Norman Sword

My comment was on the fly.

Since lambs have no plumage, they will plummet,

Not something I had noticed before. But are you aware of falling Skylambs. One of the most deadly objects known to Willy. Comes down and "CHOP" Willy is dead. I am sure that the word was misheard, and knowing the nature of computer games, was not questioned.

I watched all of the JSW2+ and all of the double manic miner speed play. Very interesting to watch.

Remember that keyboard movement is not the only movement Willy makes. 1) forced movement via a conveyor 2) falling 3) jumping 4) collapsing a platform floor.

The first post mentions the inability of my pc to correctly scan the emulated spectrum keyboard. Which prompted me to write the key_test routine. That was way back in 2017. Since then I have moved through several machines and also several operating systems. My present configuration does not exhibit any problems. In 2020 I changed my pc and installed windows 10 pro. That pc was originally configured with a new keyboard that had a strange keyboard layout and also a keyboard reset button. That when pressed turned the pc off. Something that I might have reconfigured eventually. I took another path and installed a gaming pc keyboard. That keyboard when hooked up to my pc and running FUSE which is emulating a ZX spectrum, which is running Key_test4.tap. Shows my gaming pc keyboard can pass any combination of keys through to Key_test4. And when I say any, I have tested as many as 20+ keys at a time. I once spent hours reading the technical blurb on the CPC machines. Which outlined the technical reasons why the CPC does have scanning problems. In usage the real and physical zx spectrum has not given me any keyboard scanning problems. The problems only started with emulation and the convoluted passage of data from keyboard hardware to pc hardware to operating system to emulator to emulated zx hardware to zx program. Where the problem lies is "above my pay grade". But the purchase of a gaming keyboard which is designed to stop key jamming and a host of other problems would seem to indicate to me that the physical keyboard was probably the main culprit of my old problems.

Mentioning the key scanning process, prompted me to edit the "Key_test.tap" program, mentioned in the first post. Since I can see no means of editing the first post, I can not add the update there. I have graphically updated the program mentioned "Key_test.tap". I know it is only a utility written in a few hours, but I felt it could look graphically better. This is only a small graphical update. Purpose of program:- Running this program will repeatedly scan the keyboard and display the output as would be scanned by a spectrum. Some keyboards do not enable multiple key presses to be passed through the host machine and into an emulator. This program will display the keys an emulated spectrum would see. key_test4.tap

In the distant past, I too had problems with keyboard scanning. Whole groups of keys would not be responsive when playing JSW or MM and the cheat was activated. This inability to scan the keys accurately meant the cheat actions on those games could not be fully implemented. I wrote a very small program to display the results of what the host machine sees when emulating a spectrum's keyboard. That program showed me that on the computer I was using at that time. The exact problem of scanning for D-F-G was also prevalent. (my present keyboard/computer does not exhibit the same problems) The above is the primary reason I tend to not ask for multiple key presses when writing a game. Because these key options, in Manic Panic, were not an important part of the game. I was only concerned with my own ability to change those in game options. When the routine was written. To check out if your emulation of the zx spectrum is having problems, it is probably worth running the emulation test program I wrote. The program I wrote was called key_test.tap It is available to members somewhere on this forum. It's under the heading "Emulator key scanning" ------------------------------------------------------------------- The routine for drawing dust is added in a similar way to how keys are drawn. The game loop has already drawn and animated the conveyors, Willy, Sprites etc and has checked for collision. Then it adds dust, keys, portals. So collision with dust can never occur.

Merry Christmas to all.

