Island of ZZT

At first glance, Island of ZZT isn't too impressive; it just looks like the average ZZTer's first game. However, when I played the game, I noticed a few things that make me think that Ajc1490 has a bright future in the ZZT world.

The graphics, although primitive, improve throughout the game. Many of the boards show use of textures; for example, the sand has a random appearance, there are waves in the water, etc... The pathways have wavy, flowing shapes, fitting the natural settings of the beach and the woods. Palm trees and thick vines give the player some scenery to look at. The dark cellar was especially well-done. It was very simple, but the dark colors chosen did a good job of theming the area, and the bones and blood were a nice touch! For a beginner, these are graphics to be proud of, and I encourage Ajc1490 to keep developing his style.

The gameplay of Island of ZZT reminds me of older ZZT games. Most of the monsters in the game are the built-in lions, tigers, bears, and centipedes, which aren't used that much in modern games; there could have been more object enemies. The game is easy and not terribly innovative by today's standards, but it can be seen that some thought went into the game. One of the things that struck me was the dying man in the native village. The typical ZZT cliche for giving the player money is to have a an unexplained stash of gems. Instead, in this game there is some explanation for the money; the dying man, reflecting on the fact that earthly riches mean nothing in the afterlife, gives you his money.

Island of ZZT is not an epic, groundbreaking game, but it does have a certain charm to it. As Ajc1490 improves as a programmer, I believe that he will go on to create some very good games. I hope to see more of his work in the future!

So I played this game; all of it. This game isn't all that great by normal standards, but considering that this is Ajc1490's first game I feel that it could have been much, much worse. The programming was fairly solid, if not a little slow, and the graphics at least used STK. The game was also kind of fun, although Ajc1490 should come up with more complex plots and puzzles in his future games. Overall not horribly bad for a first game; Ajc1490 shows some potential.