ClassicZoo 4.30

ClassicZoo 4.30 is now out of beta!

This release comes with a couple highlights (other than being the first one uploaded on Itch):

Super ZZT support

In the past, I maintained two forks of ZZT - ClassicZoo, based on ZZT 3.2; and Super ClassicZoo, based on Super ZZT 2.0. However, a significant amount of the code between them was shared - as such, I decided to see if it'd be possible to merge the two codebases. This experiment was successful, and it means that Super ZZT builds are now simply a variant of ClassicZoo. In particular, this unlocks Windows/Linux, PC-9801 and Amiga ports for Super ZZT, but also means future bugfixes and enhancements are more likely to propagate to both at the same time.

Built-in online archive browser

Before I created Zeta in 2018, the process of running ZZT games on a modern machine was as follows:

1. Download DOSBox.
2. Download and unpack ZZT.
3. Download and unpack the world you'd like to play.
4. Launch ZZT.
5. Configure the cycle count in DOSBox correctly.

Zeta meant that the cycle count no longer needed to be configured by hand (and online playing of worlds became easier), but it still required a fair amount of setup steps. ClassicZoo's native port removed the need for a separate amulator, and now - finally - the need to download and unpack the world is also gone, making the process much simpler:

1. Download ClassicZoo.
2. Launch ClassicZoo.
3. Find the world you'd like to play.

Thanks to the Museum of ZZT, ClassicZoo can offer you immediate access to just about every ZZT world ever made which still exists online - and many which are still being preserved!

Press B and select the "Recommended worlds" option to find a hand-curated (and work in progress) list of worlds which are good to start out with.

Editor enhancements

The big one is... literal. Since Super ZZT is no longer constrained by DOS, you can actually fit the entire 96x80 board on screen at the same time while editing:

Other additions include:

• the ability to change the starting board directly instead of assuming it to be the board the world is saved on,
• the ability to enable low-level stat and tile data editing (for advanced users).