shit
This is quality content. Just because you don't enjoy it or it's not relevant to your interests doesn't mean that it's worse than his other videos.
DrTheKay nice b8
your videos are super comfy
Man, I don't know how many hours I've put into this game.
Sometimes I even play the programming circuits stuff.
Juan Pérez play kohctpyktop. It's from the same devs and it's a free flash game on their website
Been waiting for this one!
I don't understand a single word. I love it.
That kelp harvester puzzle though. What the actual hell.
9:46 It's called "Constructor", you cruel person, and you know it, and we know you know it and are just yanking our chain at this point.
ಠ_ಠ
It's like Benedict Cumberbatch
I've been playing Infinifactory for a while now, and I love it! I think it was most enjoyable for me when I played the game sparingly, like 3 times a week, instead of plowing through the levels because the challenge presented in each puzzle often confused me to no end
I initially was disappointed that Shenzhen just continues the assembly programming of TIS. I appreciate TIS for what it is, but the theme of SpaceChem probably hooked me the most about that game. Having two programming games in a row just seems really excessive to me. However, I think that Shenzhen, which I sometimes call TIS-200, also brings enough new stuff to the table to make it worthwile. Different parts, prices, layouts and connections of pins are all things that weren't possible in TIS. I think your criticism at 3:28 is that cheap solutions can also be the easiest or most elegant, but I don't see a problem with that. I think this surprising application of the DX300 is unintuitive enough to reward a good solution.
Your suggestion at 10:32 also doesn't really make sense to me. Of course, storing a container and retrieving it immediately afterwards seems unnecessarily complicated, but in practice you wouldn't be able to tell whether another container will get stored before the other one gets retrieved. I also would like outputs to be less strictly defined, but then Shenzhen would be a different game.
By the way, I'm writing this comment much later because the second half of the campaign was way too hard for me. I then replayed SpaceChem and managed to beat every single level and get all achievements. I'm proud I did that. It only took about four years.
So then I went back to Shenzhen, got a little further and hit a brick wall again. Yes, it's kelp harvesting. I usually don't watch a video of yours without having beaten the game in question, but in this case I really didn't care. (And just in case: I don't want anybody to give me a hint for kelp harvesting. I either want it to solve myself or never at all.) It's somewhat relieving to see that I'm not the only one who had massive problems with it, but of course it still bugs me. That said, I did manage to beat "Would you believe it?", which was insane as well. Anyway, you have my respect for beating it.
I agree that non-blocking inputs are overutilised. They can be helpful but often they are just a bit annoying. I'm sure many people have already told you, but you can negate the accumulator by multiplying it with -1. A horizontal bridge also seems rather pointless to me. But yeah, the swap command would have been a nice addition. And the outputs of the puzzle at 15:44 are indeed needlessly complicated. I have the impression that Zach just went way overboard with the difficulty of the puzzles in the second half in general.
Anyway, as much as I like Shenzhen, I think I will take another break from it.
I guess I couldn't just accept my defeat and after about three weeks, I beat kelp harvesting. That might have been the most satisfying moment I ever had. Building the solution took me about ten hours in total.
I still need to play this one. I didn't really feel spoiled by this review.
This video needs a MASSIVE trigger warning. I almost died watching this video.
jk, I just happen to have returned from an EE exam and as soon as the video started and I saw datasheets and simulations I almost had a Vietnam flashback hahaha. Keep up the good work.
So will you ever review exapunks?
Also anyone think Matt should stream these games and explain how he plays?
Still haven't gotten around to playing this Zach game. If only they would go on sale more often.
So, do I need a degree to play this?
I was looking for a game for my 2 year old, would you recommend this?
Matthewzachtronics
06:39 - Top 10 Anime Betrayals!
"Justin Ma - Advisor" as in, the FTL/IttB guy? 18:07
that final countdown song played on synthgenerator
Looks like good old fashioned engineering
How many more Zachtronics games are left?
One more, Opus Magnum
Two more. Exapunks is in early access, will be released in couple of months. :)
how has this game turned what i just did for my coursework into something fun
Electronic circuit puzzles?
You have my attention.
Would be nice if it was a bit more analogue.
Scott Manley has some good videos playing it
I feel like I want to enjoy these games, and that my brain will melt trying to with anything except infinifactory
You should really try opus magnum. Its really simple when you get into it.
Tommero thanks I'll look into it :)
Also came to recommend Opus Magnum, its definitely the most accessible of these puzzle games
I fucking love you Matt!!!!
