You enter a library. Every inch is covered with books, the bookshelves are arranged into hexagons. New and new rooms open them and lead into other hexagons, you have a feeling that they go on endlessly, but they actually end after three or four rooms. There is a well with a railing in the middle. You look down and expect bottomless depth, but you can clearly see the floor. It's all just a decoration for the ambience.
There is very little known about the origins of Zampanio or the game itself, so the fans tend to take inspiration from other games and works of fiction. It's a common process that Zampanio adsorbs other fandoms into itself, because Zampanio wants to spread.
To make a complete list of the things that inspired fanworks is nearly impossible, but I will try to collect the ones I know about, mostly focused on ZampanioSim.
>NORTH
>EAST
>SOUTH
The House of Leaves is a book about a manuscript about a nonexistent film about a nonexistent house that has infinite, branching corridors and no end. The story takes place on at least three different levels, contains countless references to fake articles, has labyrinths of footnotes and the formatting is an active part of the narrative. It's the best known example for ergodic literature, if you know that word.
It had a very strong influence on Zampanio, or maybe Zampanio influenced House of Leaves, if we believe that it first came out in 1972. There is a character in it named Zampanò, for start. Themes of endless labyrinths and obsession are reoccurring in ZampanioSim. JR talked about how no horror is actually real in the world of the book, only the all-consuming obsession. The urge to create, to write, to spread the idea. It only colonizes your mind if you actively choose to go further, if you actually make an effort to put the pieces together. Theoretically you could just stand up and walk away, not everyone is suited for this. But you will stay, won't you? Otherwise how would you find this place?
The whole book can be read in the internet archive, but it doesn't contain most of the unique formatting quirks: https://archive.org/details/house-of-leaves-by-mark-z.-danielewski
Or you can watch the first part of this video to get an overview:
I don't know much about this one apart from what it influenced in Zampanio, so here it it's official summary:
The Magnus Archives is a weekly horror fiction anthology podcast examining what lurks in the archives of the Magnus Institute, an organisation dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Join new head archivist Jonathan Sims as he attempts to bring a seemingly neglected collection of supernatural statements up to date, converting them to audio and supplementing them with follow-up work from his small but dedicated team.
Individually, they are unsettling. Together they begin to form a picture that is truly horrifying because as they look into the depths of the archives, something starts to look back...
Wanda originates from an old TMA fanfiction of jr. The absence of left turns in ZampanioSim also comes from here, as well as the ubiquitous motif of spirals.
The most notable influence though is the fear entities. In Zampanio the classpect system is extended with the TMA fears, if you would like to read a bit more about the topic, you can read the posts of the Guide or look up the Zampaniosim Title Talk thread on the discord.
If you don't want to listen to the whole thing but want a quick summary of the fear entities, the Wisp of Figures made a good one: A Wisp's Guide to Magnus Aspects
Jr made this:http://farragofiction.com/MagnusArchivesSim/#
Here is the official site: https://rustyquill.com/show/the-magnus-archives/
Or you can listen to it on youtube:
If you prefer reading, there are transcripts too: https://snarp.github.io/magnus_archives_transcripts/ or also here
This game had a strong influence on ZampanioSim, several characters (the blorbos in the mall) come from this universe. The difference from the game is that the characters have an abnormality (also from this universe) they fuse with. They often remember the terrible time they spent at the corporation, the teams they were in is also often recalled. The Codex of Ruin, a database containing several characters, is based on the game's layout too.
Since I haven't played the game, here is a part of the official description:
You will be playing as the Manager of Lobotomy Corporation, a company in which such creatures are contained and managed. Order your employees to perform work with and on the creatures and watch the results expectantly. Gather energy produced by the monsters and fulfill the quota each day, expand the facility, and manage even more strange beings. In this game, the player will face an ever-present sense of tension and dread as they progress through each day.
If you are only interested in the closely Zampanio related aspects, you can read these sites on the wiki:
https://lobotomycorp.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Abnormalities?redirect=no
https://lobotomycorp.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Departments?redirect=no
Here is a link to the game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/568220/Lobotomy_Corporation__Monster_Management_Simulation/
And here is a summary of the plot:
There is also a playlist with all the cutscenes, if you are interested in the story, but don't want to play the whole game.
Story about four kids who play a game and destroy the world. It's over 8000 pages long.
The references to this one are more subtle. The classpect system and the main mechanics of the game are important. JR made a lot of Homestuck fanworks, and ZampanioSim was the direct descendant of those. (This is also the reason why the majority of ZampanioSim fans are also Homestuck fans.)
Farragnarok is the most relevant one for us. There was a group of players who played a game similar to Sburb in Homestuck, and they created an Echidna when they made the new universe. This abomination is the universe of ZampanioSim. Peewee is the protagonist of the West, but the other players and Nidhogg, the life denizen are tend to be mentioned too.
