ZZT Ver. 2.0

Released on January 15, 1991 as a shareware game. Registration fee: $12.95 + $2 S&H.

Video game programmer Tim Sweeney studying mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland, first developed ZZT as a text editor that ran in Turbo Pascal. During this time, Tim did not know how to program graphics and only had a 286 computer and a Model M keyboard. The text editor idea came from disliking the included editors for the programming languages he tried on his PC. Instead he wanted to recreate his previously made Pascal-like programming environment for the Apple II. Over time, he experimented with adding collision to text characters, and making the cursor a controllable character, and found it more fun to make it into a game by adding bullets and creatures to fight against using text characters to identify them. From there, he designed his first levels from text files that served as different boards similar in style to Atari's Adventure, and continually offering additions to the game and editor over time. Given the graphics were dated for its time, he could produce ideas such as talking trees or interesting characters, without concerns about breaking immersion. Most of these additions were his own, but occasionally took ideas from Kroz, such as the bomb. Sweeney would study his degree during the day, while working on his game during the night. The game took around six to nine months to develop, taking under 1,000 hours of time spent developing the game, and making around 20,000 lines of Pascal code.

He then shared it with friends and neighborhood kids, observing how they responded to the game. From seeing the joy and excitement from others playing his game, he found making games to share something with the world, and to make more income instead of his former business of mowing lawns for neighbors or wage labor. The game's episodic model took inspiration from Apogee's shareware model, where Sweeney encouraged the spread of the game across shareware vendors, user groups, and bulletin board systems. He would operate his company out of his bedroom, having orders sent to his parents' address, where he would send the remaining episodes on floppy disks and send them through mail. During development, he wrote to Scott Miller for advice and to learn more about the industry. Miller responded while offering him encouragement. Tim chose the name so it would be listed last alphabetically in shareware catalogs and on bulletin board systems, though a fan later suggested the backronym of "Zoo of Zero Tolerance", which Sweeney endorsed. He would also sell the game as the first major game with object-oriented programming.

Many people have influenced ZZT over its two-year development. Some have helped directly by programming and creating game boards. Others have provided inspiration by laying the foundations of the modern shareware concept. Tim Sweeney, a student at the University of Maryland, lead the development of ZZT.

The drum-like sound effects used in ZZT were inspired by Ben Foster's PC-Beat drum simulator.

Andrew Saucci, Jr. deserves the credit for uploading ZZT on CompuServe, GEnie, Bix, Delphi, and other major Bulletin BoardS with his Megapost service.