MegaZeux
Encyclopedia
MegaZeux, or MZX, is a game creation system (GCS) inspired by Tim Sweeney
/Epic Megagames' classic shareware game ZZT
. MegaZeux was created in late 1994 by Gregory Janson, who formed his own company, Software Visions (now defunct). Like ZZT, MZX was originally released as shareware
and the world editor portion of the program was included for free, allowing third parties to create their own worlds without even registering.
MZX is officially supported on Windows
(Win95 and higher), Linux
, Mac OS X
, Wii
, GP2X
, PSP
, and the DS
, but has been ported to other platforms such as AmigaOS 4
, OpenBSD
, FreeBSD
, OpenSolaris
, Haiku
and Android.
. This was a sequel to an earlier Software Visions shareware game, Labrynth of Zeux; a platformer
about a theologian
/archeologist
named Vince Louis who retrieves the magical Silver Staff from the ancient Labyrinth of Zeux. In Caverns, Vince has just retrieved the Staff when it emits beams of magical power and teleports him into a vast network of caverns filled with traps, puzzles, and monsters. As incentive for registration, players could purchase the other three Zeux games (Chronos Stasis, Forest of Ruin, and Catacombs of Zeux), all of which dealt with Vince's quest to return home.
MZX was fairly popular with the ZZT community due to its new features, and Janson stayed around with the newly-formed MZX community for a while. He later released an entirely different game, Weirdness, which utilized the significant improvements made in MZX 2.00. Janson maintained MegaZeux up to v2.51; a bit after this release, Janson suddenly left the community and dropped MZX entirely (citing "going to college" and "personal reasons", though he also later elaborated during a return to IRC that he simply couldn't stand the average MZXer then), releasing all his work to the public domain
. This included all of his previous ZZT work and the beginnings of Weirdness II, which apparently dealt with protagonist
Jace's adventures on the crashed ship.
as a result of negotiations between the latter and Janson's successor-in-interest MattW (Matt Williams). The resulting new versions were known as the Spider versions of MZX (named after Spider124, aforementioned). Since the source
for the Robotic editor portion of MegaZeux was lost, few fundamental changes occurred there, but other areas expanded considerably. One of the first alterations was to expand the variable limit from 50 "counters" (signed 16-bit integers) to 1000 - a marked improvement. Another was support for programming in-game mouse
functions. Later Spider versions also added such features as the ability to take screen captures.
After Spider124 stopped developing MZX others jumped at the opportunity to add new features to the GCS. Following MadBrain's v2.51s3.2 release, MZX development was split into two distinct branches; the Spider branch (which would later become the mainstream MZX code base) and a small, but significant, branch started by Akwende (Colin Branch). MZX Akwende, or MZXak, first introduced such features as Robot IDs, date/time reading, more powerful reading of the board/overlay, and SuperMZX (commonly referred to as SMZX, a text mode hack discovered by MadBrain that allowed game developers to have four colors per character with the side-effect of cutting the horizontal resolution of each character in half).
However, version 1 did not comply with the GPL – the code was only made publicly available months after its release, and with much protesting from Akwende. MZXak also found itself slammed with controversy after its release due to accusations that uncredited others actually programmed many of the features that were implemented in his release, though there was no proof of this due to the fact there was no active source repository; also, many people accused Akwende of keeping version 2 of MZXak hostage.
During this controversy Koji (Ben Andersen) released MZX v2.60, a version that included many features of MZXak v2 and did not violate the GPL. Koji followed this release up with v2.61 before Exophase (Gilead Kutnick) released v2.62 and took control of the main branch.
capability. Some of the most major changes came with MZX 2.65 through 2.70, which added several new features such as:
Later versions added various new improvements, but the biggest change came with version 2.80. Versions prior to 2.80 were DOS
applications, and could be run in only a limited number of environments. Between the last DOS release (2.70) and 2.80, Exophase re-wrote a significant portion of the code and used the SDL
library to eliminate hardware compatibility issues. This rewrite (arguably a port
) also enabled significant enhancements to the video and audio options, with OpenGL
rendering supported from 2.81d, and the Modplug library adding support for new module
formats from 2.80.
