Over at The Gamer's Quarter forums, Dessgeega has published a fun, screenshot-filled guide to some of Epic's 'Super ZZT' games, published back in 1991 for PC, and - one might vaguely credibly claim - the farthest back predecessor to today's Unreal Engine 3.

Dess explains: "zzt was the first shareware title to be released by epic games (then called "potomac computer systems". it's a text-mode game that uses ascii characters to represent game elements - symbols are recontextualized, level design becomes language, form becomes function, and games are living, breathing ascii art."

Continuing: "the games themselves were created in a freely-distributable level editor, giving them an overall coherence and letting the creator's voice really come through. the editor is a whole other thread, though. it's the games that we're interested in now - specifically, the three super zzt titles, volumes five through seven, which were compiled in a special editor that allows for - among other things - huge scrolling maps rather than single-screen areas." Lots and lots of screencaps and explanations follow - v. neat.