Just as easy for me to explain those extra key presses. There are two other key combinations that change trivial game settings. If the key combinations do not work, then the option can not be changed. Both of the extra options are as stated trivial changes to the game. I added the options, simply to see which setting I prefered. The default setting is my prefered setting. Very brief ---- "A" - "S" - "D" changes the interrupts (as stated on my last post) "S" - "D" - "F" changes the way the border flashes when Item/objects are collected. "D" - "F" - "G" changes the way the way landing on a platform is displayed. (Dust) ------------------------------------- "ASD" changes interrupts - Status indicator= "H-score" - Green=interrupts on - Yellow=interrupts off "SDF" changes border flash - Status indicator =The numeric part of "SCORE 000000" - White=border flash on - Cyan=border flash off "DFG" changes foot landing (dust) - Status indicator= The numeric part of "H-SCORE 000000" - White=dust displayed - Cyan= No dust displayed ------------------------------------- The border flash was added simply because I tend to play without the sound turned on. When playing "Water Permeation" the item/objects turn themselves on and off at regular intervals. It is possible to jump at an item/object that is displayed and at the moment of collection the item/object could switch off. When playing with no sound there is no real feedback as to whether the item was collected or it switched off. The border flash was added just for this room. If playing with sound, probably no reason to have the flash enabled. The combination "SDF" will turn the flash on/off/on etc. ------------------------------------- The foot dust routine was added over a period of an hour. The switch option was added so I could see which mode I prefered. It was left as being on by default ------------------------------------ If the above options can not be switched by the relevant key combinations you are not missing much. They were written basically for me to change at will what the game displayed. I consider the three sets of key switches a trivial addition - they are not intended game features. ---------------------------------- Trivia:- The end game sequence where it says "PLAYING VICTORY TUNE" and the sequence of border flashes, is another consequence of me playing with no sound. Without that feedback text and border flash, it looks like the game has crashed.

The purpose of those keypress combinations was to enable raster interrupts. I constantly experiment and one of those experiments was the enabling of interrupts. The purpose of enabling interrupts was to stop the jitter caused by framing rates being inconsistent. (I can expand on why that causes jitter, and what is the actual cause of the change in framing rate) - but not here Enabling interrupts allows for more consistent frame time, which helps stop jitter. It does however as a trade off, slow the game down. The amount of slowing down will vary and whilst it does slow the game down. The amount is based on rounding up frame times and will not produce a slowed down game as such. Some caverns could run at nearly the same speed whilst others are slowed down quite a bit. Since its purpose is NOT to enable a slower game but to stop jitter with a side effect of possibly slowing the game down in some caverns. Knowing how to switch the effect on will not really help if the objective is to run the game slower. The title is Manic Panic - a game that runs fast, and plays fast. Willy Lethargic can be achieved by changing the speed of most emulators to play at what ever speed is needed. The above mentions why I added the ability to enable interrupts. And why I prefer the game to be left at full speed. However I added the ability to enable interrupts because of MY concern over jitter. And for that reason alone, I will divulge the key press needed to enable interrupts just to show that the judder/jitter that the game experiences can be removed if needed. Whilst playing:- Press "A" "S" "D" all together - the game will enter pause and display the status line. (doing this action will also change the status of the interrupts) The colour of "H-Score" indicates the status of Interrupts - Green indicates Interrupts are enabled and the game might run slower with no jitter/judder Yellow indicates interrupts are turned off and the game runs flat out with slight jitter/judder Exit back to the game with any key that exits from pause. Interrupts can be turned on and off at any time and in any room/cavern. Repressing "A" "S" "D" whilst in pause will toggle Interrupts on/off/on etc

Anyone following the heading Post of "MANIC PANIC" would after around 16 posts, find the theme has been hijacked into a discussion on Christmas and JSWED . JSWED is a program I do not use. A program that does not enable anyone to edit anything written by me (Norman Sword) - Altered Reality - Manic Panic - Manic 40 Miner - Dual (SP and BB) Manic Miner etc The hiatus in the theme would probably curtail the casual reader from continuing if their only interest was Manic Panic, and for that reason I will not add anymore detail about Manic Panic here. If any more detail is needed it will probably be easier to edit one of my posts the occur before post 16 and add any detail there. (before the major sidetrack) Concerning Downloads:- Great to pass 350 downloads, which are of course FREE.