Omg. There goes my night
Exapunks review please.
got crippling addiction for solitaire games now
Your not going to cover Ironclad Tactics?
In recommending Zachtronics he said he'd skip that one, probably because it doesn't have much in common with the others.
I didn't understand a single thing, yet I watched it anyways. Great channel.
I love Zachtronics games but I won't lie, the assembly games are way more taxing on my brain. This and TIS both I've barely touched, but I wanted to best them before Arx
Your review of Arx will probably make me just buy it tho
what do you mean by "arx"?
Giving us dat good shit!!
Looking forward to your Sudoku review.
What is this? SHIT ON SOULS! WHAT ARE THESE NERD GAMES?!!! Ya nerd, ya fricking nerd!
Honestly, I appreciate this stuff. These games aren't for me personally, but I'm glad there is someone out-there with a voice creating a buzz for them, hope everyone that enjoys has a good time.
Im sure these games arent so scary looking after you play them a bit but right now for me its mind melting. For some context I played World of Goo. That game make so angry! Fuck that game.
Can you review Tetris next?
Nycro he actually already did
DAE
This and spacechem go so far over my head without actually seeing the tutorials... Well, the complex circuits do with this one at least...
And yet, I still want to torture myself. Why?
I think the great failing of spacechem is that the tutorial is terrible. The way I learned how to play it is by messing around with it, but you can't expect people to do that or watch a tedious and not so well designed video (that's on TH-cam btw).
It looks well made, but I'd only play these _Zachtronics_ games if it was required by my job.
i dont have enough braincells for these kind of games
There cant be that many more Zachtronics games right guys? Right? They surely have to end at some point?
They never end~ Life is a Zachtronics game, after all.
Oni One more puzzle game currently, Opus Magnum. There's also Ironclad Tactics, but I'd guess that if that was part of the review series it would have been published earlier in the sequence.
Did you not watch the review, he said at the end that he'll be reviewing Opus Magnum next. Also if you watched is recommending Zachtronics video, you'd know that will be the last one. Unless he decides to review other zach-likes like silicon zeroes or human resource machine, which seems very unlikely.
And douchebag tone was necessary because...?
damn, how many zachtronics game are there?
There are five commercial Zachtronics puzzle games - Spacechem, TIS-100, Infinifactory, Shenzhen I/O, and Opus Magnum.
Zach also made a strategy game, Ironclad Tactics, and multiple smaller games:
Codex of Alchemical Engineering: akin to Spacechem and Magnum Opus
Ruckingenur II and KOHCTPYKTOP: both similar to Shenzhen I/O
Infiniminer: the basis of Minecraft and Infinifactory
The Bureau: a puzzle game with a steampunk setting like Ironclad Tactics
He also made some educational games. Zach is pretty prolific!
looks like a nightmare
Matthew, 你好，我真的会讲中文。 It's rude to not say this after listening to the ending.
Love this video but all of it goes over my head.
The comment sections to these videos really makes you lose faith in humanity.
At least his audience have the decency to not mass dislike his video and are civil about it.
yes.
Father Gascoigne you have a bloodborne boss as your screen name, I'd take a good look in the mirror before calling other people autistic.
Gabriel Katapano Nice uploads virgin :]
If you really bothered to look at my account that will be really pathetic. I hope you're bluffing, in which case, nice one.
The anti trend TH-camr
I don't know if being the 667th like on this video makes me a villain or a hero..
Anyway.. great video as always, Matthew!
#wowilovesupportingwhatgoodcriticswanttocoverinsteadofbashingtheirvideosbecausetheydontappealtome
I would have played the sh*t out of this game as a kid. But it's way too similar to my job nowadays.
I dont even understand what I'm looking at... or listening to... but I like it
"Waaaaaahhhhh where's my Zelda and Mario?????" On the 10 trillion other TH-cam channels that have already reviewed them.
"virgue sigballing"
Your mom disagrees
you're liking your own comments, we're done here
It's funny, I never played any Zachtronics game. And yet I've seen Matts reviews of many other games that I hadn't played and yet was entertained and even considered playing them, such as W101, and yet I can't sit through a single one of these Zachtronics reviews all the way.
Guess I'm really just not their target audience.
Who else actually filled out the Visa?
the deeper you go into these zachtronics reviews the more they sound like matthew is fucking around and creating an ARG where he's reviewing fake games as if they were real. like, i understand all the words he's saying about this thing, but in the order he's putting them, it all sounds so surreal and fake.
And to think, just three months ago he was reviewing Sonic Dreams Collection.
