If you like demanding, bite-sized platformers, I have great news for you! Bzzzt is a fun and fresh entry that evokes really popular games in the genre, such as Celeste and Super Meat Boy. What’s more, we are giving out keys as part of IGN Plus. WOOHOO!
IGN Plus Monthly Game: Bzzzt
Bzzzt is a fast-paced platformer from solo developer Karel Matejka (also known as KO.DLL). who has worked on the game alone for four years. They crafted every element of the game except the (very catchy) music, which was deftly made by their long-time friend Martin Linda. According to Karel, Bzzzt is inspired by a litany of games, including Manic Miner, Mario, Oddworld, Mega Man, VVVVVV, Shovel Knight, Geometry Dash, Hollow Knight, and more.
From where I’m sitting, it certainly evokes Celeste and Super Meat Boy, too, although unlike Super Meat Boy, there are several difficulty settings which let you make up to three mistakes before needing to start the bite-sized stage over.
Bzzzt Developer Interview – Karel Matejka (Bzzzt Sole Developer)
For this interview, I corresponded with Karel Matejka about their solo-developed game Bzzzt, retro games that inspire them, taking on solo game development, and more.
I hope you enjoy the game, and this excerpt from our interview. Cheers!
Brian: I understand that bringing back the old-school feel and love of retro games inspired the creation of Bzzzt. (It reminds me of Super Meat Boy with a dash of Celeste, among other things)
Karel: I was always fascinated by the old 8-bit games. As a kid, I was amazed by a new and fresh kind of entertainment I had never seen before. It was the main reason why I started making games by myself. After more than 30 years in the game industry, working on big titles, I decided to “time-travel” back to the eighties, become an indie developer, and see if I could make a game reflecting that nostalgic feeling without any old computers’ limits. I wanted to pay tribute to games I grew up on but with fresh design approaches, perfectly tight controls, rainbow art, high-frequency animations, and supersonic-speed gameplay.
I did not see the reason for creating “just another” retro game with loose controls… platforming full of frustration, and stuttering camera movement – that’s why I also searched for inspiration in modern games. Celeste has remarkably polished controls and a system of helping players. Super Meat Boy inspired me to make the gameplay more frenetic, and Cuphead was the inspiration for the ever-changing gameplay and boss stages. The list of games which influenced Bzzzt is almost endless: Manic Miner, Mario, Oddworld, Mega Man, VVVVVV, Shovel Knight, Geometry Dash, Hollow Knight, etc.
Brian: What makes the short stages / speedrunning style so compelling, as a developer?
Karel: I tried to build longer stages during playtesting, but this level design was too stressful for players. So, I decided to create shorter stages with perfectly synchronized traps and keep surprising players with new mechanics at every step – that was finally the right direction for the game and the source of core fun!
The Bzzzt game is about solving fast speedrun puzzles, easily memorizing all obstacles, and performing perfect jump-dash-run sequences without worrying too much about being killed by traps or enemies. Everything is instant, satisfying, and very, very addictive. The quote, “Just one last run, and I am going to sleep”, best illustrates this game.
What are some of the team’s favorite things/elements from the games?
Karel: I play games mostly because of their story (I am a huge fan of the JRPG genre). If the game has a well-written story, I am in! Maybe that’s why I am not a big fan of the Rogue-like genre. I need some progress, and I hate losing it. I love it when developers experiment with genres. When there is something fresh, a new game mechanic or an unexpected genre twist, I enjoy it a lot.
For instance, Dave the Diver. Almost all exploration games have fishing minigames – variations that have been seen hundreds of times – and Dave the Diver team finally made fishing entertaining. Or Loop Hero. They picked a Tower Defense genre and turned its established rules inside out.
Brian: For me, the music is great and the feel of the platforming is fantastic.
Karel: I started experimenting with music when I realized that many games share animation tempo and music rhythm. In the Rayman series, there are stages that are synchronized with the music, or “dancing” flowers in Plants versus Zombies are great examples.
With Martin, we decided to make the soundtrack and animated sprites precisely this way. Players will not realize this immediately, but it’s something inside that will satisfy their senses.
Brian: I am a big fan of Easy mode’s 3 lives. Being able to scale the challenge to the players desired level is a plus in my opinion. Was there ever a discussion about a mode with infinite continues per stage, or adding slowdown, or other accessibility options, given the demands placed on the player?
Karel: Yes, we are still discussing that. I plan to add a more “relaxing” mode to the game. Many players want less challenging enemies or to enjoy the game art without being disturbed by traps too much. I have already started working on that.
Brian: The sidescrolling bullet hell section with the ship was so cool, as was the 80s synthwave music.
Karel: Initially, the idea behind the game was to pay tribute only to one specific game – the first game I played on ZX Spectrum with my brother. It was Manic Miner. But when I was coding more and more subsystems, I realized it would be an unexploited potential to use only one inspiration. So, In the end, I decided to pay tribute to more games from that era. And SHMUP, because I love that genre a lot, was the first one I decided to add there as a bonus. There are so many cultural references inside the game, and it’s up to players to discover them.
Brian: Were there any other names you considered for the game?
Karel: Haha, I did not consider other names, this one was the first. Yes, I know that the game title is a bit silly, but as everything inside the game has its own inspiration evoking ’80s/’90s, there are also a few ones behind the Bzzzt name. The first one is a game called PSSST!, which was released on ZX Spectrum in 1983. The second is Ruby Rhod’s quote from The Fifth Element, directed by my favourite director, Luc Besson. And, the last inspiration is that the name reminds me of the sound of electricity, and it has a tight connection with the main character and the electric traps used inside the game.
Brian: Any notable, interesting, or fun stories from development that you can share?
Karel: When thinking about naming characters, I decided to use my friends’ names. There is a bar in Prague called BAD TIMES with a bartender named Norbert. The funny thing is, he hates his name so much that he asked us to call him only Bert (and he can be really mad sometimes). So, I have drawn the main antagonist after him, calling him Badbert and good scientist Norbert. This way, my favourite bartender has a double role in a game and does not even know about that. Maybe Badbert character is my alter ego in the end. Who knows?
Brian: What would you tell players who are getting ready to jump in for the first time?
Karel: I hope players will have fun playing the game like I did while creating it. It was a crazy long ride, but it was worth it. Bzzzt game is not only a trip to the past; it is a record of how I remember the evolution of precision platformers from its beginning till now. Oh yes! And there are leaderboards, trophies and Steam achievements!!! 🙂 And if you are still not decided, there is a free demo on Steam.
Bonus: What is one game you’ve played lately that really captured you?
Karel: Haha, I am again playing HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC 3 right now. It captured me 25 years ago and can’t let me go. 🙂
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Brian Barnett writes reviews, guides, features, & more for IGN & GameSpot. You can get your fix of his antics on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, Bluesky, & Backloggd, & check out his fantastic video game talk show, The Platformers, on Backloggd & Apple Podcasts.