Tools used for writing Manic Panic Context (text editor for writing the assembler code) Pasmo (A z80 assembler) Fuse (for testing assembled code) QBasic for tedious calculations. Code was written as needed - no usage of libraries. No usage of other programs - apart from those listed above. All additional graphics were typed in binary. Music data and music code directly typed in. Room layout data (platform positions)- typed in directly in hex. Sprite movement and room specific data - typed out by hand. Sprite movement - mentally calculated and typed in. Room graphic tile data (numeric data was visually taken from another program I wrote MANIC 40 MINER and then typed in. I allowed macro's to transpose the data. The main code block is 9,155 lines of comments, equates and code. which is 450k in size The sprite file is 1,480 lines of hex statements and binary statements. which is 41k in size The room data is 3,450 lines of macro's and data statements. which is 128k in size Every time I changed the program logic and needed different data - I edited the above files with a text editor.

Willy having a directional beam of light. A topic I have known about for many many years. Which was not a new idea for me, so- Sorry to disappoint you, but the original code and idea was mooted for Jet Set Willy 2. The room with the trip switch was designed to switch off the lights and implement a circle of light. The circle of light code was written, but took too long to implement as a game feature. I'll expand on that - Derrick P Rowson had written a graphic routine to illuminate a circle of light. If the code had been implemented on the spectrum first the circle of light would have been implemented. Alas the original version was on a CPC 464 and the speed of processing was not fast enough.

