Welcome
Z3 Adventure Studio lets you build text adventure games in your browser — no coding required. Players type commands like EXAMINE DESK or UNLOCK DOOR and your world responds.
Version 3.0.5 is a stability release. It fixes NPC placement display (rooms now refresh correctly after adding or removing an NPC), exit creation refresh, game reset integrity (locked exits, changed room descriptions, and the start room setting all reset correctly on restart), orphaned reference cleanup on item/room delete, a recursion guard for circular event chains, import validation, and counter-based id generation. Version 2.0 introduced the reactive engine: events, rules, dynamic descriptions, and text interpolation.
Getting Started
New Adventure: Library → + New Adventure. Name it. You land on the Map tab.
Saving: Press Ctrl+S (Cmd+S on Mac) anywhere in the editor, or click 💾. Your browser will warn you if you try to leave with unsaved changes.
Keyboard Shortcuts: Ctrl+S saves, Escape closes modals.
Importing: Export → Import a .z3ta file. Projects auto-upgrade to v2.0+ format on load.
Editor Tabs
| Tab | Purpose |
|---|
| Map | Visual overview. Add rooms, see connections, inspect contents. |
| Room | Edit selected room — descriptions, exits, scenery, dynamic text. |
| Library | All items and NPCs in one list. |
| Variables | Declare flags and counters. Set max score. |
| Events v2.0 | Logic that fires on triggers — produces player-visible output. |
| Rules v2.0 | Silent logic evaluated every turn — for persistent world state. |
| Theme | Colours, fonts, 10 built-in presets. |
| Export | Download as .z3ta JSON or Inform 6 source. |
| Playtest | Full-screen test with output, inventory, exploration %. |
Rooms
Add on the Map tab with +. Click a room, switch to Room tab to edit. Use 📋 Duplicate This Room button (above Delete) to copy a room with all properties, scenery, and dynamic descriptions. Duplicated rooms start with no NPCs — add them explicitly.
- Full Description — first visit and LOOK. Always shown on first visit.
- Short Description — repeat visits. Blank = always full.
- Hint — shown on HINT command.
- Score on Visit — points once on first entry.
- Dark — requires a light source item.
- On Enter / On Leave — narration every arrival or departure.
- Exits — use
lockedExits to gate on carrying an item; exitConditions to gate on a flag.
- Start Room — set in Settings → Game Settings. The game begins here on play and restart. Defaults to the first room created if not set.
- Focus Mode — click ⛶ in map controls to hide sidebars for better view of large maps.
Items & Scenery
Scenery — background objects players EXAMINE. Not takeable. Use 🔍 Suggest from Description to auto-detect scenery from room text, then edit with the ✎ button.
The Scenery Rule: if you name it in a description, it must be examinable as a scenery entry or item.
| Property | Effect |
|---|
isScenery: true | Examinable only — never listed |
takeable: false | Fixed — still examinable |
readable + readText | Enables READ command |
openable + isOpen | Enables OPEN / CLOSE state |
isContainer | PUT [item] IN [this] |
isSurface | PUT [item] ON [this] |
wearable | WEAR / REMOVE |
lightSource | Illuminates dark rooms when carried |
flagOnTake/Use | Sets that variable to true |
scoreOnTake/Examine/Use/Drop | Points once per action |
NPCs & Dialogue
Dialogue is structured as nodes — each has speech and response options that chain onward. Every NPC must have a node with id: "greeting". Use next: "" to end a branch.
NPC Placement: After adding an NPC to a room, verify it appears in the room's NPC list before saving. The engine registers NPCs in two places — the NPC's location field and the room's NPC list. Both must match. Use the Issue Analyser (Variables tab) to detect mismatches.
v2.0: Use onTalkNPC events to trigger actions (give item, set flag) when the player talks to an NPC.
Custom Verbs
Item Editor → ⚡ Custom Verbs. One word or short phrase; any response text. Checked before ambient verbs — always takes priority for that item.
| Item | Verb | Response |
|---|
| Cipher | decode | "The grid resolves to TR 214 419." |
| Altar | kneel | "The stone beneath your hands is warm." |
| Telescope | look through | "The coastline swims into focus." |
Parser & Synonyms
50+ synonyms map to engine actions. Adverbs stripped automatically — CAREFULLY OPEN THE BOX = OPEN BOX.
| Category | Synonyms |
|---|
| Examine | Study, Scrutinise, Survey, Observe, Inspect |
| Take / Drop | Acquire, Collect, Retrieve, Pocket / Discard, Abandon, Ditch |
| Mechanical | Press, Hit, Activate, Trigger, Yank, Rotate, Crank |
| Sensory | Sniff, Inhale, Feel, Stroke, Hear |
| Social | Speak to, Chat with, Converse with, Greet, Hail |
| Wear | Don, Put on / Take off, Doff, Strip off |
TAKE ALL / DROP ALL — covers all items; scenery skipped. Unknown verb + known object falls back to USE response.
