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: 6785
Author: surfingonsquarewaves
Date: 13/02/2015
Subject: Re: "Stay Kool", "The Archaeologist" and "Subterranean Nightmare" -
Hi Danny. Yes, in the 80's software shelves were completely inundated with platform games, largely sparked off by and inspired by (and usually ripping off) Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy. I'd never heard of Stay Kool and Subterranean Nightmare, have just had a quick look at them, and they're pale imitations of the original article IMO.
Most platform games fail in three ways when compared to classics like JSW, Monty on the Run, etc:
Firstly, the game engines of knockoffs tend to be flakey - they get the job done - your character can move, jump, animate, etc, but they simply aren't fun to operate, have bad collision detection and irregular movement, often with stiff jumping, and frequently annoy the player. While MM and JSW indeed have stiff jumps (in that you can't modulate your jump height by holding down the jump key, nor get any kind of "air control" on your jumps), they were 100% reliable in that visually you can tell how far you will jump and your walking animation clues you in as to when you can jump from the very edge of a platform. Knockoff engines also tend to have "triangular" jumps (up and down in linear segments), whereas a good platformer will provide a jump that approximates half of a sine function (a smooth curve with a broad apex).
Secondly, most authors completely fail at level design. Manic Miner is still extremely fun to play to this day, and JSW was ahead of it's time by catering to casual and hardcore players alike, by allowing easy passage around the levels to facilitate exploring. Matt Smith's level design chops are legendary in my opinion. Most people seem to think they can plonk a few platforms down, make them look like something in real life (such as a room of a house or a landscape), and call it a day. Good level design has the player in mind and will create a space for the player to move through, always considering the player's options and guiding them.
Thirdly, atmosphere is important. MM and JSW have a unique graphical style despite the straightjacket of 8-bit graphics. All of the rooms appear to be part of the same "world" and share an art style, while there's enough variation between room to room. Again, Matthew Smith excelled in this department, providing his layouts with a certain "feng shui". This was made obvious when JSW 2 came out - the non-Smith rooms, although competent, stood out like a sore thumb next to the originals (though I quite liked Megaron, the toilet sequence, and the sewer sequence as standouts).
By the end of the 80's pretty much everyone except me and a few other nerds were sick of platform games, especially 8-bit style ones. During the 90's I honestly never thought we'd see new platformers getting made, beyond the 3D type ones such as Tomb Raider. (Don't even get me started on the shortcomings of 3D platforming!).
Anyway, there were some other well known platform games for the Speccy. Check out Pyramania if you get a minute. Very difficult, and the controls are a bit finnicky, but it has a great atmosphere! There's also Odd Job Eddie which was famous for being a "hack" of Pyramania and a bit of a joke, but secretly I quite like it because it has a sort of claustrophobic, chaotic approach to screen layout. Again, like most games that aren't MM or JSW, the gameplay is a bit touch and go.
|
|
|