The MZX community is still at work on improving MZX's capabilities. The latest version of MZX, as well as most bug discussion, can be found at DigitalMZX.
The games are judged on a variety of aspects, including theme, gameplay, graphics, technique, story, and sound. A game can't just be strong in one area to win; it has to be balanced and relatively complete. The challenge in the competition is to manage one's time and try to balance out the different areas while still making a complete game. Most competitions yield one or two games that had potential but never came near to completion because the author spent too much time on flashy visuals or a long introduction.
While the resulting games aren't always the best, the DoZ has turned several interesting and innovative entries, such as an SMZX Mode 3 sprite-based sidescroller, some surprisingly long adventure games, a pixel-perfect
sidescroller, and an 80x50 half-char side-scrolling
shooter
. In fact, the DoZ is often considered the best place to test new concepts and engines.
The DoZ is hosted and judged by different people every time, but a few of the more senior members of the MZX community have hosted and/or judged more than once. The staff is usually set up several months in advance to allow for planning.
During the actual DoZ, many competitors like to congregate on IRC and discuss their progress. The recent elimination of an anonymity
rule means that they can actually share details about their work without penalty. While some competitors choose to use IRC only for team coordination, others like to idle in #mzx on EsperNet.
Tim Sweeney (game developer)
Tim Sweeney, born in 1970, is a computer game programmer and the founder of Epic Games, being best known for his work on ZZT and the Unreal Engine....
/Epic Megagames' classic shareware game ZZT
ZZT
ZZT is an ANSI character-based computer game, created in 1991 by Tim Sweeney of Epic Games , who later designed Unreal. It remains a popular DOS game creation system. ZZT itself is not an acronym for anything; its title was simply chosen so it would always appear at the very bottom of newsgroup...
. MegaZeux was created in late 1994 by Gregory Janson, who formed his own company, Software Visions (now defunct). Like ZZT, MZX was originally released as shareware
Shareware
The term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a...
and the world editor portion of the program was included for free, allowing third parties to create their own worlds without even registering.
MZX is officially supported on Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
(Win95 and higher), Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
, GP2X
GP2X
The GP2X is an open-source, Linux-based handheld video game console and portable media player developed by South Korean company GamePark Holdings. It was released on November 10, 2005, in South Korea only....
, PSP
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
, and the DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
, but has been ported to other platforms such as AmigaOS 4
AmigaOS 4
AmigaOS 4, , is a line of Amiga operating systems which runs on PowerPC microprocessors. It is mainly based on AmigaOS 3.1 source code, and partially on version 3.9 developed by Haage & Partner...
, OpenBSD
OpenBSD
OpenBSD is a Unix-like computer operating system descended from Berkeley Software Distribution , a Unix derivative developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It was forked from NetBSD by project leader Theo de Raadt in late 1995...
, FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
, OpenSolaris
OpenSolaris
OpenSolaris was an open source computer operating system based on Solaris created by Sun Microsystems. It was also the name of the project initiated by Sun to build a developer and user community around the software...
, Haiku
Haiku (operating system)
Haiku is a free and open source operating system compatible with BeOS. Its development began in 2001, and the operating system became self-hosting in 2008, with the first alpha release in September 2009, the second in May 2010 and the third in June 2011....
and Android.
