Marzipan

Marzipan is a macro processor for ZZT. It extends the ZZT-OOP scripting language while still maintaining compatibility with ZZT 3.2: all language features compile down to vanilla ZZT-OOP.

Features

• Anonymous labels: Like assembly code, ZZT-OOP control flow relies heavily on gotos. Anonymous labels reduce the cognitive overhead of writing such code. :@ defines a label with a unique name, and @f/@b reference the nearest anonymous label forward/backward of the current line.
• Local labels: Label names with a dot are scoped to a single section of an object's program. This allows you to reuse a name like .loop multiple times in a single object's code. Marzipan will replace this with a distinct name per section: loop_ in one section, loopa in the next section, etc.
• Macro language (WIP): Lines starting with % invoke a Marzipan macro. Macros work by text substitution; for example, %include "foo.txt" will insert the contents of a text file at the current line.

Here's an example of what anonymous labels look like in practice:

@Treasure chest
#end
:touch                  'Event handler, user touched the chest.
#if key @f              'Jump to anonymous label. Marzipan compiles `@f` to `_`...
The chest is locked.
#end
:@                      '...and compiles this to `:_`.
You unlock the chest.
There's a bunch of gems inside!
#give gems 20
#die

:shot                   'Event handler, user shot at the chest.
#if shotgun @f          'This time, Marzipan compiles `@f` to `a`...
Nothing happens.
#end
:@                      '...and compiles this to `:a`.
The chest shatters!
Gems fly everywhere.
#put w green gem
#put e green gem
#become green gem

Usage

Marzipan reads and writes ZZT world files, a binary file format. You will need either ZZT itself or an external ZZT editor (such as KevEdit) to work with them.

marzipan WORLD.ZZT -o ./dest_folder/WORLD.ZZT

A disclaimer: Marzipan is experimental. It hasn't eaten my code yet, but I cannot guarantee it will treat your code with kindness. If you use it, make sure to keep backups of your work. (You were already keeping backups, right?)

Planned features

• Extending the macro system to a full language with variables, custom macro definitions, etc.
• Code minification, for generated code that bumps up against ZZT 3.2's size limits.
• Lints for ZZT-OOP, such as dead code analysis.