ZZT On ZZT

This is work-in-progress directory of ZZT worlds that are about ZZT. Magazines, how-to guides, things of that nature.

(This is going to take a long while to fill out.)

One of the unique aspects of ZZT is its capacity to be used as a medium for publishing about ZZT itself. Various company magazines, best-practice guides, and reference encyclopedias (collections of cool things you can do) were created throughout the years. However, the drawback of publishing information in this way is that you can't get to it easily without loading the world files in ZZT and actually playing them. The Museum of ZZT File Viewer helps greatly with this visibility problem, but the content is still spread across several publications.

This page will start out as a few random notes, but I hope to eventually map out the encyclopedias and attribute sources where possible.

Notes and Warnings

• For inquiries on this list, you can contact me. Keep in mind that this is mostly just hyperlinks to content on Museum of ZZT, which I have donated and submitted games to, but do not own or administer.

• The Title, Author and Year fields are taken from the Museum of ZZT directly, and could potentially change at any time. In-game copyright notices and such may be different.

• These links might contain offensive and NSFW content.

ZZT Syndromes

Author: Barjesse

Year: 1996

Description: A classic in its own right, Barjesse guides new ZZTers through issues and mistakes that were common in the AOL era.

• Museum of ZZT: https://museumofzzt.com/file/z/syndrome.zip

• MoZZT Closer Look: https://museumofzzt.com/article/318/closer-look-zzt-syndromes

The UNOFFICIAL ZZT Programming Guide

Author: Corey "Des" Garriott, Mark McIntire and Others

Year: 1996

Description: "Want to begin ZZT programing? This game may silence some discordant items in your games!"

Notes: Seems to start on the wrong board.

• Museum of ZZT: https://museumofzzt.com/file/u/coprogram.zip

ZPower

Author: Carlos Barreto / ZPower Productions

Year: 1995, 1996, 1997

Description: A series of magazines with reviews, mini-games, and advertisements for upcoming games.

ZPower 1

• Museum of ZZT: https://museumofzzt.com/file/z/zpower1.zip?file=ZPOWER1.ZZT

Games reviewed

• Star Wars Vol.1 Heir to the Empire (View game on MoZZT)

• Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope (Couldn't locate on MoZZT, will search AOL Compilation later on)

• Power (Couldn't locate on MoZZT, will search AOL Compilation later on. Author would be ZZTurbo according to review.)

Games advertised

• Space Station Z (Couldn't locate from a quick search, not sure if it exists, which is often the case with upcoming ZZT game ads.)

Engines or How-Tos

• "Apolcalypse Armor", a set of objects that the player encases themselves in.

ZPower 2

Museum of ZZT: https://museumofzzt.com/file/z/zpower2.zip?file=ZPOWER2.ZZT

Games reviewed

• Code Red 1-3

(View game on MoZZT)

• ZZTLand 1

(Couldn't find on MoZZT)

• ZZTLand 2

(Couldn't find on MoZZT)

Games advertised

Space Station Z (Same as issue 1)

Engines or How-Tos

An unnamed space shooter mini-game

Other

"ZZT Game Supreme" awards for Code Red and Castle ZaZoomDa.

ZPower 3

Museum of ZZT: https://museumofzzt.com/file/z/ZPOWER3.zip?file=ZPOWER3.ZZT

Games reviewed

• Adventure 1

(This is is "Adventure Part 1: The Adventures of David Daron", as confirmed by a preview board in this magazine matching one in that game.)

(View game on MoZZT)

• Escape From Castle ZaZoomDa

(View game on MoZZT)

• Space Fighter 2000

(Couldn't find on Museum)

Games advertised

Space Station Z (Again)

A non-interactive battle scene for a game called "The Seven Crystals"

A preview for "Ultra ZZT", which seems to be a set of custom objects to be used in ZZT games. (No relation to ZZT Ultra, a ZZT reimplementation / superset made much later by Chris Allen.) The Seven Crystals was planned to use these objects.

Engines or How-Tos

"Q&A, Problems, Tips". Includes directions on how to upload your game to the AOL archive.

