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using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
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Message: 5556
Author: Igor Makovsky
Date: 23/02/2006
Subject: Re: Ultimate Manic Miner: Andrew's first impressions
--- In manicminerandjetsetwilly@yahoogroups.com, andrewbroad
>
for
> UMM is at the back of a long, long queue of MM/JSW games waiting
> me to do a thorough gamma-play in chronological order, but I can't
that
> let its release pass without posting something now.
>
> I had a quick, casual go of UMM today, and it was enough to see
> the game deserves full marks for novelty, amazing graphics, and a
Thank you, Andrew.
> unique atmosphere.
> It seems to be an excellent showcase of what can be achieved with
(I
> JSW64 with the extra cell-classes, cell-types, and guardian-types
> must do a proper study of JSW64 guardians soon, having abandoned my
You'll find some more in the game.
> last JSWED-learning-cycle at the end of Chapter 13).
>
> It's also nice to see some quirky features. So far I've had to jump
> through an ILB, jump through some overhead Earth-cells, and hide
> from an arrow by standing in a non-Air cell.
> I had just got past "THE COLD ROOM" [27] before I had to quit the
Yes, you're right about the cells. If we speak about sprites, then,
> game because I ran out of time in the real world (like I said, it
> was only a casual go).
>
> One downside of UMM (and, I guess, of JSW64) is the uncertainty.
> Because there are so many cell-classes, it's hard to know what to
> expect in terms of cell-behaviour, whether something is a guardian
> or not, whether it is stand-onable or not.
if you speak about UMM, I've tried to make it understandable on which
of them you can step on and on which must not. If the guardian
looks safe (boxes, Willy's friends, Pinguins before the accident,
other miner, buttons, scenery (not hazardous machinery) - you can
stand on it, if it is not (moving guardians, pinguin squads, toxic
boxes, different gears, working machinery, fire and so on) - then
probably it can kill Willy.
> The other downside of UMM is the lack of items, most of which seem
I even tell you that some items couldn't be collected, though they
> to be hidden inside portals, or to be extra-life items (not
> necessary to fulfill the ending-condition if the sole aim is to
> escape?). So I guess I'll miss the joy of being able to tick off
> rooms as I clear them of items.
are visible - they are traps. Collecting them triggers something not
very good. Items play another role in the game, they usually
represent triggers (totally invisible, so that player collects them
and not prepared for the following action). All the invisible items
are situated in the places where Willy will go on 100%, so wish you
or not, all of them will be collected. I tried to make the game so
that you won't miss the joy. Will you miss it or not, we'll see, when
you'll finish playing UMM.
> I read the PDF file before I played the game, and it's most
the
> impressive! It's well illustrated in graphical terms, and I like
> Spectrum font. It's almost like the inlay of a professional
product,
> and more tempting to read than a text-file, I must admit.
Thanks. =)
> Alexandra wrote:
because
> >
> > "THE COLD ROOM" - There's a small bug here I think, when I cross
> > the LAST bubble on the coolant river, if I cross the hump of the
> > bubble without holding down jump, I seem to die. This may be a new
> > quirky feature involving ramps butted up to each other over fire
> > blocks.
>
> In the explanation that follows, when I refer to Willy being in a
> column, I mean the LEFT cell-column of his sprite.
>
> ---||||
> .....>.
> .......
> ../\/\.
> ***
> ABCDEFG
>
> Willy gets killed if he walks from column D to column C without
> holding jump.
>
> This is because the / ramp in column E is trying to dump him down
> onto the Fire-cells, while the \ ramp in column D is trying to pull
> him up.
>
> Ramp D takes precedence in terms of the pixel-row at which Willy is
> drawn, but Ramp E takes precedence in terms of moving him down a
> cell-row when he walks off the left edge of the / ramp in column E.
>
> It doesn't happen when Willy walks from column F to column E
> there's no / ramp in column G.
Thanks, Andrew.
>
> --
> Dr. Andrew Broad
> http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
> http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
> http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/
IgoR
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