Improvements over ZZT
MZX improved on ZZT in almost every aspect:- The graphics are still text-characterText modeText mode is a kind of computer display mode in which the content of the screen is internally represented in terms of characters rather than individual pixels. Typically, the screen consists of a uniform rectangular grid of character cells, each of which contains one of the characters of a...
based, but each character's foreground and background colors are independently assignable, and the character set could be edited to change the font, as well as to change unused characters such as the tilde or non-English characters into graphic symbols such as player pictures. The color palettePalette (computing)In computer graphics, a palette is either a given, finite set of colors for the management of digital images , or a small on-screen graphical element for choosing from a limited set of choices, not necessarily colors .Depending on the context In computer graphics, a palette is either a given,...
was also made editable in version 2.00. - 4-channel (MZX 2.07 and under) and 32-channel (MZX 2.48b and up) MODMOD (file format)MOD is a computer file format used primarily to represent music, and was the first module file format. MOD files use the “.MOD” file extension, except on the Amiga where the original trackers instead use a “mod.” prefix scheme, e.g. “mod.echoing”...
music was supported, as well as SAM sound effects. Other module formats such as S3M were also supported via an intermediate format, GDM. Recent versions of MZX (2.80+) support advanced module formats, OGGOggOgg is a free, open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The creators of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high quality digital multimedia.The Ogg container format can multiplex...
(2.81+) and WAVWAVWaveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...
directly. - The game object programming language, originally named Robo-P (now Robotic), was heavily based on ZZT-oopZZT-oopZZT-oop was an early in-game scripting programming language, designed by Tim Sweeney, for his computer game ZZT. The name stands for ZZT Object Oriented Programming language. The name of the language is a play on ZZ Top, an American rock band.-Overview:...
, but was also heavily improved. Commands were now stored as bytecodeBytecodeBytecode, also known as p-code , is a term which has been used to denote various forms of instruction sets designed for efficient execution by a software interpreter as well as being suitable for further compilation into machine code...
instead of plain textPlain textIn computing, plain text is the contents of an ordinary sequential file readable as textual material without much processing, usually opposed to formatted text....
, error checking was done in the editor instead of at run time, and arithmetic commands were present. Later versions added functionality such as subroutines and mathematical expressionsExpression (mathematics)In mathematics, an expression is a finite combination of symbols that is well-formed according to rules that depend on the context. Symbols can designate numbers , variables, operations, functions, and other mathematical symbols, as well as punctuation, symbols of grouping, and other syntactic...
, although the nature of these additions was often unnatural due to the inability to edit the form of the language itself or to add new commands. Robotic currently has almost no memory restraints for code or the number of counters.
Shareware era
MegaZeux was shareware during the time Janson maintained the code. MZX came with a default game, Caverns of ZeuxCaverns of Zeux
Caverns of Zeux is an action/adventure game designed for Megazeux that was created by Gregory Janson that is generally praised by other users of the GCM.-Plot:...
. This was a sequel to an earlier Software Visions shareware game, Labrynth of Zeux; a platformer
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
about a theologian
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
/archeologist
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
named Vince Louis who retrieves the magical Silver Staff from the ancient Labyrinth of Zeux. In Caverns, Vince has just retrieved the Staff when it emits beams of magical power and teleports him into a vast network of caverns filled with traps, puzzles, and monsters. As incentive for registration, players could purchase the other three Zeux games (Chronos Stasis, Forest of Ruin, and Catacombs of Zeux), all of which dealt with Vince's quest to return home.
MZX was fairly popular with the ZZT community due to its new features, and Janson stayed around with the newly-formed MZX community for a while. He later released an entirely different game, Weirdness, which utilized the significant improvements made in MZX 2.00. Janson maintained MegaZeux up to v2.51; a bit after this release, Janson suddenly left the community and dropped MZX entirely (citing "going to college" and "personal reasons", though he also later elaborated during a return to IRC that he simply couldn't stand the average MZXer then), releasing all his work to the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
. This included all of his previous ZZT work and the beginnings of Weirdness II, which apparently dealt with protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
Jace's adventures on the crashed ship.
Post - Janson development
MZX remained at version 2.51 for a while until various MZXers such as Spider124 (Charles Goetzman), CapnKev (Kevin Vance), and MenTaLguY took the code and began to modify it; the code had been released under the GNU GPLGNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
as a result of negotiations between the latter and Janson's successor-in-interest MattW (Matt Williams). The resulting new versions were known as the Spider versions of MZX (named after Spider124, aforementioned). Since the source
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
for the Robotic editor portion of MegaZeux was lost, few fundamental changes occurred there, but other areas expanded considerably. One of the first alterations was to expand the variable limit from 50 "counters" (signed 16-bit integers) to 1000 - a marked improvement. Another was support for programming in-game mouse
Mouse (computing)
In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons...
functions. Later Spider versions also added such features as the ability to take screen captures.
