ZootFly

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Basic Information
Company Type	N/A}
Company Industry	N/A
Company Status	Active
Foundation	Ljubljana, Slovenia (2002)
Key People	Bostjan Troha, Founder/CEO Denis Rozaj, Founder/COO Tibor Klajnscek, Technical Director
Location(s)
Ljubljana, Slovenia

File:Zootfly brainstorm.jpg

A brainstorming session of the ZootFly core team.

File:Zootfly pillbox.jpg

This WW2 pillbox at the ZootFly HQ is a tribute to Panzer Elite Action.

ZootFly is a Slovenian video game developer. ZootFly specializes in the development of action adventure games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3 and the PC. ZootFly is a member studio of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA).

History

ZootFly was founded in December 2002 in Ljubljana, Slovenia by industry veterans Bostjan Troha, Denis Rozaj and David Pangerl. In 2003 Horizonte, an independent Central European venture capital firm (founded in 1985) bought 40% of the company.

Research

ZootFly experimented extensively with possibilities of reading and interpreting player’s inputs and adapting the gameplay experience accordingly, based on specific psychological profiles extrapolated via psychometrics. According to ZootFly, user’s inputs can tell everything one needs to know about the player. How they react in a tight situation, how they use resources, how they interact and communicate, how they deal with challenges. What is their sequence of keys pressed, how jerky are movements of the mouse. What do they do when they enter a new space: do they go in the middle of the room and look around or do they explore details first? What is the average speed of their movement? Based on such information the game engine built a psychological profile of the player and adapted the game accordingly. Further, a game could have three distinctively different conclusions. The game would branch at two thirds of the story to three distinctive resolutions, and the psychometrics engine would pick the right one for the player. Contrary to movies, where the final part can spoil the whole cinematic experience, the game will have enough feedback to deliver what the player wants. The immediate reaction of the game works on the principle of positive feedback. If the player is cerebral, they will get more cerebral challenges; if the player is violent, they will get more violence. The immediate response works for the benefit of the player on the usability/learning curve level as well. How often does the player quick-save? Maybe the game is too difficult. How many new rooms do they discover in a specific time? Maybe they are lost and need additional stimuli to proceed, maybe they are too fast and the game is not fun anymore and they need more interesting obstacles.

The psychometrics engine would change gameplay subtly to provide entertainment without frustration, automatically tailored to the specific player. Additionally, ZootFly experimented with mood changes induced by infra-sound. They employed barely audible sound (low frequency) effects to invoke deep and subconscious feelings. For example, when the engine interpreted a player as passive, the aural stimuli would make them more aggressive.

Video games

Hollow

ZootFly’s first development was Hollow. The game was never published. In Hollow, players would assume the role of an expelled US journalist named Tyler Kilmore, who, upon returning to the disco-totalitarian state of Centrope reunites with his fiancée and finds himself being arrested for her murder. The game would feature four distinct environments, ranging from a disco-totalitarian metropolis to a decaying underworld. Intriguingly, each mission in the game would end with a movie-style action sequence showing the player's best moments.

Panzer Elite Action: Fields of Glory

The game was developed for PC and the Xbox for JoWood Productions. Panzer Elite Action follows the story of three tank commanders and their crew. The German commander, pumped by the fast success in Poland and France, moves on to the Eastern Front and the brink of victory with the taking of Stalingrad. We meet the Russian commander in desperate straits as he helps defend Stalingrad, and follow him as the tide turns against the Germans and he joins the massive tank battle of Kursk. The American commander enters the war on the Normandy Beachhead on D-Day. After the struggle for the Bocage, he defends the German outbreak at the Battle of the Bulge, and then drives on to the victorious crossing of the Rhine.

First Battalion

First Battalion is a North American-version of Panzer Elite Action: Fields of Glory. The game was published by DreamCatcher Interactive.

Panzer Elite Action: Dunes of War

The game is an extension of the original Panzer Elite Action. Panzer Elite Action: Dunes of War follows the story of two tank commanders and their crews through their harrowing North Africa battle campaigns. The German commander, called in to help the Italian army, moves from the European theatre the dunes of Sahara. The American commander enters the war on Africa beaches of the Mediterranean.

Toy Wars

Announced on January 19, 2007, Toy Wars is a small downloadable game in early prototyping stage for either Windows or XBLA or EDI. No new announcements since then.

Prison Break: The Conspiracy

Prison Break: The Conspiracy is an action-adventure video game based on the first season of the Fox Network television series Prison Break, released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The release date has been set for March 19 2010 in Germany, March 26 2010 in the United Kingdom and Europe, and March 30 2010 in North America. The game had been in development for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC for release in February 2009, but was canceled when Brash Entertainment closed down. However, ZootFly continued the development and self-funded the project for 13 months. Once the game was polished and nearly finished, it was picked up by new publisher Deep Silver.

Past Development

In January 2007 ZootFly leaked several trailers on YouTube showing an early playable version of a game based on the Ghostbusters franchise for the Xbox 360. Soon after it became clear that ZootFly had not secured the licence to make such a game and that the development team had already been shifted to work on TimeO, a title with many similarities. Even the game footage trailers posted to YouTube were removed after Sony Pictures Entertainment requested their deletion because of their unlicened nature. While ZootFly's title had died early in development it helped spur interest in a game based on the Ghostbusters franchise and a licensed game, already under development at Terminal Reality, was bolstered by ZootFly's failed title. Mark Randel, co-founder and head of Terminal Reality, was interviewed by Official Xbox Magazine and in that interview stated that "What Zootfly did for us, inadvertently, is help sell the concept. When their footage came out, we were close to our green-light meeting, and when the executives saw the reaction from the fans, they immediately knew, 'Hey, Ghostbusters is going to be a big hit – we need to put this game into production.'"

TimeO, another title developed by the same team as ZootFly's Ghostbusters game, has since dropped off the radar. First announced soon after the Ghostbusters prototype it has seen little in the way of press coverage since the first flurries of activity related to its announcement. The official web site has not been undated since February 2007 and a few video game news originations released articles in May 2008 disclosing that Brash Entertainment was the publisher of the title but Brash Entertainment has since shut down operations. An official announcement of the titles current status has not yet been released by ZootFly so it is assumed to be currently without a publisher and stuck in development hell.

External links

• Official website

ca:ZootFly