Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
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Manic Miner & Jet Set Willy Yahoo! Group
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Message: 4693
Author: andrewbroad
Date: 27/02/2005
Subject: Re: Matt Smith interview!
Alexandra wrote:
>Wow, that's the best interview I've ever read! Thank you so much for
> http://www.redkeyreddoor.com/index.php?p=75
posting the link.
Highlights (according to Andrew):
>>>Paul: There are those mysterious four lost levels. Are they in there
somewhere?
Matt: Um. I would... some of them were designed but they were never
working, but I could never work out why. And the reason was actually
because I had my device driver from my Tandy loading on top of the
last four levels in memory. And that device driver ended up on the
final tape. It's still there. If you disassemble, you can see that
it's partly copyright Tandy Corporation.
<<<>>>
AUDIENCE QUESTIONS
Q: Those four extra Jet Set Willy rooms -- where would they have
gone?
Matt: They would have gone -- they were around the Megatree. Up the
top, there was more stuff up the top of the Megatree. That was --
and possibly out by the boat. I sort of -- you couldn't bring up a
map [on the video screen behind Matt] could you? Well... I threw
these rooms together just to... [screen now plays final part of Jet
Set Willy]
<<<>>>
Q: Was the [Jet Set Willy] mansion design intended to look like a
ship, as that's what the map looked like?
Matt: The mansion itself? Mmm... it might be, I think I might have
been slightly influenced by the Frank Lloyd-Wright school of
architecture. And... possibly, I think it just spawned naturally. I
put [indistinct] on it in pretty much same way as a traditional
English country house.
Q: Which game did you most enjoy making?
Matt: I would say definitely Manic Miner. Yeah. That's an easy
question, because... rather than Jet Set Willy, which was hell.
Seven shades of hell.
<<<>>>
Q: Are you going to make any more games... [indistinct]
Matt: Um, yeah - I know what this is. They wanted me to write a new
Spectrum game, regardless of the...
Q: [indistinct]
Matt: Yep. Yep, I have actually done a lot of the artwork, and I've
even started coding the engine for a new Spectrum game.
Paul: Can you tell us a little more? Can you give us an exclusive?
Matt: Um...
Paul: Will Willy be in it?
Matt: Let's see. Er, I have actually made an agreement over the
licensing of the characters in some handheld games now. And this is
why I didn't have to hitch my way down here. And so I'm happy with
the new deal, and that lets me carry on working. But I won't be,
um... they won't be starring Miner Willy except by agreement with
the new publishers.
<<<>>>
Q: What's the secret of a good game?
Matt: Erm... it has to... the secret of a good game is it has to
make you want to play it, and keep playing it. It just has to avoid -
- the first five minutes sometimes -- it has to avoid annoying you
so much that you don't want to play it again. And... er, a really
good game that's fun to play, even if you're not very good at it.
And also it must carry on being fun to play when you are very good
at it. Some games fall down. Like Naughts & Crosses for instance --
it's great until you realise how terrible a game it is, and it's not
so good any more. There are videogames that are quite similar. Like,
for instance, Tetris -- if they hadn't made the highest difficult
level, if the top level had been too easy -- if too many people
reached a plateau where you just play it endlessly, then it would
have been rejected as just... along with all the similar games that
weren't quite Tetris that were contemporary.
<<<>>>
Matt: I've got three good ones on the go right now. I've got, er...
[puts hands over mouth and makes roaring noises] I've either got to
talk sensibly or I've got to carry on doing this... Yeah, I've got
the... the Spectrum one is progressing. I'm putting the material
together, so there will be a new Spectrum game eventually. And...
Paul: Has it got a working title, Matthew, or..?
Matt: No. Um... well if you want a working title, call it Miner
Willy Meets The Taxman. I've actually used that one before, because
Mutant Zombie Chickens was under the cover of... it was genuinely a
working title at the time. And I could tell you the final name, I
think it's, er -- what is it? [thinks] [call from audience] That's
it, that's the one...
<<<>>>
Paul: [gestures to The Warehouse level on Manic Miner playing on
video screen behind them] I don't think you can complete this level.
And I don't think you could ever complete this level, even when you
released the game.
Matt: The Warehouse! No, I did do it once. The Warehouse. Yes,
that's the way you do it. That over there... yep... I'd have gone
back again, I'd have dropped down.
Paul: Director's walkthough here. I can't do this screen. But the
point is you released this without actually having completed it,
isn't that the point?
Matt: No, no, no, no... it wasn't released... it was [indistinct]
duplicated, and the distributors might have had them. And it was
definitely on its way to being released, and nobody had actually
done this. But I was fairly sure... I knew the route, I'd seen a
couple of routes, there were some levels like this that were one
route -- it's just an obvious, straight path. And all the levels on
Manic Miner, all the routes were meticulously worked out.
Paul: Did you do a lot of playtesting before it came out?
Matt: But not actually Quality Assurance, which is apparently what
it's called. And they actually test the product before they go on
sale.
Paul: Radical idea, yes.
Matt: Well, yes. Yes, it is. Certainly, yeah. Certainly wasn't any
part of the industry in the '80s, I have to admit.
Paul: Why do you think people are still playing this 20 years later?
Is it because it's a fantastic game, or is there a bit of nostalgia
in there?
Matt: Um... it's a nicely-done game. You have to, um... I think it's
well-rounded. I think this is -- and it fits the machine. These are
still things that, um... I think I paid good attention to detail,
Manic Miner especially. There's very little in it that isn't meant
to be there. And I'm not sure how many products turn out that way
these days.
<<<
I wholeheartedly DISAGREE with the penultimate sentence - unless of
course Matt actually *meant* all the quirky features in MM/JSW! :-)
--
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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