Resource centre for ZX Spectrum games
using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
Archive of the
Manic Miner & Jet Set Willy Yahoo! Group
messages
|
|
|
|
|
Message: 6127
Author: Daniel
Date: 17/04/2007
Subject: "Party Willy" - Daniel's comments
I am pleased to announce that my RZX walkthrough of Andrew
Broad's "Party Willy" can now be downloaded from
http://www.rzxarchive.co.uk/j.html.
Concerning the game itself, I just wish to say that it is a great
challenge which has given me a lot of joy during the few weeks I
spent struggling to prepare and execute efficient walkthroughs
through it. As with all Andrew's games, it is very impressive how
much care was given to every detail. It is also fun to see a mixture
of remakes of classic rooms from the original JSW and of new rooms.
The widespread use of quirky features of the game engine makes the
game very interesting (alas, at the same time, not suitable for
players not fond of those; oh well, you can't please everyone, I
guess...).
The first part is visibly easier than the second part. This is not
criticism, just an observation.
The room descriptions in the text documents accompanying the game are
real fun to read - to understand all of the associations, know the
sources of inspiration, etc. They also provide a great deal of very
useful tips for the player.
On continuation I would like to comment on some points found in these
documents. This is mainly in case Andrew should want to re-release
the text files one day, after converting the terminology used therein
to the currently-used standards (i.e. use "Fire-cells" instead
of "static nasties", "Earth-cells" instead of "wall-blocks", etc.).
A. The Technical Notes
The text file says:
"To implement a 24-hour clock, as documented in my 2002 game
_Goodnite Luddite_. Part 1 ends the game at 12:00, Part 2 and PW128
at 24:00. These deadlines are *very* generous - I managed to complete
both Part 1 and Part 2 in just over four JSW-hours each, and PW128 in
just over six JSW-hours!"
Speaking about the generous deadlines, you might want to mention,
Andrew, that the best known, documented completion time for Part 1 is
1 hour 44 min. JSW-time, for Part 2 - 2 hours 21 min. JSW-time and
for PW128 - 4 hours 12 min. JSW-time :-) .
[The PW128 walkthrough should be, arithmetically, 4'05 hours long,
but I recorded each of its halves before the final (i.e., second)
recording of the 48K parts, due to which there are slight
improvements in the 48K version in relation to the 128K version; I
decided to lay my perfectionism to rest and not re-record PW128 again
because of these few minutes.]
B. Room descriptions Part 1
1. R ROOM 16: "The Gaping Pit of Infinite Death"
"* You can jump through the ILB from the room to the left [15]. It's
safe to go down inside the wall."
You can also access the "shaft" on the left side of the room by
jumping through the shaft wall from the rope at the correct moment;
then you don't have to use the ILB at all. See my RZX walkthrough to
know exactly what I mean.
2. ROOM 30: "The Forest"
"An attractive sylvian screen (...)"
=> sylvan or silvan [spelling; incidentally, I enjoy your rich
vocabulary, Andrew, I have learned a number of words and expressions
from you, and I find them easy to remember, because JSW is such an
emotional subject for me :-) ]
3. ROOM 49: "The Return of the Brothers Grimm"
"* The rest of the room is a matter of smart timing and good jumping."
You can jump onto the second long platform (where the white guardian
is moving) from the ramp. In such case, there is little more jumping
to be done, and timing is not an issue.
4. ROOM 52: "Backwoods"
"* When entering at the middle-left, stand at the far left and jump
straight up over the first arrow, and again straight up over the
penguin. Then jump right over the penguin and stand in one character-
space to the left of the double static nasty until the coast is clear
to jump over it."
I applied a different solution, which is more efficient and even
easier, perhaps. After entering at the middle left, you walk to the
right and jump to the right over the arrow and the penguin
simultaneously. Then you step backwards, you jump over the second
arrow, and you are free to jump over the double Fire-cells (the coast
is clear).
5. ROOM 53: "The Cave"
"* When entering from the left hole in "Backwoods" [52], jump
straight up on the conveyor, and wait facing left until the yellow VG
has passed, then jump into the ladder so that you can get under it."
It is possible to do the manoeuvre in one single movement, right
after entering from above, without jumping straight up and waiting
for the yellow VG to pass.
6. ROOM 54: "Esmerelda's Bedroom"
"* On entering this room at the bottom-left, (...)"
