Zenless Zone Zero 1.2 Version Optimization Summary

Zenless Zone Zero 1.2 version of "Tour de Inferno" officially launched, the new online outer ring region for proxies to bring different from the New Eridu metropolitan area of the wild style, together with new scenes, new characters, new plot debut, as well as endless activity content and experience optimization.

Zenless Zone Zero is not a game type that can catch the pan-user market, and its unique tone of picking the audience is not fully aligned with the high expectations imposed by the outside world, but it still struggles to rely on its own high quality to lift action mobile games to the forefront of the best-selling, especially in the current situation of slowing down the growth of the ACG games market and complicated public opinion.

This success is naturally due to the team's constant supply of fresh content, but another reason is that ZZZ team has continued to adhere to another main line of development: optimization.

"Add More Fire"

Regarding the actual content of the 1.2 version, the official preheating has given sufficient exposure, whether it is the free-spirited outer ring scene or the heroic Caesar King, it has aroused a warm response in the player community.

miHoYo is quite mature on the content creation techniques and marketing style of new characters, with the role as the center point, with new forces, new scenes, new plot, so as to give players a new content experience in multiple dimensions, taking into account the needs of differentiation, theme prominence, core consistency.

Just like Blazewood, in the visual style and the New Eridu metropolitan area bustling modern scene opened the gap, the choreography of the "Tour de Inferno" event has become a key node in the plot and gameplay experience, its wild West and violent locomotive style mix and content output, followed the game's consistent high quality level.

But ZZZ team is not satisfied with this, they want to add more fire in the game's new scenes, new plots, new characters and other regular content updates, and completely ignite the enthusiasm of proxies in wild.

For example, specially designed to fit the plot of the racing scene, the desert Gobi under the roar of the locomotive, bringing is no less than the game battle of the exhilarating experience; the arcade store on the shelves of the new mini-game "Bizarre Brigade", roguelike gameplay is undoubtedlly another time-killing tool.

As mentioned above, the production team adopts a two-pronged approach during the development process, on the one hand, the steady production of high-quality fresh content, and on the other hand, the existing content is modified, optimized, and even reproduced. Taking version 1.2 as an example, dozens of optimization items are listed in official update description, of which, can intuitively improve the player's gaming experience, focused on four aspects:

"Backup Battery Charge System": Proxies' battery can be automatically stored after overflow; significantly reducing the loss aversion caused by daily battery consumption, so that the game time can be more rationally arranged;
New "Fairy Auto Explore": If eligible, Fairy will spend a certain amount of time helping every proxies to obtain rewards that have been missed in combats that has already been cleared reducing non-essential repeat play time.
"Blitz Mode" of Hollow Zero: By omitting the "TV Mode" link, proxies can go directly to the combat area to meet enemies, further enhancing the coherence of the combat experience.
Added Playable Agents Actionable Features: Currently, proxies with Caesar/Bernice are free to switch to agents' perspective to explore.

Overall, the first three changes aim to improve the consistency of the player's gaming experience and increase the efficiency of obtaining game rewards, while the fourth one improves the displayable space of the character and strengthens the connection between the player and the character.

If we go back to ZZZ since the opening of the version of the iteration, can be found that the above optimization is not just one-step success, some of the changes have been on the horizon in 1.1 version of the main plot, The player will be able to explore the city as Jane Doe, a agent other than Belle/Wise. And the drama will be performed in the box court scene, reducing the switch from "TV Mode" to the 3D world.

This is not the end of the production team in the optimization of the game, through the “Dev Face-to-Face”, we saw the grand blueprint woven by the production team.

"Feel Reassured"

September 24, the official release of the “Dev Face-to-Face” video, game developer and a famous BiliBili uploader talk chat, for the game's current problems to give the corresponding optimization program and on-line time, most of the changes will be in the 1.4 version of the actual installation.

Specifically, the content to talk about can be divided into two major modules: "TV Mode" and combat experience.

"ZZZ TV Mode"

ZZZ team did not less in "TV Mode" gameplay optimization efforts, compared with the close beta, the public beta on-line version 1.0 cut down the proportion of the main plot of "TV Mode", increase the acceleration button; 1.1 version of the main plot of the plot performance is placed in all of the box court level, including the content of "TV Mode" gameplay, reduce the close-up performance, optimize the acceleration button, to solve the problem of dragging the performance of the animation of "TV Mode"; and to 1.2 version. Through the Fairy Auto Explore to save the trouble of repeating "TV Mode" and picking up the missing rewards.

Based on the continuous tuning of the details, ZZZ team decided to remove the "TV Mode" gameplay from the main plot in version 1.4 and later, as well as remake the pre-mainline. Making the main plot experience more immersive and smooth.

However, that doesn't mean they're going to ditch "TV Mode" altogether; it's still the game's signature gameplay, and some board experiences which incorporate features from other gameplay styles, have been highly praised by players.

And we'll still be experiencing more mechanically interesting "TV Mode" in Zenless Zone Zero major release events and side commissions.

Combat Experience

As the core content of ZZZ, the improvement of the action system and combat experience has always been a top priority in the game's development.

