ZZT Licensed Demo

Playable

PC · 1991 · Adventure · Source port

Explore ZZT’s licensed demonstration world with authored replacement glyphs.

Opens in a new tab. About 1.5 MB on first load. Sound starts after your first tap or key press in the game.

Controls

	Click game to focus
`Enter`	close introduction/select
`P`	play
`Arrow keys`	move
`Hold Shift + arrow keys`	shoot
`S`	save, then Enter
`R`	restore from title menu

About this build

Native C++ source port/rewrite derived from the MIT Reconstruction of ZZT with explicit Epic permission. Includes only the licensed demonstration world and authored CC0 glyph/about replacements. No DOS executable or ROM; not a matching decompilation build or clean-room certificate.

Built from: OpenZoo reconstruction-derived C++ port in WebAssembly
Type: Source port
Game files: No ROM or original files needed. Commercial ZZT worlds are not included.
Code licence: MIT OpenZoo/reconstruction; SDL2 zlib and separately noticed Emscripten/runtime libraries
Assets: MIT demonstration world; authored glyph/about/host CC0; system fonts retain their own terms
Source: OpenZoo/openzoo-prototype-cpp ↗

What has been tested

Live muted native build: keyboard movement/Creatures transition; ordinary save/exact reload/visible restore; authored glyph screenshots inspected. Menu/Items/A Dark Room traversal, ammo/torch/gem collection with counters/health/score changes, torch consumption/visible lighting and return passage verified via normal keyboard and game-written saves. Held Shift-arrow shooting with earned ammo use/score gain, bear contact damage and Bears-to-Creatures return passage verified. Full demo traversal, remaining glyphs and audible audio unverified.

Last tested 2026-10-13 in Edge (headless, muted). Full playthrough: not verified. How games are tested.

The build's own test log is in STATUS.md in its repository.

Known limitations

Experimental archived native prototype; complete demo traversal unverified.
Opens a separate tab; requires cross-origin isolation and WebAssembly threads.
Audio omitted; all tests muted.
Glyphs map lowercase to uppercase; unsupported symbols use a question shape.
Save validation checks the world envelope, not every script/stat field.

Saves

Game-written SAV files persist in this browser under zzt-native-demo-saves-v1. Clearing site data removes them.

Build and corresponding source

Compiled with from revision 442ff28c423faa947793e8a69a99a0e98f52796d.