Zachary Barth
Encyclopedia
Zachary Barth is an indie game developer who creates games under the banner Zachtronics Industries. Barth is known for building engineering puzzle games and for the creation of the "Block World" genre of procedurally generated block-based mining/world deformation and building mechanics used by games such as Minecraft
, Fortress Craft
, CraftWorld and Ace of Spades
.
(RPI), where he joined the game development club.
Barth studied computer systems engineering and computer science at RPI. He was one of three students leading the interdisciplinary team of the CapAbility Games Research Project, a collaboration of RPI with the Center for Disability Services in Albany, New York
. In 2008, the team produced Capable Shopper, a shopping simulation game for players with various degrees of disability.
Barth has a programming position with a large software company and runs the one-man operation Zachtronics Industries in his spare time. For SpaceChem, his first commercial production, he took in a number of collaborators.
His earlier, non-commercial, games included twenty that were published on his old website and "five good ones" which he transferred over to the new site. Four of these use Flash
to make them cross-platform
, in spite of Flash's "terrible" development environment. The other one is based on .NET
for greater programming convenience. SpaceChem also used .NET, as Barth considers C# to be "the best language ever invented". For marketing reasons, Barth decided against XNA
with its capability to cross-publish to Xbox 360
, and switched to OpenGL
, which allowed him to target the three operating systems required for inclusion in the Humble Indie Bundle
.
Before SpaceChem
came out, Zachtronics was known for creating the game genre set by Infiniminer, the block-building precursor game of the monster hit Minecraft
by Mojang AB
. Although individual elements of the gameplay mechanics of Infiniminer existed before, it was this blend of blocky charm and world building/deformation that endeared users to it.
The gameplay mechanics and visuals that Barth conceptualized have subsequently been used in other games such as the Xbox 360
game Fortress Craft
, the upcoming Xbox 360, Windows Phone 7
and PC game CraftWorld as well as the freeware multi-player online game Ace of Spades.
multi-player block-based sandbox
building and digging game, in which the player is a miner searching for minerals by carving tunnels through procedurally generated
voxel
-based maps and building structures. According to the author Barth, it was based on his earlier game Infinifrag, Team Fortress
, and Motherload by XGen Studios.
Barth wrote Infiniminer in his spare time and released it in steps of incremental updates during April–May 2009. It quickly garnered a following on message boards around the internet.
Infiniminer was originally intended to be played as a team-based competitive game, where the goal is to locate and excavate precious metals, and bring your findings to the surface to earn points for your team. However, as the game gained popularity, players decided it was much more fun to build things than to compete for points.
Zachtronics discontinued development of the game less than a month after its first release as the result of its source code leak. As Barth had not obfuscated
the C# .NET source code of the game, it was decompiled
and extracted from the binaries
. Hackers modified the code to make mods, but also started making clients that would target vulnerabilities in the game as well as build incompatible game forks
that fragmented its user base. Barth who was making the game for free then lost interest and dropped the project as it made development of the game hard to push forward. The source code of Infiniminer is now open and available under an MIT License
.
The game is particularly notable as it is the original game that the hit indie game Minecraft
is based upon (and subsequently FortressCraft
, CraftWorld and Ace of Spades
). The visuals and mechanics of procedural generation and terrain deformation of Minecraft were drawn from Infiniminer. According to Minecraft author Markus Persson
, after he discovered Infiniminer, he "decided it was the game he wanted to do". As a result, if one plays Infiniminer, one can note that the visuals of blocky graphics and carving out voxel
blocks as a miner are practically identical.
As Minecraft became popular, Infiniminer was overshadowed and faded into obscurity. Barth's feelings about Minecraft are complicated. As Minecraft became hugely successful, he stated that he finds it "flattering", "cool" and "awesome", because it was based on something he made.
in which the player creates Rube Goldberg
chemical pathways similar in style to visual programming.
SpaceChem has garnered praise with the gaming community and is currently the sole game on the recommendation page of Team Fortress
creator Robin Walker, with him declaring it as "Pretty much the greatest game ever made".
As of March 8, 2011, Barth stated the possibility of making expansion packs to SpaceChem and adding a free update and editor which would allow users to create their own levels which could then be shared to other users, with the best ones being picked out by Zachtronics to be published and these were released on April 29 as the Shareholders' Update. Barth hinted at the prospect of a sequel and also stated that it would be fantastic to have SpaceChem on a future Humble Indie Bundle
. The game was included in the Humble Frozen Synapse Bundle
charitable sale in early October 2011.
Minecraft
Minecraft is a sandbox-building independent video game written in Java originally by Swedish creator Markus "Notch" Persson and now by his company, Mojang, formed from the proceeds of the game. It was released as an alpha on May 17, 2009, with a beta version on December 20, 2010...
, Fortress Craft
Fortresscraft
FortressCraft is a video game released on Xbox Live Indie Games on April 8, 2011. FortressCraft is very strongly inspired by the two pioneers of the sandbox block-builder genre: Minecraft and Infiniminer...
