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using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
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Message: 5896
Author: Daniel
Date: 17/08/2006
Subject: RZX walkthroughs of MM games / Andrew Broad's MM games
1. RZX walkthroughs
I would like to make everyone aware that at this point the RZX
Archive is hosting RZX walkthroughs of ALL of the gamma-released
Manic Miner games. They can be downloaded from
http://www.rzxarchive.co.uk/games.aspx?letter=m . Philip Bee should
be mentioned as one of the main contributors there.
2. The three most difficult MM games in existence
I would like to offer some comments about Andrew Broad's games,
mainly concerning their level of difficulty.
a) General considerations
While recording the walkthroughs, I completed "Ma jolie" for the
first time ever, and I completed "Neighbours - Allana Truman" for the
second time (the first time back in March 2005). Both of them were
great challenges, indeed, and devoured many hours of my time, but I
consider it time well spent :-) .
I had also previously completed Andrew's other MM games. I believe
that there is a significant gap in the level of difficulty between
the first three ("Manic Miner 4 SE", "Manic Miner: The Buddha of
Suburbia" and "Manic Miner: The Hobbit") and the later two.
Each of the first three represents a challenge of one evening for me,
while to "Ma jolie" and "Neighbours - Allana Truman" I had to
dedicate about three days each, several hours per day.
In the text file accompanying "Ma jolie" Andrew says:
"Ma jolie is the hardest MM/JSW game ever written, and the hardest
that I ever intend to write! ;-) I just want to show, once and for
all, how hard Manic Miner can get!"
The first part of this statement must have certainly been true at the
moment of release of "Ma jolie". However, in my opinion Andrew didn't
stick to his intention, because "Neighbours - Allana Truman" is more
difficult than "Ma jolie". Moreover, nowadays "Ma jolie" comes third
on my personal scale of difficulty among all games, because Darth
Melkor's "Manic Scribbler" is more challenging, too.
"Ma jolie" is more uneven than the former two. I would say that "The
Hot Room" is very easy, and "The Vatican" is very easy if you know
the QF. Several rooms are very difficult, and some are quite
difficult, I would say.
I can't really make precise comparisons, because I
played "Neighbours - Allana Truman" almost a year and a half
before "Ma jolie" (and "Manic Scribbler" in between), at a time when
I still had to learn a lot about the quirky features and other tricky
challenges. Moreover, I played "Ma jolie" and "Manic Scribbler"
without any help, and I played most of "Neighbours - Allana Truman"
following Andrew's notes. Taking all of the above into account, and
trying to imagine what would happen if I didn't have Andrew's notes,
I would say that it's a close contest for the most difficult game
between "Neighbours - Allana Truman" and "Manic Scribbler". "Ma
jolie" is definitely in the third place. "Manic Scribbler" is
the most difficult game in many aspects, IMO, but the challenges
in "Neighbours - Allana Truman" are more diversified.
b) A question to Dunny or other people knowledgeable about RZX
In case of MM games, which are all basically the same in length (20
rooms) - except for things like additional intro screens - can the
size of the RZX file be considered as indicative of how complicated
any given game is? I imagine that the size of the recording is bigger
when the gameplay lasts longer and when the player makes more
movements - is this correct? It seems to me that the more movements
were made and the longer it took (the same player) to complete the 20
rooms, the more complicated the game is.
If the above assumption is correct, "Manic Scribbler" would have to
be described as the most complicated game (233 KB), with "Neighbours -
Allana Truman" coming second (206 KB) and "Ma jolie" coming third
(158 KB). For comparison: "Manic Miner 4 SE" - 129 KB, "Manic Miner -
The Hobbit" - 102 KB (!), "Manic Miner - 2000" - 131 KB and the
original "Manic Miner" (played by a different person though) - 134 KB.
Just to be precise: most of the above-mentioned games do have some
additions at the beginning, so the size is influenced by them to some
extent.
3. "Ma jolie" made easier
I have searched the archive and couldn't find any reference to what
follows, but I can't be 100% sure that it wasn't mentioned before.
So, please, let me know if it was.
I would like to offer one discovery which makes the room "Wiredlife"
(14) in "Ma jolie" much easier. Contrary to the suggestion in the
text file (did you want to make the player suffer unnecessarily,
Andrew? :-) ), you do not have to make your way all around the room
after you have collected the items, in order to get to the portal.
After collecting the second batch of items (the three at the middle
level of the room), you can just jump twice over the blue horizontal
guardian and then make your way up the same "ladder" which you used
to get onto the middle level, that is, where the magenta vertical
guardian is moving. It saves you a lot of stress, I guess, and thus
prolongs your real life by a couple of minutes (up to half and hour,
if you are very sensitive) :-) .
4. "Neighbours - Allana Truman" made just a trifle easier
a) Room "Aubrey Sci-Fi Convention" (14)
In the text file accompanying the game Andrew says: "The central item
is protected by a crumbling-floor block which you must get rid of so
that you will be able to jump up for it from below. This is best done
by walking close behind the green letter as it sets off to the right."
I'm not sure if Andrew meant to say "to the left" at the end of the
above paragraph, but I would like to offer the following discovery:
If you perform the first step described by Andrew in the Tips for
this room ("You start inside a wall. Jump right out of it to collect
the first item") immediately, you have enough time to drop down onto
the central item before the green letter approaches it from the
right. You can then jump straight up over it, and after a split
second (or immediately, perhaps, I'm not sure if it is necessary to
wait at all) follow it to the left. Then you can jump over it (the
green letter) after it has started on its way back to the right. It
is a tight jump, because you have to watch out for the red letter
above, but it's doable. If you perform this manoeuvre successfully,
you will then have plenty of time to do the rest of the room and kill
the Kong Beast, too.
b) Room "Harold's Allotment" (17)
In the text file accompanying the game Andrew describes two ways of
doing this room after taking the top-left item and landing on the
middle platform between the white and red HGs. He calls them "The
Easy, Inefficient Method" and "The Difficult, Efficient Method". He
also says that there is an "Easy, Efficient Method", which he
leaves "for the cleverest players to discover..."
Well, I don't really aspire to such a distinguished title, but
I /have/ passed the room in a different way - I'm not sure whether
it's the third method Andrew meant, or still a different one. I did
not collect the top-left item immediately, but I relieved it of the
crumbling floor and then jumped to the right onto the ledge below the
portal, and then again to the right onto the next one. Then I
relieved the rightmost item of its crumbling floor (perhaps
unnecessarily, but it fit in with the timing anyway), jumped to the
left and collected the top-left item from below, and then did the
rest of the room (see the RZX recording if you're interested). It
left me with enough air to complete the room comfortably, and it did
not involve any extremely difficult manoeuvres.
5. The future
So Andrew, I look forward very much to your future MM games, and I
hope that they will not be more difficult than the latest two :-) .
Daniel
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