Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
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Message: 4694
Author: andrewbroad
Date: 27/02/2005
Subject: Useful POKE / Andrew's beta-test of JSW64 & JSW64:Dragon32
POKE 33824,
any Spectrum JSW game.
It sets the current room so that the next time you lose a life, you
appear in that room at the position you entered THE ROOM IN WHICH
YOU APPLIED THE POKE - so it has to be applied with care, but it's
not as clumsy and illogical as WRITETYPER when you know what you're
doing. It does make items/toilet/Maria appear prematurely, though.
=====
JSW64 (the game itself)
=====
I have playtested all six variants of JSW64 itself (the 8th February
2005 revision); here are my observations:
* In Variants W, Z and [, "The Bathroom" has many block-types, item-
triggered guardians and a trampoline (like a conveyor that induces
jumping instead of walking).
* In the 64-room variants (X, Y, Z and [), the portal in "Master
Bedroom" takes you to the same room, trapping you behind Maria.
* In Variant [, there are no guardians in "The Clock Tower"
triptych, and the middle room has different graphics.
==============
JSW64:Dragon32
==============
I have also playtested the JSW64 conversion of the Dragon 32 version
of JSW (29th August 2004 revision), which features the 60 rooms from
the original JSW (with their room-numbers reshuffled and subtle
changes to many rooms), plus 15 rooms that are new to Spectrum-only
players.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Non-critical comments about differences from standard Spectrum JSW
------------------------------------------------------------------
[4] "NIGHTMARE ROOM": This requires a radically different approach
to the standard version! (unless you kamikaze the item)
[27] "THE ATTIC": It's just as well it's unnecessary to visit the
bottom of this room, because the Chinese dragon is too fast to pass.
Which means that if you exit this room at the bottom-right, you're
trapped.
[34] "BALLROOM EAST": The leftmost amoebatron is too fast to pass,
but you can walk under the barrel to get to "THE HALL". But this
does block off the most direct path from "BALLROOM EAST" to "TO THE
KITCHENS MAIN STAIRWAY".
[37] "THE SECURITY GUARD": The fast VG is very difficult to pass!
But it's just possible because, in the immortal words of Vera
Zvonareva, "Sometimes you have to take a step backward to go
forward." (now *there's* an idea for my VZ tribute-room...)
[40] "UNDER THE MEGATREE": Intriguing access to Forbidden Holy
Ground in this room!
[47] "OUT ON A LIMB": This has the nasty feature that you can *walk*
off the edge of the screen and into an infinite-death scenario. It's
also infinite death if you walk off the lowest block to the right,
which is safe in the standard JSW (here, you have to walk off that
block to the left).
---------
New rooms
---------
[60] "MATTHEWS NEXT GAME" is to the right of "FORGOTTEN ABBEY", and
leads to "AT THE TOP OF THE WELL" [65], "IN THE WELL" [66], "THE
DRAIN" [67], "HALL OF MIRRORS" [63], "JIMS NASIUM" [68] and "THE
TRIBBLE HUTCH" [73].
[61] "THE GUEST ROOM" is between "NIGHTMARE ROOM" and "FIRST
LANDING". Spot the unintentional quirky feature! :-)
[62] "THE GAMES ROOM" is between "DR JONES WILL NEVER BELIEVE THIS"
and "EMERGENCY GENERATOR". And a cool room it is, too, with
meaningful use of trampolines, and those with a trained eye will see
how to bypass the static nasties at the bottom-left.
[64] "THE GARDEN" is between "THE SECURITY GUARD" and "THE DRIVE".
[67] "THE DRAIN" (one of the rooms to the right of "FORGOTTEN
ABBEY"): Down leads unfairly to infinite death in "ENTRANCE TO
HADES", while up is an unfair one-way exit to "BATHROOM" [0].
[68] "JIMS NASIUM": The arrow passes through you harmlessly if you
stand in the floor (is this faithful?).
[70] "SECRET PASSAGE" and "THE SMUGGLERS CAVE" [69] are below "THE
BEACH". Going up from "THE SMUGGLERS CAVE" is probably a bad idea as
it takes you to the bottom of "WINE CELLAR".
[71] "THE OBSERVATORY" is to the left of "NOMEN LUNI", and if you
jump in from the left edge of the ledge, you're greeted with an
infinite-death scenario!
[73] "THE TRIBBLE HUTCH" (left of "THE SECURITY GUARD"): Down leads
unfairly to infinite death in "ENTRANCE TO HADES".
[74] "THE PUB" is to the right of "THE OFF LICENCE".
----------
Bug-report
----------
I have never played the original Dragon 32 JSW, so the following
comments relate to completability, non-Willy collisions and a couple
of aesthetic bugs - not the faithfulness of the conversion from
JSW32 to JSW64.
[] What's up with the font? The '5' and '6' characters seem to be
corrupted.
[3] "MASTER BEDROOM": The bed is one character too short for the end-
game sequence to look right. Also, when Willy is in running mode, he
disappears near the right of the screen, as though consumed by an
invisible toilet!
[19] "FORGOTTEN ABBEY": The two top monks eventually collide.
[32] "EAST WALL BASE": The amoebatron is too fast to jump past from
the hole in the wall (and you have to stand back and perform a pixel-
perfect jump to reach the hole). In the end, I resorted to
teleporting to "HALFWAY UP THE EAST WALL" [31].
[39] "AT THE FOOT OF THE MEGATREE": The leftmost Dr Jones collides
with the saw, killing you just one time-frame before you can walk
off the screen to the right! Even Vera's advice (cf. [34]) makes no
difference here. ;-) In the end, I resorted to teleporting to "UNDER
THE MEGATREE" [40] and "INSIDE THE MEGATRUNK" [43].
[40] "UNDER THE MEGATREE": The rabbit collides with the amoebatron,
forcing you to sacrifice a life after collecting the item.
[41] "THE BRIDGE": The shuttle is too fast to pass. Nor is "THE OFF
LICENCE" [42] accessible from "WATCH TOWER", so I had to resort to
teleporting to get there.
[57] "UNDER THE DRIVE": The dalek collides with a static nasty,
making this room unpassable. I had to teleport to "TREE ROOT" [58].
[66] "IN THE WELL": The bubble is too fast to pass, therefore the
item is only collectable by kamikaze, and "THE OLD MINE WORKINGS"
[72] is unreachable - I had to resort to teleporting (and again to
escape).
[73] "THE TRIBBLE HUTCH" (left of "THE SECURITY GUARD"): The VG
above "BL" is unpassable, making the items unreachable.
---------------------
Andrew's toilet-times
---------------------
JSW64 Variant V......................... 9:22am
JSW64 Variant W......................... 9:09am
JSW64 Variant X......................... 8:15am
JSW64 Variant Y......................... 8:08am
JSW64 Variant Z......................... 8:13am
JSW64 Variant [......................... 8:04am
JSW64:MM Variant W...................... 7:40am
JSW64:MM Variant Z...................... 7:44am
I completed JSW64:Dragon32 with a toilet-time of 9:45am, but only
with a lot of teleporting (not all of it necessary, I must confess).
So when can we expect the gamma-releases of JSW64, JSW64:MM and
JSW64:Dragon32?
--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/
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