jetsetdanny

Should anyone else have a problem, here's a walkthrough by Pavel Pavel Plíva.

to hell... or to Hades? 😉

It is my great pleasure to announce, on behalf of Carl Paterson, the release of Version 3 of his game "AmAZiNG WiLLY". [The first gamma-released version of the game, back in October 2022, was v. 2; v. 1 had been an unreleased development file.] This new version: A. Game enhancements - offers the player some well-loved (and well-known 😉) music to relax after all lives have been lost; - has an additional surprise for the player after the game has been completed (play and finish the game to experience it! 😉); - features extended (128-byte-long instead of 64) versions of two of the (otherwise numerous) in-game tunes; - features a couple of new guardians with a new sprite; B. Increased player-friendliness - eliminates the loss of life which would happen in v. 2 if the player collected the leftmost item in "Master WiLLyZz BeDCHaMBeR" as the very last one; - allows the player to jump safely through the Innocent-Looking Block in "ThE MuTaNT DiLDoZz FRoM MaRZz". If you haven't played or completed the game yet, you are strongly advised to play v. 3 to experience these enhanced features. The game can be completed without losing a single life. Please download, enjoy and share your feedback! 🙂 And don't take too long, because Carl's second JSW game is scheduled to be released before this (northern hemisphere's) winter is over... 🙂

I am not sure if this problem has been solved already. If it has, skip the rest of this message. If it hasn't, the only thing that comes to my mind than different cells having the same attributes is that you happen to be experiencing the so-called Cell-Graphics Bug. It's described here, in the section "Corrupted conveyors" (also "Corrupted nasties"). SkoolKid (the author of this excellent disassembly) gives some POKEs there to fix the problem. I am not sure (without checking, which I won't spend time on doing) whether the fix is for the problem in this particular room or a generic one. There *is* a generic fix for this problem - a fix to the way the game engine works - which eliminates *any* occurence of the bug. The generic fix is described here and I *think* (I'm not 100% sure it's about the same problem, but I can't think of any other) it is also given in this thread as a POK file.

Jet Set Willie, I think I know what you mean, but I can't quite relate to it, because I generally don't believe there is a problem of the kind that you set some parameters for the guardians in JSWED, they look good to you, you press OK and leave the room (or perhaps just the guardian editing box), you come back to the room and the guardian movement is messed up. I don't think JSWED has this kind of problem, UNLESS you are trying to set invalid guardian parameters. Then problems of various kinds can appear. I have reproduced one of them. Please have a look at the video attached to this message. I modified guardian G20 in "Under the MegaTree" so that its bounds are from 010 to 030, and I also placed its starting point outside of its range, somewhere in between 000 and 010. The guardian's starting direction is to the left. So at the start (when Willy enters or re-enters this room) it goes to the left (outside of its regular boundaries), leaves the screen, reenters it on the right, and even though from then on it moves within its regular boundaries, its animation is not what it should be, it looks like it's using just one frame instead of 8. Is this the kind of problem you have been describing? If it is, then the only thing I can say is that I believe it arises because you are setting "abnormal" values for the guardian, and something happens that causes a problem. I *think* (wouldn't argue about it) that it's a limitation of the game engine, not JSWED (the only accusation against JSWED could be that it shouldn't let you do it at all, like it shouldn't let you input animation numbers higher than 07). With horizontal guardians, you can get away with placing their starting position outside of their regular range provided that their starting direction is so that they get into their regular range without leaving the room. So if in the attached example I set guardian G20's starting direction to the right, it would go to the right when you enter the room (only once outside of its range!) and fall within its regular boundaries, preserving the correct animation. Such tricks have been applied in games before. However, if the guardian leaves and re-enters the room, something happens that messes it up. As mentioned above, I believe it's a limitation of the game engine. JSWED lets you set "abnormal" values, but the results may be abnormal, too. It's your risk. If you stick to "normal" values, you should be fine. So my general advice would be to just stick to "normal" values, regular guardians, so to speak, because I don't recall JSWED ever creating any problems with these. Of course, if you want to experiment, it's up to you, but you have to keep in mind that your experiments may be doomed to failure 😉 . If you want further feedback, it migth be useful if you could also show us in a recording what exactly you are doing in JSWED - when one sees it, it should be easier to react than from a verbal description. Unless you don't want to reveal your creative secrets yet 😉 . P.S. I have also tried playing the game in the emulator, with guardian G20 set as in the attached example. The guardian goes to the left at the start of the game (as expected) and then Willy gets killed repeatedly, because the guardian seems to crash against something when re-rentering the room from the right. So evidently this is not something you can do in JSW, at least not in the standard JSW48 game engine (the one used in the original "Jet Set Willy"). guardian_issue.mp4

Yes, I do 'there and back' thing as well if I want to check the guardians' initial position. It's a useful hint 🙂 .

