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Message: 3905

Author: andrewbroad

Date: 29/01/2004

Subject: Re: Quirky features are what make MM/JSW so great!

 

carlwoffenden wrote:

I should swat up more on the bugs.

I presume you mean the quirky features?

Quirky features?! They're bugs! Bugs that can be exploited but
they're bugs nonetheless.

Call them what you will, but they are what make MM and JSW stand
head and shoulders above all other platform-games for me. Matthew
Smith couldn't have done better if he had implemented them
deliberately.

I know more quirky features in MM/JSW than in all the other computer-
games I've played put together, and to a large extent they are what
keep my passion for these games burning.

Why do I continue to play and edit MM/JSW to the exclusion of all
other games?

* I love their particular jumping platform style; it's very
therapeutic and addictive.

* I love the elegant game-mechanics, the pixel-precise nature of the
movement, the way you know exactly how far you can stand on the edge
of a platform, &c.

* I love discovering and exploiting quirky features (in general, and
in particular MM/JSW games).

* There's enough freedom in room-design to accommodate a very wide
range of subject-matter without the games seeming too "samey". I
don't think I'd get the same artistic freedom from any other game-
editor. I can't see this potential in my other favourite games.

* Once I start writing a MM/JSW room, it tends to flow naturally
from me. If my inspiration does sag, I always find my list of quirky
features a great tonic.

* The non-compressed room-formats enabled me to decipher them and
write my own editors. It feels great to be at the cutting edge.

* These games - and Spectrum computing in general - give me a warm,
nostalgic glow.

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/features.html

 

 

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