Mystical Winds Encyclopedia v1.4 (Updated)
by David Hammond (Nanobot)
Copyright (C) 2002 Mystical Winds

Genre: Engine/Utility
Date Completed: 6-5-2002

Files Included:

$MWENC_A.ZZT
$MWENC_B.ZZT
$MWENC_C.ZZT
CharMap.pcx
CharMap2.pcx
CharMap.txt
exam.txt
"MW Command Reference.doc"
"MW Condition Reference.doc"
"MW Direction Reference.doc"
"MW Element Reference.doc"
"MW File Format.doc"
"MW Label Reference.doc"
"MW Location Reference.doc"
"MW Operator Reference.doc"
"MW Quick Reference.doc"
"MW Status Reference.doc"
"MW Template Reference.doc"
"MW Terminology.doc"
"MW Tips & Tricks.doc"
MWCREATU.ZZL
mwenc.mod
mwencv13.txt
MWITEMS.ZZL
MWMISC.ZZL
MWTERRAI.ZZL
oop4ever.txt
zexeinfo.txt
zztop.txt

Forward:

This is the fifth release of the Mystical Winds Encylopedia! I truly never thought it would be any more than one release, but thanks to the community support, it has grown and evolved and spawned more and more releases. I'm really ecstatic about it.

When I decided to return to ZZT and introduce myself to the community just a year or so ago, I came hoping to learn from the pros and gain further understanding about ZZT. While I was making weak attempts at games as I was used to doing in MegaZeux, certain things such as black holes and board edges fascinated me. I was intent on learning exactly what they were and how they worked. From thereit grew into an obsession to learn how each and every part of ZZT functioned. From the generous help of many community members, I began to gain such understandings. Studies by Gregory Janson and Chronos particularly gave me a jump start, and I was inspired to make a collection of information to help gather my thoughts. The Mystical Winds Encyclopedia had begun.

Originally, it was never planned to be released. I just gathered a bunch of elements from various toolkits and tried to make a complete collection that fit my style. Then, I put together some objects that demonstrated various ideas, such as putting water over texts and seeing the different colors. It was mainly a way to see if everything worked as I expected so that I would know if I had the ideas correct. Eventually, I gathered enough stuff to consider releasing it. But I knew I needed more. I began asking questions on the boards, such as, "What are all of the colors you can get in-game with nothing but an object?" People were very happy to answer such questions, and I was given more to work with. Then, when I was cruising along the ZIG Section message boards, someone (I think it was NMZmaster) asked if anyone could make a collection of objects that acted like ZZT creatures and stuff. That was what inspired me to make the Mystical Winds Object Library. I then rearranged the boards to my liking and put in final touches, and the first Mystical Winds Encyclopedia (then the "Mystical Winds Toolkit/Encyclopedia") was released.

I believed that I was finished with encyclopedia work and began making more weak attempts at games when something intrigued me. There were a few posts on the ZZT.archive message boards about math functions with counters, and I started to wonder if I could make some good ones. So I got to work, and I produced some really fast function, mostly working with powers of 2 to make the operation much faster. Along with a binary conversion function and a happy little starfield simulation, I released version 1.1. With that, I announced my (temporary) retirement from the ZZT community and thought I might continue to work on my promising MegaZeux game, Lenna: The Huntress (which is still in the works, somewhere in level 2 :P).

However, only about a day later I decided to stick with ZZT for a while. People were accepting the Mystical Winds Encyclopedia well, and I decided to continue with it. I fixed up some things, and started adding a bunch more. Among other things, I began working on some printable documents that would accompany the encyclopedia. I only ended up getting two done by the release. I also created a password system for transferring flag information between files. Once, ehen I went to test one of the engines, it wouldn't load, and that's when I decided that I had to split it. Instead of just two files (engines and toolkits), I split it into three so I could have room to add more engines. Once I reworked the menu system and added new title screens for the encyclopedia files, I released version 1.2.

Version 1.3 was a small step up in terms of amount added, but it was actually a big leap. That's when I decided to look at the ZZT file format. I thought it might be more useful to compact Kev Vance's file format document into a single organized table along with short descriptions of each part, so I made that into one of the three new documents. I also included two text files that I had submitted to Z2, the site that had succeeded zzt.org. One file included some minimal information about editing ZZT.EXE, as I had recently created the first version of MWZZT. The other included mechanical information about the internal workings of ZZT. I also put together a bitmap chart of the ASCII characters, the colors, and some quick reference information pointing to the characters that represent various sounds in sound effects that are stored in ZZT.EXE.

Now, the here is the biggest Mystical Winds Encyclopedia yet. It has a vast collection of documents, the new exam.txt file (that I also submitted individually to Z2) which contains the same type of information as the old zztop.txt file but more extensive, and a few other things. The HTMLs included are web page versions of the documents done by with links and such. A big thanks to FFDZZTER for putting in the time for this. This version is also the first with engine submissions. Thanks to Tseng and a big thanks to Kaddar for submitting the engines included. I also added an RPG battle engine (with a WiL-ish remix of the title screen music) and a remote placement engine. I have to give Bitman thanks for displaying this concept on the message boards, and Benco for putting together a great demonstration of various uses of this technique. Furthermore, this is the first version with actual beta testers, just to make sure that it's at its peak performance.

About:

The Mystical Winds Encyclopedia is a collection of various engines and some information about how they work. It is devided into three files: two for engines, and one for toolkits. Each engine file is also divided into three sections which each link to a number of engines. The Mystical Winds Encyclopedia also contains many files that aren't used by ZZT, but are for further information about various functions. The Quick Reference document is basically a summary of most of the other documents. Each document is printer-friendly and made for quick, easy use while you are working on your game. And soon to come, HTML versions of the documents will provide links for quick navigation among them.

To provide some solace for those who aren't operation freaks like me, most people aren't expected to know what some of the included information is about, especially regarding the file format and various technical information. It is intended to gain further understanding into the workings of ZZT for uses such as attempting to re-write it. If you want to learn more about such areas, feel free to e-mail me and I'll try to give you the basic run-down on some of the stuff.

Update:

I have received word that some notes in the MOD music file included were in octaves that some players, such as WinAmp and MegaZeux, couldn't play properly, thus lowering the quality. The new MOD has its samples optimized appropriately and should play well now. Besides a few changes to this file, the MOD and mod2zzt.txt are the only files that have been changed in this update.

Contact:

My e-mail address is nanobot@mysticalwinds.zzn.com

You can also reach me on the Z2 message boards (from http://www.zzt2.com or http://zzt.the-underdogs.org). If you have a specific question directed only to me, please use the Private Message feature rather than post a fresh thread about it.

The Mystical Winds Homepage (which is seldom updated) is http://www.mwinds.tk

Credits:

Concept/Programming/Design: Nanobot

Music: Nanobot

HTML Documents (Separate): Tanner

Submitted Engines: Tseng, Kaddar

Beta Testers: Aetsch, Bitman, CyQ, Hercules, Kev Vance