was unveiled because he saw it as a good console for indie games. GameMaker made it easy to port Katana Zero and the long development meant it was already well optimized. Design One of Stander's goals was to make killing feel exciting and satisfying. He considered many modern games too forgiving, with enemies less powerful than the player. Finding it difficult to die in games such as Payday: The Heist (2011), Stander decided it would be easy to die in Katana Zero. He wanted the game to be difficult but fair and for the player to recognize and take responsibility for their mistakes. He continued his style of design—short levels filled with instant-death scenarios—from Tower of Heaven and Pause Ahead (2013). The one-hit-kill gameplay was frequently compared to another Devolver Digital-published game, Hotline Miami. Stander said he only played Hotline Miami once and did not remember its gameplay, but acknowledged it may have subconsciously influenced him. He named Samurai Gunn (2013), which he felt used one-hit kills effectively, as the bigger influence. Stander wanted Katana Zero to feel cinematic and sought to subvert expectations: "As soon as you think you understand how this game is going to play out, then I just try to completely shift it on you... as soon as [you're] comfortable in [something], I try to shift things up. And I do that several times throughout the game. I really mess with the player." To maintain variety, he incorporated many enemy types, environmental traps, alternate level pathways, and set pieces. A minecart pathway inspired by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) took over a month to create. Stander looked to indie games that feature "tight, fast-paced, instant death combat" for inspiration, such as Trilby: The Art of Theft (2009) and Gunpoint (2013). The art style was inspired by the neon lighting aesthetics associated with the 1980s. Recruiting artists proved challenging; Stander called himself "a terrible artist", and for two years no artists worked on the game. He found artists through the online independent developer community TIGSource, but said it was difficult to recruit high-quality pixel artists who would commit to the project. Many would only work on it for weeks or days before quitting for various reasons, such as other commitments or feeling their style did not match. Stander used the neon lighting to blend the artists' different styles. He considered being able to get