♦ Livestream of 4 ZZT worlds. ♦
♦ Stream Contents ♦
• (0:58) “The Town of the City (Demo)” by skullie (1997) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/townskuldemo/]
• (17:23) “Nick's ZZT Town” by Nick Schimek (1997) [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/nicktown/]
• (59:52) “ZZT Mag Issue #3” by AHMorrow [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/zztmag03/]
• (1:09:32) “ZZT Mag Issue #4” by AHMorrow [https://museumofzzt.com/file/view/zztmag04/]
Visiting some very weird towns before doing some reading.
We start with "The Town of the City", a game with a very uh original look to it. The color choices are extremely chaotic as you have a dream of garbage and then awaken in an equally technicolor home. You get to meet the author and even tell him your ZZT games are better than his, a brag that he demands proof of, demanding you email him this so-called great game.
There isn't actually very much to do other than explore a few objects, scrounging through desk drawers for stationery for your mother, screaming at your dad about the "OoMpAdOoMpAiNcHaLaDa" creature that's outside. Just a lot of wacky nonsense where the author is clearly having fun with the caveat that players are gonna have no idea what's going on.
Other than that board, there's a few unused screens with some more scribbly designs and a chance to play ZZTer Nivek in a scripted arcade fighting game if you're willing to jump between boards. Very strange!
Nick meanwhile gives us a much more traditional interpretation of what a town might be. Players start in the middle of a three board town filled with a shops, factories, warehouses, and a school with no particular goal or suggestion of where they might want to explore first. This ends up being a game where your task is to figure out how to actually navigate it, as a number of interiors have locked doors or keys for other buildings. Plenty of places are filled with dangerous creatures, so finding a source of supplies is also critical.
That ends up being its fatal flaw, as while you can buy things, everything is too expensive, and half the interactivity of the game comes from purchasing items that aren't actually relevant to progression, which you can't afford if you're buying ammo and torches. Some items can be found lying around, but more often than not you'll be trying to dodge enemies to conserve those precious few bullets remaining.
The computer store ends up being the most fun, with a "trial" computer you can use to go on the Internet and download files (ammo and torches) or play "games" in the classic form of math problems. It's very elaborate and speaks to that era in which computers were these magical devices that could do all these incredible things. You can even buy more math problems to solve! Joy!
Both games wound up on the shorter side so we returned to ZZT Mag for its final two issues to check out the reviews and previews as well. Issue 3 is set in a very tiny castle in the sky, and feels a lot more slight compared to previous issues, but it does actually make a bold leap forward in the reviews section, offering entire sentence (singular) of actual information about the games that could potentially inform readers. "Needs more plot" is a breath of fresh air if you can believe it.
The 4th and final issue is just as sparse, but at least spread out a little so it doesn't feel as tiny as it is. The reviews become actual reviews, summarizing plots and criticizing ZZTers who care too much about making fun of the Power Rangers.
Really though, the whole magazine feels like a trick to get players to check out a demo of "City Adventure", a game whose full version was played in a previous stream. You know, you and your pal set off to enjoy a weekend in the city, going to arcades or Nickelodeon Studios and heading to the theater to see Return of the Jedi. Normal kid stuff. We explore it a little bit, but don't bother with exploring the full thing. While it wasn't ideal having repeat content for the stream, having such a full demo would have been a real positive for the magazine back before the full game was actually done, so I suppose it's the best issue overall!
♦ Play these worlds directly in your browser ♦
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/townskuldemo/
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/nicktown/
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/zztmag03/
• https://museumofzzt.com/file/play/zztmag04/
♦ Originally streamed on September 7th, 2025 ♦
