Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
VI. Other game engines
D. New games using other game engines
4. Manic Panic
Author: Norman Sword
Year: 2020 (v. 1.5)
Language: English
Manic Panic is Norman Sword's MM game that runs in the original 48K, but uses a completely rewritten code to expand it in relation to the original. According to the author, it demonstrates "the capability of the game engine stretched further than Matthew accomplished". As Norman Sword points out, the game could have been written when the original MM, JSW and JSW II were written, as it does not need the memory or hardware of the expanded versions of the ZX Spectrum.
The story revolves around Willy's problem with his memory. It is playing tricks on his mind. Did he switch any of the robots off in MM?
The game features a full-sized playing screen, which is a significant upgrade from the 2/3 screen playing area of the original MM and JSW. It runs much faster than the original MM, using stack copy and the removal of memory contention rather than a simple LDIR instruction for screen copying.
Manic Panic features 30 rooms which can be enjoyed in 6 playing modes:
1. Trainer (full oxygen, slow oxygen depletion, contact with guardians and Fire cells causes oxygen depletion, (-2) guardians).
2. Normal (metered oxygen, normal oxygen depletion, contact with guardians and Fire cells causes oxygen depletion, (-1) guardians).
3. Expert (metered oxygen, faster oxygen depletion, contact with guardians and Fire cells causes death, all guardians).
4. Ace (metered oxygen, very fast oxygen depletion, contact with guardians and Fire cells causes death, all guardians, playable only if another mode was completed).
5. Lantern (metered oxygen, normal oxygen depletion, contact with guardians and Fire cells causes oxygen depletion, (-1) guardians). In this extended mode the cavern is completely blued out and Willy can use the light that is attached to his helmet and illuminate the cavern. The light will point in the direction of Willy’s travels. When Willy is static, he can rotate the beam of light in either direction. The items and the portals are always visible.
6. Torch (metered oxygen, faster oxygen depletion, contact with guardians and Fire cells causes death, all guardians, oxygen depletion stops if static). In this extended mode the cavern is blacked out, which makes the surrounding platforms disappear. A small area around Willy is blued out and the rotation of the torch beam can be undertaken to illuminate other parts of the screen. All items briefly flash and illuminate the room when they are collected.
The game has an impressive list of other features. A complete list can be found here. Some highlights:
Room graphics allow up to 16 differing cell types per room. It is possible to have two different cell types of the same colour. There is a new cell type (an invisible/ignore cell). There can be both left and right conveyors in the same room. Multiple conveyors can be animated in different places. Items are animated and cycle correctly in 7 cycles.
All guardians can move in any direction. Guardians can cross other guardians and graphics in the background without killing Willy. Sprites can be 4, 8 or 16 pixels high. New types of guardians have been added (worm collision guardians and phased dropping guardians).
The air bar is depleted progressively: slowly when full and quickly when near empty. The speed of depletion is constantly changing and depending also on the game level played.
There is a dual title screen music playing routine, playing notes from 5 octaves and illuminating correct keyboard keys on the displayed piano.
Several versions of the game were released in 2020, starting in May and culminating in the final version 1.5 which was made public in December.
Number of rooms: 30
Highest documented score:
- in Trainer mode: 11,190 points;
- in Normal mode: 11,926;
- in Expert mode: 14,595 points;
- in Ace mode: 17,224 points;
- in Lantern mode: 23,951 points;
- in Torch mode: 26,932 points.
Download links
|
The game's home page on JSW & MM Community |
|
Game file in TAP and TZX formats |
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The game's page on Spectrum Computing |
|
RZX walkthrough of the game in all 6 modes |
Video
A walkthrough of the game on the JSW Central YouTube channel
Screenshot gallery |
Loading screen
Title screen in some of its guises
Rooms in the Expert mode (with all guardians in place), with visible room names (before they change to other info)
Rooms in the Lantern mode, with the status bar after the room name has changed to information about the high score, number of spare lives, room number and the current score
Victory screen
Game Over screen (it has two versions which appear in a sequence generated by a number sequencer)
