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using Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy game engines
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Message: 6481
Author: Daniel
Date: 20/10/2008
Subject: "Ma jolie" Game-engine bug / RZX walkthroughs
1.
The RZX walkthroughs of "Ma jolie" have been updated in the RZX
Archive (www.rzxarchive.co.uk/m.php#manicmajolie). The ZIP file now
includes walkthroughs of both versions (Ma jolie and Ma jolite) of
the Special Edition and much-improved walkthroughs of both versions
of the Original Edition. The hard version's final score has been
improved by over 3000 points; the lite version's score by over 2000
points, with which the final scores I achieved (including the air
bonus after the last room) are:
Ma jolie Original Edition: 37627 pts.
Ma jolie Special Edition: 37275 pts.
Ma jolite Original Edition: 39531 pts.
Ma jolite Special Edition: 39165 pts.
Which means that, firstly, the game is not really particularly time-
consuming if played fluently, and, secondly, the closed loophole in
the Special Edition "costs" the player just over 350 pts.
2.
Andrew Broad wrote in the text file included with the game,
concerning "The Hot Room" (01):
(snip) "Oh, and there's a sneaky trick to make you have to go all
the way round again after collecting the 'last' item."
In fact, you do NOT have to go all the way round again at all.
Download the walkthroughs to see how it can be done :-) .
3.
Andrew wrote in the text file included with the game,
concerning "The Mad Ramblings of Longbeard" (05):
(snip) "It's up to you whether you want to 'walk the plank' before
or after you jump across the crumbling clouds, " (snip)
In fact, you do NOT have to jump across the crumbling clouds from
one end of the room to the other, and afterwards (or before) 'walk
the plank'. You can get the rightmost item separately and afterwards
(or before) jump across the crumbling clouds and drop down onto the
ship, so that you 'walk the plank' only one way (saving some time).
This involves using a quirky feature of the game engine which has to
do with jumping off the top of the screen. I don't really understand
how it works; I just know, by trial and error, that it does. I am
pretty sure that it (or a similar, related feature) has been
exploited (purposefully) in "Manic Scribbler" (in various rooms, I
believe) and I have seen it happen (though not used purposefully) in
the room "GoldenEye" (16) in "JSW64 Manic Miner: James Bond" (see
messages # 6355, 6356 and 6357).
Unfortunately, it also involves I believe the jumping-off-the-
top-of-the-screen bug which tramples over memory when you fall off
the bottom of the screen or jump up off the top, with the curious
result that if you proceed this way in "Ma jolie" (either edition)
the game becomes impassable later on, while in "Ma jolite" (either
edition) you can still complete the game and (by saving time) boost
your final score by over 100 pts.!
Now, I assume the problem is the jumping-off-the-top-of-the-screen
bug. However, I cannot quite discard that the problem may have
something to do with the phenomenon whereby standing on a Crumbly
cell in row 0 o 1 causes the cells in row 8 or 9, respectively, to
crumble.
The jumping-off-the-top-of-the-screen bug has been described in
detail (also technical) by Andrew in the "Technical Notes" on his
2004 game "Manic Miner: Neighbours - Allana Truman" (included with
the game file). Andrew actually fixed the bug in Room 7 of that game.
The bug has also been mentioned in messages 4599 and 5390 (in the
latter in connection with "MM:N-AT"). It may have been mentioned
somewhere else, too, I can't recall at this moment.
The phenomenon of the cells crumbling 8 rows below is mentioned by
Andrew in his description of "Advanced MM/JSW Trainer"
(http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/download/trainer.html)
[in point 10 of section "Room-ideas: MM48 annex"]. It was also
discussed in messages # 5766 and 5784 in the Group.
In "Ma jolie" the intriguing thing is that the corruption is not
visible either in the room where the bug happens ("The Mad Ramblings
of Longbeard" [05] - unless the crumbling cells 8 rows below have
something to do with it) or in the following room 06 ("The Vatican")
and then it suddenly shows its ugly head in room 07 ("Ape-Men with
Metal Parts")! Some additional blocks appear there on the middle-
left. In "Ma jolite" they are harmless, and you can negotiate "Ape-
Men with Metal Parts" without any problems. However, in "Ma jolie"
one of the newly-appeared, buggy blocks behaves like a Fire-cell,
and it blocks any further progress in the game. Please see my RZX
walkthrough hosted by the RZX Archive to see what happens in "Ma
jolite" (either version, i.e. either the original or the special
edition) and please see the file "my_jolly_bug.zip" in my folder
[Daniel Gromann] in the Files section of the Group to see what
happens in "Ma jolie" and how the player is prevented from
continuing in "Ape-Men with Metal Parts" if he/she chooses to
solve "The Mad Ramblings of Longbeard" in this most efficient,
unorthodox, and as it turns out self-destructive way.
In "Ma jolite" I didn't notice any further corruption after the
room "Ape-Men with Metal Parts" the game can be completed. After
passing the final room ("Heathen (The Rays)") I played on to see
what would happen. "The Mad Ramblings of Longbeard" didn't have any
corruption. I solved it in the traditional way and went on to "Ape-
Men with Metal Parts" to discover that the corruption was still
there! It was as harmless as before. You can see this test in the
file "jolly_jolite.rzx" in my folder in the Files section of the
Group.
I don't know what happens in "Ma jolie", since one cannot progress
beyond "Ape-Men with Metal Parts" after the bug has occurred. I
would assume it remains there, just as its equivalent does in "Ma
jolite".
Now, a suggestion for an utterly-sophisticated game designer: design
a game in which, if you solve room A in the traditional way, two
rooms later (in room C) you encounter an obstacle which makes the
game impossible to complete. However, if you complete room A causing
the jumping-off-the-top-of-the-screen bug, the obstacle in room C is
there no longer, because the bug has made it disappear :-) .
Daniel
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