Kerbie's Quest

Richard Goodness, the author of this game, has gone missing! As Kerbie, his beloved (lady) cat, you need to find out what happened to him in a short adventure/interactive story. By pure coincidence, this game hits a number of plot beats that CAT, CAT THAT DAMN CAT would several years later, minus the engine and gameplay elements.

The author clearly had graphical adventures in mind when making this game with a few boards trying to recreate a point-and-click adventure with an object-based puzzle, and most boards having short descriptive scrolls. Some bits of writing, like Kerbie's introduction at the start of the game, are quite cute, while some, like when Richard Goodness, the author, argues with Kerbie, his cat/the player, while discussing the missing Richard Goodness, try for the meta effect. Graphically the game is not much to write about, with the author mocking his own drawing abilities at one point.

Nonetheless, this a short and pleasant ZZT game that can be finished within half an hour. Kerbie is a welcome, if slight, predecessor to heroic cats of ZZT like Freak and the titular CAT.