VGMaps

General Boards => Map Gab => Topic started by: RT 55J on September 16, 2006, 03:21:47 pm

Title: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on September 16, 2006, 03:21:47 pm
ZZT is an old DOS text game released in 1991 by Epic Megagames (now Epic Games). It also had had a sequel, Super ZZT, but nobody cares about it because it sucks. Despite being born the year it was released, I have fond memories of it. I now have the inexplicable urge to map the 4 official worlds starting with The Town of ZZT.



Maps were ripped using the Windows version of Kevedit.



Town: http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/1564/townfl1.png

-Labrynth: http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/5940/labrynthzl3.png

-Palace: http://img91.imageshack.us/img91/470/palacevl2.png

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Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: TerraEsperZ on September 16, 2006, 03:42:13 pm
Hey, this is really cool! It's nice to see maps that are different, and it's always cool for a mapper to go back and relive those old memories.



As for the maps themselves, they don't make a lot of sense to me, since I never played the game in question. Just for information, there's a lot of text hints on your maps; this you add those, or were those in the original game?



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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on September 16, 2006, 03:54:53 pm
The only 'text hints' I added were to the Labrynth to explain the weird room transitions and the Palace to show the 'before' state. Everything else is just like it was in the original game. Seriously.

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Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: DarkWolf on September 16, 2006, 04:07:23 pm
Ha, I remember these ASCII-based action games!  The one I played though was Kingdom of Kroz.
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on September 16, 2006, 08:52:43 pm
Town of ZZT finished!



- Prison: http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/618/prisonxd6.png

- Cave: http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/167/cavekq6.png

- Castle: http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/9226/castlegk9.png

- House of Blues: http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/6943/bluesoq6.png

- Armory: http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/8633/armoryyk3.png

- Bank: http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/4816/banksv8.png



Next up, City of ZZT!

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Off-topic: I seem to be unable to edit my posts. Is this a limitation of a Provisional Account?

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Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on September 18, 2006, 08:09:34 pm
I got the main part of the city done.



City: http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/9497/cityeb3.png

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Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: Revned on September 18, 2006, 08:37:25 pm
Eek, that one makes my screen all flickery.
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: TerraEsperZ on September 18, 2006, 08:57:32 pm
I'm sure that game looked amazing in the year it came out, even though it makes me want to poke my eyes out. I sometimes get that feeling when playing really old PC games with CGA or EGA graphics which I found amazing back in the days.



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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: DarkWolf on September 19, 2006, 03:51:54 pm
Speaking of ASCII maps, I made this one for a MUD I once played.  It had an ASCII map that used the ANSI  escape sequences for the color.



It was years ago, so I can't even remember the name of the MUD.



Look at the map
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: Revned on September 19, 2006, 04:06:03 pm
That reminds me of when I made an HTML map of Bree from Tales of Middle Earth a few months ago. I wanted to do more, but I lost interest quickly. See it here.
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on September 19, 2006, 08:28:53 pm
Two new maps for the city:



-Jail: http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/3492/jailrh5.png

-City Hall: http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/9493/cityhallpa7.png



From: DarkWolf

It was years ago, so I can't even remember the name of the MUD.



My guess is that is called 'Alatia.'

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Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: DarkWolf on September 20, 2006, 12:11:40 pm
No, it was something Realms.  Alatia was the name of the continent all new players started on.  There were many more that I didn't get around to map.
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: mephea on September 21, 2006, 06:30:09 am
lols, i was a MUD dev, even was head admin for one way back when.  I was coding an underwater city, that had never been done in any mud that i had played before (kind of like an underwater city with water as its main emphasis) it was going to be the largest city in the mud, hell it had over 800+ rooms.  While that doesnt dound like alot, understand each room was at least 15k, some rooms were approaching 80k.  I liked being very descriptive and I loved making up the lore for it.



Creating the history for a city is extremely interesting, especially when you get to do it all from day 1.  it's like you're some kind of god or something.



Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on September 23, 2006, 02:58:12 pm
I'm almost done with the Dungeons. I probably would be done right now if my computer wasn't older than dinosaurs. All I have to do is a few touch-ups.



