Overview
ZINTOROAD — a solo Unity project fusing Roguelike, Tower Defense, and Action — made it to the Game Creator Koshien semifinal. This is the story of the exhibition, the feedback, and the improvements that followed.
(This article was written with Claude Haiku acting as interviewer — a first for me.)
(※ Fair warning: this gets pretty personal.)
Hey, it’s norinori1.
A while back, I was scrolling through Twitter when I suddenly saw a list of Game Creator Koshien semifinalists go by. That’s when I noticed: “Oh — that’s ZINTOROAD.”
This post is a record of what followed: observing visitors at the exhibition, the feedback I received, and the improvements that came from it.
An Idea Four Years in the Making
ZINTOROAD is a game that forcibly fuses Roguelike × Tower Defense × Action. I built it solo over 6 months in Unity/C#.
The Game’s Design
The concept:
“Survey the terrain (ROAD), claim (ZINTO) the optimal positions, and with limited resources, build the most elegant formation to hold back the enemy.”
It’s a survivor-style roguelite that runs until either the player’s HP hits zero or the number of enemies on the board exceeds 500.
The core system is AP (Action Point). Movement, anchor placement, and upgrades all cost AP, which you manage while fending off enemies. Every decision is a resource question: where to move, where to place anchors, how to take out enemies.
Enemies come in four types: Normal (baseline), Armored (high HP), Fast (high speed), Destroyer (targets anchors). Different situations call for different responses — explosive damage vs. damage fields (area damage created by linking three anchors).
The concept for this game actually existed 4–5 years ago. The original version was a bit different — back then I only made a title screen before shelving it. I always thought “I want to bring this to life someday,” and I finally got serious about it in 2024. Rebuilt everything from scratch, and it was finally done.
My original goal was simple: sell it on Steam / itch.io. But “wouldn’t it be cool to enter a contest while I’m still a student?” became the spark for submitting.
Reasons:
- I wanted visibility
- Selling requires a catalyst
- These kinds of serious challenges are only possible as a student ## The Semifinal Notification, Out of Nowhere
When I saw it on Twitter, my reaction wasn’t joy — it was “wait, seriously?”
But once it sank in, it felt huge. A concept I’d been sitting on for 4–5 years had been recognized in a concrete way.
Visitor Feedback
Comments that stuck with me:
- “The controls are pretty unique, aren’t they.” (Not a compliment.)
- “I was curious how you fused three genres — I had to come check it out. This is pretty cool!”
- “Why does movement cost AP?” The second made me happy — someone came specifically because they were intrigued. The first and third were honest signals that there were design problems.
What I Noticed Watching People Play
After observing dozens of players at the exhibition, one thing became clear:
“This game is too hard for first-time players.”
The “unique controls” criticism came from a weak tutorial. The AP-for-movement system is interesting in principle, but many players felt “why do I even have to pay to move?” — meaning the intent behind the system wasn’t getting through.
Something that looks perfect in your own head can be completely opaque to someone else. That’s game development.
Improvements Based on Feedback
Reworking the Tutorial
Players needed to actually understand ZINTOROAD’s core systems:
- AP (Action Point): Consumed by movement, anchor placement, upgrades. Regenerates over time.
- Anchors: Weapons that deal damage. Placing 3 creates a triangular damage field between them.
- Enemy types: Normal (baseline), Armored (high HP, 25% blast damage reduction), Fast (fast/low HP), Destroyer (targets anchors first) Once you understand these, strategy opens up: “I’ll cut off the enemy’s path here and set up a damage field.”
But at launch I thought “they’ll figure it out from the screen” — so there was essentially no explicit tutorial.
After: rebuilt as a step-by-step introduction — movement → anchor placement → enemy types → attack patterns.
Balance Adjustments
The other thing I noticed: AP depletion.
Watching players’ faces, I could see the frustration of hitting “I can’t do anything.” That’s not about difficulty — it’s pure stress.
I attacked it from multiple angles:
- Adjusted AP recovery — harder to run completely dry
- Added more boost options — more upgrade choices on level-up means more ways to manage resources
- Added AP generation to anchor upgrades — earn AP on wave transitions to improve resource flow Enemy attack patterns were also reworked to minimize the “helpless” window.
Anchor Reinforcement
Significantly buffed anchor HP.
The Destroyer enemy specifically hunts anchors — so fragile anchors meant they’d get wiped out before players could respond. After the buff, that threat feels appropriate rather than arbitrary. Anchors being destroyed is now a meaningful game event.
The Philosophy in One Line
“Fun > Stress”
Difficult games have their audience. But for first-time players, if stress outweighs fun, they stop. You need to give players at least as much fun as difficulty — ideally more.
“You Can’t Stay in Your Own World”
The biggest lesson from watching players:
“You can’t keep it self-contained in your own head.”
During development, the game looks perfect from the inside. No tutorial needed, balance is perfect, controls are simple — that’s what I thought. Real players see something completely different.
Another person’s perspective is invaluable. Without the exhibition, I might never have found these flaws.
ZINTOROAD Now
After all the improvements, ZINTOROAD isn’t a completely different game — but it’s significantly more playable.
First-time players can understand what they’re supposed to do. The movement cost feels like a meaningful system, not an arbitrary tax. The stress of instant destruction is reduced.
One step closer to “Fun > Stress.”
Finally
Entering Game Creator Koshien, making the semifinal, exhibiting — honestly, I didn’t expect to get this far.
I didn’t become a finalist. I didn’t win an award.
That stung.
But when I sat with that feeling, I realized: this is actually a good thing.
That frustration only exists because I put my whole self into this. If I’d half-assed it, not making the cut wouldn’t feel like anything. But I nursed this idea for 4–5 years, spent 6 months building it, observed players, iterated on feedback — because I did all of that, I can feel “so close” and “one more step.”
Regret = proof you were serious.
I’m glad I made the kind of challenge that’s only possible as a student. I’ll use this as fuel for the next project. That cycle is what makes you better.
If you’re an indie developer on the fence about entering a contest — I genuinely recommend it. Regardless of rankings or awards, the experience is invaluable. And if you don’t make it, whatever frustration you feel is there because you were serious. That matters.
Until the next project.
ZINTOROAD is playable here:
This article was automatically cross-posted from norinori1's portfolio
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