Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
Archive of the
Manic Miner & Jet Set Willy Yahoo! Group
messages
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Message: 4369
Author: kari_krisnikova
Date: 03/08/2004
Subject: Re: Fame, fortune, bring on the laydeez!
--- In manicminerandjetsetwilly@yahoogroups.com, carlwoffenden
> Somewhere near the bottom there's a plug for the Group:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Q222527F8
>
>
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> Carl.
July 30, 2004
Mobile
The Eighties - bugs n' all
No one could claim the mobile games industry isn't moving forward.
Last year, there were Space Invaders and Pac-Man clones everywhere,
now developers have moved onto the mid-eighties home computer scene
for inspiration. And with its conversion of platform classic Jet Set
Willy, Jester Interactive has taken authenticity to the extremes -
by including many of the bugs present in the original Spectrum code
If you can recall the early eighties (come on, pinstripe jeans,
Tiswas, new romantics, mass unemployment), then you'll remember
Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy. These surreal, heart-implodingly
tough platformers, written by the elusive Matthew Smith for the
Spectrum 48k, were at the vanguard of the computer gaming
revolution. Those of us in our early teens at the time spent many a
maddeningly frustrating hour trying to direct a tiny man in a bowler
hat past giant chickens, psychotic penknives and enormous Monty
Python-style feet, descending from the ceiling to crush us for the
fourteenth time in succession.
Last year, developer Jester Interactive bought the rights to produce
mobile games based around these two seminal titles. Manic Miner is
already out, while the finishing touches are now being applied to
its superior follow-up, Jet Set Willy. Superior, that is, apart from
one fundamental element. It was impossible to finish. A bug meant
that the final screen was inaccessible, and desperate players could
only complete the game by entering a POKE, an old skool version of
the cheat code, before loading.
And this was only the tip of a quite substantial `bug-berg'. Jet Set
Willy, in fact, was teeming with bugs, like some kind of programming
version of a council flat in Tower Hamlets. But has Jester removed
this element for its Java update? Are you crazy? That was part of
the fun!
"It still does contain quite a few of the original bugs," confirms
Jester's Carl Woffenden, who has programmed the conversion. "Without
them, the gameplay changes too much, and it would require
alterations to the rooms or object placement. It's still possible to
jump through solid objects, stick to the walls, etc., but Willy
doesn't have infinite death scenarios or die unexpectedly after
entering certain rooms. I think it's a nice balance, and should
satisfy both newcomers and the hardcore purists (of which quite a
few are beta-testers)."
Bugs as enjoyable gameplay elements? Sounds insane - especially if
you've played Driv3r. But, if they're part of the tapestry of a
game, Carl reckons they're vital to a totally authentic
conversion. "I'm aiming for a version of the game that plays exactly
like the Spectrum version - development started with disassembling
the original code and designing the update from that. Every element,
from the way Willy moves to how the ropes swing has been replicated,
and feedback so far from the Manic Miner/Jet Set Willy community is
that it's just like playing in a Speccy emulator. The bugs that
prevented the original from being completed have been removed,
though!"
Whoa, back-up there! `The Manic Miner/Jet Set Willy community'?!
Yep, it seems plenty of people have been unable to let these
treasures go. Members of the Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy Yahoo
Group are right now developing their own sequels to the originals,
in a quaint retro mirroring of the current first-person shooter
modding community. The ever-fascinating Retro Gamer magazine
recently ran an article on the phenomenon.
Anyway, the mobile gaming nostalgia bandwagon is rolling on. Jester
also has the rights to the back-catalogue of cult 8bit developer
Hewson, and Carl is now working on a mobile conversion of Commodore
64 legend, Uridium. "It's a rock hard side-scrolling shoot `em up,
and is one of the first games to really amaze me on a home computer -
and frustrate at the same time!"
Also, Kuju is set to convert two of Sensible Software's legendary
Amiga titles, Cannon Fodder and Sensible Soccer, to mobile phones.
More will follow. The eighties provides a rich catalogue of simple
yet well-crafted and idiosyncratic games perfect for mobile
platforms. And it must be much cheaper to snap up these cobweb-
covered licenses than going for blockbuster movies - even if you do
have to spend months agonising over what constitutes a bug and what
a gameplay feature.
And for mobile developers considering a plunge into the mineral-rich
waters of eighties gaming nostalgia, here are five titles we'd love
to see on our Nokia 6600s. In no particular order:
1. Skool Daze
2. Paradroid
3. Mission Impossible
4. Sabre Wulf
5. Forbidden Forest
Now get to work!
Posted by Keith Stuart at 11:47 AM
3 Comments
Comments posted by Edwin Vegas at Monday August 02, 2004
What about the great "3d" games that came out on the speccy like
Alien8, Head over Heels, & Batman, they were cool & surely they
would fit on todays mobiles , my money's waiting
Comments posted by chris moore at Monday August 02, 2004
Isnt it great that us poor sad thirtysomethings with no life and a
hard drive full of memories can rekindle the frustrations of our mis-
spent youth? Only now we can do it on our phones as we sit on trains
and at the bus stop. Bring on the mobile revolution, thats what I
say.
And for Mr Woffenden's reference, i remember infinite death
scenarios that made that three hour spectrum loading time almost
worthwhile - isometric Batman anyone?
Comments posted by Andrew Broad at Tuesday August 03, 2004
Quirky features are what set Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy apart
from other platform-games!
That, and the facilities to create stunning new MM/JSW games. :-)
Never jumped through a wall-block at head-height and fallen slap
through the floor beneath it? Then you haven't played my MM/JSW
games!
See my website for a clear distinction between the bugs in JSW and
the quirky features.
Bugs:
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/bugs.html
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/bugsi.html
Quirky Features:
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/features.html
Thanks for the plug for my Yahoo! Group.
--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/manicminerandjetsetwilly/
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004
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