Ambient Verbs
Global intransitive actions — no object needed. 30 built in. Override or add more in Settings → 🗣️ Global Ambient Verbs.
wait · z · cry · weep · laugh · smile · sigh · shout · yell · scream · sing · whistle · dance · jump · sit · stand · sleep · pray · swear · curse · think · ponder · wave · bow · salute · breathe · cough · sneeze · yawn · die · xyzzy
Prepositions handled naturally: CRY INTO HANDKERCHIEF or LEAN AGAINST WALL both parse cleanly.
Verb Packs
Genre starter packs from Settings → Verb Packs:
🎖️ WW2 — "You weep for the men who won't come home. Pull yourself together."
🕯️ Gothic Horror — "The laughter leaves your mouth and sounds like someone else's."
⚔️ Fantasy — "You sing a travelling song. Your voice is poor but your heart is true."
🎷 Noir — "You run it back. The dame, the money, the body that wasn't supposed to be there."
Export vocabulary as a .z3verbs file to reuse across projects.
Events & Rules v2.0
Events fire on a trigger and produce visible output. Rules evaluate silently every turn — for world logic that should always hold.
| Trigger | Fires when… |
|---|
onTurn | Every player turn — for countdowns, timers |
onGameStart | Game initialises |
onEnterRoom | Player enters any room |
onExitRoom | Player leaves any room |
onTakeItem | Player takes any item |
onUseItem | Player uses any item |
onTalkNPC | Player talks to any NPC |
Conditions: var equals/notEquals, inventoryHas, roomVisited, itemState, flagTrue, scoreAtLeast (array = AND).
Actions: setVar, incrementVar, decrementVar, movePlayer, unlockExit, lockExit, giveItem, removeItem, addScore, changeDescription, endGame, triggerEvent, output.
Rule vs Event: Rules are silent — "if generator fixed, power is on." Events have output — "alarm triggers when any item is taken."
Circular Events: Never create a triggerEvent chain that loops back to itself (A→B→A). The engine will stop at depth 10 and log a warning, but the game may behave unexpectedly. Always trace event chains before publishing.
Dynamic Descriptions v2.0
Room Editor → Dynamic Descriptions. Add conditional text appended to the base description when conditions are met.
Use {{variableName}} in any text to show the current value: "The counter reads {{timer}} seconds."
Example: Base — "Dark monitors line the walls." Dynamic (when power_on = true) — "The monitors flicker to life in green light."
Variables & Scoring
Declare all flags and counters in the Variables tab before use. turnCount is auto-incremented — no declaration needed.
Set Max Score in Variables. Award via scoreOnVisit (rooms) and scoreOnTake/Examine/Use/Drop (items). Total must equal Max Score exactly.
Reset behaviour (v3.0.4+): Restarting the game fully restores all variables, item locations, locked exit states, and room descriptions to their authored values. The start room is correctly honoured on every restart.
Issue Analyser: The Variables tab includes a live analyser that checks for orphaned NPC ids, broken event references, unreachable rooms, and unset variables. Run it before playtesting.
Player Commands
| Category | Commands |
|---|
| Movement | N S E W NE NW SE SW U D IN OUT |
| Looking | LOOK (L), EXAMINE (X), EXITS |
| Items | TAKE, DROP, INVENTORY (I), READ, OPEN, CLOSE, LOCK, UNLOCK, PUSH, PULL, TURN, SMELL, LISTEN, TOUCH, USE, WEAR, REMOVE, TAKE ALL, DROP ALL |
| Talking | TALK TO, GIVE [item] TO, SHOW [item] TO, ASK [npc] ABOUT |
| Game | SCORE, HINT, UNDO, SAVE, RESTORE, WAIT (Z), FLAGS, HELP (?), QUIT, RESTART |
Design Tips
- Start small. Four rooms, one puzzle, one NPC is a complete game.
- The Scenery Rule. Name it → make it examinable.
- Write for examination. Best responses feel unique to that specific object.
- Match your voice. WW2 = terse. Horror = unsettling. Noir = laconic.
- Leave ambiguity. "Whether anything is listening is another matter" beats confirmation.
- Bidirectional exits. A→B implies B→A unless one-way is the puzzle.
- Test early. Playtest after each room. Catch broken exits immediately.
