21 Facts About ZZT

1.

ZZT is a 1991 action-adventure puzzle video game and game creation system developed and published by Potomac Computer Systems for MS-DOS.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,260
2.

ZZT'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.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,261
3.

ZZT is a top-down action-adventure puzzle video game and game creation system.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,262
4.

ZZT includes an in-game editor, allowing players to make their own worlds.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,263
5.

Everything within ZZT are shown through the use of the 255 characters of the IBM PC's character set to create environments.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,264

Related searches

IBM Wolf
6.

ZZT found it more fun to make it into a game by adding bullets and creatures to fight.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,265
7.

ZZT shared it with friends and neighborhood kids, taking notes of their joy and excitement playing his own game.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,266
8.

ZZT discovered that making games allowed him to share something to the world, and could earn more income compared to wage earners, and chose to sell the game.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,267
9.

ZZT would operate his company out of his bedroom, having orders sent to his parents' address, where he would send the remaining episodes on floppy disks by mail delivery.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,268
10.

ZZT would sell the game as the first major game with object-oriented programming.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,269
11.

At one point, City of ZZT was distributed as ZZT's City, through Softdisk's On Disk Monthly service.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,270
12.

The final copy of ZZT was shipped to game designer Zack Hiwiller in November 2013.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,271
13.

Scott Wolf of PC Gamer stated the graphics and sound for ZZT to be "truly awful", while the gameplay serves as a flashback to "when gameplay was not overshadowed by flashy video and animation".

FactSnippet No. 1,447,272
14.

ZZT found making a game fun, thanks to the interface being nearly identical to the game, allowing for the easy placement of objects and terrain.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,273
15.

ZZT wrote that while ZZT-OOP was basic and limited, children could learn about and make games without knowing anything about programming.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,274
16.

Hardcore Gaming 101 in a podcast episode stated ZZT was "not all that fun", criticizing that official worlds and community made worlds included unavoidable damage, and instant death.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,275
17.

On getting $100 a day from ZZT, Sweeney was convinced he could earn enough from the shareware industry, and decided to work in the video game industry.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,276
18.

ZZT renamed the company to Epic MegaGames in October 1991.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,277
19.

Shortly after the release of ZZT, Sweeney started a level designer contest for registered users to make their own worlds and submit them to him.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,278
20.

The game plays similarly to ZZT, while adding more features such as greater colors accessible within its editor, new enemies and objects, and scrolling map screens that allowed for larger boards than in ZZT.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,279
21.

Many fan-made worlds and editing tools were created following the game's release, with a fan website, Museum of ZZT, devoted to archiving and curating game worlds and utilities made by users.

FactSnippet No. 1,447,280