ZZT is an ANSI-based computer game, created in 1991 by Tim Sweeney, later the designer of Unreal.
Although ZZT's graphics were obsolete before it was even created, ZZT managed to become fairly popular because of its integration of a simple but effective object-oriented scripting language known as ZZT-oop. At the time this was groundbreaking as most functionality in prior games had been hard coded. The language allowed extensibility that no other game was able to provide, and allowed a large degree of community involvement that extended far beyond simply creating level terrain with the excellent in-built editor but involved writing programs to make the game run.
Originally ZZT was shareware, with only one of the four level-sets or "worlds" released without payment. The shareware versions also included Demo of ZZT, which displayed the basic features of ZZT worlds, and Tour of ZZT, which allowed the player to view select rooms (some playable) of the four worlds. Three different versions of shareware ZZT were released, with three corresponding registered ZZT versions. However when the game became obsolete it became freeware with all four worlds released for free. The worlds are: Town of ZZT, Caves of ZZT, City of ZZT and Dungeons of ZZT.
Third party worlds for ZZT are diverse, they range from shoot-em-ups to complex role playing games to a lemmings clone. They range from the simple to the complex, from inane to brilliant. Many other games have been inspired from ZZT such as MegaZeux, and ZZT's sequel: Super ZZT .
Although it has been many years since Tim Sweeney first wrote ZZT, it still keeps a place in many people's hearts. ZZT still has a cult following, with many external utilities and advanced editors, such as Kevedit and ZZTAE, created to enhance the ZZT experience. Many have also been initiated into programming by applying it as a stepping stone.
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