This is what I call job, and they pay me for do it, is like build walls or check documents for fun hahahaha
This reception from you guys made me sad...
Video starts at 6:36
After about 10 puzzles I asked myself - why won't I just do real programming instead? It's unironically more fun than this game.
You should absolutely play/review Stephen's Sausage Roll. Seriously. It's the only thing that surpasses Zach's games, in my opinion.
Sorry, but I completely don't get a purpose of games like this. If you are a programmer, you don't have too much time for playing games. And if you'll get some time for play a game, you rather want to take some rest and relax, not to play a game about your work. Otherwise, if you are not a programmer but you like things like these, why wasting time playing a game about it, instead of picking up real programming language and start learning, that you can get some work in the future, and earn money ? And sorry if my englih in this post is a little bit broken.
I don't get Shenzhen I/O. They made a really sweet solitaire game, and they decided to bundle some shitty electronics game with it.
I fucking love you man but this isn't even something I can listen to while mindlessly grinding in osrs. This is like listening to someone review their favourite IDE.
Still better than the Dark Souls "Remaster"
hey guys look, the fourth review of spacechem in a row!
And a fifth one is coming up. Yay!
and another one
teero121 yea, another asshat here to complain.
Don't get me wrong guys. I can say with no hesitation that I am not at all interested in these games but I respect that Matthew still pulls through all the negativity and is doing his thing.
I was just meming.
There's another one after this too, but the next one is the least impenetrable. So maybe that one won't be as painful for people. I mean in this one its pretty much impossible to tell what's going on.
oh my dear lord, this is painful to sit through. I'm glad Matthew is making content he wants to make, but I can't say i'm sharing in his excitement. Granted, I think it's important for him to cover these types of games, and i'm happy to throw some dosh his way while he's doing it. Hopefully, he'll move back towards some game coverage i'm interested in watching, but for now i'll bite the bullet and kick back, because I know there's someone out there who are loving his zachtronics videos.
Oof
Hi Matthew, I just wanted to try and be constructive if possible. What people love about your old videos, is that you took an mainstream games, usually older ones, and provided a completely new way to look at it. You provided such insightful, brilliant commentary on every game you covered, that it was easy to forget you aren't actually a game designer. But after you shifted to these other games, these niche titles that are heavily slanted towards a particular market, the nature of your content changed. You started providing shorter form commentary on games that 95% of your audience has no interest in ever playing, regardless of your enjoyment of them. Your channel has an identity, based on your previous content, but now that it's been literally years since you have covered anything that your audience has any interest in, you are going to hemorrhage viewers until there are none left. Cover smaller games, cover niche games, but try to do it as an accent to your larger content. I loved your Kula world video because it was different. Just some constructive feedback from another TH-camr that loves your old content.
Fuck off, your opinion just happens to be "what people like about your videos" talk for yourself
roberto sambergs I was speaking generally. Funny thing about generalizations is, there are always exceptions to them. Ironic how you took a generalization as personally offensive while telling me not to speak about you. I was not talking about you specifically, seeing as obviously, I don't know who you are, don't care who you are, and you seem like an extremely abrasive and awful person with absolutely nothing of any value to say considering you took what was intended to be constructive commentary, directed towards someone else entirely, and reacted by telling me to fuck off. How can I fuck off when I wasn't even talking to or about you in the first place? I think you may want to speak to somebody about how narcissism works.
i think its safe to say that if he is indeed hemorrhaging viewers, then its absolutely fantastic that people like you are the first ones to go.
If you want long form reviews of well established franchises, there is no shortage of reviewers who copy Matt's old style of review that you can watch (like that terrible Joseph Anderson).
Matt has only improved his review style over the years, understanding that in order to say everything you want about a game doesnt require 1 hour of your time.
I was just explaining something from a different perspective that I thought might be helpful, specifically relative to the health of his channel. I did not say I do not like his current content. I said he is boxing himself in, and seeing as he quit his day job to do this, boxing himself in would affect his livelihood. I am not saying he has to do one hour reviews. I am not saying he has to do anything at all. I am just trying to give him another perspective that might help him protect his livelihood. The fact that you want "viewers like me to be the first to go" tells me you dont care about Matt's ongoing well-being here on TH-cam, only your own interests. Hemorrhaging viewers hemorrhages ads. Hemorrhaging ads hemorrhages income. Hemorrhaging income might mean this will no longer be viable for Matthew, meaning less content. I say all this as a designer and reviewer myself, so I know how it goes. I do not use ads (it is just a hobby for me, so I dont go that far with it) but I do know how the viewership works. As for other reviewers, I am not a fan of Joseph Anderson. He admitted to copying content of mine for his No Man's Sky video, and never credited me.
