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Message: 5075
Author: Daniel
Date: 17/11/2005
Subject: The Club release of "JSW: Mind Control" - the reactions
I would like to warmly thank everyone who responded in the Club or
privately to the Club release of Sendy's and mine "Jet Set Willy:
Mind Control". I am very happy that the general reaction has been a
positive / very positive one :-) . Also, special thanks to Andrew and
John for answering my question about the arrows and for the
explanations and suggestions of how to solve the problem :-) .
I just want to respond to/ comment on some of the things that were
said:
1. Igor wrote:
> It reminded me "Utility Cubicles" on the whole design of every roomI take it as a great compliment, because "Utility Cubicles" is a game
> and its using of quirky features.
that impressed me a lot the first time I played it and I hold it in
high esteem to this very day :-) .
I don't really recall "Utility Cubicles' " using that much of the
quirky features, though. Very clever design patterns yes, but not
exactly quirky features.
2. Igor wrote:
> Plus I suppose, everybody will agree, this game can be easilyNo, I don't agree. "Mind Control" does include some of the rooms
> called a remake of "Where's Woody".
from "Where's Woody" in an (almost) unchanged form and some modified
rooms the starting point for which were rooms from "Where's Woody"
that's because of my mistake during the designing process. I thought
I had explained it before, but maybe I hadn't. So here it is: I
started working on "Mind Control" on the file with Sendy's unfinished
game called "Mind Control" from "The Unlucky Seven" package. I didn't
read Sendy's accompanying document carefully enough, and I did not
realise that rooms from 14 onwards were "rooms from Where's Woody in
early development stage". I only realised it at a very late stage of
the designing of the game, and so I eliminated some of them,
modified some of them, and left a couple almost unmodified, because I
liked them a lot and they were necessary for the new "Mind Control"
game layout.
So finally, counting roughly, there are only about 8 rooms in "MC"
that I would describe as either "almost the same" or "visible
modifications" of their counterparts from "Where's Woody", out of the
total number of 103 rooms in the game (without counting the 11 rooms
of the final sequence), which have no connection to "Where's Woody".
Plus Willy's sprite and some guardian sprites, of course.
Now, I am not writing this in a negative sense, just to defend
factual accuracy. I am now playing "Where's Woody" (alternating
with "Maria on Tour" :-) ) and I think it's a very good game, so
calling "Mind Control" a remake of "Where's Woody" would be a
compliment, too :-) .
3. Igor wrote:
> I always thought, that this Willy (the same Willy from Where'sYes, you are right Igor, indeed. Sendy has pointed that out to me as
> Woody and Strangel) doesn't wear a helmet - I thought that it is
> his black hair, to be honest! =)
well and brought my attention to the fact that the Willy
from "Strangel" has one more pixel than the Willy from "Where's
Woody".
I have tried designing various types of helmet for Willy. I was quite
pleased with them aesthetically, but I am afraid that the additional
pixels would make certain places in the game impossible to pass (like
the right-hand side red guardian in "Magic in a Quiet Countryside"
while passing the room from left to right). So introducing a helmet
would entail the necessity to:
- play-test the game thoroughly;
- modify the possible problematic places.
While play-testing is understandable and okay, I would prefer to
avoid having to introduce substantial modifications at this point
just because of the helmet. So I will probably stay with the Willy
of "Strangel" and drop the part about the helmet from the story
I'll give it some more thought in the coming weeks.
4. DrUnkeN mAsTeR!!! wrote:
> Personally I liked it the second I saw the little start up in "TheIn a sense I am more than three years behind, then :-) . I'm kidding,
> Marooning". It reminded me of when I started making things of a
> similar nature with JSW 128 (over 3 years ago, how
> mad is that). It reminded me of when I started making things of a
> similar nature with JSW 128 (over 3 years ago, how mad is that).
of course, but this is just a healthy reminder that I have to work
hard to catch up, since I didn't come to the JSW scene until last
year.
