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Message: 5611
Author: Igor Makovsky
Date: 28/02/2006
Subject: Re: Quirky features / Broadsoft's MM/JSW Trainer
--- In manicminerandjetsetwilly@yahoogroups.com, andrewbroad
>
... Me too. But during my small experience of an artist, I often have
> It is upsetting to me to see that the wider Spectrum-community
> doesn't seem to fully appreciate the brilliance of quirky features.
the same dialogues about my works. Some people love them, somebody
ALWAYS hate them. I don't upset when people hate my work, but I got
very angry, when the man doesn't show good arguments with his words
(prove it). Or when the man is so heavy on his opinion, that he
doesn't think, he\she needs to prove it. Most of those fanatics from
WoS, simply say... "Don't like it because it has quirky bugs... bla-
bla...", "How the hell can I get from the first screen?", "The game
is messy", "Graphics is awful...". They don't understand the aim of
the game being created, that's a pity and they will endlessly repeat,
like in an infinite loop: "QF are bugs, QF are bugs". ZX HEROES was
more a game for the public, it didn't have a single Quirky Feature.
UMM is heavy on features and experiments. It's an experiment itself.
And it is actually made only for experts, who will understand the
plot (I have to say, for you, JSW\MM fans). My fault is that I forgot
to put a pic "Warning: Heavy usage of Quirky Features" next
to "Mature 17+" on the title screen.
> If one is to understand the great mystery, one must study all its
a
> aspects - not just the dogmatic, narrow view of the Jedi. If you
> wish to become a complete and wise player/author, you must embrace
> larger view of the game-mechanics.
I
>
> * Quirky features are a pathway to many abilities some consider to
> be unnatural. They may not "translate into real-world metaphors",
> but that's the magic of MM/JSW.
>
> * Quirky features are not bugs (at worst they are unintended
> loopholes). A bug is an error that makes a game not possible to
> complete, or even causes the Spectrum to crash.
>
> * Any serious MM/JSW player needs knowledge of quirky features to
> progress, and to see all possibilities. Quirky features are best
> learned through experience and lateral thinking, rather than
> trying to memorise a list in advance.
>
> * A MM/JSW author needs thorough knowledge of quirky features to
> find all the loopholes in his/her game, as well as being able to
> exploit them deliberately.
>
> * An author's knowledge of quirky features can often save a room
> from lack of inspiration. That's the beauty of MM/JSW.
>
> * The MM/JSW scene needs trainer-games to teach quirky features (or
> perhaps one JSW64 game that covers MM features as well as JSW
> features). I'd be writing it now if I didn't have so many other
> things on my plate...
>
> * I know my Quirky Features web-page needs improving and extending,
> but the last time I tried to do that, it disappeared into a black
> hole. I was going to replace the ASCII text-diagrams with lots of
> screenshots - cropped to show the quirky features in their minimal
> forms. But it's not worth doing that until I've written the
> trainer-game (which will have uniform cell-graphics).
>
> * I removed all quirky features from the easy variants of MM:Hobbit
> and JSW:LOTR, but the criticism was that they were /too/ easy.
>
> * For the easy variants of _Ma jolie_ and MM:N-AT, I removed the
> features that made each room frustratingly difficult for me,
> without removing the fun quirky features. I suppose I could have
> made hard, medium and easy variants of these games, but I don't
> like having too many variants.
>
> In fact, now that I see how serious the quirky-features debate is,
> might well make MM/JSW Trainer the next game I will write. And to
You can't believe, but today I had the same idea as you! I thought
> show my commitment to this project, I have promoted it from Other
> Future Projects to its own page on my website:
>
> http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/download/trainer.html
that I will announce my future project here, but have founded your
message! As it is said, the ideas fly in the air )))
> MM/JSW Trainer will be one of my main priorities for March.
Good. Maybe I'll help you with it?
> --
IgoR
> Dr. Andrew Broad
> http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
> http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
> http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/
> http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/features.html
>
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