From: TerraEsperZ

I'm sure that game looked amazing in the year it came out, even though it makes me want to poke my eyes out.



Actually, Kingdom of Kroz, which was released 4-years earlier than ZZT, it used practically identical text mode graphics. Compare:



Kroz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kroz.gif

ZZT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Zzt.png

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Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: DarkWolf on September 23, 2006, 06:11:23 pm
@mephea



I wanted to try my hand at writing a mud once or at least designing an area for an existing one. There just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I want though.
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on September 23, 2006, 07:59:32 pm
Dungeons finished:



http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/5497/dungeonsre4.png

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Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on September 29, 2006, 05:10:20 pm
I finished the main area of the Caves:



http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/6025/cavesgd4.png

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Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on October 03, 2006, 08:06:53 pm
I just finished The Caves of ZZT, for the -1 people who care.

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Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on October 04, 2006, 07:28:00 pm
Finished and sent to JonLeung.

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Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: DarkWolf on October 04, 2006, 08:19:38 pm
Hurray for non-mainstream games!
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: JonLeung on October 08, 2006, 11:31:31 am
I remember this game, kinda.



It's up, though the Castle Of *@#%&!! gave me some trouble (I can see why it's named that, I was almost saying "*@#%&!!" myself).  It says the full name on the file listing, but the filename had to have the * removed, of course, since Windows uses that as a wildcard character.  Then the @ made FrontPage want to keep making it an email address.  After working around that, the browser didn't like the @ anyway, along with the #, and I assumed the % would also be problematic.  In the end the filename is just "CastleOf&!!", which sounds like a castle of incredibly loud ampersands.



Let me know if that isn't viewable either (it is to me, but who knows, what with different browsers and all).
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on October 08, 2006, 06:35:02 pm
If my browser is to be trusted, you did not upload the Bank of ZZT map.



I'm contemplating what game I should map next, if any. I could do Super ZZT, but given the lack of an external editor and pure suckage of screen capturing in DOS text mode, I doubt it would be worth the effort. Other possible PC games include Duke Nukem 2, Jetpack, or Secret Agent. I could try to finish up the Mega Man X maps, but my computer went crazy last time I tried to because it's older than dinosaurs. The most likely possibility for me is Cave Story, a freeware Japanese platformer.

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Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: DarkWolf on October 08, 2006, 07:04:00 pm
Have you tried DOSBox?  It should make capturing screens pretty easy.
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: JonLeung on October 08, 2006, 07:07:20 pm
OMG I LOVE JETPACK.  THAT WAS SUCH A COOL GAME.  MAP THAT NEXT GO GO GO.



That game had an editor.  It was fun to make stages with.



There was also a Rare game called Jetpack (which was featured in Donkey Kong 64).  I'm guessing (and hoping) that you meant the other Jetpack.
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: DarkWolf on October 08, 2006, 07:11:26 pm
Considering he mentioned it along with Duke Nukem 2 and Secret Agent, I think he is indeed refering to the PC DOS version.  Which you can now get for free, btw.
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on October 08, 2006, 07:41:56 pm
Yes JonLeung, I was referring to the PC version. However, there's not much use in mapping it considering the official website has the official hintbook, which contains every map except for the last stage. But, looking through it again, many of the maps seen squished and streched...

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Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: JonLeung on October 08, 2006, 07:45:05 pm
Well, if you don't want to do Jetpack, then I'd say Duke Nukem 2.  I liked Duke Nukem best in that game.  I didn't like any of the Duke Nukem 3D games for some reason.
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on October 08, 2006, 07:57:06 pm
I think I'll do Jetpack first. If somebody could help me divide the JETLEV.DAT file into 99 separate 506 byte .LVL files, I could be done in less than a week.

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Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: DarkWolf on October 08, 2006, 08:03:24 pm
I don't have enough time to do it tonight, but I can definitely write a quick C program to split them up.
Title: RE: ZZT (DOS)
Post by: RT 55J on October 08, 2006, 08:27:50 pm
Thanks!

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