1. Gameplay

2. Development

3. Reception
     Critical reception    Sales    Promotion  

4. Legacy
     Sequel    Third-party level editors  

5. Further reading

6. References

ZZT is an action-adventure puzzle video game developed by Potomac Computer Systems and released for MS-DOS in October 1991. The game was designed by Tim Sweeney and took roughly nine months to develop, including the game's scripting language, ZZT-oop. The name was thought to be an acronym for "Zoo of Zero Tolerance", but Sweeney actually picked that name so it would be listed last alphabetically on the software catalog.^[1] ZZT was followed by a sequel, Super ZZT, in 1992.

Gameplay

The player character is controlled by the four cursor keys, and the shift key and a cursor key pressed will shoot a bullet (if the player has ammo). Items that can be picked up include: ammo (each magazine holds five rounds), gems (used for currency in most games), torches (used by pressing the T key in darkened rooms, lighting a small area around the player, that moves as the player does), and energizers that give the player temporary invincibility. Enemies include lions (randomly moving monsters that may follow the player), tigers (randomly moving monsters that fire bullets), ruffians (monsters that chase the player, then rest, then repeat), bears, slimes, centipedes, and spinning guns.

Development

Reception

Critical reception

Third-party worlds created for ZZT were diverse, ranging from shoot 'em ups to complex role-playing games to a Lemmings clone, Zem!.^[4] Other games have been inspired by ZZT, such as MegaZeux, Frog Fractions 2 and ZZT{{'s}} sequel, Super ZZT, the latter being widely criticized for lacking an easily accessible editor function, which was a mistake on Sweeney's part.^[1] Computer Gaming World billed ZZT as the first major video game to use Object-oriented programming.^[5]

Although Super ZZT is in many ways a vast improvement over ZZT, it never caught on with the ZZT community like the original ZZT did, and very few games were ever created for Super ZZT.^[3]

Sales

Following ZZT{{'s}} release, the game sold about three to four copies daily, and as of 2009, had sold around 4,000 to 5,000 copies in total.^[2] After Sweeney moved out of his parents' house to establish proper corporate headquarters for Potomac Computer Systems, then renamed Epic MegaGames, his father, Paul Sweeney, continued fulfilling mail orders to the original address under the "Epic Classics" label.^[6] The final copy of ZZT was shipped to game designer Zack Hiwiller in November 2013.^[6]

Around 1992, after the custom world design contest, copies of the "ZZT's Revenge" collection was on sale with "Best of ZZT" shipped with it for free.^[7]

Promotion

Shortly after the release of ZZT, Sweeney started a level designer contest for registered users to make their own worlds and submit them to him.^[8] Over 200 users submitted their custom worlds. The best collaboration games that won the contest were The Best of ZZT and ZZT's Revenge. The winners of the contest received prizes of gift certificates. The six winning custom worlds that made up ZZT's Revenge earned the designers employment in Epic MegaGames. Other contestants got honorable mentions for good entries.^[7]

Around 1992, Sweeney started a contest titled "ZZTaholics Challenge" for players to play any of the ten volumes from ZZT, ZZT's Revenge and Super ZZT, then submit their high scores. The winners received discount coupons to get the next two releases from Epic MegaGames for free.^[1]

Legacy

Sequel

Sweeney collaborated with programmer Allen Pilgrim on creating a sequel to ZZT, entitled Super ZZT, which added more features and levels to ZZT{{'s}} core gameplay. The game plays similarly to ZZT, and incorporates floor textures, a different gameplay menu, prefabricated enemies and objects, and scrolling map screens, allowing for much larger worlds than in ZZT.

Third-party level editors

In addition to archive websites, several developers have released ZZT world editors such as KevEdit for Windows.^[9][10] The external editors would have more features such as color coding objects, fade tools, and access to STK without downloading.^[11] DreamZZT was an emulator for the Dreamcast.^[12]

Further reading

• {{cite book | authorlink=Anna Anthropy | first=Anna | last=Anthropy | title=ZZT | publisher=Boss Fight Books | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-940535-02-9}}

References

• H. Russel Holland
• Hrusso people
• Hrusso (tribe)
• Hrustovo
• Hruszew
• Hruszka
• Hruszniew
• Hruszniew-Kolonia
• Hruszow
• Hruszowice
• Hruszów
• Hrutafjoerdur
• Hrutafjordur
• Hrutov
• Hrutur Herjolfsson
• Hrušanj
• Hruševec
• Hruševec Kupljenski
• Hruševec, Šentjur
• Hruševica
• Hruševje
• Hruševka
• Hruševlje
• Hruševo
• Hrušica