Goodbye Zachtronics

On July 5, Zachtronics will be releasing Last Call BBS, a collection of stylish little puzzle games wrapped up in a retro PC gaming vibe. After 11 years in business, a time which has seen the studio develop a cult following almost unrivalled in indie gaming, it will be the last new game Zachtronics will ever release. Named for founder Zach Barth, Zachtronics has spent most of those 11 years specialising in puzzle games. It's not hard seeing why: most of Zachtronics' games involved challenging puzzles, but also a deeply cool and interesting presentation surrounding them, whether it was the grimy hacker aesthetic of Exapunks or the Advance Wars-like Mobius Front 83. Not because their publisher shuttered them, or because their venture capital funding ran out, or because Activision made them work on Call of Duty, or any other number of reasons game developers usually close their doors. "Since we announced that Last Call BBS is going to be our last game I've gotten countless emails from fans thanking us for the games we've made", Barth says. "Many of them point to the games as one of the reasons they've become professional programmers or engineers. It's hard to say anything back other than 'thank you,' but that's really all I want to say. A game without someone to play it is hardly a game, and it's only because of our players that our games have meaning and a life of their own. All of us really appreciate that!".