Zen of Sudoku

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Zen of Sudoku menu screen

Zen of Sudoku gameplay screen

Zen of Sudoku is a Sudoku based computer game developed by Charlie Cleveland of Unknown Worlds Entertainment and released on June 20, 2006. Although the casual games market is not the intended direction of Unknown Worlds, or of Cleveland, Zen of Sudoku was produced in order to generate revenue towards funding Natural Selection 2, a sequel to the original Natural Selection modification for Half-Life. Cleveland cites casual games development as a "last option" for funding this sequel, having been unwilling to sacrifice control of the company to external investors.^[1]

The game features automated generation of sudoku puzzles at varying difficulty levels as well as a hint and tutorial system, which not only teaches players the basics of the game, but also teaches them further advanced strategies.^[1]^[2]

Currently, the game is available for purchase directly from the website at http://www.zenofsudoku.com/, and on Valve Corporation's Steam platform. A flash based web version is also in production.^[3]

[edit] Gameplay

Zen of Sudoku does not change any of the standard gameplay rules of sudoku. Its main focus is that you can "Relax with hand-painted Japanese-styled backgrounds, no timer and lush natural soundscapes." Rather than use background music, typical wildlife noises are played, with simple harp-like tones played in response to numbers entered. Like many other computer sudoku games, players can select a specific difficulty level, and can be provided tutorials for basic play and strategies.