ZZT has a long history of game jams. At the very beginning, Tim Sweeney hosted a “Best of ZZT” contest, with the winning worlds being published by Epic MegaGames themselves. Towards the late 90s, the community developed shorter jam formats, such as the “24 Hours of ZZT” and “BKZZT” (1 hour). A lot of interesting (and, uh, “interesting”) stuff was been made for these old contests.
Recently, the community has sorta settled on 2.4 hours as a good timeframe for our shorter jams. It’s long enough that you can make something, but not long enough that your scope grows out of control or that the timeframe becomes an onerous obligation (after all, we’re all (?) grown adults these days with jobs and responsibilities these days).
Anyhow, I’m posting about this here because we having a 2.4 Hours of ZZT jam this month starting February 20th. As much fun as the existing ZZT worlds are, being able to create new things with it is the ultimate reason for its lasting appeal. I think this jam would provide a good opportunity for y’all here to just make a small little thing and find the little joys in creation (or an increased respect for ZZT authors).
I will note that the “rules” to these jams are remarkably lax — we’re just here to have a good time. The results are unranked. The topic will be there to help focus your creative energies. The dates given are merely suggestions — you can pick any time that works for you. Even the time limit is a suggestion! You’re welcome to pause your timer to take a bite to eat, read some documentation, clean a litterbox, change a baby, campaign for nuclear non-proliferation, etc. You can even ignore the timer completely if that’s more your style. And when you’re done, you don’t even need to post your world to itch.io if that’s too much of a hassle!
If you’re interested in participating, we have plenty of resources and documentation for making ZZT worlds, and we’re always willing to lend a helping hand. Just doodle around for a bit in the editor of your choice and, who knows, a dash of inspiration might just strike! 🙂
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