OIL (2022) by dave2

OIL started out about 20 years ago as an entry for the Autumn 2003 24 Hours of ZZT Contest. While the ZZT community still had a few years left before it was conclusively "dead" (that would happen in 2011), cracks were beginning to show already. Nobody stepped up to judge the entries to this little game jam, so the zip file languished in limbo for years.

Then in 2018, Dr. Dos thought it would be fun to exhume these forgotten minigames and have people rate them as if they were the judges. This was actually my first proper interaction with the ZZT community directly, and it turns out that I was not especially kind to OIL!

In my view, the OIL from the old jam was thin and weak. It had a nice looking cinema board, a nice looking town with only two NPCs, a nice looking path with nothing on it, all capped off by one of the most rancid ZZT gameplay engines I've ever interacted with, leading me to rate it 3.5/10. In retrospect, this was probably overly harsh against the game, since things made during a "24HoZZT" rarely ended up being much good. At best, they tended to be more suggestive of a fuller, more polished ZZT world.

In this light, OIL was probably the most interesting game of the bunch. The mermish protagonist, coral reef setting, and man-made ecological disaster were all much more interesting ideas than the generic post-apocalyptisms or LOLRANDOMness of the other entries. In retrospect, it's easy to imagine how with a bit more time in the oven, this could have been a true classic.

Now, however, we don't need to imagine, because after a 19 year hiatus the author decided to turn this into a full-fledged ZZT game.

In making this full version, dave2 wisely chose to focus on the most compelling aspects of the prototype --- namely, everything before the accursed minigame segment. The mermaid village is now filled with several people, giving the impression of an actual society in need of your help. The standard ZZT built-in enemies are eschewed in favor of bespoke flora and fauna, whose behaviors fit the game's aquatic flavor. The colors of the coral reef, natural rocks, and deep water all work together in a pleasing way, and provide a nice contrast to the man-made oily blacks and steely grays of the crashed tanker.

As an adventure game, it's quite solid. While the game puts you on a global timer to stop the disaster (which is disabled on easy mode), it tends to be quite generous, and completing quests and other tasks on behalf of your fellow merfolk increases the amount of time you have remaining. Navigating and exploring around and within the wrecked ship is interesting, with the routing options and puzzles expanding in lockstep with your understanding of what needs to be done to remedy the disaster. It's not a large game by any means, but it manages to be tightly constructed and feels complete.

To top of all off, the action segment from the contest version does make a return somewhere... and it's actually pretty decent.

Final Verdict: With a little bit of elbow grease even you, the reader, can dust off that old project and turn it into something presentable.

Rating: 5 Seashells out of 5

(Bug Alert: I somehow locked myself out of collecting the upgraded weapon. Fortunately, it's not required to complete the game, but I thought I'd let you know it's a thing that can happen.)