Bob the Slug

I recently played all the ZZT games made from 1991 to at least the end of 2003, maybe beyond - nearly two thousand games in all. Of those I have selected just 66 to be included in my list of "best ZZT games ever."

I didn't realize it until just now, but two of AOL-era ZZTer Andrew Wagster's games made it to my list! Niether of them were very good, but they both illustrated some point particularly well.

BOB THE SLUG not only sounds like:

a) a euphemism for oral sex b) some kind of hazing ritual c) some kind of hazing ritual involving oral sex

but it's also a ZZT game! While not a great game, in fact a very bad game, there is something it DOESN'T do that we see in games all too often: In your standard ZZT adventure, you are "The Player". This is bullshit. ZZT isn't well suited to self-insertion because there's no way for the players to input their own name. Make the player be a character, like, for example, a slug named Bob. Make the character have some reason why he is the man for the job, like, for example, being the only slug stupid enough to enter the salt mines and stop an evil wizard from raising an army of saltmen to conquer slugkind. Make sure that this is reinforced throughout the game or people will lose their anchoring to the reason they are playing. The ZZT format does not have the subtlety required to eliminate the Puritan work ethic of standard gaming. To keep your player playing, tie the character the player plays deeply into the story and the interactions of the game. This game is beautifully tied into this ethos, and deserves mention for it.

Not only is the game pre-STK, but it is also full of yellow borders and tiger hordes. I've enjoyed "junk" 24HoZ entries more. I don't know how the author does it, but Bob the Slug is not only full of newbie-isms, but is annoying as hell as well. Stay away from this game of EEEEEEEEEVIL.