, CraftWorld and Ace of Spades
Ace of Spades (video game)
Ace of Spades is a free-to-play sandbox building and FPS game developed by Ben Aksoy for the PC. The game notably uses Ken Silverman's Voxlap engine.-Summary:...
.
Biography
In interviews with indie games websites, Barth said that he started creating games early in his life, but only learned the required skills at Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteRensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
(RPI), where he joined the game development club.
Barth studied computer systems engineering and computer science at RPI. He was one of three students leading the interdisciplinary team of the CapAbility Games Research Project, a collaboration of RPI with the Center for Disability Services in Albany, New York
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
. In 2008, the team produced Capable Shopper, a shopping simulation game for players with various degrees of disability.
Barth has a programming position with a large software company and runs the one-man operation Zachtronics Industries in his spare time. For SpaceChem, his first commercial production, he took in a number of collaborators.
His earlier, non-commercial, games included twenty that were published on his old website and "five good ones" which he transferred over to the new site. Four of these use Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
to make them cross-platform
Cross-platform
In computing, cross-platform, or multi-platform, is an attribute conferred to computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms...
, in spite of Flash's "terrible" development environment. The other one is based on .NET
.NET Framework
The .NET Framework is a software framework that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large library and supports several programming languages which allows language interoperability...
for greater programming convenience. SpaceChem also used .NET, as Barth considers C# to be "the best language ever invented". For marketing reasons, Barth decided against XNA
Microsoft XNA
Microsoft XNA is a set of tools with a managed runtime environment provided by Microsoft that facilitates video game development and management. XNA attempts to free game developers from writing "repetitive boilerplate code" and to bring different aspects of game production into a single system...
with its capability to cross-publish to Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, and switched to OpenGL
OpenGL
OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
, which allowed him to target the three operating systems required for inclusion in the Humble Indie Bundle
Humble Indie Bundle
The Humble Indie Bundles or Humble Bundles are a series of game bundles, that are sold and distributed online at a price determined by the purchaser. The games are multi-platform, DRM-free, and independently developed, and buyers can set the revenue split between the developers, charities and...
.
Before SpaceChem
SpaceChem
SpaceChem is a cross-platform indie puzzle game from Zachtronics Industries, creator of Infiniminer which was the main basis of the cult indie game Minecraft...
came out, Zachtronics was known for creating the game genre set by Infiniminer, the block-building precursor game of the monster hit Minecraft
Minecraft
Minecraft is a sandbox-building independent video game written in Java originally by Swedish creator Markus "Notch" Persson and now by his company, Mojang, formed from the proceeds of the game. It was released as an alpha on May 17, 2009, with a beta version on December 20, 2010...
by Mojang AB
Mojang AB
Mojang AB is a Swedish independent video game developer founded in May 2009 under the name Mojang Specifications by Markus Persson...
. Although individual elements of the gameplay mechanics of Infiniminer existed before, it was this blend of blocky charm and world building/deformation that endeared users to it.
The gameplay mechanics and visuals that Barth conceptualized have subsequently been used in other games such as the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
game Fortress Craft
Fortresscraft
FortressCraft is a video game released on Xbox Live Indie Games on April 8, 2011. FortressCraft is very strongly inspired by the two pioneers of the sandbox block-builder genre: Minecraft and Infiniminer...
, the upcoming Xbox 360, Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
and PC game CraftWorld as well as the freeware multi-player online game Ace of Spades.
Infiniminer
Infiniminer is an open sourceOpen-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
multi-player block-based sandbox
Open world
An open world is a type of video game level design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how to approach objectives...
building and digging game, in which the player is a miner searching for minerals by carving tunnels through procedurally generated
Procedural generation
Procedural generation is a widely used term in the production of media; it refers to content generated algorithmically rather than manually. Often, this means creating content on the fly rather than prior to distribution...
voxel
Voxel
A voxel is a volume element, representing a value on a regular grid in three dimensional space. This is analogous to a pixel, which represents 2D image data in a bitmap...
-based maps and building structures. According to the author Barth, it was based on his earlier game Infinifrag, Team Fortress
Team Fortress
Team Fortress is a team- and class-based online multiplayer video game mod based on id Software's Quake. Team Fortress was designed and written by Robin Walker, John Cook and Ian Caughley in 1996. The mod's gameplay has caught on with a large following of fans, which has spurred many developers to...
, and Motherload by XGen Studios.
Barth wrote Infiniminer in his spare time and released it in steps of incremental updates during April–May 2009. It quickly garnered a following on message boards around the internet.
Infiniminer was originally intended to be played as a team-based competitive game, where the goal is to locate and excavate precious metals, and bring your findings to the surface to earn points for your team. However, as the game gained popularity, players decided it was much more fun to build things than to compete for points.
Zachtronics discontinued development of the game less than a month after its first release as the result of its source code leak. As Barth had not obfuscated
Obfuscated code
Obfuscated code is source or machine code that has been made difficult to understand for humans. Programmers may deliberately obfuscate code to conceal its purpose or its logic to prevent tampering, deter reverse engineering, or as a puzzle or recreational challenge for someone reading the source...
the C# .NET source code of the game, it was decompiled
Decompiler
A decompiler is the name given to a computer program that performs, as far as possible, the reverse operation to that of a compiler. That is, it translates a file containing information at a relatively low level of abstraction into a form having a higher level of abstraction...
and extracted from the binaries
Binary file
A binary file is a computer file which may contain any type of data, encoded in binary form for computer storage and processing purposes; for example, computer document files containing formatted text...
