SUSPENDING MULTIPLAYER DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCT TESTING

Due to budgetary and economic reasons, unplanned technical issues and a general lack of consistency across versions of the game, development of the Advent Heroes multiplayer component has been suspended and will not ship with the game as originally planned. In addition, the product testing center on the Zero Break website has been closed until further notice due to security concerns. The KO Brawl demo that is mentioned in a previous announcement is also no longer functional as the server it relies on has been shut down. Please accept my full apologies for the inconveniences, and thank you for your understanding and patience.

Today, Zero Break Game Design has released its first testing package to the product testing service. Advent KO Brawl, the demo of the in-progress multiplayer arena for Advent Heroes, replaces the previously-planned expeditions feature with a competitive showdown between our four heroes in an all-out battle for honor and glory to be the top tier of the destined warriors.

Structured in a deathmatch-style free for all, KO Brawl tasks players with using their wits and character abilities to take down the opposing players before they themselves are knocked out in a best of ten, winner take all showdown across six distinct arenas. Players can turn the tide in their favor by absorbing glowing light fields to reload their essences, red for power and blue for mana. Be warned, however, as these mysterious lights diminish when absorbed and will take a short time to regenerate so wise use of their energy is strongly advised (either to keep your own essences at full strength or to prevent the opposing players from absorbing them first).

You can download the KO Brawl demo from the product testing area of the site if you register for a tester’s account. Please note that this and all future testing packages will continue to use the MV development pipeline as originally structured, replacing the previously-scheduled Unity framework versions due to product timeline issues and other factors that are beyond the control of Zero Break Game Design.

By now you’ve probably heard that Google is entering the sunset phase for its Stadia cloud gaming platform, and therefore may be wondering what that means for Google ecosystem support for Zero Break products. Let me state for the record that Stadia’s sunset phase, which ends availability of the Stadia platform effective on January 18, 2023, has absolutely no effect on the distribution plans for Zero Break products as the service was never a priority given its limited reach even prior to today’s announcement. Furthermore, Android devices are a separate product line from Stadia and have no direct reliance for Google Play Games and other remaining services in the videogame space that have no direct ties to the Stadia technology and will continue to be included in the overall roadmap for Zero Break products. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Zero Break Game Design is now accepting product testing participants for in progress, upcoming and experimental content for games and other projects. Please note that the service is in beta and subject to non-disclosure conditions as per the FAQ sheet, so don’t go around telling me off on anything that I haven’t mentioned in public discussions. You may sign up for the testing service from the product testing page.

The Zero Break Game Design label is intended to provide gaming experiences that echo the best of classic retro console experiences with modern ingenuity, and it is the intent to push those experiences to the public conscience in a manner supported by sound policies and devoid of influence and struggle from public conflict. This includes fairness and honesty within the media, game testing and other aspects of outreach across the game development business. With that in mind, and due to the recent incidences of theft and fraud, it is the policy of Zero Break Game Design to neither engage, work with nor support Steam curators, and no access to Zero Break products will be provided through Curator Connect or any similar service. Furthermore, all influencers and press contacts will require a professional email address to validate authenticity; no contact information associated with a public mailbox account such as AOL or Gmail, nor any unsolicited messages on Steam, Xbox or any other gaming service, will be accepted.

This policy is effective immediately and is non-negotiable, and any emails or messages that do not meet these requirements will be destroyed and ignored. Additionally, any mass outreach to potential contacts will either originate directly from official Zero Break communication channels, or through authenticated marketing and press relations agencies. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated, and please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.

Today Zero Break Game Design has ended production of its Ready to Rumble add-on for RPG Maker MZ and MV, bringing the final improvements to the detection mechanisms and other aspects thereof. Version 2.2 makes the following changes to the plugin structure:

• Removed information on setting up a WinUI2 (formerly Universal Windows) project due to redundancy from the WebView2 transition.
• Changes the add-on to detect the active status independently of the gamepad detection.

Overall features of the plugin remain the same:

• Rumble for mobile devices (vibrates your phone)
• Dual-Motor controller rumble (vibrates your gamepad)

In addition to bringing the final improvements to the MZ and MV version, preparations are underway to begin development of version 3.0 which will move the code base away from the current JavaScript structure and over to C# for use in RPG Maker Unite. Please note that due to the change from NW.JS to Unity beginning with RPG Maker Unite, version 3.0 will not be backward compatible with prior versions.

On Sunday 31 July 2022 the Indonesian government completely blocked access to videogame services effective immediately. This action affects all major gaming storefronts including Steam, Xbox and other services where Zero Break products may be available. As a result of this action, I have taken the unfortunate step of banning the distribution and/or sales of Zero Break products in the Indonesian market to account for the unavailability issue. Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.

The Zero Break Game Design label is intended to provide gaming experiences that echo the best of classic retro console experiences with modern ingenuity, and it is the intent to push those experiences to the public conscience in a manner supported by sound policies and devoid of influence and struggle from public conflict. With that in mind (and due to policies related to the war in Ukraine) it has been decided under international sanctions policy and the principles of goodwill and justice to cease the availability of Zero Break products and services within Russian and Belarusian territories. Your understanding in this matter is appreciated with sincerest apologies for the inconvenience.