SymbolShift

Works great for me! Very playable. Considering this is your first game AND it's done with a drag-and-drop language, this is a fantastic achievement. Give yourself a pat on the back 🙂

Works great for me! Very playable. Considering this is your first game AND it's done with a drag-and-drop language, this is a fantastic achievement. Give yourself a pat on the back 🙂

Yes, I was referring to "lives left" area at the bottom, I apologize for not being more specific. I have seen that area become corrupt before (finishing MM multiple times is a good example). Since it's intentional then I'm all for adding a splash of colour to the sprites which are often monochromatic 👍 I look forward to exploring more, since I only survived several screens on my first few attempts 😂 By the way, great job on the game!!

Thank you SymbolShift. 🙂
I didn´t know that about Manic Miner bottom area as I haven´t played to that far (survived...😄).
As I had to make last minute fixes and Danny kindly made a last minute fix I was asking for, I had to play the game through once again and I had to keep trying in some rooms to pass through them even it´s my game! 😂 I have intentionally made the rooms a bit "hard" as this JSW game is not meant for kids anymore, as we aren´t kids anymore. And as many players here are JSW and MM experts, their skills are probably far above mine 😆 so I had to add a bit "hardness" to my game to prevent dullness. 🙂
That´s the reason I added infinite lives Poke from Richard Hallas´ game Join the Jet-Set! to bring anyone a chance to finish my game if they want to. 🙂 Thank you again, Richard!
But please try without that Poke first,
 

Yes, I was referring to "lives left" area at the bottom, I apologize for not being more specific. I have seen that area become corrupt before (finishing MM multiple times is a good example). Since it's intentional then I'm all for adding a splash of colour to the sprites which are often monochromatic 👍 I look forward to exploring more, since I only survived several screens on my first few attempts 😂 By the way, great job on the game!!

Can confirm it loads and looks like your picture. The title screen looks strange as well - (But with artistic licence - perhaps that is how it is meant to look)

SymbolShift, I have experienced the same sprite corruption, if you are talking about the white guardian in the first room. :) It disappears for a fraction of a second, because there are two white guardians (both using the same sprites), to make that alcoholist not walk in a straight line. That effect was better originally, but it made the game hard, as first I was making this game just for me and I knew what to expect so it had to be hard. But after I decided to eventually publish this one day, I had to change it, as it would have made the game too hard for others.
But perhaps you mean those "lives left" sprites, as Norman also points to title screen. :) Those colour blocks on the bottom are for making lives left sprites more colourful. :)
I would like to hear more feedback, I don´t mind if you like my game or not. :) But of course it would be nice, if there are something what you like, as that means I have succeeded to bring some nice moments for you. :)
I didn´t aim to make an usual Willy game, more like a little unusual instead. About some things what I have added to my game, I don´t know if others have used the similar ideas (effects) previously, as I have mainly played Willy homebrews around 20 years ago or so. I have given just a quick look for the ones made in the last 10 years, it´s not that I don´t want to, but I am not in a good shape to concentrate to them better. That´s why I don´t know about the effects what others have made, except that one or few new games seem to have bi-colour guardians. As I haven´t read well or at all those topics, I had just thought that some coding was needed for those bi-colour guardians. There are few other things I have noticed, but I don´t remember them right now. It´s possible that I have invented the wheel few times during making my game. :D But that made the game making just more fun, as I had to try to think by myself different ways how to make something. :) I hope that at least some of you will play far enough to find them.
For some reason I can´t add any emoji graphics now, the emoji menu stays just empty.

Manic Miner "maximum score" TAS has just been published to TASVideos. I originally submitted it as "maximum score, no deaths" as it's possible to score infinitely high otherwise, but I'm not in charge of the final naming. Total gameplay time is 2:17:43.

Welcome manic986!
Using a visual (drag and drop) language like Scratch for a MM remake is not ideal, but it looks like you have managed to navigate around any limitations very well. Fantastic job! Looking forward to seeing the final project, and what comes next... 😀

Welcome manic986!
Using a visual (drag and drop) language like Scratch for a MM remake is not ideal, but it looks like you have managed to navigate around any limitations very well. Fantastic job! Looking forward to seeing the final project, and what comes next... 😀

Red-zed! that's a good one. I used to spend hours on end typing in those magazine listings, only to come across a printing smudge near the end and attempt to decipher it.