Screenshot
A screenshot , screen capture , screen dump, screengrab , or print screen is an image taken by a computer to record the visible items displayed on the monitor, television, or another visual output device...
After Spider124 stopped developing MZX others jumped at the opportunity to add new features to the GCS. Following MadBrain's v2.51s3.2 release, MZX development was split into two distinct branches; the Spider branch (which would later become the mainstream MZX code base) and a small, but significant, branch started by Akwende (Colin Branch). MZX Akwende, or MZXak, first introduced such features as Robot IDs, date/time reading, more powerful reading of the board/overlay, and SuperMZX (commonly referred to as SMZX, a text mode hack discovered by MadBrain that allowed game developers to have four colors per character with the side-effect of cutting the horizontal resolution of each character in half).
However, version 1 did not comply with the GPL – the code was only made publicly available months after its release, and with much protesting from Akwende. MZXak also found itself slammed with controversy after its release due to accusations that uncredited others actually programmed many of the features that were implemented in his release, though there was no proof of this due to the fact there was no active source repository; also, many people accused Akwende of keeping version 2 of MZXak hostage.
During this controversy Koji (Ben Andersen) released MZX v2.60, a version that included many features of MZXak v2 and did not violate the GPL. Koji followed this release up with v2.61 before Exophase (Gilead Kutnick) released v2.62 and took control of the main branch.
Current development
Most of the current development of MegaZeux stems from Exophase's work. Exophase's versions kept many of the prior improvements, but fixed many compatibility issues and added even more features, such as expanded stringString (computer science)
In formal languages, which are used in mathematical logic and theoretical computer science, a string is a finite sequence of symbols that are chosen from a set or alphabet....
capability. Some of the most major changes came with MZX 2.65 through 2.70, which added several new features such as:
- Programmable sprite objectsSprite (computer graphics)In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
, which are drawn above the normal playing field and can be very large. - SubroutineSubroutineIn computer science, a subroutine is a portion of code within a larger program that performs a specific task and is relatively independent of the remaining code....
s. - StringsString (computer science)In formal languages, which are used in mathematical logic and theoretical computer science, a string is a finite sequence of symbols that are chosen from a set or alphabet....
. - Mathematical expressionExpression (mathematics)In mathematics, an expression is a finite combination of symbols that is well-formed according to rules that depend on the context. Symbols can designate numbers , variables, operations, functions, and other mathematical symbols, as well as punctuation, symbols of grouping, and other syntactic...
evaluation. - An added virtual layer.
- Reintroduction of SMZX, which halved horizontal resolution to achieve two-bit color, so that up to four colors could be used in one character, and added more functionality to SMZX.
Later versions added various new improvements, but the biggest change came with version 2.80. Versions prior to 2.80 were DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
applications, and could be run in only a limited number of environments. Between the last DOS release (2.70) and 2.80, Exophase re-wrote a significant portion of the code and used the SDL
Simple DirectMedia Layer
Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform, free and open source multimedia library written in C that presents a simple interface to various platforms' graphics, sound, and input devices....
library to eliminate hardware compatibility issues. This rewrite (arguably a port
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
) also enabled significant enhancements to the video and audio options, with OpenGL
OpenGL
OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
rendering supported from 2.81d, and the Modplug library adding support for new module
Module file
Module files are a family of music file formats originating from the MOD file format on Amiga systems used in late 1980s...
formats from 2.80.
The MZX community is still at work on improving MZX's capabilities. The latest version of MZX, as well as most bug discussion, can be found at DigitalMZX.