WigglerSim and the Timehole is also relevant, because Tyrfing is from there.
You can read Homestuck online (animations and games are mostly defunct):https://www.homestuck.com/story
Or download the unofficial collection and read it in its whole glory:https://bambosh.dev/unofficial-homestuck-collection/
One fanwork that really influenced JR and the cteation of SburbSim is the Sburb Glitch FAQ. (I couldn't find the original post, but here is one.)
You can read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/340777/chapters/551606
Or I archived it too, because why not: https://lostinzampanio.neocities.org/Sburb_Glitch_FAQ
The Wisp made a good summary, it's here:
Layer 1: Homestuck is a webcomic/multimedia story-telling project by Andrew Hussie.
Layer 2: Homestuck is full of programming jokes and gestures towards an rpg structure. Part of this is that in Homestuck, there is a universe-creating video game called sBurb/sGrub. "Players" have classes and aspects which function like classes in an rpg.
Layer 3: The Homestuck fandom expanded upon the original classes and aspects to include novel "fanon" classes and aspects. (Many of these come from sBurb Glitch FAQ, a story for another day.) For Zampanio purposes this is partially where "Waste" comes from. Though that also refers to Andrew Hussie, the author.
Layer 4: sBurbSim is a way to simulate infinite universe-creating game sessions. This is the homestuck half of Zampanio. You may however notice that Zampanio has more aspects, and they might look familiar if you're into The Magnus Archives. Those are the other half of the aspects in Zampanio.
Layer 5: Homestuck gives the Zampanio universe its skeleton, or part of its skeleton. It'll help you a little bit, but isn't necessary. The titles you are given in the server are not related to titles characters in zampanio are given (mostly).
~The Wisp of Figures
Here are things that were referenced a few times, but not in the basic structure of ZampanioSim. The things to which the fanworks other than ZampanioSim refer to are also listed here.
This is a game about choices and endings, the branching possibilities and the desire of experiencing and knowing everything. There is a constant disagreement between the protagonist and the narrator, there are many meta elements. Most of it is very absurd.
Truth is often compared to the narrator from here. The Eyedol HQ is similar to the office where this game takes place. There was a direct paraphrasing of the the Broom Closet Ending in the West. Interestingly the "The End is Never the End" catchphrase that appears both in Stanley Parable and Zampanio is a coincidence, not an intentional refenence.
I can actually quote the AdventureSim part
> Uh. Well, you did go SOUTH. May as well check the broom closet just to see.
Peewee stepped into the broom closet, but there was nothing here, so he turned around and got back on track.
> woah hey third person pov!!! neat
It was baffling that Peewee was still just sitting around in the broom closet. He wasn't even doing anything, at least if there were something to interact with he'd be justified in some way.
> Transform
Peewee fails to transform because he is currently in a broom closet, doing sweet FA.
> Peewee should probably leave the broom closet.
Peewee absolutely should leave the broom closet, but instead is standing around, doing nothing.
> Peewee? Uh. You still hearing us? If not, I'm glad you get some peace from the observers, I'm sure we can be a lot sometimes. Anyways, either way, hope you're enjoying chilling in a broom closet.
After a frankly unsettling amount of time, you exit the broom closet. You feel as if you have discovered some Profound Mystery. You feel at peace.
> is this a stanley parable refence?
Link to the game: https://www.stanleyparable.com/
Or you can watch a playthrough like me. Here is one with all the endings:
(And this person actually played the keep-the-baby-away-from-the-fire game for four hours.)
This is a Yu-gi-oh roleplay IC took part in. Piper is the past self/alternate version/base of the Eye Killer, her connections with the cultists also came from here. The Innocent (the out of the loop Eye Killer has even more resemblance to Piper.
Here is her character page: https://summonersnetwork.fandom.com/wiki/Piper_Rusting
You can watch the whole game in this playlist, but beware, it's very long:
This is a game connected to Magnus Archives, it takes place is a paranoid universe.
Doc Slaughter, the Neighbor, Ronin and NAM are all from Duskhollow, they know each other from before.
I found this: https://snarp.github.io/magnus_archives_transcripts/special/16006-duskhollowpd-part1.html
This is a short story by Borges, it's about an infinite library that contains all possible letter combinations, and all possible books ever written, but given the unimaginable vastness of the space they are impossible to find.
There is one room in the Gopher which is a reference to this story. Among the Marked Lionfish described a dream about this place. In Bellor 42, the librarian used the libraryofbabel website as a cipher.