It is possible - in fact, marginally more efficient - to enter this
room at the bottom right, after a well-timed jump from the conveyor
in "Matthew Didn't Bother to Code It" (through the overhead Earth-
cell). In such case, later on you can collect the two items
in "Matthew Didn't Bother to Code It" without entering "Esmerelda's
Bedroom".
7. Language comment
In a couple of cases the language used in the room descriptions seems
to be unnecessarily offensive. Room 43 ("The Landing Pad") comes to
my mind ("The wall-blocks at the top are to save from an IDS any
idiots who try to jump up off the top of the screen") as well as Room
52 ("Backwoods") ("You'd have to be pretty stupid to fall more than
four characters off the bottom of the screen anyway ;-)"). While they
make me imagine while the examiners of your PhD thesis, Andrew,
thought that "The tone of the footnotes is in general condescending"
( :-) ), I think that some people - lay JSW players - might feel
offended. Not knowing the details of JSW game-mechanics, or even the
general rules of the game, does NOT make you an idiot or a stupid
person, IMO. On the other hand, lay JSW players will probably not
even try to read your text files carefully, so there...
C. Room descriptions Part 2
1. ROOM 0: "Through The Wall"
"* This room contains an invalid-arrow pair (pixel-row 0), which
produces the black blob onto which you must jump in order to progress
to the upper part of the screen."
You can also drop onto the black blob from above (rather than jump
onto it from below) after entering this room for the first time from
the room above ("The Land of Wind and Ghosts"), which is a more
efficient route, IMO. So it is only partly true that you "must" jump
onto the blob in order to progress.
2. ROOM 15: "The Castle"
"* The hidden entrance to "bedroom role reversal games" [18]: Stand
above the "s" of "Items", facing left with your legs apart, and jump
left. This takes you slap through the bottom of "The Moat" [45]! This
is because the wall in "The Moat" acts like an ILB, even though it is
blocked - a feature first exploited in Goodnite Luddite (Broadsoft,
2002)."
I am not 100% sure, but I think that the same feature can be found in
Nick Aldridge's 2001 game "JSW Stupid". You can jump from the upper-
middle level of the room "links odour erects" [58] onto the middle
level of "Best of three" [11]. This manoeuvre is not necessary, but
it allows you - together with collecting the upper-left item in "Best
of three" with a quirky jump through an overhead Earth-cell - to
marginally improve your performance. Please see my RZX walkthrough
of "JSW Stupid" hosted on the RZX Archive to see exactly what I mean.
3. ROOM 30: "Where is Matthew Smith?"
"* It is not possible to cross this room from left to right, nor from
right to left. The quickest way to get across is to go up two rooms
to "Under the Womb" [42], where you can go back down twice to get to
the left side of this room, or go right to the top of "This game may
contain an insect" [43] to make your way down to the right side of
this room."
NOT TRUE. It IS possible to cross the room BOTH from left to right
AND from right to left. Please see the file "crossing_matthew.rzx"
which I have just uploaded to my folder in the Files section of the
Group.
4. ROOM 31: "Willy is obviously Jesus! ;-)"
"* To get the upper-right item in "Where is Matthew Smith?" [30],
stand on the rope such that there are seven pixels of rope below your
feet when the rope is in its central position. As the rope approaches
its left-boundary, jump left when the top of your hat is aligned with
the bottom of the isolated floor-blocks. Then jump left of the screen
from the very left edge of the screen with your legs apart, so as to
jump the six-character gap."
It is also possible to get that item by jumping up from inside the
Banyan tree in "Where is Matthew Smith?". Please see the end of the
file "crossing_matthew.rzx" or my RZX walkthrough of "Party Willy"
for this solution.
5. ROOM 32: "Halfway up the West Wall"
"* On entering at the top-left, curl up into the left edge of the
screen, facing right with three pixels of sawdust showing. When the
lower lip of the eye is aligned with the top of the static nasties,
jump right, walk right one step, jump right again, and wait at the
edge of the wall with the saw at its lowest. (...)"
It is possible to do it right after entering the room, in one fluent
movement - but only a fully-trained JSW player, with the Force as his
ally, will accomplish this feat :-) .
Well, this is all I want to say at this time. Once again, thanks a
lot, Andrew, for this great game, and I wish these days you would
have more time for JSW, so that you could please us with new, weird
and mind-bogglingly-difficult creations! :-)
Daniel
|
|
|