It is difficult to deny that Zenless Zone Zero in the sense of combat, action performance in the shape of a deep attainments, smooth, pleasing character movements, high-speed, fast rhythm of the battle is its overriding similar games valuable strengths, but how to maintain a long time action game should be interactive experience, challenging, ZZZ is currently not perfect on these.

The game developer then highlighted three shortcomings of the game's combat module in the program: using time as the only rating indicator for passing a level, the combat being too repetitive, and the inability to aim at the right target with the enemy solving mechanism in high-speed combats.

The production team will gradually add more combat rating conditions, such as the 1.1 version of the number of defeats in the combat of Shiyu Defense mode, and may also be followed by ratings based on the performance of the player's operations, such as the number of injuries.

Regarding the repetition of the combat experience, through the introduction of more enemy types and more combat gameplay to regulate, such as 1.2 version of the “Blitz Combat” mode on the line will be completely canceled to "TV Mode" gameplay, proxies can choose their own negative buffs to play a more direct, more enjoyable ACT Roguelike game; in the 1.4 version of the roguelike gameplay, the production team will also be part of the agents to add a new branch of the action, so that the game's experience of the builds No longer limited to simple stats stacking, but with substantial operational changes.

For the game's current operating feel or action mechanism deficiencies, the production team is also continuing to collect feedback and optimization, version 1.2 handheld players feedback on the role of the switching function has also made the corresponding changes, and now allows the player to freely switch between the upper and lower roles in the squad.

More noteworthy, the game will be in the 1.4 version of the replacement of the agent of the ultimate skill bar, shared by the whole team changed to the agent of the respective use, it will further affect proxies' operating practices, goodbye to the pursuit of skills to maximize the benefits of the formation of the role of the monologue.

In addition to the two modules mentioned above, the discussion also touched upon a number of scattered improvement proposals, such as reducing the pressure of agent building, increasing the supply of battery, materials, and exchangeable materials, etc., such as further optimizing the character model, allowing players to control their own agents in the city to explore, such as increasing the interactive content of the scene, expanding the scope of exploration, such as the optimization of packages, and allowing players to manage their own need to download the game resources, and so on.

All these attempts and efforts are to make players feel that “today's ZZZ is better than yesterday's”, they refuse to work behind closed doors, stagnation, they do their best to respond to the expectations of the players, hand in hand to make the game better.

"Cumulative Re-evolution"

Content optimization in Zenless Zone Zero is not about tinkering around the edges; there are some things that are changed that even hurt, such as remaking the pre-mainline content and removing the grid-walking portion of it.

But to say that it's because the team made poor decisions up front is also an inaccurate statement.

ZZZ has absolute outstanding advantages, such as tense character animation, expressive audio-visual performances, and a mixed and individualized art style.

But along the way, too much emphasis on the game's artistic tastes or a certain tone of action occasionally weighs down the game's interactive experience.

Taking the "TV Mode" gameplay as an example, it is an ingenious way of designing it as a part of the plot advancement experience; the animation performance of the "TV Mode" is very fine, which also solves the problem of monotonous performance of the monitor array very well.

But again, from a play or interaction standpoint, it over occupies the player's controls, and when that animation needs to be repeated hundreds or thousands of times, the visuals are somehow relegated to secondary importance.

The rest of ZZZ suffers from more or less similar problems, and the production team's personalized design that highlights the audiovisual presentation doesn't exactly work in a long service game - a mode with a lot of repetitive play sessions.

From the optimization direction shown in the program “Dev Face-to-Face”, we can see that ZZZ team can listen to players' voices and accurately locate the problems, and then hit the crux of the problem and make truly effective changes.

However, for a large-scale project that often starts with a hundred people, there are times when even if you know where the game problem lies, you may not be able to change it, and it often affects the whole body, and in some cases involves the adjustment of the underlying framework.

For example, to operate playable agents in city, ZZZ team needed to create additional movement modules for each agent, and even re-engineer the metrics of the main city scene to accommodate the day-to-day behaviors of a large character such as “Ben Bigger”.

As in the case of the main "TV Mode" plot, it involves a lot of discarding and redoing of plot content; it is the result of coordinated work by multiple departments, and the production team needs to rebuild the production pipeline to produce the missing content.

As such, you can only feel the workload of the production team behind a few simple sentences, and how resolute their determination is. It's not just a matter of attitude, it's a matter of vouching for the actual production capacity and creative ability of Zenless Zone Zero team.

From version 1.1 to 1.2 and even 1.4, which will have significant changes in the future, the production team has always maintained a low profile close to the players, they do not play bamboozle, and will only take it out and share it after they have fully weighed their own strengths and the feasibility of the program.

In past interviews, the producers have mentioned “Doing content right and making it the best it can be”. The constant optimization and adjustments that have been made to Zenless Zone Zero since its launch are proof of their adherence to this.

ZZZ Team still possess an abundance of creative talent and sharpness, and are able to internalize player feedback into experience and firmly push forward the optimization of the game in a clearer direction, making people look forward to the performance of Zenless Zone Zero as it continues to evolve.