Notable games
MegaZeux has a large collection of games considered to be classics. Some of the more popular/influential ones include:- Labrynth of Zeux (Gregory Janson) - Labrynth of Zeux is the first game in the Zeux series and the eponymous precursor to MegaZeux. It's a simple action- and puzzle-based sidescroller wherein you control Vince M. Louis, an archaeologist journeying through the labyrinth in search of the Silver Staff of Zeux. Labrynth was originally a stand-alone MS-DOS game, but in August 2011, a MegaZeux port of the game by community member Lachesis, with a new, completely original soundtrack composed by Lachesis and other community members, was released.
- Caverns of Zeux (Gregory Janson) - Caverns of Zeux was the second game in the shareware Zeux series and was the free game that came with the original versions of MegaZeux. In Caverns, Vince has retrieved the legendary Silver Staff but is trapped deep inside the labyrinth by a cave-in. Vince must battle his way past seven guardians to access the deeper sections of the Caverns. The game remains an excellent example of solid implementation of MegaZeux's built-in gameplay elements along with proper scripting. It was followed by Chronos Stasis, Forest of Ruin, and Catacombs of Zeux.
- Weirdness - (Gregory Janson) - Weirdness, as its title implies, is a strange adventure game about a young boy named Jace Nyglus who wakes up one night after a large object makes a crater in his backyard. Weirdness was vastly different than the average MZX game of the time (mostly shootersShooter gameShooter games are a sub-genre of action game, which often test the player's speed and reaction time. It includes many subgenres that have the commonality of focusing "on the actions of the avatar using some sort of weapon. Usually this weapon is a gun, or some other long-range weapon". A common...
and Action-adventure gameAction-adventure gameAn action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...
s), creating several then-novel engines which implemented a player inventory, puzzle minigames and a pseudo-3D2.5D2.5D , 3/4 perspective and pseudo-3D are terms used to describe either:* 2D graphical projections and techniques which cause a series of images or scenes to fake or appear to be three-dimensional when in fact they are not, or* gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is...
maze. - Engine (Luke Drelick) - Engine is an early action/adventure modelled heavily on J-RPG conventions. For its time, it was the longest MegaZeux game ever, and due to its relative quality one of the few successful shareware MegaZeux games. It also had a successful sequel (Engine 2: The Second Attack) and remake (Engine 1 Remix). After the release of Engine 2, the first game became freewareFreewareFreeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
. - Cans (Inmate2993) - Cans is undoubtedly the most popular and longest-living fanboy magnet for MegaZeux. It stars Chuck Flemwas, an average guy who wakes up on a Saturday and decides to cause trouble. Chuck meets the programmerSelf-insertionSelf-insertion is a literary device in which an author character who is the real author of a work of fiction appears as a character within that fiction, either overtly or in disguise....
, Inmate, in front of a shoe store and promptly follows him into space, where they meet Inmate's evil little brother, Robert. Cans' popularity stems from its liberal use of cameosCameo appearanceA cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
of various former members of the MegaZeux community (in spite of the fact that the nature of the cameos makes the game dated) and the ability to indulge Chuck's destructive personality. The game was enough of a hit to spawn two sequels, a "Special Edition" remake of the original, and an unreleased spinoff called "Cans X". - Darkness (Darren Hewer) - Darkness is one of the more memorable MegaZeux comedies, mostly because it doesn't rely on community-based humor and in-jokes.
- Bernard the Bard (Jeremy LaMar) - Bernard the Bard is an adventure/inventory game starring Bernard, a court jester/bard who has multiple adventures in his hometown and castle. The game has multiple paths, all of which lead up to the same battle against the Goobers and their king, Zlabfrinz. It is a sequel to ZZT's Ned the Knight.
- Adlo (craNKGod) - Adlo is an enormous 2D platformer and one of the longer, more complete, and more challenging games for MegaZeux released.
- Demon Earth (Nytar) - Demon Earth is an action/adventure game stylistically influenced by Super MetroidSuper Metroid, also known as Metroid 3, is an action-adventure video game and the third game in the Metroid series. It was designed by Nintendo Research & Development 1, programmed by Intelligent Systems, and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console...