View File Manic Panic Manic Panic. Plays on ZX Spectrum and similar hardware. Runs and plays in48K This game could have been written when the originals of Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy and Jet set Willy 2 was written. It does not need the memory or hardware of the expanded versions of the ZX spectrum. very very brief note:- The original plan was to create a full sized playing screen game. An upgrade on the 2/3 screen playing area of MM and JSW. I decided to continue the story of Miner Willy. Willy Started out exploring in Manic Miner, and hit the jackpot. He then splashed out his monies on a new mansion which was explored in Jet set Willy 1/2 and 2+. In the present day his memory of the past is playing tricks on his mind. Did he switch any of the robots off in Manic Miner? In Manic Panic I leave you to find out. What he does next Whilst the basic code was easy enough to write, I did encounter problems with breakup on one part of the screen. This problem nearly caused me to to cease writing and scrap the idea. I persevered and after two weeks I had most of the basic code. The game has multiple playing modes 0) Trainer, 1) Normal, 2) Expert, 3) Ace , 4) Lantern, 5) Torch. Each mode differs from the others modes in a specific way. Outline, based on how I remember the code. Modes 0) Trainer -- Full oxygen ---- Slow oxygen depletion ------ Oxygen depletes on contact - (-2) sprites - No final Bonus - No end game 1) Normal --- Metered oxygen - Normal oxygen depletion ---- Oxygen depletes on contact - (-1) sprite -- Final Bonus ---- End game ----- enables ace mode 2) Expert --- Metered oxygen - Faster oxygen depletion ---- No contact allowed (death) - all sprites -- Final Bonus ---- End game ----- enables ace mode 3) Ace ------ Metered oxygen - Very fast oxygen depletion - No contact allowed (death) - all sprites -- Final Bonus ---- End game ----- playable only if another mode was completed. Extended modes - added as a novelty 4) Lantern -- Metered oxygen - Normal oxygen depletion ---- Oxygen depletes on contact - (-1) sprite -- Final Bonus ---- End game ----- enables ace mode 5) Torch ---- Metered oxygen - Faster oxygen depletion ---- No contact allowed (death) - all sprites -- Final Bonus ---- End game ----- enables ace mode -- oxygen depletion stops if static. The extended modes adds a lot of code. And are based on the idea that the caverns are dark and are illuminated by Willy in two ways. In lantern mode the cavern is completely Blued out. Willy can use the light that is attached to his helmet and illuminate the cavern. The light will point in the direction of Willies travels. If Willy is walking Right the the beam of light from Willies helmet will also shine to the right. Conversely for the left. When Willy is static and is not moving horizontally Willy can rotate the beam of light in either direction. The keys for rotating the beam of light are the keys "H","J","K","L" - with "H" and "K" rotating in one direction and "J","L" rotating in the other direction. The rotation keys have inbuilt delays (similar to keyboard delays). The items are set to still colour cycle or animate in the blued out room , so their positions are always visible. The portal is also still visible. The above (lantern) was extended into another version. The Torch version. Here the room is blacked out, which makes the surrounding platforms disappear. In order to facilitate playing in such a room, and not make it pure guesswork or committed to memory in order to play. A small area around willy is Blued out, this area shows the platform willy is standing on. The steady depletion of oxygen is stopped, whenever Willy is static (stopped) and the rotation of the torch beam can be undertaken to illuminate other parts of the screen. To further facilitate travelling around the screen, all items/objects/keys collected will briefly flash and illuminate the room when they are collected. I have played every cavern in Lantern and in torch mode, whilst it can add a layer of difficulty to each cavern. The fact I have completed them shows me they can be completed. The screens have not been memorised by me and since they are all relatively new, I play them with only a limited memory of how to play them each time I see them. Changes from MM/JSW This list just touches on some aspects of code change. I rewrote everything- some with better design than others. Full screen playing area - an increase of nearly 50% Willy now has a sprite mask. All sprites can move in any direction. Room events are changed to sprite events. E.g. Kong is a sprite and not a cavern that has Kong in it. Sprite events can be mixed. e.g. Kong- Skylab - light beams etc can all exist in any cavern. Sprite events specify their own graphics. e.g. you can have differing graphics on the Skylab graphic event in the same room. Sprites can cross other sprites - without killing Willy. Sprites can cross graphics in the background without killing Willy. every sprite can define its own graphic. Sprites can be 16, 8 or 4 pixels high. Addition of worm collision sprites. Addition of time phased dropping sprites. Addition of animated items/keys. Colour cycling on items/keys cycles correctly in 7 cycles and does not repeat in cycles of eight with duplicate colours. Keys/items can animate in 1 phase, 2 phase, 4 phases. Cavern graphics allow up to 16 differing graphics per room. Cavern graphics incorporate a new style of tile - being an invisible/ignore tile. Graphics such as the nasty graphics are during game cycle allowed to act as nasties and also be ignored. -- reason for ignore tiles -- In JSW/MM - Willy can stand on any tile -- These tiles need to be ignored due to being able to survive nasty contact. Graphics do not suffer the duplication of colours bug that plague the differing versions of JSW and MM. Possible to have two differing tiles and one colour. Multiple on screen Conveyors can be animated in different places. Conveyors can have both left and right conveyors in the same cavern. Special code added to allow Willy to straddle two conveyors and not lock the movement keys out. Air bar is depleted in a progressive manor. Depletion when full is slow. When nearly empty depletion is fast. Rate of depletion is based on the height of the oxygen. The change in speed of depletion is constantly changing. Air bar depletion is also changed by the game level played. Easy levels use a slower rate of depletion compared to the harder levels of play. Dual title music playing routine Music routine play pitch corrected notes. Music routine illuminates correct keyboard keys. Music routine allows music tempo change. Music routine allows notes of differing length Music routine allows rests. Music routine can play notes from 5 octaves Multiple game playing modes 0) Trainer, 1) Normal, 2) Expert, 3) Ace , 4) Lantern, 5) Torch. Each mode differs from the others modes in a specific way. Behind the scenes a lot of added code is taking care of several aspects of space management. Since this is just a short note those aspects and the details of the changes will not be added here. Submitter Norman Sword Submitted 12/09/2020 Category Manic Miner [Remakes]  

My break from posting was extended. In the end quite a bit bigger than the 30 days I visualised. Welcome back. I will shortly post the version of Manic Panic that was created during that break. That was version 1.4 - which quickly became V1.5 due to typographical errors. (it's a tradition I missed out a letter "i" in one word)

Tonight I stop all posts and take a rest from my computer for a month. So today is the 21st july 2020 , I will take a break from z80, zx spectrum and forums until 21st August 2020. The slow drip drip of additions stops. Have a nice summer.

Thanks I will edit the name..... Which incidentally was copied from post #187 The height of the beam as opposed to the width, is not fixed. Depending on the depth needed to see down further I could extend the range downwards.