Other

ZPower Hall of Fame, housing trophies for the following:

• Code Red 1-3

• Space Fighter 2000

• Adventure 1

• Escape From Castle ZaZoomDa

ZPower 4

Museum of ZZT: https://museumofzzt.com/file/z/zpower4.zip?file=ZPOWER4.ZZT

Games reviewed

• Ikari

(Couldn't find on Museum)

• Kole's Quest

(Couldn't find on Museum)

• Legend of Brandonia

(View game on MoZZT)

• Planetary Defense Station

(Couldn't find on Museum)

• Starship

(The game author is redacted in this review, but this Starship matches the title and is close to the file size listed.)

• Barney

(Couldn't find on Museum.)

• Caverns of Zeux

(This is the pack-in game for MegaZeux.)

• Live

(Couldn't find on Museum)

• Planetary Defense Station Super

(MegaZeux game, couldn't find on DigialMZX.)

• Sivion

(View game on MoZZT)

Games advertised

• The advertisement board contains a cinema ad for Power II. This game appears to have been completed and is preserved on the Museum.

These games are listed as in development:

Slated for 1995:

• NTBN (MoZZT)
• DigIt (MoZZT)
• Power II (MoZZT)
• Part I of Magik Trilogy (MoZZT)
• The Lost Adventures of ZZTurbo

Slated for 1996:

• Invasion `95
• BattleStations
• Ver1.2 of Space Station Z
• Guardian
• The Sunken Treasure of Atlantis

• Some preview boards of Power II.

• Some information on Sivion MZX here and here.

• A gameplay board ("Ricochet Maze") from Space Station Z.

Engines or How-Tos

• "QA,Problems,Tips"

Other

• The ZPower Trophy Room commemorates the following games:

• Adventure 1 (MoZZT)
• Space Fighter 2000
• Code Red (MoZZT)
• Sivion Gold (MoZZT)
• Caverns of Zeux (MegaZeux) (DigitalMZX)

ZPower 5

The file for this one on the museum seems to be a duplicate of ZPower 4.

ZZTeam

Author: ZZTurbo

Year: 1995, 1996

Description: A magazine with reviews, hints and upcoming game previews.

ZZTeam 1

Games reviewed

All reviews are located in this object. I couldn't find any of them on the museum site.

• Space Fighter 2000
• Joe 2: Joe Goes to School (The sequel to Joe Goes Skiing)
• Tim's Adventure

Engines or How-Tos

• A hint object lists the ZZT cheat codes.

• A Basic Training room.

Games advertised

• Planet X (Public Domain)

There are a couple of Planet X's on the museum but they don't seem related to this author.

Power ZZT

Author: Unknown

Year: Unknown

Description: Seems to be AOL-era one-liner reviews with preview boards for ten games. I could only find entries for a few of them on the Museum of ZZT.

• Museum of ZZT: https://museumofzzt.com/file/p/POWERZZT.ZIP?file=POWERZZT.ZZT

Games reviewed

• Alien Takeover

• Escape From The Isle Of Peril

• Rampage

• Warania

• Escape From Castle ZaZoomDa

• Cave Of Death

• Code Red

• X-Men Adventure

• The Arena

• Crazy Zoo

Emon's Guild To ZZT

Author: Emon

Year: 2001

Description: "From basic stuff to cool tricks with ZZT-OPP." First topic is rooms with yellow borders.

• Museum of ZZT: https://museumofzzt.com/file/e/Emonsguild.zip?file=EMONGUID.ZZT

Cliche: a Guide for the Advanced ZZTer

Author: JoE

Year: 2000

Description: "It's kinda like a sequel to Syndrome. It tells you what NOT to do. Have fun and try to LEARN(barf) something!"

• Museum of ZZT: https://museumofzzt.com/file/c/clichegui.zip?file=CLICHE.ZZT

ZZT Crime

Author: Wong Chung Bang, Scorch3000

Year: 2000 (Version 2), 2001 (Versions 5 and 6), 2007 (Version 8)

Description: "A ZZT world for newbies. Points out what not to do in ZZT files."

• Museum of ZZT:
  • Version 2
  • Version 5
  • Version 6
  • Version 8

ZZT Programming Tricks and Techniques

Author: zzo38

Year: 2018

Description: A newly-minted ZZT-on-ZZT world!

• Museum of ZZT: https://museumofzzt.com/file/z/zztptt.zip