ZAPM

the sci-fi NetHack · find the Bizarro Orgasmatron on a derelict space hulk

Date of birth30 May 2003 v0.1.0 · last 0.8.2, 2010

CreatorCyrus Dolph

LanguageC++ ~29,000 lines

PlatformUnix curses also Windows

Lineage

ZAPM is not a NetHack variant: Cyrus Dolph wrote new C++ code, but copied NetHack's commands, structure and jokes, with science fiction in place of fantasy. Scrolls became floppy disks, potions canisters, wands ray guns, rings bionic implants. It has one descendant, PRIME (2011). See the family tree.

Played here: ZAPM 0.8.3 from the winny- fork, compiled to WebAssembly.

Credits

Cyrus Dolph	Author (2002–2010)
winny-	0.8.3 fork on GitHub

Screenshots

ZAPM title — Title: “Copyright (C) 2002–2010 Cyrus Dolph.”

First steps: a Space Marine on Space Base 1, warp fungi (F) around the corner.

Killing a warp fungus — A fight: “You start smashing enemies with your pulse rifle. … The warp fungus is killed!”

Inventory — Starting kit: energy cells, buckazoids, a pistol, a pulse rifle, bullets, a flak jacket, a motion tracker.

Trivia

The guide says the game is “intended for an immature audience” and would have “gone straight to video”. (Guide)
ZAPM 0.6.3 was part of the 2008 /dev/null/nethack tournament. (RogueBasin, NetHack Wiki)
There is a fake artifact, the Bizarre Orgasmatron; using it can kill you. (Artifact.cpp)
Floppy disk software can stop with “Your license for this software has expired.” (FloppyDisk.cpp)
Money is counted in buckazoids, the currency of Space Quest. The first monster in the guide is NetHack's grid bug, which gets “derezzed”.
Each monster has a movie quote in lore.txt, from Dark Star to Flash Gordon.

What's unique

NetHack in space: the same keys, but every item class is redone as technology.
Unknown items are “buggy”, “debugged” or “optimized” instead of cursed/blessed.
Mutant powers for psions, bionic implants for everyone, skills you choose to raise.
Reusable floppy disks with licences that run out.
Lawyers who sue you, and Unix daemons as end-game monsters.

Code dive

C++ in a C style, curses and panels for the screen. About 29,000 lines, 60 source files.
The monster table MonsterData.h is generated from a spreadsheet (monsters.sxc → CSV → monsters.pl).
This port: in-memory curses routed to separate map, status, message and inventory windows; WebAssembly; auto-explore on X. Source: memmaker/zapm.

Stats

Thing	Count	Notable ones
Professions	5	Janitor, Space Marine, Psion, Quarterback, Software Engineer (a sixth, Cracker, is in the code but not offered).
Monsters	80	Tribble, flying toaster, killer tomatoes, redshirt, stormtrooper, high ping bastard, cheerleader ninja, usenet troll, lawyer, 50 foot woman, Bastard Operator From Hell, mail daemon, T-1000, agent.
Object types	~170	31 armours, 35 weapons, 29 tools, 20 canisters, 19 floppy disks, 13 implants, 12 ray guns, 8 artifacts.
Mutant powers	24	Including optic blast, pyrokinesis and X-ray vision; lawyers get Cease and Desist, Seize Evidence, Sue for Damages, Summon Witness.

Manual

Cyrus Dolph’s “incomplete guide to an incomplete game”: read it here (text).

Getting started

Open the game, press a key, choose a profession. Space Marine is the easiest start.
Move with the arrows or digits; walk into monsters to hit them, f fires your gun.
X explores; > walks to the stairs and goes down.
Enter opens a menu of all commands; ? is help.

Help

No walkthrough exists; the guide explains items and skills. Tips:

Spend skill points (E) whenever you level.
Test unknown floppies in a safe place; “buggy” ones hurt.
Shopkeeper droids sell identification; pay with p.
More: ZAPM on the NetHack Wiki.

Cheats

ZAPM has a God Mode (`: gain level, create monster or object, reveal map, transport), but it only works when the game is started with the flags -d -g -o. This browser port does not use them. Export save / Import save keeps backups.