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using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
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Message: 2030
Author: andrewbroad
Date: 02/03/2001
Subject: Difficulty (Regarding the JSW rewrites)
> There are many discussions on thisboard
> regarding various attributes of JSW/MM
rewrites,
> but it seems to me that one subject I've
only
> seen mentioned once is of extreme
importance;
> a games general playability and
accessability
> with regard to it's difficulty.
>
>
As someone else said, one of the main reasons
> the original JSW was so well recieved was
>
because it allowed the player to visit so many
> of
the rooms to allow him (or her if you're
>
pedantic!) to see a large part of the game. And
> yet
many of the remakes seem to make it as hard
>
and as demanding as possible to see even a
small
> area of the game. From a technical point of
view
> that is very impressive, plus no doubt the
true
> JSW fanatics enjoy the challenge, but to
the
> casual player such as myself I don't really
wish
> to have to know all of the quirks of the
JSW
> engine before I can attempt the latest
rewrite.
>
> What I'm saying, basically, is that whilst I
> certainly respect those of you who build JSW
> rewrites to be difficult and/or challenging,
I
> do miss the feeling of freedom that the
original
> JSW gave. With most of the latest JSW rewrites
I
> just don't have the patience to explore vary
> far.
>
> Please consider what I say,
and don't think I'm
> critising; some of the
rewrites are very good
> but I just would like to
play them without
> having to complete them just
to see all of the
> screens. By all means put
some difficult parts
> in, but please leave
large areas of screens
> easily accessible, even
if their objects are
> very difficult to
get.
I have a penchant for writing notoriously difficult
MM/JSW rooms, but I hear what you're saying. I think
it's nice if a JSW game is 90% easy to explore, with
some difficult-to-get-to places tucked away in corners
of the game. The original JSW is a prime example of
this - I'd been playing JSW for years before I got
through The Forgotten Abbey and managed to reach the
promised land in Security Guard, and see Under The Drive
and Tree Root for the first time! :-)
I will
continue to write mind-bogglingly difficult MM/JSW games,
but I plan to make Party Willy and JSW Iva much
easier. I will try to apply the 90/10 rule, and to have a
high branching factor without making them too
frustrating to systematically explore and
complete.
There's also a distinction between quirky features and
pure orthodox difficulty. Quirky features are easy and
fun when you know about them, and one of the
criticisms of the easy versions of MM:Hobbit and JSW:LOTR
was that I had removed all the quirky features as
well as those difficulties for which you need either
lightning reactions or judicious use of the pause
button!
--
Andrew Broad
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/ target=new>http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/>
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/spectrum/ target=new>http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/spectrum/>
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/spectrum/willy/ target=new>http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/spectrum/willy/>
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/spectrum/download/ target=new>http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/spectrum/download/>
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