Just ASCII + A Column Covering Interactive
Fiction and Other Nongraphical Adventure Games

Adventurer vs. Red Dragon
by Simon
de Vet
(click to enlarge)

By Erik Reckase

Part
Nine: ZZT

After this column, I’ll be diving into interactive
fiction much more thoroughly, but there’s one more game that I’d like to cover
that fits into the “Nongraphical Adventure Games” arena. This game is
ZZT, an interesting modular adventure gaming engine with loads of add-on
levels. ZZT was released as shareware in 1991 by Tim Sweeney (of Unreal
fame) as the first Epic MegaGames title. (The name ZZT was chosen so
that it would be the last game on freeware/shareware download lists.) Over 100,000
users registered ZZT–nothing to shake a stick at. Although the game’s
“graphics” are nothing special, the great thing about ZZT is
the built-in editor that gives even inexperienced beginners the ability to create
new levels. Using the in-game programming language (ZZT-OOP), very advanced
games can be created in many different styles, including side-scrollers, adventure
games, RPGs, etc.

The
introductory screen to one of the original four worlds: “The Town of ZZT”

Playing
ZZT is extremely simple, as there are very few commands in your arsenal.
You move your character with the keyboard arrow keys; shift-arrow fires ammunition
in that direction. You can also light torches, which illuminate your immediate
area for a number of turns. Although the goals change depending on the world that
you are playing, there is usually a puzzle that requires your character to obtain
a key, or succeed in a timed action sequence, in order to continue. Sounds simple?
It is. In fact, this is a great game for kids, as the goals are reasonably straightforward
and the controls are hardly complex. There can be quite a bit of frustration,
though, as the puzzles can be downright difficult! ZZT comes with four
preloaded modules: the Town of ZZT, the Caves of ZZT, the Dungeons of ZZT, and
the Underground City of ZZT. These alone will keep you busy for hours …

Some
walking dwarf animation from “a dwarvish-mead dream” by “coolzx”

As
I mentioned before, the graphics in ZZT–if you can call them graphics–are
very basic. Even so, some of the programmers/writers of the newer modules spent
a great deal of time on making the graphics as good as possible, much like the
classic ASCII artists from fifteen years ago, creating complex images with the
basic character set as their only palette. By varying the limited available colors,
module creators can embed fairly complex images into their code, as can be seen
in these screenshots.

The
“NextGame 33” splash screen, by Matt Dabrowski

Many
of the web sites for ZZT files and information read more like hacker “warez”
pages than information sources, but there are over 200 add-on modules to ZZT
that can be found through careful scrutiny. Here’s a list of the best links
that I’ve found for ZZT-related information.

The
Official ZZT Home Page: This is the official home of ZZT at
Epic MegaGames. ZZT and Super ZZT (a sequel to the original) are
available for downloading at this site.

ZZT.org:
Probably the most thorough source of ZZT modules, tools, and other
nifty stuff on the ‘net. Although the site is a little rough around the edges,
the download area is second to none. Check out the “reviews” link on
the top menu bar.

KevEdit:
This is a ZZT world editor that is much more powerful than the editor
included in the game’s distribution. More colors, a better character picker, and
an object editor are included in this excellent tool.

ZZT
Encyclopedia Online: This collection of downloadable “engines”
for ZZT is great for module developers.