I thought some folks might like to see this. My cavern format for the Scratch project lightly mimics the original MM room format. There is a bit less freedom in scratch but I'm trying to make all my levels self described and thus end up with something I can edit in vim before pasting it in to scratch as a list of characters. Here is what the first Kong level looks like without spaces and newlines removed. Currently the only special level is the last level (whatever that is)
Miner.Willy.meets.the.Kong.Beast W.V.......V......W..W..........W W................W..W..........W W............I.FFW...........FFW W................W.............W W................W.............W WFFF.....FFFFFF..WFF...........W W.............I..W...FFFF.....FW W.FFF............W.........F...W W.I.....FFF......W.............W W................WFFFFF........W WF..........FFF..W.........FFFFW W........FF......W.............W W...FF...........W....FFFFF....W W..........RRRWPPWFF.........I.W W.............WPPW.....X.......W WFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFW ................weedy........1.2 ................brick........162 dotty........1.4................ plant........0.4stalictite...0.5 banana.......................... level8..........02.14.0.128..... switch..1.06.00.0.17.11.1.02.0.6 switch..2.18.00.0.15.02.0.02.0.6 Hbarrel.......0.01.09.09.14.7................1.4 Hbarrel.......1.11.15.11.12.0.11.18..........1.3 Hbarrel.......0.18.21.18.08.0................0.5 Vkong.........3.0.032.232.15.032.4.2.2.0.6...1.4  

Thanks @SymbolShift. Yeah. It is not ideal by more than a long short especially anything data related. Actually your name just reminded me of myself and my cousin typing in basic games out of the INPUT magazine... Neither of us knew what the ':' character was called and we used to call it "red-zed" because of the keys your pressed. He used to call out the code and I would type it in. Good times.

Welcome manic986!
Using a visual (drag and drop) language like Scratch for a MM remake is not ideal, but it looks like you have managed to navigate around any limitations very well. Fantastic job! Looking forward to seeing the final project, and what comes next... 😀

We have gone over 16,000 posts on the forum today, 25th April 2024! 😁
You can't see it on the main page with this new version of the software (because it only shows a rounded-up number), but we have been tracking it on the admins' side and it's just happened. A big thank you to everyone who keeps the forum going! 🙂 

and welcome Dickie! It's good to see another Amiga JSW author on here. I also wrote my version between Uni and Job, just like you. I was very young at the time so it's certainly not my finest work 😁

Hi there - original author here 🙂 This was my one and only 'published' game.  I wrote it between finishing uni and getting a job (which was about a year!).  I find it nice that it's still talked about and played.  Wish I had the time to write a sequel 😉

A big THANKS and hats off to Andy (Spider) for fixing the site! He did it all by himself, both providing the upgraded software and performing the update. It feels good to be back. Thanks again, Andy! 👍 🙏  👏 🍾

We have updated the software here to future proof the site for newer server requirements.
Sorry for the downtime however it was immediately necessary without prior notice, otherwise an announcement would of been shown for a few days.
 
You'll find things almost just as they were, we decided to remove the redundant 'articles' system as no one ever used it. The topics are best placed if needed with a new area for guides and tutorials.
 
Note that there are still some small adjustments to make over the following week however the site is ready to be opened again.
 
Of course if you should spot anything amiss please either post here into this topic or message me or jetsetdanny.
 
Thank you.

I've noticed many users of this forum talk "Z80" assembly. What is the best resource out there for learning Z80 in 2024?
It could be a series of modern YT tutorials, or a gem of a book that was written in the 70's/80's.
I'm curious if these was a single resource that made it "click" for anyone.
Thanks.

Thanks DD. I would say my experience falls into your #2 category. I'm no stranger to coding, but assembly has very specific knowledge (such as bit-shifting and CPU architecture) that I rarely use. I'm sure assembly shares many similar principles as modern languages, but it always seemed so different that many people (me included) have avoided learning it in the past.

It'll depend on what programming experience you have already.
1. If you've not done any coding before at all, I definitely wouldn't recommend starting with assembly - follow a Python tutorial (effectively the modern BASIC) and learn the basic concepts before tackling assembly.
2. If you have knowledge of higher-level languages but have never done any assembly, Z80 isn't a bad place to start with that. You could follow the links in 3 and it wouldn't be too difficult. However, I do want to give a special shoutout to MarkeyJester's Motorola 68000 Beginner's Tutorial, as even though it's for a more complex processor it really does break everything down and you can apply the knowledge and concepts to every assembly language out there. I definitely recommend reading it, even if you're not interested in 68k ASM.
3. If you've done assembly before or read MJ's tutorial, or you're just feeling brave, then I'd go with two links. Patai Gergely has a breakdown of the Z80 that makes good initial reading for a surface level understanding. And then there's ChibiAkumas which will take you through the entire process of actually getting Z80 programs running. It's initially CPC-based but at the end of the day Z80 is Z80 and it covers a whole bunch of other platforms later.

