- Zen of Sudoku
"Zen of Sudoku" is a
Sudoku based computer game developed byCharlie Cleveland ofUnknown Worlds Entertainment and released onJune 20 ,2006 . Although thecasual games market is not the intended direction of Unknown Worlds, or of Cleveland, "Zen of Sudoku" was produced in order to generate revenue towards funding "Natural Selection 2 ", a sequel to the original "Natural Selection" modification for Half-Life. Cleveland cites casual games development as a "last option" for funding this sequel, having been unwilling to sacrifice control of the company to external investors.cite web|url=http://uk.gamespot.com/news/6155717.html|title=Charlie Cleveland's small-game biz|accessdate=2006-09-04|author=Patrick Caldwell|publisher=GameSpot |date=2006-08-17]The game features automated generation of sudoku puzzles at varying difficulty levels as well as a hint and tutorial system, which not only teaches players the basics of the game, but also teaches them further advanced strategies.cite web|url=http://www.zenofsudoku.com/changes|title="Zen of Sudoku" feature list and changelog|accessdate=2006-09-04]
Currently, the game is available for purchase directly from the website at http://www.zenofsudoku.com/, and on
Valve Corporation 's Steam platform. A flash based web version is also in production.cite web|url=http://www.unknownworlds.com/index.html|title=Unknown Worlds Entertainment, news, July 17, 2006|accessdate=2006-09-04]Gameplay
Zen of Sudoku does not change any of the standard gameplay rules of sudoku. Its main focus is that you can "Relax with hand-painted Japanese-styled backgrounds, no timer and lush natural soundscapes." Rather than use background music, typical wildlife noises are played, with simple harp-like tones played in response to numbers entered. Like many other computer sudoku games, players can select a specific difficulty level, and can be provided tutorials for basic play and strategies.
References
External links
* [http://www.zenofsudoku.com/ "Zen of Sudoku" official website]
* [http://www.unknownworlds.com/ Unknown Worlds Entertainment official website]
* [http://www.steampowered.com Steam official website]
* [http://www.gamedev.net/columns/events/gdc2007/article.asp?id=1033 Bootstrapping Core through Casual] atGameDev
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