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
|
|
|
|
|
Message: 4852
Author: andrewbroad
Date: 27/07/2005
Subject: Re: Has anyone ever finished JSW? / Save the Sheriff
Amnon wrote:
>Well it *is* impossible without the four official Software Projects
> has anyone ever finished jet set willy?
>
> i mean i never did. its almost imposiable
POKEs!
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/bugsi.html
With those in place, I managed to complete the original Jet Set
Willy on my real Spectrum without cheating (I must confess that I
now play JSW games on the RealSpectrum emulator with infinite lives
and saving/loading snapshots). On an emulator, I can complete the
original JSW with a toilet-time of 8:33am.
"The Forgotten Abbey" was always the hardest room for me to pass,
but "Cold Store" is the most difficult room for me not to lose a
life on (apart from "Conservatory Roof" where it is impossible to
collect the leftmost item without sacrificing a life). So if I
cleared "Cold Store" first and then "The Nightmare Room", I'd be
fairly confident of completing the original JSW with seven lives
remaining.
But now I'm addicted to a free online game called _Save the Sheriff_.
It's a platform-game with the same three basic controls as MM/JSW,
with a linear sequence of eleven levels à la Manic Miner, but each
level is a large scrolling area where you have to reach a portal
within a time-limit - on later levels having to collect a key first.
There are plenty of non-essential items to collect for points, and
various guardians that you can kill by jumping on them (you can
still go left or right whilst jumping or falling - a patch I might
well implement for JSW). The action is a lot faster than MM/JSW,
though you can walk slowly by holding shift.
_Save the Sheriff_ is the game I play these days whenever I need a
fifteen-minute break, as opposed to the long haul of a MM/JSW game.
But only MM/JSW can fulfill my need for elegant game-mechanics,
intricate room-design, the inducement to complete every little part
of the game's challenge, and of course the ability to create my own
games (the appeal of MM/JSW is as much in the uniqueness of new
rooms as the gameplay - unlike a lot of games where when you've
played a level that uses every feature, you've played them all).
What would be the fun in creating a JSW game where the player could
bypass a challenge by killing guardians? _Bruce Lee_ is one of my
absolute favourite Spectrum games, but even if I could reverse-
engineer the room-format, what would be the value of redesigning the
rooms? Certainly, I would imagine, not enough to motivate an
indefinite series of sequels.
Oh - and I can complete _Save the Sheriff_ without any cheats, for
there are none! ;-) But the real challenge is how to maximise your
score by finding the right trade-off between rushing through levels
versus collecting/killing everything systematically.
And of course - like Manic Miner - you get more points if you
collect everything and then die, then start the level again, than if
you go through all the levels without losing a life.
Save the Sheriff:
http://www.miniclip.com/sheriff.htm
--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/
|
|
|