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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 wrote:

UMM is at the back of a long, long queue of MM/JSW games waiting for me to do a thorough gamma-play in chronological order, but I can't
let its release pass without posting something now.

I had a quick, casual go of UMM today, and it was enough to see that the game deserves full marks for novelty, amazing graphics, and a
unique atmosphere.

Thank you, Andrew.

It seems to be an excellent showcase of what can be achieved with
JSW64 with the extra cell-classes, cell-types, and guardian-types (I must do a proper study of JSW64 guardians soon, having abandoned my
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.

You'll find some more in the game.

I had just got past "THE COLD ROOM" [27] before I had to quit the
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.

Yes, you're right about the cells. If we speak about sprites, then,
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
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.

I even tell you that some items couldn't be collected, though they
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
impressive! It's well illustrated in graphical terms, and I like the 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:

"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.

---||||
.....>.
.......
../BBBBBB/BBBBBB.
*******
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 BBBBBB 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 because there's no / ramp in column G.

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/

Thanks, Andrew.
IgoR

 

 

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