jetsetdanny

It is my great pleasure to announce, on behalf of Hervé, the addition of two new language versions of "Welcome to Willy's Fun Park!": an Italian and a Portuguese one. The new language versions (each available in TAP and TZX format) have been added to the ZIP containing the language versions that were released initially (English, French, Polish and Spanish). So se vuoi giocare al gioco in italiano, ou se quiser experimentar o jogo em português, go ahead, download the updated ZIP and enjoy the game in the language of your choice! 🙂

Thank you, Andy! 👍

Hi Richard, Thanks for the additional info!👍So I was right in presuming that I was missing something. I will definitely read the notes and consider all the new features carefully when I "process" this mod to create a page for it on JSW Central. That's at some point in the future when I'm ready to tackle this task. And then there will come the challenge of playing the whole game using these new features with a view to beating the maximum high score possible in the original "MM". This may be quite a challenge... Thanks again, Richard, I look forward to experiencing the freshness you've mentioned 🙂 .

Thanks for the video! It's interesting to know how someone really good is playing "Zuma's Revenge" 🙂 . I've spent a lot of time playing the game, but I'm very far from this level of efficiency 😮. Whoever played the game in the video shows both speed, accuracy and an extremely fast thinking related to where to place balls that will later cause a "chain reaction". It looks extremely impressive 🙂 .

Thank you, Hervé! The title screen looks great 🙂. I look forward very much to the day the game will be available for playing/playtesting 🙂 .

An answer from Grok generated just a couple of minutes ago. The most interesting thing for me is that Grok is apparently perfectly up-to-date with the search effort! 😮

Yes, it is a great game. And it was fun working on the bug-fixed edition that would finally be completable, with Ian (IRF) and Andy (Spider) back in 2019 🙂 . Which game are you playing now, Mike (if any)?

Thanks, Andy! Where can we get the bug-fixed version? The game's page on Spectrum Computing you linked to provides a description of the bugfix (what needs to be modified) but not an actual bug-fixed file as far as I can tell.

My favourite game somewhat-similar-to-MM-or-JSW games is "Monty on the Run". I absolutely love the somersaults that Monty makes, and the atmosphere. I used to play it on the real hardware back in the 1980s, but never managed to complete it back then. I only completed it recently for the first time. I made a separate page for it on JSW Central where you also have the links to the video of my playthrough (to watch on YouTube or to download from Internet Archive). On the non-platformer and PC side, Zuma's Revenge is a game that I have spent countless hours playing, mostly the three-minute runs at high scores at a given level (after unlocking them via the adventure mode or whatever it's called). This game has a mesmerising quality for me. When I start playing these high-score rounds, I just can't stop. My high scores are so elevated now that it's very difficult to improve anything (only the top 5 results at each level are recorded in the game), but I could still spend hours playing them. Time seems to stop when I'm at it. I play and fail (to improve the high score), play and fail, play and fail, but with every failure it seems that I was so close (even though the score is very far away from the top one), so close, that I can achieve what I want with the next game. So I go on. I could easily stay up all night doing this. It's the closest to an addiction I have in life. I generally try not to fall into temptation (because it robs my JSW time), but periodically I feel like playing the game, and then find it difficult to stop...

Thank you for letting us know about it, Richard, and for making the TAP file! 👍 I have passed the first five rooms of the game and I must say I'm not particularly impressed. The modified way you jump only creates problems when you're not used to it. You have to remember to hold the Jump key longer than normally. It feels a little bit like using the Superjump feature in JSW128 and JSW64 games, only you need to hold the Jump key longer not to go higher but to perform a more or less normal jump. So why would you want to play a version of the classic game where you have to struggle with movement if you can play the original where you don't have to struggle at all? As a challenge, perhaps? To be honest, I've only used Q for Left and W for right and Space for Jump (as I always do), so if there are any additional movement keys, I didn't use them. I haven't read any description yet (other than Richard's post) or watched the video, I just tried playing the game straight away, so I may be missing something. Still, it's interesting to see another variant of MM, and the fact that people still want to modify it is a testament to its longevity. I will certainly add it to the list of Versions and minor mods of the original Manic Miner on JSW Central when time permits.