. Hackers modified the code to make mods, but also started making clients that would target vulnerabilities in the game as well as build incompatible game forks
Fork (software development)
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software...
that fragmented its user base. Barth who was making the game for free then lost interest and dropped the project as it made development of the game hard to push forward. The source code of Infiniminer is now open and available under an MIT License
MIT License
The MIT License is a free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . It is a permissive license, meaning that it permits reuse within proprietary software provided all copies of the licensed software include a copy of the MIT License terms...
.
The game is particularly notable as it is the original game that the hit indie game Minecraft
Minecraft
Minecraft is a sandbox-building independent video game written in Java originally by Swedish creator Markus "Notch" Persson and now by his company, Mojang, formed from the proceeds of the game. It was released as an alpha on May 17, 2009, with a beta version on December 20, 2010...
is based upon (and subsequently FortressCraft
Fortresscraft
FortressCraft is a video game released on Xbox Live Indie Games on April 8, 2011. FortressCraft is very strongly inspired by the two pioneers of the sandbox block-builder genre: Minecraft and Infiniminer...
, CraftWorld and Ace of Spades
Ace of Spades (video game)
Ace of Spades is a free-to-play sandbox building and FPS game developed by Ben Aksoy for the PC. The game notably uses Ken Silverman's Voxlap engine.-Summary:...
). The visuals and mechanics of procedural generation and terrain deformation of Minecraft were drawn from Infiniminer. According to Minecraft author Markus Persson
Markus Persson
Markus Alexej Persson is a Swedish indie game developer and founder of Mojang AB. He is best known for creating the sandbox building game Minecraft.- Biography :...
, after he discovered Infiniminer, he "decided it was the game he wanted to do". As a result, if one plays Infiniminer, one can note that the visuals of blocky graphics and carving out voxel
Voxel
A voxel is a volume element, representing a value on a regular grid in three dimensional space. This is analogous to a pixel, which represents 2D image data in a bitmap...
blocks as a miner are practically identical.
As Minecraft became popular, Infiniminer was overshadowed and faded into obscurity. Barth's feelings about Minecraft are complicated. As Minecraft became hugely successful, he stated that he finds it "flattering", "cool" and "awesome", because it was based on something he made.
SpaceChem
Zachtronics Industries is also known for its puzzle game SpaceChemSpaceChem
SpaceChem is a cross-platform indie puzzle game from Zachtronics Industries, creator of Infiniminer which was the main basis of the cult indie game Minecraft...
in which the player creates Rube Goldberg
Rube Goldberg
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor.He is best known for a series of popular cartoons depicting complex gadgets that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. These devices, now known as Rube Goldberg machines, are similar to...
chemical pathways similar in style to visual programming.
SpaceChem has garnered praise with the gaming community and is currently the sole game on the recommendation page of Team Fortress
Team Fortress
Team Fortress is a team- and class-based online multiplayer video game mod based on id Software's Quake. Team Fortress was designed and written by Robin Walker, John Cook and Ian Caughley in 1996. The mod's gameplay has caught on with a large following of fans, which has spurred many developers to...
creator Robin Walker, with him declaring it as "Pretty much the greatest game ever made".
As of March 8, 2011, Barth stated the possibility of making expansion packs to SpaceChem and adding a free update and editor which would allow users to create their own levels which could then be shared to other users, with the best ones being picked out by Zachtronics to be published and these were released on April 29 as the Shareholders' Update. Barth hinted at the prospect of a sequel and also stated that it would be fantastic to have SpaceChem on a future Humble Indie Bundle
Humble Indie Bundle
The Humble Indie Bundles or Humble Bundles are a series of game bundles, that are sold and distributed online at a price determined by the purchaser. The games are multi-platform, DRM-free, and independently developed, and buyers can set the revenue split between the developers, charities and...
. The game was included in the Humble Frozen Synapse Bundle
Humble Indie Bundle
The Humble Indie Bundles or Humble Bundles are a series of game bundles, that are sold and distributed online at a price determined by the purchaser. The games are multi-platform, DRM-free, and independently developed, and buyers can set the revenue split between the developers, charities and...
charitable sale in early October 2011.
Other Games
- The Codex Alchemical Engineering
- Magnum Opus Challenge
- Ruckingenur II
- Bureau of Steam Engineering
- KOHCTPYKTOP
Older Projects
- Ruckingenur CE
- Ruckingenur Editor
- Tex Mechs
- HWND Hunter
- Silicon Foundry
- Pulse
- Ruckingenur
- Manufactoid
- Flight of the Atropos
- Intelligent Destruction
- Infinitron
- Infinifrag, Version 1.1
- Wikipedia Quest
- Notepad Weekend
- Gregor Mendel’s Pro-Botanist