Hello and welcome to the first "Publication Pack" entry. Going forward, any time uploads are published I intend to do a brief overview to accompany them. Previously, this sort of thing was handled on the Worlds of ZZT Twitter page, which while helpful as a way of giving these new releases some exposure outside of the Museum, was pretty bad for actually cataloging what got published when.
Back in ye olden times, this sort of thing made up the bulk of news posts on previous archives like z2 and the difference between upload date and publication date heavily mattered for determining what ZZT games would be eligible for a Game of the Month award in any given month. The lack of such an award (due to a much slower pace of releases) makes this kind of moot, but I still think there's merit in knowing what worlds were grouped together.
These overviews aren't going to be very exhaustive, and mostly just what would be posted on Twitter anyway, but this series will provide a historical record that can be easily referenced.
Thanks to a combination of having to provide a little bit of back-end code to be able to pull file info using nothing more than an article template along with working on some big refactoring to how images for articles are stored the upload queue has gotten a little out of hand, reaching a third page (and I'm usually loathe to let it hit page 2) and totaling 60 files! So for this first update I'm going to go big mode and publish sixteen uploads rather than the typical eight.
Lastly, in the near future you can expect the front page to split its "Latest Files" into two sections, one for everything published recently, and one for everything created recently. This way I'll be able to better handle large quantities of older worlds being preserved for the first time without them burying actual new ZZT games.
With all that being said, this first batch of sixteen is taking the upload queue, sorting by release date, and grabbing anything that's just a plain old ZZT or Super ZZT game.
Here's Another ZZT-Helper For Simple Amateurs
Join Dr. ZZT in this guide to avoiding some common mistakes made by new ZZTers in the 90s. It's derivative of the more popular ZZT Syndromes. There's also a lot on methods for doing lettering where things get much more down to the author's preferences than being advice worth heeding.
Secrets (v1.3)
Another help world! This one focuses more on spreading information on undocumented features and some simple tricks you can do with ZZT-OOP. This does predate the earliest preserved ZZT Encyclopedia (and going by its history file, it would predate the original release as well), which means some information and engines contained within were definitely less common knowledge at the time. In particular, it explains how to use the escape key to open Super Locked boards. Without running some deep searches, this might actually be the earliest recorded method of breaking a Super Lock.
Bob 2 (Preview)
"Oh no
Where the hell was this found
What a terrible thing"
— Newt, being linked to this file after its upload
Actually, young me liked the Bob games, though I can't remember a thing about them. All I know is that I was very much inspired by the cast of characters on the title screen and did the same thing with my first released ZZT world. The full version of the game is already archived so this isn't anything really anything major. Especially since it's just one board other than the title screen.
Z-Files v1.2
An even earlier release of Nadir's ZZT toolkit collection. That's seven of them now.
SaintZZT 13th
This is one of those massively long running series which has some bizarre numbering and has a few gaps as far as what's been preserved. The title screen is almost the same (save for a space in Rin Games) as SaintZZT 5th, but it clearly says 13th on the title screen of that version, and its text file says it's the 5th as well!
It's also in Spanish. Just fyi.
Special Forces
"I haven't seen a new szzt game for a long long time." reads the accompanying text file. Fair, as it looks like the early 2000s were getting about one Super ZZT release a year. All the boards are very small and could easily have been made in regular ZZT, though the hint system is taken advantage of to allow the player to bring up a menu to use flash bangs and frag grenades.
Also it's about stopping the production of drugs on the roof of a building.
Forest Bullshit (Demo)
A rare non-Stupid RPG game by Knightt?
It looks like an interesting concept, the player is being chased through this forest for unknown reasons. Linger too long on a board and you'll be caught and the game will end. Whether or not it's enjoyable to play may be another story. (I have not actually played it at all.)
The Day After The Apocalypse (Demo)
A ZZDevelin demo that doesn't have a whole lot to it. This uses his typical plot of "You have a gun and there are demons. What's going on?".
Please note that the main menu has some serious flashing.
Busy City Engine
A simple engine where objects walk into and out of frame on the sidewalks of a city. Not a terrible idea, but the street starts empty so it takes a moment for people to begin showing up.
DRGNDNGN
A subtitle of "The Dragon Dungeon With an Alarming Lack of Dragons" immediately dashes one's hopes.
An extremely short attempt of a dungeon crawler that focuses more on using ZZT's basic elements rather than objects. There's potential in the idea of navigating these tight corridors where ZZT's enemies tend to be more dangerous, but this one looks like it would take two minutes to complete what little is here.
ZMAN
A single board platformer with a custom font. Dang it, that means I do have slightly more work involved in publishing. This one is dated 2016 which makes it quite recent!
SlumberPocalypse
Sorting by date, I guess it makes sense for this one to also be a recent game. This one was made in 2018 for a game jam and is hosted on Itch.io. The description contains a content warning for mentioning of sex toys and references to sex with a note that it doesn't happen within the game.
David: Beast Wrestler
Now for the new releases!
Agent Orange brings us David: Beast Wrestler, a retro styled ZZT game specifically designed to be rejected by z2's old upload requirements. The game uses no special graphics and clocks in at under 10 kilobytes. Plus: Biblical themes!
Be Quick/Get Lucky
I'm immediately regretting not getting to this one sooner as it's an April Fool's Day game based on the somewhat recently coined phrase "Sweeney's Gambit" where the player is forced to step adjacent to an enemy and has to hope that the enemy doesn't get to tick that cycle (and that if they do, that they can either shoot fast enough or run away fast enough to escape). Can you get all the gems?
Lion Tiger Gem
Another April 1st release, and with a similar concept! This time it's a procedurally generated one-board maze crammed into under 4 kilobytes of space. This one is full of lions, tigers, gems, and ricochets.
Big Beast in the Maze 2.0
And finally, we end with a small update to Big Beast in the Maze which fixes a few display bugs and typos and comes hot on the heels of the public release of the original version's Closer Look.
