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: 4498
Author: andrewbroad
Date: 04/10/2004
Subject: What makes a good MM/JSW room?
I think there are at least five factors to a good MM/JSW room:
1. Fun to play. I like rooms with nice manoeuvres such as stopping
on a conveyor and jumping straight up. I like a good challenge
without being too frustrated, although having written a room myself,
I am reluctant to make it easier because I'm proud of the challenge
I've created.
2. Technical excellence. I appreciate rooms where a lot of effort
has gone into writing them, where every character-square has a
purpose, and there's a good variety of quirky features. This is what
I admire most about my own games.
3. Visually attractive, with well-drawn graphics and a nice colour-
scheme. Not just a technical accomplishment, but a beautiful picture
too.
4. Atmospheric - when a room is more than just a collection of
objects, but maps to a good concept. For example, it might evoke a
physical place in the real world or a fictional world, or it might
express a surreal, abstract concept like many of the rooms in
We Pretty and Goodnite Luddite.
Put simply, I appreciate a cool room-idea.
5. Originality - not just a slightly hacked version of one of the
original MM/JSW rooms, although I do like tasteful
reinterpretations, and it can be worthwhile introducing obscure old
rooms to a wider audience (as I did in Party Willy). I particularly
love it when a room does something that's never been done before
(there are a lot of technical firsts in We Pretty).
--
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/download/
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