Thank you for releasing the corrected versions, UncleWan! 👍 😊

It's your choice, absolutely. There are some rooms in the history of JSW games where such a challenge (time limit) has been introduced in the same way, by conscious design. So there's no reason to modify it if you like it this way 🙂 . Great! 👍

And some feedback regarding the English version: There's one thing that would benefit from a correction. There is a typo on the title screen: the letters read "FESTVIAL" instead of "FESTIVAL". The same typo also appears in the scrolling message, so it should be corrected there as well. If you decide to correct it and re-release the game, I would also suggest correcting the following spelling issues in the room names and the scrolling message: - "Ha!New year decorations on sale!" - I would capitalise "Y" in "year" (to make it New Year); - "Outer Spacestation" - I would make "Space Station" two words. - "Watching Fireworks with Family !" - there's no need for a space between the "y" in "Family" and the exclamation mark (it would be there in French, but not in English 😉). - In the scrolling message, I believe there is no reason to capitalise the words "Gifts", "Area" and "Midnight" - I would start them all in lower-case letters. Again, it's not criticism, but some suggestions to make your beautiful game, UncleWan, spotless ☺️.

Thank you SO MUCH for this New Year's gift, UncleWan! 🙏 I have just completed the Chinese version of the game. It's an incredible feeling to play a Chinese take on JSW!😁 For those who are wondering whether to have a go at it or not, I will say the following: Please DO! You will not regret it. The game has (what I perceive as) some very markedly Chinese elements - what a delight to see those in a JSW game! - and fresh new graphics and sprites, while at the same time it also features some well-known JSW sprites and some beloved characters from other ZX Spectrum games 🙂 . So thanks again for "Willy’s Spring Festival", UncleWan! 🙂 And if I can just offer a tiny little bit of constructive feedback, I will mention that: - IMO in the opening room it might be better to block the room exit on the upper right with a Fire cell (or delete the rightmost Water cell so that it does not create a possibility of exiting the room without jumping), because once the player exits there, they fall into a Multiple-Death Scenario (MDS) in the room to the right. - An MDS happens also when the player exits "Qiao Shang De HongBao" to the left at the upper level. If it were my game, I would also block the exit there (with Earth cells in this case because of the room design). One could argue that the player has just come from "Ba Zhe Ba Zhe ! QuanBu Ba Zhe !" so they should know that's it's not safe to exit "Qiao Shang De HongBao" to the left on the upper level. That's a valid argument, but I would still block that exit to avoid a possibility of an MDS. - In "HuanYing Lai Dao JiaoZi YuZhou!" there is a time limit, because after a while two guardians collide (the horizontal magenta one at the bottom and the vertical cyan one) and Willy gets killed. It's not a problem in terms of completing the game (because the player has enough time to collect all items if they exit the room temporarily to reset the timer, so to speak), but it might be perceived by some as inelegant - unless it's been introduced on purpose (as a time limit). Again, I'm mentioning these elements in the spirit of constructive feedback, but please don't perceive them as criticism of any kind. I am absolutely delighted with "Willy’s Spring Festival"☺️, I believe the room designs are beautiful and smart, and the ending is fantastic! A great start to the Year of the Fire Horse, which I have every reason to believe will also be an amazing year for JSW games 😀. Happy New Year, UncleWan and everyone! ☺️

Thank you for the update, Hervé! It's good to know how your projects are progressing 😁. A little feedback, if I may: - I would suggest using the British spelling in the title of the "Journey to the Centre of the Earth". So "Centre", not "Center", taking into account the Britishness of JSW and the complete lack of American involvement in this area. - My suggestion for the title of Project 12 would be: "Time Machine: The Middle Ages". The name of that period is used in plural in English, unlike "Le Moyen Âge" in French. Also, perhaps it would be nice to involve Willy in the title by making it "Willy's Time Machine: The Middle Ages"? Just a suggestion 🙂. Your declaration that "these will be my last creations" is certainly a sad one for JSW lovers, but I hope that you might reconsider it in the future. In any case, your game development plans for 2026-2028 are really awesome! 🙂 Oh, and one more little point. If "JSW in London" is supposed to have 128 rooms and you've got 15 rooms ready, it's not 24% - it's a little less than 12% 😉 .