♦ Livestream of the ZZT world "24 Hours of ZZT Summer 2000 [Metamorphosis]" by myth, Various (2000) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/24hoz-sum2000/] ♦
♦ Stream Contents ♦
(1:23) Pleasant Thoughts by DPLObster
(39:52) Abyss by Dragonlord
(58:12) Find The F'nork by raichu0079
(1:04:35) The Change by Fishfood
(1:29:31) Blood Stream by GChucky
Starting with "Pleasant Thoughts", which may not surprise you to learn the name is a misnomer. A mad scientist is planning to release a virus into the atmosphere which will shut off the immune systems of 90% of the populace. He's also selling the cure to the wealthy in the advance, and they better pay quickly since said cure will <s>transform</s> _metamorphosize_ you into a horrible beast if you're already been infected.
You play as an everyday kid noticing people getting sick who eventually discovers the truth of what's going on. You get to make some choices about whether to hide with your grandfather who once worked with the scientist and live out your days peacefully away from a soon to crumble society or to make an effort to save some people.
It's a bummer of a game where all actions you take ultimately don't matter and the world is doomed no matter what. It doesn't help that the protagonist is a teenager obsessed with "rational" behavior who constantly suppresses emotions and is confused when people get upset that he's callous to people suffering. You get an RPG battle and to shoot some transformed humans, as well as some interesting choices like whether to take the cure yourself or save it for your best friend who I might believe was a love interest if he didn't blow it so hard earlier in the game.
No lessons are learned either as the game ends with "hey I mean billions are dead but the world is better now." (No, the game does not elaborate on this.) An edgy teenager game for sure.
"Abyss" is a short game consisting of several engines. You are a scientist doing experiments with metamorphosis when the facility you work in is attacked by a terrorist/gang leader who begins to transform himself to become all-powerful. There's a little chase sequence where you need to dodge the terrorist's bullets in an effort to catch him. An engine that compares itself the the G-Bike game in FF7 that's way too difficult on harder difficulties and way too easy otherwise. You've got an RPG battle of course. And lastly escaping from a fire by navigating a maze before the fire catches you.
And it's going to catch you a lot because it can go through walls which makes it very easy for it to cut you off when you go around a bend. Happy ending though, the building explodes. Good variety, mediocre execution.
"Find The F'nork" is our current low point. You are placed in a small room and tasked with finding the F'Nork, a small creature than metamorph itself to appear as various objects. It's basically a hide and seek game, or I suppose Prop Hunt. That may not be exciting, but it wouldn't be bad on its own. The trouble is that there are maybe 7 spots for the F'Nork to hide in? There's no failure state, and guessing wrong provides an extremely telegraphed clue as to the F'Nork's location. There are a few levels, which repeat the same board and move the F'Nork to a new spot, and in some cases forgetting to remove them from their previous spot. A game that sets up a low bar to clear and trips over it. An incomplete final level presents a new room layout and potential failure point by blocking the F'Nork by pushing boulders over it. A true casualty of not having any time to work with.
"The Change" by Fishfood has an author more famed for his sillier 24HoZZT entries taking a stab at something more serious. You return to your small village with news that seemingly unkillable monsters are not far behind and that the village may have only a short time left. Fish spends clearly too much time creating the town with generic NPCs and locations that make for a more realistic setting with no bearing on the adventure ahead. You team up with an old friend and fight your way to the underground where someone may be able to help. There are quite a number of boards of touch-based combat as you follow the path, which even branches at one point, though it also suffers from connection issues which kind of break the whole thing. Eventually you make it to and through the cave and use the power of a magic giant crystal to save the floating island where the game turned out to have taken place.
Nice ending shot of the island, definitely feels like the game had to immediately wrap up to hit the deadline which could have probably been avoided with more of a focus on the game after the starting town. Also contains an incredibly detailed log of the game's development as well as the horrible coffee Fish made.
Finally, GChucky's "Blood Stream". A strange adventure where you have a bad day at the magic shop when some prankster casts a spell that causes you to slowly shrink. The game loves the bit where the narrator repeats what the player just said, so much that they become a party member so they can continue doing so. Set off to find a cure, enjoy an RPG battle, and then get better thanks to a magic pool. Noteable for having a custom that I forgot to load for half the game. Not as funny as it wanted to be, but otherwise okay. Also impressive vomit filled toilet art.
♦ Originally streamed on April 27th, 2025 ♦
