Zen Paint

PROS Hexagons add an interesting twist on the old pixel art drawing formula Lots of options to customize the game Good amount of content for the price Most levels are well made CONS Would be nice to be able to play other worlds without finishing all the levels first Things get pixelated when zoomed out, needs antialiasing Big levels really slow my computer down EDIT: Most of these concerns have been fixed in updates, but the game is still pixelated when zoomed out even with antialiasing on. Overall, a nice painter game that is different from other's available. Definitely worth the $5 it costs!

Zen Paint is not a game. It's a paint-by-numbers software application where you tap on your iPhone screen to colour different numbered hexes on a hex grid. This eventually reveals a very blocky coloured "picture". Hooray. Did you ever see anyone complete a paint-by-numbers, let it dry, frame it and hang it on the wall, then say "Wow, that was an amazing game!". No, you didn't. Because it's not a game. Neither is this. For those unfamiliar with what actually makes something a game, a "game loop" describes the interaction and feedback a gamer has when playing a game. Tetris, for example, has a game loop where a random block appears, the gamer interacts with the block to position it, and then the game decides if that finishes a row or not, increases the players score if any rows were completed, then gives the gamer another block to position. Counter-Strike has a game loop where a player seeks another player, tests their skill against that player by shooting them or being shot, the computer rewards the player if they win, and then if the player survives, they repeat that loop. There's no loop here, no true interactive feedback. It simply is not a game, it cannot be "played". This has misleadingly been launched in the "Games" section of Steam instead of the "Software" section. This is a common mistake for developers who are new to Steam, or don't understand the difference between games and software which isn't a game. It seems this software published incorrectly as a game is simply lack of experience/knowledge of the correct process. Here's a link for the process to publish non-game software on Steam: [url=https://help.steampowered.com/en/wizard/HelpWithPublishing?issueid=925]Steam Developer Help With Software Publishing[/url] It's unfortunate this process was not known about/followed, resulting in a software application being published in the wrong place. Publishing things which aren't games on Steam in the Games section as games is misleading to gamers and somewhat harmful, because it pollutes the Steam marketplace and takes away visibility and market exposure for genuine game developers who do the right thing and make games for gamers. There are no gameplay loops in this software, no "gameplay", no meaningful game like interaction. It's a software application and as such has no merits as a video game for gamers. Because of this, I cannot recommend this non-game software as a game to gamers. This looks and feels like a mobile app, but I wasn't able to find it on the app stores. Maybe it was removed, maybe it was rejected by Apple and Google (they do have more rigorous quality standards than Valve does for Steam, after all). Regardless, for all intents and purposes "Zen Paint" might as well be a mobile app, it has the same limitations and dumbed down qualities. It's impossible to recommend such software to PC gamers. We don't spend all this money building gaming rigs so we can pretend they're iPhones and use applications that might as well be mobile apps. The poor quality of this software is reflected by how many people spent time with it. At the time of this review, SteamDB shows the software all-time peak user count was only 4 users. Considering there's over 120 million gamers on Steam and well over 50,000 games for gamers to choose from (over 9,000 completely free titles), the overwhelming lack of interest in this low quality software (which is not a game) is to be expected. Zen Paint has the insane price of around $5 USD, it's not worth it given the defects and shortcomings with the product, especially considering the sheer number of completely free, much higher quality ACTUAL games on Steam. Because this is the kind of software you can get for free on mobile phones, it's impossible to recommend anyone should pay money for the same experience on Steam. [b][quote][url=https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/profile]Profile Features Limited![/url][/quote][/b] Valve have marked this software as "Profile Features Limited" at the time of this review. This is usually caused by poor sales figures and low community acceptance for the software (to date). Until this status changes, this software will not give you +1 to your Game Collector badge count, appear in profile achievements or any other Steam meta-accomplishments, nor can it be displayed in some profile showcases. If these factors are important to you, it may be worth holding off before buying this software.