Hello!

I'm Samantha Arantes, space hunter extraordinaire. My rates are quite competitive, so hire me!

When I was a baby, the Froggos found me floating in an escape pod between the bulrushes and lilypads of their home planet. They found soon afterwards that my parents had been killed in stealth attack by the leader of the dastardly Space Ninjas, and from that point on decided to adopt me and raise me as one of their own. Not wanting my fate to befall anyone else, I decided to learn their mystic arts and strange sciences so that I could become a protector of the galaxy.

Unfortunately, the realities of enacting justice in this universe have proven far more difficult than my simple upbringing led me to imagine. It turns out that being the self-styled savior of the galaxy entails more than just being a common space-cop. This is still an area of active study for me.

I enjoy the color blue, restaurant-quality ramen, and a nice glass of milk. I loathe fried grapefruit, quadrillionaires, and unkempt womanizers.

If you want to make any art of me, I have some character reference sheets. They're slightly scuffed, in my opinion, but they should be good enough for a starting point. If you have any questions or feedback regarding them, DM me or ask on the forums.

Games with Me

I am the star of a who series of ZZT games available on itch! I think they're fun, and if nothing else they're a nice window into my personality :)

Games 1, 2, and 5 are short ones that should only take you 15-30 minutes each, assuming you're somewhat familiar with ZZT. Games 3 and 4 are substantially more ambitious in scope, and will likely take you at least 90-120 minutes of your time. Keep in mind, however, that these were all made for an annual game jam called "Oktrollberfest," so they occasionally do rude things to you, the player. I try not to be too rude, but you'd be wise to keep your wits about you (and save appropriately).

(Prior to the events of these games, I battled against the terrifying "Karid-X" (not to be confused with Karid-X2). Unfortunately, another scurrilious bounty hunter rushed out a false account of the fight to steal credit from me, possibly in an attempt to shore up her flagging popularity. Even though my account is still unpublished, I assure you that the things that happened that day are much cooler and more amazing than whatever that other girl said.)

Other Me's

Fragments of my personality drift along the rivers between time and space, giving rise to beings that appear to be various reflections of me. What is the precise nature of our relationship with each other? That's a good question, and you're free to guess, but we prefer to keep the answer to ourselves.

One such persona is a terran bioform known as "Alex," who claims to be my creator. They call the universe they are from "Real Life," which (to be quite frank) sounds quite presumptuous to me (my world feels real enough to me). Delusions of grandeur aside, they have proven to be quite helpful in putting this site together.

Another persona goes by the designation "RT-55J," who is a denizen of alternate universe called "the Internet." They prefer being called "RT" or "artee" unless you are just getting to know them or are "@ing" them (who uses a symbol as a letter like that??). They are a proficient mapmaker and moderately talented rom hacker, and have opted to host their files here.

Beyond all of these things, there is "Gadfly Goods", which is currently the "company name" we use for publishing ZZT games (ZZT companies are a long and storied tradition). It was once the name of our Cohost page, but that ship has sunk (RIP).

In practice, this all just means that the first-person pronouns "I" and "me" on this website do not necessarily refer to, me, Samantha Arantes, and that I typically make no effort to disambiguate. It is up to you, dear lector, to have the skill to determine when the distinction exists and if it is important.

Mailbags

You can ask me questions (or send other forms of sweet nothings) in this forum thread. You may also ask me questions on other platforms, but I might end up forgetting about them. Every so often I will gather a bunch of the Q&As together and publish them all together in a mailbag-style format, just like the good old days. The list of currently published mailbags can currently be found on the sidebar (or below here on mobile).

Previously, people sent me questions on my guestbook or on Cohost, but those platforms are no more. v_v;

FAQ

Questions that get asked especially frequently will be put here, whether by readers or myself:

Q: Are you ever going to be in a non-ZZT game?

A: I have a cameo in Super Junkoid DX. :3

Q: Are you ever going to be in your own non-ZZT game?

A: I hope so! I have some plans, but they're just plans for now.