23 Insights from Producer Zhenyu Li on Zenless Zone Zero

MiHoYo's Zenless Zone Zero will officially begin open beta testing on July 4th. Recently, the game's producer, Zhenyu Li, gave a small-scale interview in Singapore. We have compiled the core information from the related reports for your understanding.

1. Vision for Zenless Zone Zero: Zhenyu Li aims to create a fast-paced, distinctively styled action game that allows players to find fun in simplicity. He hopes to make more people experience the thrill of action games, lowering the barrier and making them accessible to ordinary players. The characters, scenes, and gameplay in the game are all geared towards this goal: finding a way for more people to enjoy action games.

2. The Zenless Zone Zero team started with about 12 people, later grew to over 60, and now has more than 400 members. When recruiting new members, Zhenyu Li pprioritizes whether they truly understand and like Zenless Zone Zero.

3. Zenless Zone Zero does not extensively use AI, especially in art design. Zhenyu Li believes that humanized design is more meaningful and valuable at present. MiHoYo has already utilized AI in the programming phase.

4. Although Zenless Zone Zero and Persona V have similarities, the inspiration did not come from the latter. Instead, Zenless Zone Zero drew more from Digimon World and Street Fighter 6.

5. For instance, the time planner system in Zenless Zone Zero, where different events occcur at different times, draws inspiration from Digimon World. Zhenyu Li played this game frequently in his childhood.

6. Zhenyu Li is a huge fan of Street Fighter 6, with thousands of hours of gameplay in the Street Fighter series. The most important lesson he learned was the significance of "action feedback" - the design sense of every punch feeling impactful. This experience is applied in Zenless Zone Zero's action design, where the team has strived to make every frame of the combat animation reflect a different impact feel.

7. Street Fighter taught him the vast difference between hardcore action games and those designed for beginners. For players unfamiliar with action games, it's not that they don't like action games; they just need some time and a relatively longer learning curve. Therefore, providing the right tutorials at the right times in the game is very important. Zenless Zone Zero offers different tutorials and actions at different times, instead of presenting all actions at the beginning.

8. Zhenyu Li highlighted a feature rarely seen in other games - the position and manner of new characters appearing after a switch in the multi-character system. In Genshin Impact, new characters appear in the same position as the previous ones, while in Zenless Zone Zero,, the character switch system emphasizes collaboration, with new characters appearing in positions more suitable for continuing the fight.

9. Unlike MiHoYo's previous core combat-focused games, Zenless Zone Zero places more emphasis on city life. Completing daily tasks can be as simple as having a morning coffee or participating in city-related activities.

10. During previous tests, some players preferred combat over exploration and city experiences, while others found the latter interesting. The team decided to address this by splitting void exploration into two types of tasks in the third test - combat tasks and exploration tasks. Players can directly enter combat for the former and enjoy pure exploration and city experience for the latter.

11. Another significant issue discovered in the first two tests was the pacing and flow of regular tasks in the void. Therefore, a key goal of the third test was to smooth out the entire void exploration experience. No new content was added in the third test because the team believed the negative feedback on exploration was due to too many repetitive segments, not because it wasn't fun. The focus was on better handling the pacing.

12. Another area of balance the Zenless Zone Zero team is working on is difficulty. Zhenyu Li wants to make the game more accessible to beginners while providing challenges for hardcore players. The game offers different difficulty levels at various stages. The current version includes two modes: easy and hard. Experienced action gamers can choose the hard mode, while beginners can start with the easy mode and challenge themselves with the hard mode later.

13. Some secret combo attack modes can only be unlocked by combining specific characters and actions.

14. The team has considered an auto-battle mode but is hesitant to move in that direction until they fully understand player needs. They aim to provide genuinely engaging content rather than making it easier for players to take their hands off the keyboard.

15. The team has considered four-player and two-player squad modes, but the former felt too complex and chaotic. The two-player squad mode might be introduced as a new mode in the future.

16. Zenless Zone Zero aims to avoid the "epic effects" of Genshin Impact, instead focusing on clearer animation so players can better see the actions and combat.

17. The game emphasizes quality over quantity in character creation. The team continues to improve and refine character actions, and adjust combat and animation. The number of characters will be similar to Genshin Impact. Sometimes, characters are built around specific skills the team wants to introduce, while other times, skills are designed based on visually appealing concepts.

18. Zenless Zone Zero currently has no healer characters, not because of a deliberate exclusion but because the team prefers action-type characters. Artists haven't yet designed healer characters, and they are still exploring the best way to integrate healers into the game.

19. Zhenyu Li and the team are also working on ensuring that players who temporarily leave the game can easily return and find new content to explore without feeling out of sync with tasks and storylines. They are considering a system where returning players can directly experience the latest content, similar to quickly jumping to specific bosses in Genshin Impact.

20. The city environment and elements in Zenless Zone Zero are inspired by both real-world cultures and fictional works. The team aims to create a "lived-in city" rather than just a "real city." As the story progresses, they will release more content, including different city cultures and districts, to better showcase the ambitious world and story they want to create.

21. Zhenyu Li and the music director of Zenless Zone Zero are longtime friends who frequently attend electronic music festivals together.

22. Zhenyu Li appears to be a typical fan of ACG (Anime, Comics, Games) culture. He can talk endlessly about animations like Jujutsu Kaisen, Frieren, EVA, the Fate series, and games like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Hades, Street Fighter, CS, Monster Hunter, Overwatch, and Hidetaka Miyazaki's games, but not much else.

23. Besides launching on iOS, Android, PS5, and PC on July 4th, Zenless Zone Zero's release dates for Switch and Xbox are yet to be determined.