ZZT

rdf:langString ZZT

rdf:langString ZZT

rdf:langString Title screen of "Town of ZZT"

rdf:langString Potomac Computer Systems

rdf:langString Official website

rdf:langString ZZT

rdf:langString ZZT is a 1991 action-adventure puzzle video game and game creation system developed and published by Potomac Computer Systems for MS-DOS. The game was later released as freeware in 1997. It represents an early example of a game that allowed players to edit using object-oriented programming. Players control a smiley face to battle various creatures and solve puzzles in different grid-based boards in a chosen world. Included in ZZT are four game worlds where players explore different boards and interact with objects such as ammo, bombs, and scrolls to reach the end of the game. It includes an in-game editor, allowing players to develop their own worlds while using the game's scripting language, ZZT-OOP. The game was designed by mechanical engineering student Tim Sweeney, and took roughly six to nine months to develop. The game was built from a text editor conceived in 1989 to build a better editor for Pascal, after disliking editors that came with other programming languages for his computer. During development, he experimented with adding creatures and characters, building boards that grew into worlds while refining the editor he used to create his own games while studying at university. Initially he made the game for himself, but after positive reception from his friends and neighbors, and seeing the potential for making a profit by releasing the game under shareware, he decided to release the game publicly. Through marketing the game by distributing it across shareware vendors and bulletin board systems, he believed he could earn money through mail orders for registered worlds. ZZT was a commercial success, selling around 4,000–5,000 copies by 2009. The game received mixed reception. Much of the positive reception focusing on the gameplay, editor, and the community it developed, while criticisms focused on the game's graphical and audio limitations, and perceived unfair difficulty. The game was followed by a sequel, Super ZZT (1991). Other ZZT worlds were published later as Best of ZZT (1992) and ZZT's Revenge (1992). ZZT's success led Sweeney to change his company's name to Epic MegaGames, and focus on competing as a video game company using shareware to distribute commercial games. Epic MegaGames later developed other successful games including Jill of the Jungle (1992) and Unreal (1998), using lessons from ZZT's success by focusing on developing the editor and engine to allow others to more easily make games. The game also features one of the earliest active modding communities, that has grown around the game through making new worlds, editing tools, and source ports, leading some in the community to pursue a career in the video game industry.