My own interests?....what?....im not the one here making the argument that he needs to change his content.
I didnt like Zachtronics before these vids, hell I didnt even know they existed.
You know, the moment someone comes with this argument that they care for Matt's income and that these videos arent helping him, thats the moment when im obligated to call bullshit on that.
You dont care if Matt is surviving on his income or not, you dont care that in order to make a living out of this he needs to cater to more people. The only thing you care about here, is that he isnt making the content you want.
No amount of lame ass excuses or patronizing comments are going to change that. You are only illuding yourself when you say otherwise. You havent been satisfied with this series of videos and you felt the need to somehow express that through the most facetious way possible.
As for ads, Matthewmattosis doesnt make a living off of ads, he makes a living off of Patreon, which is the place you should consider going to if you truly are worried about Matt's livelihood, and not making comments about how he needs to change back to his old format. Im willing to bet you dont even support him there.
"What people love about your old videos, is that you took an mainstream games, usually older ones, and provided a completely new way to look at it".
Why must Matt stick with well established franchises? Why cant he give the spotlight to less mainstream games if he knows his skills as a reviewer will shine more there? Why cant he provide a completely new way to look at those games too?
Oh right, its cause he is losing viewers and making less money. Thats really causing you pain and taking time out of your day.
Its just 6 fuckin videos, he will get back to the franchises you people keep consistently reminding him of, he hasnt forgotten.
Thirteenth... no wait
I love you Matt, but how many more of these games are left? I like when you talk about games with stories or at least mechanics that people usually don't think about. Your MGS, Mario, Zelda, and even recommending series are way better than these Zachtronic games. Only because it's so many puzzle games in a row, that it gets tiring. We love when you show niche titles but you have to mix them up, and a puzzle series isn't the best type to do a multiple video series on. I'll keep sticking with you cause I've literally watched your MGS series reviews more than I can count, but I won't lie when I say I don't find these games at all interesting. Maybe others do.
I can second this. His videos haven't been great for a while now. I wish he covered more relevant games.
There should be only one left. Though I'm quite liking these videos.
Magnum Opus is the latest Zachtronics title, and since he's covering them in release order (and skipped over Zach's "Ironclad Tactics", a strategy game) it will be the last in the series.
Same here. I love his videos, but I haven't watched one trough for about a year :( I wish he would cover more mainstream games too.
He's playing what he's interested in.
If those games are not mainstream it gives him a niche.
Having said that, I don't care for these games either.
Is this a game?
Venith K it might just be the gamiest game ever gamed
I really don't like how Zachtronics uses documentation to explain the game... I feel like it is... Lazy?
It also makes getting into the game a solid brick wall for some people, especially thise who suffer from dyslexia...
Once you smash that wall though, it does become a really good game... Though I really suck at it...
I'd be fine if the game had the documentation and a tutorial... Yeah, the first pizzle might be some sort of a tutorial, but not that good.
"Autism Simulator"
God that comment from the last video is so fucking legendary
>Dissapear for months
>Restart Patreon
>Time to regain my audience since I have all this competition now, what game should I cover?
>Sonic Porn
>Autism Simulators
>Not just one autism simulator but fucking 7
What competition? Joseph freaking Anderson? Matthew is still top of the line. And the fact he can talk interesting stuff about any game instead of the latest shiny game the hype industry is fainting over is what guarantees his quality.
Gabriel Katapano I like both. U r a big angry gay.
He's only reviewing 5 not 7
DrTheKay I agree. My post wasn't saying he was good. It was asking op who does he consider Matthew's competition, because I don't know any youtuber that comes close
I think some people think Joseph is Matt's competition because he also makes long reviews, in some cases, about the same games Matt did. Also, a lot of people that watch Joseph's videos used to watch Matt's, some of them donate to Joseph's far more succesful Patreon too.
So wtf is going on in this video
Electronic engineering puzzles with a short break for card games
Game is happening...
sixth
Second
game looks boring as fuck lmaoooo
Munch180 It looks boring, sounds boring, but entertaining af, if you haven't tried it, try it
First!
Yeah, this game really turned me off, it seems too complex. Nice attempt on the review, but I will continue to play games like Cup Head.
Everyone begins somewhere, Matt wasn't born like this!
Lets say that some people earn money by using their brains so they prefer to relax after work by using their brain as well.
While action games can only make you dumber which will result in drop of quality of your future work.