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
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Message: 6345
Author: andrewbroad
Date: 30/12/2007
Subject: ANNOUNCE: JSW64 Manic Miner: James Bond [v1.0]
To celebrate "Two Double-Oh Seven" before it ends, I am delighted to
announce the first gamma-release of JSW64 Manic Miner: James Bond
(v1.0), which is available as a free download from:
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/download/
The game is based on the James Bond character created by Ian Fleming,
and has 21 rooms, each corresponding to one of the official James
Bond 007 films produced by EON Productions (please don't sue me; I'm
making no money out of this whatsoever, so just think of it as free
advertising that might attract a few more people to the James Bond
franchise).
The game is based on John Elliott's JSW64 engine (Variant Z), which
combines almost all the features of Matthew Smith's classic Manic
Miner and Jet Set Willy, and adds novel features such as new
guardians (e.g. diagonal guardians, fast horizontal guardians,
triggers and stoppers), new cell-types (Trap-cells feature quite a
lot in my game), the ability to have up to 16 different cell-classes
in a room (each with its own cell-type, pixel-pattern and colour-
attribute), and the ability to enable superjump on a room-by-room
basis. In particular, this game is based on John Elliott's conversion
of Manic Miner to JSW64.
Using the JSW64 engine has enhanced the game technically, visually
and atmospherically. The ability to have different-coloured Air-cells
in each room has helped me to capture the atmosphere of two or three
locations from each Bond-film.
I believe that "Casino Royale" is the best MM/JSW room I have ever
written, combining visual attractiveness with some of my most
delightful quirky features (these being my trademark as a MM/JSW
author: I know all the tricks, I'm constantly looking for ways to
exploit them while I edit, and I believe I've introduced quite a few
new ones with this game!).
Although JSW64MM:JB uses features that originated in JSW (such as
ramps, arrows and (non-swinging) ropes), it is essentially a Manic
Miner game: the only way out of each room is via the portal, which
opens (turns red) after you have collected all the items in the room
without losing a life (in this game, you only live twice).
On top of the JSW64:Z engine, I have applied several patches of my
own: most notably Broadsoft Lifts (allowing you to stand on certain
horizontal and vertical guardians), and I have knocked out all the
exits at the edges of the screen so that instead of being taken to
another room, you wrap around just like in the Manic Miner sequels
that allow this. I have also reused Geoff Eddy's patch-vector to flip
Willy's horizontal position every 32 time-frames in "The Man with the
Golden Gun".
The difficulty of my MM/JSW games is always severe, and JSW64MM:JB is
no exception! It's full of quirky features and tight manoeuvres,
often requiring pixel-perfect jumps, sometimes with perfect timing.
Each room is an intricate network of constraints, forcing you to face
every single one of my intended challenges, though you do sometimes
have to make difficult choices about the order in which you do
things. My use of Crumbly cells, the relationships between guardians,
and their relationships with conveyors, all mean that the
consequences of your mistakes may return to haunt you several minutes
later!
I plan to extend my game as future Bond-films are released. Bond 22
is due in cinemas on 7th November 2008, so that will be added in
v1.1. I also intend to add a detailed discussion of each room, edit
the music, and produce an easy variant of the game.
Finally, I must confess that I have not playtested the game to
completion. I have playtested each room to completion after the last
time that I edited it, but the only way to be 100% certain that the
game is completable is to playtest the whole thing from beginning to
end without any editing in between.
I now intend to take a complete break from MM/JSW until February, as
I have a dreadful backlog of tennis-reports to work through before
the Australian Open (14th-27th January 2008). I'm sorry not to have
updated my List of MM/JSW Games - I'm on an extremely tight schedule
right now, and finishing JSW64MM:JB on time was my first priority.
--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/download/
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