Hello
You know ZZT? The original game by Epic Games (well technically it was Potomac Computer Systems at the time but still)? Probably not, but I picked up playing City of ZZT on DreamZZT, a microemulator released for DS among other things
Unfortunately, this version of ZZT is kind of like, unfinished! And it hasn't been touched in over 13 years! There are a bunch of things that just don't work or don't exist in this version, and sometimes it just crashes because of reasons! It's literally impossible to beat City of ZZT on this version of ZZT. So, I decided to try fixing it.
(Warning, some of the screenshots may have annoying patterns)
First, the title screen
Original:
View attachment 252717
My version:
View attachment 252718
I had to adjust some things so it would all fit on screen (this port is permanently zoomed in and unable to have the camera moved, since it's the title screen
Nothing big for the pawn shop
View attachment 252719
I shortened some of the text so it wouldn't bleed over the next lines
Now the second jail area
Original:
View attachment 252720
This was problematic because pushers and sliders cannot move bombs in this version of the game. No idea why, though...
New:
View attachment 252721
Now you have to move the sliders out of the way (the ones you can, at least)not that the bombs matter because you can still shoot bullets if you use directions while shooting
City Hall
Original:
View attachment 252724
This one was problematic because the game would crash if I tried to open a door after the first one. I didn't investigate why, I don't really care
New:
View attachment 252723
Now the guy just moves out of the way and you can go about the game or whatever
Park:
View attachment 252725
I changed the bum's dialogue so the text doesn't bleed past the end of the line
Mayor's Office:
View attachment 252726
For whatever reason, those epsilon things (no idea what they're called, just referred to as "bad" in their code) don't die when they reach the bottom, so I set them to instead go south, shoot, south, south, shoot, etc and did once they reach a certain point. I also changed the mayor's dialogue like the bum and broker
Room of No Real Purpose
Original:
View attachment 252729
New:
View attachment 252728
Not much to say here I guess, I just moved the text so you can see it
Aaaaand now The Processing Department
Original:
View attachment 252730
This was problematic for a couple of reasons. First, the robot wouldn't move in move mode. And second, the player is stuck on the left side of the screen with no at to see the right side
New:View attachment 252731As you can see, this room changed the most. I made the chamber smaller, and got rid of the robot. Instead, you are given a button that will temporarily disable the spinning gunners or whatever they're called, at which time you can enter and grab a key. Once you get all of the keys, you have access to a button to change all Ruffians to gems, as a bonus for withstanding them (if you did that instead of just killing them all)
I also added some extra gens to the Storage Room because of the added difficulty of The Processing Department
View attachment 252733
Sooooo yeah, I'll probably upload the game file later today, idk I doubt anyone cares but it was fun revisiting ZZT several years later
View attachment 252734
Feel free to complain about how Epic Games went downhill over the past 1,269 days in the comments below or whatever, be sure to like and share and smash that follow button
You know ZZT? The original game by Epic Games (well technically it was Potomac Computer Systems at the time but still)? Probably not, but I picked up playing City of ZZT on DreamZZT, a microemulator released for DS among other things
Unfortunately, this version of ZZT is kind of like, unfinished! And it hasn't been touched in over 13 years! There are a bunch of things that just don't work or don't exist in this version, and sometimes it just crashes because of reasons! It's literally impossible to beat City of ZZT on this version of ZZT. So, I decided to try fixing it.
(Warning, some of the screenshots may have annoying patterns)
First, the title screen
Original:
View attachment 252717
My version:
View attachment 252718
I had to adjust some things so it would all fit on screen (this port is permanently zoomed in and unable to have the camera moved, since it's the title screen
Nothing big for the pawn shop
View attachment 252719
I shortened some of the text so it wouldn't bleed over the next lines
Now the second jail area
Original:
View attachment 252720
This was problematic because pushers and sliders cannot move bombs in this version of the game. No idea why, though...
New:
View attachment 252721
Now you have to move the sliders out of the way (the ones you can, at least)
City Hall
Original:
View attachment 252724
This one was problematic because the game would crash if I tried to open a door after the first one. I didn't investigate why, I don't really care
New:
View attachment 252723
Now the guy just moves out of the way and you can go about the game or whatever
Park:
View attachment 252725
I changed the bum's dialogue so the text doesn't bleed past the end of the line
Mayor's Office:
View attachment 252726
For whatever reason, those epsilon things (no idea what they're called, just referred to as "bad" in their code) don't die when they reach the bottom, so I set them to instead go south, shoot, south, south, shoot, etc and did once they reach a certain point. I also changed the mayor's dialogue like the bum and broker
Room of No Real Purpose
Original:
View attachment 252729
New:
View attachment 252728
Not much to say here I guess, I just moved the text so you can see it
Aaaaand now The Processing Department
Original:
View attachment 252730
This was problematic for a couple of reasons. First, the robot wouldn't move in move mode. And second, the player is stuck on the left side of the screen with no at to see the right side
New:View attachment 252731As you can see, this room changed the most. I made the chamber smaller, and got rid of the robot. Instead, you are given a button that will temporarily disable the spinning gunners or whatever they're called, at which time you can enter and grab a key. Once you get all of the keys, you have access to a button to change all Ruffians to gems, as a bonus for withstanding them (if you did that instead of just killing them all)
I also added some extra gens to the Storage Room because of the added difficulty of The Processing Department
View attachment 252733
Sooooo yeah, I'll probably upload the game file later today, idk I doubt anyone cares but it was fun revisiting ZZT several years later
View attachment 252734
Feel free to complain about how Epic Games went downhill over the past 1,269 days in the comments below or whatever, be sure to like and share and smash that follow button
