Howdy! I'm a ZZTer!

For those of you who don't know about ZZT, it was a sort of game creation system made back in 1991 by Potomac Computer Systems (who would renamed themselves to "Epic MegaGames"). It had textmode graphics, rudimentary scripting system, and a large, decades-spanning community that produced thousands of "worlds" (games). Much like it's great-great-great-great-great grandson Unreal Engine 5, people have even used it to make good games!

As for myself, I've been interested in ZZT since a very young age. I messed around with it, kept tabs on the community, but was always in lurker mode. As a teen in the mid-aughts I made some maps of the official ZZT worlds that are still hosted on VGMaps.com.

Despite lurking on and off around the community since the late 90s, I didn't join the community-proper until after the Reconstruction of ZZT dropped in 2020. Since then, I think I've made a name for myself. You can find a good portion of the worlds I've made on my itch.io page:

• A Day in the Life of Goodfry Gadfly (2020) - A short game that takes place in a society of bugs.
• BUYSO (2020/2022) - A simple Christmas shopping simulator. Revised with a custom fork to display your inventory.
• ZZTSA (2021) - Short tonepiece about going through an airport.
• sweet dreams (2021) - Short tonepiece about dreams. Codegolfed to be under 10KB
• Ezanya Remastered (2022) - Remake of 1992's Ezanya, made with the blessing of the original author.
• Emissian (2022) - Go on a date in Istanbul. Made for the July 2022 2.4HoZZT contest.
• Coycean Table (2024) - Complete a ritual as a priest of darkness. Made for the Summer 2024 2.4HoZZT contest.
• The 101 Beans Against the Bears (2025) - The world's first "bean defense" game. Made for the Winter 2025 2.4HoZZT contest.
• Let Not Thee the Earth Consume (2025) - A short time-attack challenge. Made for the Spring 2.4HoZZT contest.
• Minion Slaughtermap (2025) - A tribute of anti-Barney worlds from the 90s. Made for the Summer 2.4HoZZT contest.
• Lazanya (2026) - A parody of Ezanya. Made for the Winter 2.4HoZZT contest.

In addition to the above games, I've made an extensive series starring my original character '''Samantha Arantes''' (you might know her):

• The Continuing Adventures of Samantha Arantes vs. Karid-X2 (2021) - Clean your suit after a harrowing mission.
• Samantha Arantes Goes to the Fridge to Get a Glass of Milk (2022) - Exactly what it says on the jug.
• Samantha Arantes Speaks Out Against the Recent Impropriety (2022) - Minor release. Made in response to an April Fools joke.
• Nameless Awards 2022 Award Ceremony LEAKED FOOTAGE (4K HIGH QUALITY RIP) (2022) - Minor release. An acceptance speech.
• Samantha Arantes is Spiritually Drained by the Gig Economy (2023) - Get to work, sister.
• Awful Dates Done Quick: Samantha's Heart Freely Flies Away (2024) - Action, adventure, romance. This has it all.
• Samantha's Sister Wants a Bottle of Milk Right This Second (2025) - Allegorically autobiographical.
• The Adventures of Samantha Arantes - Volume 6 (2026) - How will Samantha get out of this bind?

I've also released a few magazines under my company name '''Gadfly Goods''':

• Gadfly Goods Grabbag (2021)
• Channel G: Gadfly ANSItronic Video Entertainment System - Zine 2 (2023)
• Gadfly Goods Grub - Zine 3 (2025)

I've even participated in one collab!

• Caves of ZZT Remix (2026)

Below here, you can see a beautiful arrangement of the title screens for all of the above worlds. Most of them just take you to the game, but at least one of them takes you to a little retrospective...