You can read the whole thing here, it's not very long: https://lostinzampanio.neocities.org/the-library-of-babel-by-jorge-luis-borges.pdf
Or if you wish, you can experience it through pressing buttons. I don't know why you would like this, but I won't stop you: https://lostinzampanio.neocities.org/librarybuttons
Here is a website that simulates the concept: https://libraryofbabel.info/
And here are some things I collected about it in the past: https://zampaniosim.fandom.com/wiki/Library
The character on whom the Flower Chick and Alt were based on (Alt looks like the Flower Chick when she donesn't mimic anyone) is from this game.
https://drakengard.fandom.com/wiki/Zero
This game is referred in the branch of the Herald of Beef. They also made slugcat versions of many characters, I will maybe insert a few here if I'm done with most of the things here. They also started makig a Zampanio Rain World mod.
Official description of the game: You are a nomadic slugcat, both predator and prey in a broken ecosystem. Grab your spear and brave the industrial wastes, hunting enough food to survive, but be wary- other, bigger creatures have the same plan... and slugcats look delicious.
Website of the game: https://rainworldgame.com/
Animorphs is an old children book series about kids turning into animals and fighting aliens. It's surprisingly deep.
There are no many references to it in ZampanioSim, but the branch of Lionfish uses it. It was also mentioned in the locked channels. Jr has a hidden Animorphs book club in the PuzzleBox: http://knucklessux.com/PuzzleBox/Secrets/misc/Animorphs/
You can read the whole series here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wvs82cicbr9ig9h/AAD_oibd6Ncth6xNYJoYG77Va/PDF?dl=0&subfolder_nav_tracking=1
This is jr's old website. There are a lot of references to it, especially to the Longest Text Ever.
https://www.angelfire.com/falcon/flamingchickens/
The Guy of Shadows made a "Zombpanio mod" for this game.
https://github.com/tinypause/Zombpanio-HWE
In the branch of the Friday of Characters there are many-many references to the Monument Mythos. I'm not very qualified to talk about it, but here is a playlist and a wiki.
Here are the main parts of the Friday's branch:
https://omniasnetwork.neocities.org/
https://archiveofourown.org/users/CptCascadia/pseuds/CptCascadia
https://www.youtube.com/@CptCascadia/videos
https://zampaniosim.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Trinity_branch
gone_farther among the Marked looked for traces of Zampanio in a strangy, lightly modified version of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter.
Here is the original: https://uh.edu/~cldue/texts/demeter.html
This is a game about a program that makes it possible for people to hang out on the internet while they are sleeping. The asthetics mimic the old internet. There are references to it on the Herald's website: https://the1whoscreams.neocities.org/
The title of three fics come from a song in it: Barnaby's Chair - Satellite Orchestral
you know you used to shine so bright
was nothing coming from inside?
were you just a satellite?
"Zampanio: The Card Game!" is basically Yu-gi-oh bought by Eyedolgames. This game is played by the Eye Killar and Himbo, and also by young Wodin and Todd.
It was a roleplay jr took part in. The Quotidians came from here. Fot more information see: https://lostinzampanio.neocities.org/bellor
This is a book witten by Daedalus (among the Marked), it's relevant for their branch.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/42202/the-way-ahead
WattMan.EXE (a character played by IC) is member of the WattMan series, just like NAM and Ronin, they were created by the same person.
https://summonersnetwork.fandom.com/wiki/WattMan.EXE
Here is a fic about this connection: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34731520?view_full_work=true
The Closer and her obsession with fruits came from this game, the character Jasna (played by IC) is her past self.
https://summonersnetwork.fandom.com/wiki/Jasna
This book is referred in a few fics.
Letters to Legion
A Response From Legion
What Pumpkin?
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32109569-we-are-legion-we-are-bob
http://farragofiction.com/TitlePendingFanWork/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1288900/Title_Pending/
This is a now defunct exploration game. I could only find a video with the game. Jr made 99RoomsSim based on this.
http://farragofiction.com/99RoomsSim/?seed=13
The old website: https://www.99rooms.com/
Parker isekaid twice, this is the world where he came from before LobCorp.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_Ends_with_You
Jr said about the origin of BeeSim: "i was playing starbound frackin universe and found the bee genetics insufficient rather than complaining im making my own".
https://frackinuniverse.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page
Zampanio is often compared to the SCP Foundation, given it's collaborative nature and the horror themes.
This is not something ZampanioSim direcly references, but it's a well known urban legend about a nonexistent videogame, and often cones up in the conversations about the origins of Zampanio.
This is a nonexistent film that got very popular on tumblr, many people wrote about it's themes, characters and the music, there were many fanfictions and analysis. The whole "fandom without a center" is very Zampanio in itseld, but ZampanioSim is older than the concept of Goncharov. A few Goncharov characters can be found in the EastEast.
Here are a few posts about it: https://jadedresearcher.tumblr.com/search/goncharov
:o)
This is a dragon-breeding game, jr made many-many kitsungi dragons. There is also a Zampanio branch.
https://www1.flightrising.com/clan-profile/488881