User:Drivesupply/sandbox
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ZZT is a 1991 action-adventure puzzle video game and game creation system developed and published by Potomac Computer Systems for MS-DOS. The game was later released as freeware in 1997. It represents an early example of a game that allowed players to edit using object-oriented programming. Players control a smiley face to battle various creatures and solve puzzles in different grid-based boards in a chosen world. It includes an in-game editor, allowing players to develop their own worlds while using the game's scripting language, ZZT-OOP.
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ZZT | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Potomac Computer Systems |
Publisher(s) | Potomac Computer Systems |
Designer(s) | Tim Sweeney |
Platform(s) | MS-DOS |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Action-adventure, game creation system, puzzle |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
The game was designed by mechanical engineering student Tim Sweeney, and took roughly nine months to develop. The game was built from a text editor conceived in 1989 to build a better editor for Pascal, after disliking editors that came with other programming languages for his computer. During development, he experimented with adding creatures and characters, building boards that grew into worlds while refining the editor he used to create his own games. Initially he make the game for himself, but after positive reception from his friends and neighbors, and seeing the potential for making a profit by releasing the game under shareware, he decided to release the game publicly.
ZZT received generally positive reception, and was a commercial success, selling around 4,000 - 5,000 copies by 2009. Much of the positive reception focusing on the editor, and the community it developed. The game was followed by a sequel, Super ZZT (1992). Other ZZT worlds were published later that same year as Best of ZZT and ZZT's Revenge. The game's success led Sweeney to change his company's name to Epic MegaGames, and focus on competing as a video game company using shareware to distribute commercial games. Epic MegaGames later developed other successful games including Jill of the Jungle (1992) and Unreal (1998), the latter using ZZT as a road map by focusing on developing the editor and engine to allow others to more easily make games. The game also features one of the earliest active modding communities, that has grown around the game through making new worlds and editing tools.