Nine years, one journal. How TZERØ got here, told by the posts that were there.
Load the first save Or skip to the gacha years →
T-zero: the moment things start. A journal by Artache Creative Studio.
Before it had a name, it had a schedule. RectorNews, from RectorStudio, ran anime reviews, Overwatch hero breakdowns and notes on making visual novels. In December the timetable went, and a person showed up instead.
So yes, I will use more “I”
from Nero’s Nightly Considerations
A last run of reviews in 2018, and DeadenD, Nero's first visual novel, written alone in Ren'Py. Then four years without a post, until a Pokémon Violet blind run in December 2022.
it’s a story of men doing what the system can’t.
from Psycho-Pass – Review
The name arrives, without the slash. TZERO is a rhythm-game tiering team built around spending little, born from noticing how much the events really cost.
TZERO stands for "T0" (standing outside the first position of a ladder, as we achieve other goals besides tiering)
from Introducing TZERO: A Resource-Optimal Tiering Team
Honkai: Star Rail launches and the essays start asking what subscriptions and battle passes really take from you. The answers are already TZERØ's, two years early.
Games should never make someone feel trapped, even if the reward seem worth it
from "Spending Rationally", Episode 2: Battle Passes
Nero's Coffee becomes the Adventurers Guild: YouTube, Twitch, fifteen gacha games and a new guide every few days. 98 posts in one year, the busiest TZERØ has ever been. Most of them are what this journal now says no to.
Step inside the loop ↓We'll be kind of your weekly press about the gacha world.
from Adventurers Guild: Featured Content Cycle
A video about quitting, then one about going back three days later. The channel is renamed The Videogame Journal: unedited, diary-like. And for the first time, a promise that the writing will live on tzero.live.
Know that much content will end up on tzero.live
from A Channel for Everyone
Nero announces quitting every gacha game. It won’t hold yet, but days later the old videos go private and a new word appears in the journal for the first time: Artache.
With Artache, I want to bring game making in the hands of everyone.
from Our Voyage's Future
The Ø appears. TZERØ becomes a voice that rates what card games and gachas really cost, and still gets pulled back in now and then. The loop doesn't let go in one go.
Pull because you're excited. Not because you're afraid to miss out.
from Saber vs Phainon: Collection Pressure, Regret, and Choosing with Intention
Optimizing stops being the point. A new logo, a group of friends writing in several languages, and one simple aim. In February Nero leaves the Hoyoverse games behind.
finding beauty in games.
from Looking for TZERØ - Experiencing Beauty in Games
A restart with a plan: play for free, practise missing out, and find people who want the same. Having the most with the least.
"Missing out" should be seen as a victory
from From ZERØ
Art plus heartache. A small studio that makes stories you can play, with AI and for people, and TZERØ becomes its journal. You are reading the newest save.
Meet the studio →Results will come when they come. The making is the point.
from Artache: a studio opens its doors
Every quote is copied from the post it links to. The old posts keep their original words, typos included.
In 2024 TZERØ published guides, tier lists and banner advice for gacha games, sometimes several a week. They're still here, each with a note: I made this while I was caught in the gacha loop. Not as advice. As a record of what the loop looks like from inside, next to the essays written on the way out.
Open the whole room →Every amount is from Nero’s posts, and only the ones written down. The plan was sixty euros over almost two years. Nobody plans the rest; the game plans it for you.
Before the gacha years there were anime reviews with a score and a one-word verdict, a hero-by-hero look at how Overwatch feels, and notes on making visual novels. Every case shows its back: tap one to flip it, tap again to play it.
Consulting Firms, Identity & Persona 5TZERØ Home Video
Mawaru Penguindrum – ReviewTZERØ Home Video
Overwatch Hero UXOverwatch Heroes UXTZERØ Home Video
Overwatch Hero UXOverwatch Hero UX: SymmetraTZERØ Home Video
Overwatch Hero UXOverwatch Hero UX: TorbjörnTZERØ Home Video
Overwatch Hero UXOverwatch Hero UX: D.VATZERØ Home Video
No Game No Life – ReviewTZERØ Home Video
Terror In Resonance – ReviewTZERØ Home Video
Nier:Automata – ReviewTZERØ Home Video
Press ReviewPress Review – 06/12/2017TZERØ Home Video
MP4SMP4S: Mawaru Penguindrum AnalysisTZERØ Home Video
MP4SMP4S #01 – The Bell of Fate TollsTZERØ Home Video
Game Design BitsGame Design Bits – Ren’Py Visual Novel MakingTZERØ Home Video
MP4SMP4S #02 – Risky Survival StrategyTZERØ Home Video
Re:Zero – ReviewTZERØ Home Video
Angel Beats! – ReviewTZERØ Home Video
Spice and Wolf – ReviewTZERØ Home Video
Spice and Wolf (S2) – ReviewTZERØ Home Video
New Game! – ReviewTZERØ Home Video
Psycho-Pass – ReviewTZERØ Home Video
Pokémon Violet - Blind RunTZERØ Home Video
How (not to) Play Rhythm GamesTZERØ Home Video
TemTem - OverviewTZERØ Home Video
Let's Talk About Gacha Rhythm GamesTZERØ Home Video
TZERØ ReviewShadowverse: Worlds Beyond: ReviewTZERØ Home Video
TZERØ ReviewRatchet & Clank (2016)TZERØ Home Video
Introduction to Beyblade XTZERØ Home Video
Nero's first visual novel, a noir written alone in 2018. Looked after again.
Saving… paused. Every character is being redrawn.
Hard hats only beyond this point.
The first Artache visual novel: Miriam, 18, and a white nine-storey block by the sea.
Loading…A card game where two dreams meet and both players shake hands. Open gacha, no paid draws.
Loading…Everyone sees your Zone. No one sees your deals. A social strategy game that lasts weeks.
Loading…The script editor Nero writes in, for Ren’Py and RPG Maker MV writers.
This one is reserved. Ache is guarding it.
Every Artache project has a slot now. They turn from Loading to Saved as each one ships.