I got the idea to do a TAS for the game ZZT. The world in question would be TOWN, obviously (that's the one that came free with the unregistered edition, so more people would be familiar with it). Unfortunately, I tried starting one earlier today (with the rerecording DOSbox) and discovered that it has some bugs. Long story short, the new DOSbox complains when a program tries to use file IO and console IO at the same time. It is possible that there is no way to fix this. However, in case it is ever fixed, I thought I'd post my (tentative) route for this game:
- I'm getting the keys in this order: Bank, Prison, Rube Board, House of Blues, Castle.
- In the Bank, I'm going to grab ten gems to later bribe the troll guarding the entrance to the Castle.
- In the "Think Fast!!" board by the prison, I'm going to make sure to grab as much ammo as I can - I need it pretty much everywhere later on, especially in the castle and the forest.
- I'm still debating whether or not to grab the bonus at the Rube Board or the ampersand. It'd be cool, but there wouldn't be any point other than that.
Unfortunately, there are no fancy tricks for this game. All puzzles are set up so that there is no way to get around them, except to do them. This actually isn't all that bad, though, since it forces me to find the fastest way to complete them - good mental workout.
Anyway, further bulletins as events warrant.