Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
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Message: 5589
Author: dunny291073
Date: 25/02/2006
Subject: Re: Using Quirky Features. UMM.
--- In manicminerandjetsetwilly@yahoogroups.com, "Igor Makovsky"
>
As Matt Westcott said on CSS, "THEY ARE NOT FEATURES, THEY ARE BUGS".
> Interesting opinions about using quirky features. (in the example of
> UMM). Many people ask me about solving the first room (!) ATTACK OF THE
> MUTANT TELEPHONES using ICQ. I've tired to send them to Andrew Broad's
> quirky feature page.
Sending someone to a page that gives obscure ascii graphics detailing
about 20 possible solutions which they could, or could not, try during
the brief amount of time available to them is not helping. The fact
that you have to run through four or five screens each time you get a
game over (said game-over is because you've not stumbled upon the
right solution) is insane. Any feature of the engine should be an
extension of the control method, not an exploit of it's failure to
catch all possible situations that it may find itself in. "Ha ha! You
didn't understand that although it is theoretically impossible to do
with this control method, it's actually not!".
What that does is say "I'm smart enough to have designed this, and if
you can't figure out which bug I've exploited then you're not worthy
of this game".
> Plus, they ask about RZX walkthrough.
That'll be done shortly. Rollback is a beautiful thing, and will show
the many frustrated people out there what BUG they need to exploit in
order to complete each room.
> How they don't understand, that in JSW games it is needed to use your
You're entitled to taking a pop at me, I don't mind taking a jab,
> brain, not only O,P and SPACE...
especially after my comments about your work. However, you've just
insulted pretty much all the people who found themselves struggling
with the game. "You're brainless because you can't play my game". Way
to go there.
There is no "brain" involved there. The telephone screen is only
possible if you already know that you can fit through an 8 pixel gap
vertically from jumping a set distance away. If the distance needed
had been hinted at, say by a colour change in the floor, then you
might be able to claim that was a puzzle. As it is, it's another
elitist snub to those of us that haven't read and understood Dr
Broad's cryptic clues in detail.
Your "game" is technically very good. You do indeed push the engine to
it's limits. There are two problems with this - Firstly, the engine
isn't flexible enough for what you want to do, and so the result looks
very shabby. Secondly, you've spent so long trying to get such neat
"look what I can do, look what I know" bits in that there's no game
left in there, just a display of the bugs in the engine.
Stick to what you do best - your previous efforts were extremely good.
D.
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