. It featured excellent graphics, considerable yet balanced difficulty, a sizeable length and a "shard" system which allowed considerable customisation of the sword/shot/armor when collectible shards are equipped to them. - Legend of Rhovanion (LeDgEnD) - Legend of Rhovanion is an attempt to create a fully open-ended game in the vein of the Elder Scrolls seriesThe Elder ScrollsThe Elder Scrolls is a role-playing video game series developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks.-History:...
. Unlike similar attempts, LoR has been released in a technically complete (and massive) state; in spite of this, it is still a work in progress. - Eternal Eclipse Taoyarin (Lancer-X) - Taoyarin is a somewhat traditionalist overhead action game done by Lancer-X, the maker of MeritousMeritousMeritous is a freeware game made by Lancer-X/ASCEAI for the PC. It's an "action-adventure dungeon crawl" about the psi user Merit who ventures into Orcus dome to correct the problems in the psi flow.-Gameplay:...
. It features polished presentation values, a gameplay system based on a five-day cycle affecting the game world, and a wide variety of weapons and enemies. - Snarfoogle (Cheezit) - A comedy game without meaning, but one of the first to use animated "cutscenes". The point of the game was to basically make your way through the game's oh-so-original "aliens taking over" storyline, but finding ways to kill yourself along the way. Each death had its own unique and animated cutscene with plenty of bloody, cartoony gore.
- Oizys (Lachesis) - An action/platformer game which takes several nods from popular Nintendo Entertainment SystemNintendo Entertainment SystemThe Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
games like Ninja GaidenNinja Gaidenis a series of video games by Tecmo featuring the ninja Ryu Hayabusa as its protagonist. The series was originally known as in Japan. The word "gaiden" in the North American Ninja Gaiden title means "side-story" in Japanese, even though the Ninja Gaiden series is not a spinoff of a previous series...
and Mega ManMega ManMega Man is a video game franchise from Capcom, starring the eponymous character Mega Man, or one of his many counterparts. The series is well-known and comprises well over fifty releases, easily making it Capcom's most prolific franchise. As of December 31, 2010, the series has sold approximately...
, includes a built-in joypad configuration utility, and properly utilizes sprites.
Day of Zeux
The Dualstream Day of Zeux is a 24-hour game design and programming contest for MegaZeux. The competition starts with the announcement of two topics, one "general" (usually abstract) and one "specific" (usually concrete). (e.g. "Trust" and "The Internet") The contestants, working alone or in teams of up to three, try to create a game about one of the two topics. The only preexisting materials which can be used are music and sound, meaning that the gameplay, graphics, and programming all have to be created within the 24 hours.The games are judged on a variety of aspects, including theme, gameplay, graphics, technique, story, and sound. A game can't just be strong in one area to win; it has to be balanced and relatively complete. The challenge in the competition is to manage one's time and try to balance out the different areas while still making a complete game. Most competitions yield one or two games that had potential but never came near to completion because the author spent too much time on flashy visuals or a long introduction.
While the resulting games aren't always the best, the DoZ has turned several interesting and innovative entries, such as an SMZX Mode 3 sprite-based sidescroller, some surprisingly long adventure games, a pixel-perfect
Pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel, or pel, is a single point in a raster image, or the smallest addressable screen element in a display device; it is the smallest unit of picture that can be represented or controlled....
sidescroller, and an 80x50 half-char side-scrolling
Side-scrolling video game
A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
shooter
Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
. In fact, the DoZ is often considered the best place to test new concepts and engines.
The DoZ is hosted and judged by different people every time, but a few of the more senior members of the MZX community have hosted and/or judged more than once. The staff is usually set up several months in advance to allow for planning.
During the actual DoZ, many competitors like to congregate on IRC and discuss their progress. The recent elimination of an anonymity
Anonymity
Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymity typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.There are many reasons why a...
rule means that they can actually share details about their work without penalty. While some competitors choose to use IRC only for team coordination, others like to idle in #mzx on EsperNet.