How did you become involved in ZZT?

Scribbit · Post by **Scribbit** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:21 pm

The history of my discovery of ZZT is rather complex, but I was wondering how people found it. For me, it goes like so:

-Really started about the time I searched for "game creator" on dosgames.com
-First, I messed around with OHRRPGCE but it was rather limiting because it can only make RPGs.
-Eventually, I found ZZT and liked it.
-I messed around with it and forgot about it, I think I was in middle school at the time and I'm guessing it was around the Ando period of z2.
-Showed it to my friends, made some really stupid boards where you have to touch musical notes and go through the syndromatic ping-pong maze.
-Searched for a website with fan-made games, found z2.
-Played my way through most of the featured games, loved Burger Joint and all that.
-Discovered STK.
-Discovered KevEdit and liked that even better.
-Glanced at the forums and got bored by the lack of images (short attention span much?)
-Forgot about it again.
-Came back and actually read the forums.

So that's where I am now. Since then I have also preached plastic, tried megazeux, tried to revive first z2 and then belsambar, and started a group on Steam, finally giving up in the knowledge that z2 is crazy enough as it is.

So, what's your ZZT history?

Schroedingers Cat · Post by **Schroedingers Cat** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:07 pm

Found Best of ZZT on a shareware disc back in (2001? 2002?), played it and promptly forgot about it. Eventually stumbled across Z2 in (2003?) through Zandor's website (I was looking for Jetpack stuff, you see) and made the regrettable mistake of joining under a terrible (and hopefully forgotten) username. Nostalgia brought me back kicking and screaming in 2006, and here I am now.

I've made a few ZZT games, but thankfully most of them were corrupted. I've still got a few partially finished games on my 486. Maybe someday I'll finish them. Who knows?

Commodore · Post by **Commodore** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:24 pm

I think it was 1996. At a ham radio flea market. (my dad took me and I liked to look for old computer stuff stuff at them) I found a shareware CD called Gigagames. I discovered a lot of cool dos games but also ZZT. Then I made a game called odyssey. then I lost that game. then I made the game again. then I lost that version. then around 2000 or so I looked for zzt on the internet and found clysm's site and played my first game made by someone other than me or tim sweeny, which was Turmoil. I don't know how I didn't find the community then, but it took me a later visit to clysm's site in 2002 before I found the community. I think Burglar was the GOTM then. and that got me hooked all over again. I lurked until I made a crappy demo.

Post by **Zenith Nadir** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:53 pm

A shareware disc.
An AOL file library subforum.
A year spent downloading and editing popular ZZT games.
Until the only forum he knew was destroyed by forces beyond his control.

This Summer, only one man... can join FutureWare...
...And then realise Jeff Conroy is an idiot, and join Interactive Fantasies instead...

NADIR

AT CINEMAS FROM FRIDAY

Microwave · Post by **Microwave** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 7:03 pm

Found the AOL games in early 1999. I'm not sure but I found ZZT.org not too long after that.

Scribbit · Post by **Scribbit** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:19 pm

I'd watch that movie.

And by "forces beyond your control" what do you mean? I got here a little late and it looked like the aftermath of some sort of fight, but the opinion seems to be that "ZZT sucks because of people like Nadir." I think you're the coolest of the current regulars, but what happened in '02 that I missed out on?

Or maybe Nadir being blamed for the whole thing is like Hitler being blamed for WWII: not without reason, but totally exaggerated.

Post by **Zenith Nadir** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:52 pm

nobody blames nadir for ruining anything except mono, and mono's a tool

i was referring to the aol file libraries going kaput circa 1999

2002 was the year zenryoku caused massive unforgivable damage to the community, since you mentioned that year

Scribbit · Post by **Scribbit** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:38 pm

Wow I just compared Nadir to Hitler. Now I guess I have to compare Moose to Stalin. Actually, what was with Moose, anyway? I heard that he's supposed to be nasty even though everyone likes him.

Commodore · Post by **Commodore** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:43 pm

moose had a reign of terror. he was a wee lad and discovered drugs while trying to run the site (when really it was all crankgod, mr.alert, and quantum who still did all of the heavy lifting) I think he owned the site after fishfood gave it up, but I'm not sure. In general he was a total retard, but then he chilled and i hear he's an all right dude now.

most of his antics were tolerated because they were amusing. which i think is true. I never had any beef with him, but then again I don't really do too much antagonising on the boards anyways.

Scribbit · Post by **Scribbit** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:14 am

Wow. I found ZZT after the AOL age ended, and I got the file from a "retro games" website. I feel like I missed something big, but in the same sense that I feel like I missed something big when I read about Woodstock, '69. By that I mean, if I'd been there at the time, I wouldn't understand it. Especially in the case of Woodstock, because I wouldn't be born yet. Umm...

SELF-SIDETRACK'D!

Post by **zamros** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 4:01 pm

1994. Searched for "toilet" on AOL file libraries, found Business Bob. Figured out that I needed ZZT to play it, played it, had nothing to do with toilets. Downloaded, played, edited several more games. Decided to make a game, it sucked, never released it. Stopped using ZZT until 97/98, when I decided to look around for ZZT again. Found the Surfsolutions ZZT.Archive, posted on the forums as "CrapCo Executive." Became a slightly annoying presence in the ZZT community of Nupanick-like proportions. Found out about IRC, #darkdigital, etc. Changed my name to zamros, and here I am now.

Scribbit · Post by **Scribbit** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:34 pm

I'll assume that by "nupanick-like proportions" you mean you had high hopes of the community being civilized, and hoping you could slip in without being stamped with the n00b sign.

Did you follow up by getting half-way through a decent game?

Or finding the stupidest thread on the forum and posting references to classic logic puzzles on it?

Or perhaps you went on IRC in the hopes of having a constructive conversation about ZZT?

Or tried to revive one of Zaphod's projects?

Seriously, I have a reputation to hold. A reputation of over-ambitious projects, followed by a complete failure to follow-through on them when I discover that nobody cares.

EvilMario · Post by **EvilMario** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:46 pm

After we first picked up AOL in 1994 I came across it on an AOL file library. I toyed around with it, and what not, but I put it away for another year without giving it a second though.

At some point in the following year, I found there was a community, and that there were many more development expliots in the program. I remember printing out all the HELP files for ZZT so I could study the programming. Great times.

Post by **Quantum P.** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:13 pm

I downloaded ZZT from dosgames.com back in 1997 or 1998. In addition to ZZT, they had a couple of more advanced game creation systems that had better graphics. I wanted to try the ones with better graphics, but somehow I ended up downloading ZZT (by mistake?). I liked ZZT better.

Didn't find the community until some time later. I emailed a couple of people in the zzt.org days (mostly stupid newbie questions like "What's STK? Does this count as STK?") but otherwise stayed out of the community until June 2002.

By the way, does anybody know which ZZT game this screenshot is from? I've always wanted to play that game.

Post by **clecky** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 4:05 pm

-One time while taking a piss in elementary school a couple of my friends showed up in the bathroom with a jill of the jungle shareware disc for some reason.
-A couple weeks later I borrowed the disc and played jill of the jungle to the end and got bored of it.
-After being really bored I decided to look at the order form form jill of the jungle, I found ZZT and bought it for 1$ (25cents per episode [ZZT, best of ZZT, Ezanya and Best of ZZT 2])
-A few months later I got a package with the Original ZZT maps and a ZZT diskette
-I started playing zzt and making my own crappy 1 board games.
-In late 2002 I found the community, and still haven't made a full game.

THE END