CPL

I'm the current speccy speedrun holder at 13m24s. I used several strats pulled from crem's AI runs to improve my routes - most notably the Eugene's Lair route. I also used some of RuffledBricks' techniques for a few of the levels I was having trouble with. It's a far from perfect run though - I made a big error on Amoebatrons 2, and missed the first jump in the 16th Cavern by a frame which led to a longer time. I'm pretty sure it will be beaten as soon as someone puts the time in to do the runs. I'm much happier with my Kong Beast run which hit all the strats I was aiming for. I've never played the C64 version. I found it an interesting watch as the mechanics and timings appear to be different. The jump arc look a little different too. I can only presume that the C64 version was coded from scratch and the 'Is Willy On a Conveyor' check is done AFTER the movement check. I've just checked the MSX version and it follows the Speccy conveyor logic - if you make that jump on Central Cavern the player just 'sticks' on the conveyor. However, some of the strats from the speccy don't work in the MSX version down to differences in the collision. For example, you can't run straight along the bottom on Amoebatrons 1. You *have* to wait for the 2nd nasty to go past. I'd love to see an AI WRITETYPER run. I can imagine it would be hilariously fast.

I've just added ropes to my scrolling JSW remake (done in Game Maker Studio 2 - nothing elaborate). I got the data from the disassembly. They aren't as complicated to implement as you might think. I won't go into it if you've decided you definitely don't want them, but if you're interested I can post an explanation of how they work.

Sadly, I'm not sure the rights problems are going to get resolved in any hurry. My (limited) understanding is that Matthew Smith owns the rights to the Bug-Byte version of Manic Miner, but not the Software Projects editions. JSW was very much a Software Projects title and there seems to be no clear owner. It seems to me like you'd have two options - 1) Release it free as a fan made tribute. Although, I appreciate you've clearly put a HUGE amount of effort into it already and would like (and deserve) some recompense for it. 2) Take the 'Miner Willy' assets, rooms and all, out of the game and release it as a new game with the same base engine. Whim looks fun. Good luck with it! CPL

I was just coming in here to ask that! Progress update would be great! @Pixel Stonk

I remember playing the multiplayer Jet Set Willy online many years ago (I wonder what happened to that). It was a lot of fun, but it had a few major issues - the main one being that once you'd figured out an optimum route you could nearly always win in any race. I know it's a weird thing to equate it to, but Mario Kart battles sprang to mind. Although the original levels would be fun, I feel like you need arenas. Assuming you're writing this for modern hardware - there's no reason to limit the screen scaling to the size of the classic screens. I also feel like an element of randomness - Mario Kart pickups or Worms style drops - would make this more fun. Double-speed walking? Spring boots for extra high jumps? Wall gloves to climb up the sides? Freeze Ray to stop other players in their tracks for a few seconds? Something that lets you steal collected objects from the next player you touch? I'm sure there could be plenty of good ideas.

Does anyone know if there is a speedrun community anywhere for MM / JSW? (Or is this it? 🙂 ). I see it has an entry on speedrun.com but no forums or discords associated with it. @RuffledBricks - I'm looking in your direction as the WR holder?

@jetsetdanny - No release yet I'm afraid. There are still a few things that would need to go in. Rope collision is one of the major omissions at the moment! It would also need wrapping up in a proper title screen / end screen etc. I'll try and keep you guys updated. Although, as will all side projects, it's rather on hold at the moment whilst work is busy.

@Heracleum It's just one giant open tile map. There's no real reason the rooms or have to be the size they are other than me wanting to recreate the original game for nostalgia's sake. I don't think increasing the size of the map would be an issue either. There's nothing to say you couldn't have differently sized rooms if you were building a new map rather than a semi-direct remake. That said, there are a few things I DO calculate the equivalent room co-ordinate for - the room name for example. I also use a room co-ordinate to generate the enemies - it made it much easier to translate the data from the original game into the new map. The map isn't exactly huge by modern standards though. Exploring it and discovering rooms for yourself is part of the fun for a newbie player I think. Covering up unexplored screens is an interesting idea to allow manual zooming out without spoilers. It would act as a kind of map feature. I might look at doing that!

Thanks for the nice comments. Not seeing enemies in adjoining rooms is definitely an issue - I nearly hit the banyan tree saw making the video. I have quite a lot of control over how the camera behaves in a certain space - it has its own collision map. Some rooms need the camera locking otherwise it feels really odd. Other parts of the map it can flow more freely. The zoom level is controlled by the player at the moment. My plan is to use it as more of location based effect at certain points on the map where the wider view is more interesting - the ledge over the front door, the top of the watch tower, the yacht, top of the megatree, for example. Because of the way the flip screen works in the original I've had to make edits to the map to make staircases line up. Where the map itself doesn't line up I've had to move rooms from the roof and put them in the basement - "Down on the Battlements" 😁 - it seemed a zany enough idea to work in this game although the whole Hunchback joke is now somewhat lost. I've also added in a couple of rooms from JSW2 and one from Manic Miner to get it to all line up. I've added platforms here and there to allow the player to explore more freely. "Rescue Esmerelda" is now accessible from "Emergency Generator" for example. I'm considering adjusting "The Security Guard" and "The Wine Cellar" to allow exploring the basement in either direction. That TileMap app is really interesting! I didn't know about that. Funnily enough Starquake was another game I was considering giving the same treatment.

About a month back a friend of mine asked me to recommend a coding language for their son which could act as a step up from Scratch. It happened to coincide with a conversation I had with another person about Jet Set Willy. So after discovering Game Make Studio 2 is free for personal use I used the idea of making a quick Jet Set Willy screen as a test bench to see what it was like. Then I got carried away. 🙂 Enjoy! JSW-Features.mp4

It really does look good. I particularly like the idea of an underwater/diving area. If you do have any luck working towards a release I'm sure there would be plenty of volunteers around here to help with playtesting. 🙂 Good luck with it!

As Spider said - it's not particularly clear. Sadly, I don't think Matthew Smith owns any of the rights to it so wouldn't be able to help. https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmcase/page/Results/1/UK00003081930 https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/jet-set-willy-zx-spectrum/id418193849 The registered trademark appears to be owned by Elite Systems and they also released the iOS version - so I'd say they're your best bet.