Oldschool game: ZZT

The first game released by Tim Sweeney, the founder and CEO of Epic Games, was ZZT, an action adventure game for MS-DOS that ran in text-mode.

What was interesting about this game was that it had a built-in programming language called ZZT OOP, which was not exactly an object-oriented language because it did not feature inheritance but it was at least somehow object-based. You were able to define the movement patterns of NPCs and enemies, it was possible to display text when you entered a room or unlocked a door, and so on. Because of this programming language, there are many custom games based on the ZZT engine available on the Internet. Many of these custom games are far better than the original game.

What was the original game like? Well, you played a character who was able to move on a 2D board and shoot, provided he was in possession of ammunition. There were various enemies which you had to defeat, and there were keys that could be collected, to open doors that appeared in the game. There was no scrolling, you moved from screen to screen. Moreover, there were gems which could be used to buy equipment.

It was basically a game in the tradition of The Legend of Zelda, only with simpler graphics!

ZZT was orignally shareware, but now it can be downloaded for free at: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/zzt

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