5. The question of people not commenting on the game / games in
general
Igor wrote:
> Why does nobody make comments on this game?Sendy wrote:
> People hardly comment on anything anymore.Carl Woffenden wrote:
> Getting anyone to comment on anything beyond a monosyllabic gruntI think and hope that Carl's explanation is true. I want to
> is hard work. If people take the time out to play with your work
> you should be happy. It is nice to be told how fantastic (or how
> bad) something is but it's probably not going to happen, but that
> doesn't mean people don't appreciate what you've done.
think imagine that there are many people out there who have
played my games (tried them, at least) but never bothered to let me
know about it. I understand it, because I personally I am very
familiar with time constraints imposed by modern lifestyle
(especially if you work full time and have a family). I played
various games myself, which I honestly liked or even loved, and never
managed to tell the authors about it I feel guilty because of this,
as in various cases I really meant to let them know, but then I
didn't have the time to do it, because there were always other, more
important and pressing things to do. But anyway, I hope there are at
least some people who have played my games (and other authors'
games), and I am happy if they enjoyed them, even if they never let
me know about it :-) .
This point of view seems to be confirmed by Jeremy Cooper's recent
post, where he says:
> After ages of lurking and leaching, I felt this was an opportune
> time to chime in for the first time.
> I have downloaded all completeable JSW & MM games and look forwardSo evidently Jeremy has been a "silent watcher" of the JSW scene, who
> to whatever new ones come out (I think you guys have done great
> jobs by the way).
nevertheless appreciates various authors' efforts in creating new
games. Thanks a lot for expressing it, Jez, even if only "by the
way" :-) !
Hervé wrote:
> Personally, I would be happy to know if somebody likes or not myThat's very true, I agree, Hervé!
> game, but I am sufficiently happy being in contact with some
> impassioned of this club which helps me has to create my game!
Sendy wrote:
> There are less 'regulars' and more lurkers or newbies, which is myThe Club membership seems to have grown considerably over the last
> theory. Either that or people just aren't interested anymore.
year (i.e., from the time I joined it). I think this is VERY
positive, and even if many of the new members are just passive ones,
it's still very good. I hope they are interested they probably play
the games, otherwise why would they want to be Club members? And it's
good, because the most absurd situation would be: everybody creating
games, nobody playing games other than their own.
Sendy wrote:
> Take my demo of Death TV, probably over a hundred hours work if not( )
> more (I have no idea) and it had like two comments.
> I was disappointed but I'd carry on doing it even if there were NOSorry about the little feedback you got, Sendy :-( . I didn't give
> comments because it's too addictive.
you any myself. Quite honestly, it slipped my mind somehow I did
not realise until recently that you had released a new demo (I was
focusing my attention fully on releasing "JSW: The 2005 Megamix" in
those days). It's embarrassing to admit, but I promise I will have a
good look at it as soon as I'm done with my current JSW priorities
(the main of which is finishing "Mind Control" fully).
Speaking of lack of feedback, the response to "JSW: The 2005 Megamix"
was very limited and mainly from the "regulars" (with one notable
exception, that of Zoran Miladinov, who I have been in touch ever
since and even included redesigns of two of his unreleased rooms
in "Mind Control"). It's understandable, since "The Megamix" brought
some quantity, but very little new quality to Miner Willy canon
(apart from the ending, perhaps disappointingly, nobody has
commented on the ending yet). But I will say the same as you have,
Sendy: I will carry on doing it (designing JSW, that is :-) ) even if
there were NO comments, because it's too addictive :-) .
Again, thanks to all of you. Hervé, have you passed the third sun
already? I admire you determination to play JSW games without
cheating it must take an awful lot of time. Personally I try not to
cheat "too much", but I usually apply the infinite lives POKE (and
the Writetyper POKE in some particularly difficult cases).
And it's great news that new quality products are coming out of the
Arcane Design studios. Looking forward to playing them, Sendy!
And, DrUnKeN mAsTeR!!!, don't feel bad about the bugs in your great
(and truly historic) "Maria on Tour"! You probably might have play-
tested it more carefully, but then it's the task of the rest of us
to find the bugs - and it's more fun to find a bug than not to find
any, isn't that right? :-)
Keep editing and playing, everyone!
Daniel
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