Overview
The Summer 1998 24 Hours of ZZT contest was held on July 10th, 1998. The competition was hosted by mono and went on to begin a staple community event which lasted for several years. Participants were given 24 hours to create a ZZT game which was in some way related to the topic of Night. 18 entries were received, and presumably rated by the three volunteers who took on the role of judge.
The original scores have been lost, with only the top three entries having been recorded on the Interactive Fantasies 24 hours of ZZT archive web page.
The 24 Hours of ZZT contest has its origins in the MegaZeux community's own Day of Zeux. Many of these entries (as well as some in later events) refer to the contest as the "Day of ZZT".
The original upload of the compiled entries was partially corrupt, with Shadows of the Night being a lost entry for many years. It has since been rediscovered and is included with the zipfile hosted on the Museum of ZZT.
Judges
- Creator
- Kev Vance
- xf
Scores
Click a heading in the tables below to sort by that field. Filename links will open the file the in the Museum's File Viewer. Title links will jump to the entry descriptions found later in the article. Authors and companies will lead to directories of other ZZT releases credited to them.
Official Results
Only limited information about the official results survives. Individual judges' scores/commentary are unavailable for this event.
Dr. Dos's Rankings
In 2025, Dr. Dos began a project to stream every 24 Hours of ZZT game that could be shown on Twitch. This contest is covered in volumes 5 through 9 of the 24 Hours To Go series. Each entry was ranked relative to one another on a tier list to provide alternative rankings to the missing official scores, as well as a modern perspective on the entries.
Hercules and Hydra's Scores
While the official results are lost, ZZTers Hercules and Hydra of Interactive Fantasies maintained their own personal scores for the contest's entries. These scores may better reflect how the games were received when they were new.
Entry Information
Bill Attacks by Bluenatic1/Ickis889
Bill Gates has blocked out the sun with a giant billboard for Windows 98. Take a rocket to the sun where his secret base is located on and fight him for the fate of mankind. An adventure with plenty of built-ins to shoot and a number of deliberately bad boards to make fun of newbie games.
🥈 City of the Stupid episode 427: Before Sunrise: Not The Movie by Bongo
Set in Bongo's City of the Stupid series, Deke's great-uncle has passed away. The will states that if Deke can make it to his funeral before midnight he'll receive one million dollars. Deke and his friends must find a vehicle and make the trip before the deadline, dealing with a number of weird characters, hostile cops, and disco lovers. A remarkably dense adventure filled with 90s humor and a lot of impressive art scenes.
🥉 Dreamling by Darren Hewer
As a knight of the Zyion kingdom, you have been sent to the village of Florian to deal with a beast that has been attacking the town each night. Travel to the beast's cave to slay it, but be warned the monster can attack you through your dreams! An adventure with some nice background art.
Goddess of the Night by Matthew Smith
On a planet of eternal day, a ritual must be performed every 6583.25 years to give the plants a chance to rest for 12 hours. To do so, a human's blood must be poured on a sacrificial altar. However, to reduce the brutality of the event, a series of runes may be activated to reduce the requirements to a non-fatal amount. You are the sacrifice, and must solve a series of puzzles to be able to make the donation and survive. A puzzle game that relies heavily on trial and error.
Lost! by Flatcoat Lab
Two brothers, Josh and Jeremy, are flying to Alaska when the pilot collapses and the plane nosedives into the wilderness. Now the two must find a way to survive long enough to be rescued. Likely inspired by Gary Paulsen's novel Hatchet. The game is incomplete and ends abruptly after a few cutscenes and an encounter with a wild deer.
Mission: Break and Enter by Chronos30
Secret Agent Clint Spade is on a mission to infiltrate CroneTech's base and depose of its CEO who is planning to block the sun while him and his followers live underground until it's safe to return to the dead surface and reclaim it for themselves. Use your spy gadgets and sneak your way through the enemy base, taking down guards and making contact with fellow agents in your quest to thwart the enemy's plans. A mix of action, adventure, and puzzles makes this a game with a lot of variety and solid execution.
