If you didn’t know, I got my start in content creation back in the mid-90s with America Online and a little program called ZZT, made by what was then known as Epic MegaGames (now Epic Games, creators of Fortnite). ZZT is a simple little program, but it’s real power comes from the built-in game editor, which allowed nerds like me to make games fairly easily. It even had a built-in scripting language (ZZT-OOP) that allowed us to push the boundaries of the game engine beyond what creator Tim Sweeney envisioned.

ZZT empowered me as a young nerd. I haven’t made a serious game in it in years, but it still holds a special place in my heart. I even wrote a little beat poem dedicated to it for our old show Universe Box.

Thanks to the power of archive.org, I can actually embed my old ZZT games into this very blog! Ever wonder what a 14-year-old Bill Meeks would find funny? Hit play below!

ORIGIN OF ULTRASOFT

“Companies” were a big thing in the ZZT community. I think we were inspired by Tim Sweeney, who started Epic MegaGames in his garage and had his dad sending out registered copies on floppy disc. My company Ultrasoft, later Ultraware, never really had a “hit” game in the community. It did have an origin story though! Inspired in part by the new hit movie Toy Story, an astronaut named “Buzz Ultra” takes me on a space adventure. A short space adventure. With a fair amount of blood. Not a lot to this one, but I thought of it as a “calling card” game.

TIM-CITY

This was a game and story I really believed in when I made it, hence that #1 text on the title screen. The opening scroll declares Tim City would be an epic multi-part adventure, but I only ever made the one. I did write a screenplay loosely based on it in college though. The game involves a lot of ZZT tropes: kid waking up in his room, weird puzzles for no reason, and several typos. My favorite little detail I added was what happens when you turn on the computer in Tim’s room. Try it!

TRIVIA: Tim Delroy has become a sort of creative pseudonym for me. You’ll notice several voices on The Fakist were credited to Tim Delroy. Totally me.

MARIO BROS.

A Mario Brothers rip-off, one of many in the ZZT scene back in the day. This is probably my best-looking ZZT game (minus the title screen), in huge part due to the contributions of a dude from AOL name optimatic. I never caught his real name, but if he reads this: HOWDY!

LOIS AND CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN

This was my first ZZT game, which means it is really bad. When I realized how bad it was I soft rebranded it as a tutorial on how not to make a ZZT game. Don’t think it helped though.

If you don’t feel like playing the games above, no worries! Check out this playlist below to watch me play them live with color commentary.