I've noticed many users of this forum talk "Z80" assembly. What is the best resource out there for learning Z80 in 2024?
It could be a series of modern YT tutorials, or a gem of a book that was written in the 70's/80's.
I'm curious if these was a single resource that made it "click" for anyone.
Thanks.

An exceptional year indeed!
It's possible the lack of feedback is due to such a busy release year? I know that I have a backlog of games to check out, I've just not got around to playing yet. Either way, top-hats off to a great 2023 with some amazing games released. Congrats and thank you to all involved.

Yesterday I posted my last video for the year on the JSW Central YouTube channel. I'm up to 123 videos posted so far, so about two-thirds of the way of presenting walkthroughs of what I classify as new MM/JSW games.
Updates on the JSW Central YouTube channel since the latest video I mentioned in this thread:
"J4 (The Fourth Remix)"
"Manic Miner - 2000"
"Party Willy" SE Part 1
"Party Willy" SE Part 2
"Party Willy" (JSW128 version) SE
"Lena vs Margo"
"Jet Set Basic"
"willy to the rescue!"
"Soul Miner"
"Manic Miner C.S.S."
"Marina: The Fire Quest"
"Clopit!"
"Jet Set Willy: Fucked Internet Remix"
"Jet Set Willy: Fucked Internet Remake"
"Jet Set Willy: Fucked Internet Resurrection"
Some comments:
"J4 (The Fourth Remix)": I re-recorded the game, improving my completion time (in relation to my earlier walkthrough still hosted on the RZX Archive) from 9969965 to 9971648.
"Manic Miner - 2000": I re-recorded the game, improving the completion score by 2418 pts., taking it up to 38 438 pts.
"Party Willy" SE (all three games): I used my RZX walkthroughs recorded back in May and June 2007 (considering them to be 'good enough').
"Lena vs Margo": I re-recorded the game, bringing down my completion time from 14:20 to 14:18.
"Jet Set Basic": I used my RZX walkthrough recorded back in January 2008.
"willy to the rescue!": I re-recorded the game, bringing down my completion time from 8:57 am to 8:42 am.
"Soul Miner": I completed and recorded the game for the first time ever. Planning an optimal route was the biggest headache (an important feature of the game is teleporters, which are very numerous and constitute a significant part of Willy's progress), but I think I got it right, achieving a completion time of 8:07 am.
"Manic Miner C.S.S.": This is the game that has so far been known as "Manic Miner: comp.sys.sinclair". I have changed its name on JSW Central (in all references that are made to it), because I consulted the original documents related to it (its website, Readme and the author's old posts about it) and I am positive "Manic Miner C.S.S." was the name its author (Nigel Fishwick, aka FishyFish) used when he created it back in 2002. I believe it was christened "Manic Miner: comp.sys.sinclair" by Andrew Broad when he placed it on his otherwise excellent list of MM and JSW games, and then the name made its way onto WoS, SC and other sites.  But it's incorrect, not what the author called the game, so I have corrected it. I re-recorded the game, improving my completion score by a mere 350 pts., taking it up to 36 536 pts.
"Marina: The Fire Quest": I re-recorded the game, bringing down my completion time from 14:07 am to 14:06 am. I am particularly proud of this, as I initially thought improving the completion time in such a small game (just 6 rooms) is not possible. It turned out to be possible thanks to some jumps from ramps which allowed me to collect some items via these jumps from below, instead of going onto the platforms they're on and outmanoeuvring the guardians there.
"Clopit!": I completed and recorded the game for the first time ever, achieving a completion time of 7:23 am.
"Jet Set Willy: Fucked Internet Remix":  I re-recorded the game, bringing down my completion time from 8:09 am to 8:06 am.
"Jet Set Willy: Fucked Internet Remake" and "Jet Set Willy: Fucked Internet Resurrection":  I used my RZX walkthroughs recorded back in March 2007.
The videos of the last three games mentioned (which together form "The Fucked Internet Trilogy") have been censored by YouTube as age-restricted and can only be watched once you confirm your age by logging in. I am not happy about YouTube's policy on this (I believe there are far more serious problems in the world than someone, even a minor, using the F word), but I can't help it. I can only say that in the future I intend to make all the videos available for download, and then, hopefully, everyone will be able to download also these three without any restrictions.
All of the newly-recorded RZX files can be downloaded from the games' respective pages on JSW Central.
Creating and adding videos to the JSW Central YouTube channel will be one of my JSW/MM priorities in 2024. It will remain a priority until video walkthroughs of all games I classify as new games are presented there. I will then continue with other videos, prioritising selected minor versions of MM and JSW or some highlights from their gameplay (like new rooms).