Night Conjure by Newt
Someone has opened the Doom Portal, sending in a wave of evil creatures that spread terror by attacking random towns each night. When Evan's village is the latest target, father Tinger reveals Evan is destined to restore peace. Traveling with your girlfriend Ranae, the two search for the whereabouts of the one who opened the portal in hopes of finding a way to close it. An action game that makes use of art boards for conversation between major characters.
Night Hacker by No1Dive/Knightt/zzt98
You are part of a team of elite hackers aiming to destroy both Microsoft and AOL. Wreck havoc by unleashing various computer viruses onto their networks and watch scenes play out as "The SPAM virus", "The Barney virus", "The Town of ZZT virus" and more ruin people's workdays! Then arrive at the buildings with guns, in quite the escalation. A darker comedy than it was likely intended to be.
Night Man by Mono
An incomplete game by the competition's own host! You can take a tour of a few art boards and cinematic sequences intended for the final game.
Night of Ruin by Kev Carter
A group of hackers are in the process of decrypt the US nuclear launch codes and will unleash devastation across the globe as soon as they do so. Your job is to infiltrate their base and put a stop to them. An incomplete entry where the only ending is failure.
Night of the Chickens by Red
Turns out chickens are from space and crash landed on Earth ages ago. Now another ship has arrived seeking revenge on humanity for how they've been treated. Run around your farm fighting in pop-up RPG battles, collecting tools and weapons to save the Earth!
Night of the Russian Zombie Vampire Hookers by DarkMage/Nivek
After deciding to treat yourself to the services of a sex worker for the night, you discover that woman you let into a car is in fact a zombie. She attacks you and you awaken in their zombie base of operations where they intend to use you as a source of blood. Escape the building and find your car to get out alive.
Nightlife by GoldenHog/Scribbit/DarthVagrant
Due to the local NBC station's refusal to air Conan O'Brien at the proper timeslot, sixteen year old Ramone Zelsnack has been staying up until 4:00 and enjoying the nightlife. Explore your small town until you reach another planet populated by worshipers of Conan, Max Weinberg, and Andy Richter. A strange adventure with a mix of built-in shooting action and fetch quests.
🥇 nightplanet by myth
While flying through space you pick up a distress beacon from a nearby planet. Deciding to investigate and maybe make some profit, you answer the call only to discover a long dead mining station filled with the skeletons of the former workers. Upon powering up the station you discover the crew succumbed to tiny mites unearthed in the mines that feed on energy. Now they'll be coming for you unless you can find a way to destroy the mines and make it back into orbit safely. A brief puzzle game with an eerie atmosphere to it.
Shadows of the Night by Jeff Conroy/Viper
In the year 2573, 500 years after the Shadow Clan put a new planet into orbit, a lunar eclipse occurs and creates "shadows of the night". These creatures are launching from the moon to Earth and will multiply by the billions when the sun rises. It's up to you to stop them by blowing up the planet with a nuke while there's still time! A short adventure that has players exploring locations in a small town to achieve their goal.
The Beginning of Night by theyoda/tucan/hm
The gods Day and Night have taken mortal form for a brief period to recharge their abilities. Unfortunately, this time their human-selves temporarily without their memories have managed to fall in love with one another. In god form, they are mortal enemies. Now, with their memories having returned, the two decide to resume their fighting with a competition to win the most human followers to the cause of day/night. You play as Night, wandering the town's beach trying to convince people that the sun isn't all it's cracked up to be. A second level has you exploring the slums and doing a bit of shooting of built-ins. The game makes use of an adventure engine, but never explains to players that they can use ?+U ?+C ?+E and ?+H for Use, Combine, Examine, and Help.
The Lost Kingdom by Lord of Chaos
After a late night celebration with a little too much drinking, you stumble into a cave and soon find yourself in a lost underground kingdom which you need to travel through to make it home safely. The game mostly uses a platforming engine that's very impressive for the era with plenty of interactive elements and a ceiling climbing mechanic.
we only come out at night by Breakout
Jupiter has moved out of orbit and is causing a solar eclipse. This has led to freaks, ghouls, and zombies attacking the populace. You play as Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins fighting your way through the hordes in search of a fix for this situation. An action game with a few moments of different gameplay styles.
