ZZT On ZZT
This is a stub for a 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.
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 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
(Couldn't find on MoZZT)
(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
(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.)
(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
(Couldn't find on Museum)
(Couldn't find on Museum)
(Couldn't find on Museum)
(The game author is redacted in this review, but this Starship matches the title and is close to the file size listed.)
(Couldn't find on Museum.)
(This is the pack-in game for MegaZeux.)
(Couldn't find on Museum)
(MegaZeux game, couldn't find on DigialMZX.)
Games advertised
- The advertisement board contains a cinema ad for "Power II", and mentions these games in development:
Slated for 1995:
- NTBN
- DigIt
- Power II
- Part I of Magik Trilogy
- 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.
- A gameplay board ("Ricochet Maze") from Space Station Z.
Engines or How-Tos
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)
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.
Games reviewed
- Alien Takeover
- Escape From The Isle Of Peril
- Rampage
- Warania
- Cave Of Death
- 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.
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."
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