• Adventure
• Sci-Fi

Nothing Constructive.
Adventure.
Zanno.
Part 1 in the series of Nonconstructivity.

Due to the massive scope of this game, I don't think I summarize the plot in a paragraph. Becides, I wouldn't want to spoil anything.

This game is the adventure of Zanno, who through fate, coincidence, and incredibly bad luck becomes caught in a bizzare conspiracy involving space pirates, communists, and some wannabe rap star that rules the Earth.

Part one is merely the introduction. In part two, "Never Trust a Communist", the situation Zanno has been thrown in will begin to make some sense. In future installments, I'll bother to include a plot synopsis of the previous games, but as this is the first game, there's nothing I feel like divulging to you.

One thing that I should probably make clear is that even though the file has an end, THE GAME IS NOT OVER. You'll be given a password, which will unlock part two, whenever it comes out. Given that this took me roughly three months to make, expect the next part to be out sometime in January/February.

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Right...at some point in the game there will be an RPG engine. The following is the description contained in the game, along with some tips not in the game, seeing as you bothered to read the text file and all.

To begin, you should notice the three increasing bars in the corner. Those are the timer bars, akin to Final Fantasy. When they reach their maximum, that character can attack. In order to attack, you must push one of the three buttons right in front of you. THERE ARE NO POPUP WINDOWS. Anyway, the attacks range from Low (Dark Red) to Medium (Red) to High (Yellow). The stronger the attack, the more time it takes to execute. THERE IS NO CRAPPY MAGIC, NOR CRAPPY MP. While a character is attacking, or choosing his attack, the bars of the other two characters does not continue to go up. Take this into  onsideration when choosing your attack. Furthermore, the higher the strength of the attack, the more the accuracy of the attack drops off. Zanno is the exception, however, his High Attack takes ammo, as it uses his Phaser. On that note, don't expend all of Zanno's ammo in this battle, as the game is far, far from over. In order to cycle between who you're attacking, push the gray button in the corner. As far as the bad guys go, they continue
to attack whether or not your own timers are increasing. In other words, pay attention, and keep an itchy trigger finger. As far as the good guys go, Steve has the least HP of the group but is the fastest, obviously. Being a seasoned RPG battle veteran, Doom has the highest HP, but due to the fact that he carries a really big sword around, has the slowest speed of them all. Zanno is in the middle, as far as speed and HP go.

Now, seeing as you bothered to read the text file, here are some hints. The dark blue guy in the back deals the most damage of the group. He also has the most HP. Take him out first! As far as the rest of the attacks go, low deals 1-3 damage, mid deals 3-5, and high deals 10 if it hits. Furthermore, each little notch on the bad guys' bars is 4 hp, and as they lose hp, it disintegrates. This should probably help you gauge which strength attack to use, and if it doesn't, oh well. And one last note, if you try to zap through the rpg battle, all you'll end up doing is crashing the game. Nice try, Fishfood.

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Oh yeah, the shops. Unlike most ZZT games, there's a sharp difference in the cost of an item and the helpfulness it provides. In other words, you're best off saving up to buy the most expensive of the type. However, remember that everything does 10 damage, so if you have 29 HP, you're probably best off pushing it to 31 right away, as that's a total extra hit in your lifespan.

The rest of this section is more for my friends and Odd Website visitors who have no clue what this ZZT stuff is. As far as the specifics of the gameplay go, I have three methods of killing the things I've created. The first is ducking behind a wall and shooting whenever the bad guy appears vurnerable. Most bad things tend to only shoot at you if they have a clean shot. Take this to your advantage. Shoot at them then get the hell out of the way. The second method consists of running circles around the bad thing until you have an opening - this tactic is mainly for boss characters. The third is dodging about, and this is for the bad guys that have a lot of ammunition at their disposal. Get in as close as you can, and shoot them at point blank. You'll know the type when you see them...

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One last thing. At the end of the game, a password will be thrown at you. The intent of this password is not to simply allow you play Part 2, so don't disregard it. This will transfer your health, ammo, cash, and lighting stuff to Part 2, whenever it comes out. In other words, SAVE THIS PASSWORD SOMEWHERE. ANYWHERE. You will be able to play Part 2 without a password, if you choose to, you'll start with, well, not much stuff.

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~Zanno
zanno@oddwebsite.com
http://www.oddwebsite.com/

Considering that you've bothered to read this far, I'll tell you a SECRET. In the room with "Glock", there's a graphic on a table with the same #char as a passage. That's because it IS a passage. :DD