What is Zentai?
Zentai came about from a second year games project at uni. The task was, in our groups, to see a game development through to completion. Our group of 5 decided to remake the classic (or not so classic) mobile phone game snake. This essentially meant moving the snake game in to the 3D space with all the connotations that that brought about. To make life a little harder, as we were developing on Linux, we decided to go multi platform, and in theory...Zentai works on Windows, Linux and Mac.
Good points?
Seems like a good place for bullet points:
- It got finished...in just about enough time
- Multi platform seems to work pretty reliably
- Runs smoothly on Uni computers which are graced with the best graphics cards
- All made in C++ and OpenGL, learnt lots about these...maybe too much
- Good experience of team work and game development
Bad Points?
- Not the most inspired idea in the whole of the world
- Graphically limited, does the job syndrome
- Some of team "lacked motivation" - with 5 comitted members it could have been so much more!
My views on it..with Hindsight
Zentai was a good chance for me to indulge myself in the joys of games programming. The group which I worked in wasn't the best, but we struggled through.
Looking back on Zentai, it ain't too shabby. Whilst it's no masterpiece, it is a decent proof of concept and something that I can look back on proudishly (now that is definitely not a word!)
Anyway, check it out and see what you think of it!