All of a sudden, when you least expect it: Three people finish ZZT worlds in the span of a single week. Here I thought I could rest easy for a bit with publishing. Our new releases for today include some very unusual ZZT worlds, and what some might describe as "a ZZT art compilation". Rounding things out are a few odds and ends that I grabbed from the newer side of what's been uploaded rather than the old because why not.
“Challenge of the Toulouse Hacking Convention” by Réchèr (2021)
Our first upload is an unusual ZZT puzzle in that it's part of a more elaborate event created for (of course) the Toulouse Hacking Convention. You are intended to use this world to discover a hidden flag to score points during the convention and figuring out said flag by whatever means necessary. This is a ZZT game meant to be played, edited, and opened in a hex editor.
The worlds of ZZT Discord even had somebody show to ask about ZZT for help as part of this challenge!
This isn't the first time a ZZT world was make as a part of something greater. More than a decade ago Big Brother was made to score points for the University of Chicago's annual Scav Hunt which can require some rather unusual items.
“This is Not a ZZT Art Compilation” by asie (2021)
Next we have asie bringing us a world of his own creation! It is not a ZZT art compilation. It does not contain art used for his streams, ZZT company logos, and designs for unfinished games. There is no insightful commentary. It is not a ZZT art compilation.
“Hack the Matrix” by kristomu (2021)
Here's the star of the batch. While not the first time ACE in ZZT has been experimented with, this is the more showy example to be sure. The documentation explains all the details, but essentially duplicators are used to get into memory and rewrite a pointer to end up pointing at an object's code. That object's code isn't ZZT-OOP, but rather x86 assembly that gets parsed as program code and well, you should really run the world in DOSBox (not Zeta! You won't get the big reveal in Zeta!) and see for yourself.
If you're unable or unwilling to get DOSBox going with ZZT, I did put up an unlisted video demonstrating the exploit in action.
“Software Visions ZZT Pack (Registered, April 1996)” by Alexis Janson, Matt Williams (1996)
Featured Reviews
- Featured World: Software Visions ZZT Pack by Dr. Dos
Remember the awesome find that was a registered copy of the Software Visions ZZT games? Well. Here it is again, but an earlier release than the previous which contains some BBS information and lacks the then unreleased Warlord's Temple.
“Room of MAGUS” by _MAGUS_
In _MAGUS_'s Super ZZT game Room of Magus you must escape from the prison of Magus in order to inherit Magus's land and money. Magus.
“Omidon's Downfall (Preview Version)” by DarkHorse (2001)
An RPG demo that was the hit of the stream asie showcased it on, and that now when looking through it to publish that I think I played before too on an early stream where I also remember it being enjoyable! An evil warlord has taken over the kingdom and it's up to you to stop him by learning spells and abilities and other things not implemented in the demo. Good luck!
“Not As It Seems: The Morphos” by Filipe83 (1997)
Looks like a wake up and save the world adventure. After heading to school and finding your class oddly empty you're taken to the back where the others are supposedly only to be taken prisoner to be transformed into a shape-shifting mutant "morphos" so that they may take over the world!
“The Strange Mystery Of The Oof-Da!” by LARRYXXXXX
Lastly let's end with Oof-Da. Eye-searing blinking and humor on the level of going to McBoogers to get a Crappy Meal or ruining the costume of the underpaid employee at "Chuck-A-Cheese". The author definitely got the "Oof" part down.