Pgyuri Pgyuri's Halo:- which is a halo of light surrounding Willy. Normans Sword's Light beam :- Is a light beam which is rotatable and directional Rotation of beam Pgyuri NO Stopping of clock Pgyuri NO Display of objects Pgyuri NO ; No feedback to where the objects are. No feedback for object collection Display of portal Pgyuri NO ; No feedback when the objects have all been collected. No feedback where the portal is Playable on unknown screen Pgyuri NO : the halo will not project across gaps. Jumps to other platforms are just guess work. Halo of light Pgyuri yes Directional beam Pgyuri directional bias on halo Ability to see ahead Pgyuri NO Ability to see above Pgyuri NO. Object just two blocks away can not be seen. Jumping to collect an unseen object is guess work. Hazards can also not be seen. Ability to see below Pgyuri NO objects just two blocks below his feet can not be seen. Falling of a platform to a lower platform is Guess work From this point onwards I will always refer to the original routine as Pgyuri's Halo. And mine as Norman Sword's Light beam.

in jest- the walls in the cavern are made from translucent crystals. Such as diamonds, emeralds, jade, etc. the light would pass through the crystals and illuminate the scene behind. This is the reason for Willies riches.

Not something I will look into. Black on blue turned into blue on black. The alternative being - Black on black. No matter what is checked there is no alternative where the paper is black. I set out to do a quick interpretation of the original code and extend it.. That code took around two days to do. The added code checking I have done since was to increase its play ability. Something I regret doing, it was a path that I added onto the code, that I still have misgivings about. The quirks will come thick and fast. I already know of several others. Cast you mind back to JSW and MM in their original guise and count the dozens of quirks they exhibit. How many years have you personally spent trying to correct them? The code I have written will exhibit lots of strange traits. Most of which I will not even attempt to change.

Played a few screens, with the particular interest in what the conveyors do in candle mode I encountered the static conveyor problem, which is not the same as mentioned elsewhere. (but similar to) In cavern/room 3 there are two low conveyors. The first one that can be jumped on is the conveyor on the lower right. If I press and hold the right movement key and jump onto the conveyor. The wall on the far right will stop my progress. The conveyor is trying to move me left. Here we have a static condition. But the oxygen will still deplete and we can not rotate the beam. I changed the basic code and changed what was being examined for static conditions to be met. Simple enough change, which also needed the drawing of Willy to also be very slightly changed. Just a re-order of the code which calculates the sprite definition to be drawn. The changes in code seemed to do the trick. The next problem was how the static condition was handled by the oxygen/timer. The new problem was caused by the sequence of updates in the code. The timer needed to be updated after Willy had moved, instead of before as was originally coded. Again a simple enough change. With the above changes. The actions of Willy on a conveyor are handled differently. -------------------------------------------- Jumping in cavern/room 3 onto the right lower conveyor and keeping the right keys pressed. When willy hits the wall and his animation stops. With the above change. --- The clock stops and Willy can rotate the beam. Does this merit another update ? - A version mp_V13.tap is added to mp_V12.tap accessible via This Link ------------------------------------------ I probably need to start some other code - and not play this game more or even read the source code. Most of the update I have done recently, stem from just editing the code layout to make it look neater. This entails doing global name changes, making all tabs and all comments line up exactly in the same column. etc Something that does not happen when the code is being written. However this does often alert me to things I can do with already written code. I might be re-reading a piece of code written a few week ago. looking at it afresh will sometimes trigger a response in me, of how I could re-write a sequence to be faster or smaller. This re-reading code, can end up as large re-writes of code. ------------------------------------------------- Addendum to the comment above... The lining up of comments, tabs code etc, is actually done by another program I wrote. Its purpose being just to standardise the look of the code. It takes my source code and re-formats into the look I want.

The worm that plays - The ball playing worm on the Title screen. After I wrote the routine, I was very tempted to add a screen with just the worm on the bottom of the screen and the balls being fired up across the screen. It would have been similar to the Sky-labs, only with the objects moving up and down from below. If I do any other games - I might add the worm.

Updated the title screen animation. Removed all other versions. 1 version which has all the updates in. That's my lot on this format-version. This Link