I don't really understand what the problem is, so I'll try to describe the way guardian editing works with a hope that it will be helpful, plus there is one piece of counterintuitive behaviour in JSWED which may be confusing, and I'll describe it too. The value of guardian animation has to be between 0 and 7. Other values are incorrect, so forget about them. JSWED is right in correcting them back to the proper range. This animation value determines how many guardian frames are used. Guardians can use up to 8 frames. They can also use just one frame, or two, or four. I am not sure right now if you can have guardians using 5 frames. I don't think so, but I can't say that definitely off the top of my head. A "fully designed" horizontal guardian uses all eight frames. Its movement is more 'detailed' than if it only had four frames, its animation is "more full". It can have four frames only and be a nice guardian too, but especially if it's a 'humanoid' kind of guardian (like Willy or a walking skeleton or something), I think it's always better for it to use 8 frames. Vertical guardians typically use between two and four frames, I think. It's probably possible to design an 8-frame vertical guardian too, I'm not sure right now, I can't think of any. So the value of "animation" determines how many frames will be used. I can't explain exactly how this works, I think it's more or less like the value 0 corresponds to one frame, the value 01 to two frames, and so on, until the value 07 corresponds to eight frames. Well, certainly 0, 1, 3 and 7 work like this (for 1, 2, 4 and 8 frames), I am not sure about the other values, because they are not 'typical'. This is one parameter you set. Then comes another - which frames you actually use. This is controlled by pressing - on the main editing screen, NOT in the 'Guardian - Edit' box! - the ALT key and a number defining which guardian you are modifying. The guardian number can be from 1 to 8 (I am talking about editing a JSW48 game, so like the original JSW), because there are up to 8 guardians in a room. Pressing ALT + guardian number will only affect these guardians which are in the room, of course, so if you have added two guardians to the room, if you press ALT + 1 something will happen, if you press ALT + 2 something will happen, but if you press ALT + 3 or any higher number, nothing will happen because there are only two guardians in the room at this time (there is no guardian No. 3 or No. 4, etc.). When you press ALT and the guardian number, the frames which are used change. Here's JSWED's counterintuitive behaviour I mentioned earlier: you can have one guardian highlighted on this main editing page. In this screenshot, for example, guardian No. 3 is highlighted (G32): You would think (I would, at least) that whatever you do will affect the highlighted guardian. However, when using ALT + guardian number, it's not like that. The change of selected frames will affect the guardian whose number you have chosen, NOT NECESSARILY the selected guardian. If the guardian number you chose is not the selected (highlighted) guardian, you can see the change in the sprite of this guardian moving on the screen (in the centre of JSWED's window, where you see the room), but NOT at the bottom on the screen where frames of a guardian are displayed. These are the frames of the highlighted guardian. In this example, f you pressed ALT and 3, they would change, because the selected (highlighted) guardian is number 3 in the guardian list in this room (the G32 one). However, if you pressed ALT and 1, the frames of the first guardian will change (the G30 one), because he is first on the list. This is the misleading, counterintuitive part: one may think that the guardian frames displayed at the bottom of JSWED's window should be changing, but they won't be, unless you press ALT and the number of the guardian that is currently selected (highlighted). Of course if you want to work on the selection of frames seeing them clearly at the bottom of JSWED's window, you can do it. You just need to select (highlight) the particular guardian whose frames you want to modify. Then you will see the changes you apply by ALT + guardian number both in the guardian itself (moving on the screen in the middle of JSWED's window) and in the guardian frames displayed at the bottom of JSWED's window. Once you realise that, the rest is easy. You need to set two parameters: the animation number to the desired number of frames the guardian is supposed to use (value between 0 and 7, so the number of frames between 1 and 8), and then, by using ALT + guardian number, choose the frames you actually want the guardian to use. I always do it by trial and error. There are various combinations there, I couldn't describe how they work exactly (how the ALT + guardian number frame selection process works, how exactly frames are selected). I just do it by trying all possible options and seeing which one I like best. Just one word of caution here: sometimes it's impossible to get exactly what you want. I mean, for example you choose animation number 3 - the guardian is supposed to be using four frames - and want it to use only the first and the fourth frame, the first one being used twice and then the fourth one being used twice in the four-frame sequence. I have no idea if that particular combination is possible. It may be that it's not possible, and if it's not possible, I believe there's nothing you can do about it if JSWED does not show you such a combination. The only thing you can try would be swapping the guardian's frames in the Sprites editing box, for example: the combination I described above - a four-frame guardian using first frame No. 1 twice and then frame No. 4 twice may not be possible. But a four-frame guardian using first frame No. 1 twice and then frame No. 3 twice may be possible (I'm giving a general example, I'm not checking if the examples I give right now actually work or not). So the solution for you would be to move the sprite graphic you have in frame 4 to frame 3 and then set the combination of animation and frame selection that works. This is easy, but if you have other guardians using the same sprites, it might get tricky, because they might require different frames. However, that's a pretty 'advanced' problem, generally editing guardians is not difficult once you're aware of the things I tried to describe above. I hope that helps 🙂 .

I sometimes thought about the mythical Hackulator tool over the years, but never realised it was so powerful! It's a shame Erix1 never made it public, and that he's not on the scene any more. Perhaps he'll be back one day, some people come back after many years, we even have a very recent example 😉 . It's good that the current lack of Hackulator will not affect the release of 'RR', I was a little worried about it.

Hi Sendy, What a great start of the year it is to have you join this forum and feel the JSWEDiting bug again! 🙂 You are certainly in good company of platform games lovers here and I'm sure both your contributions to the forum will be invaluable and the feedback you should receive will be useful for you. For those who are relatively new to the scene, Sendy is the author of willy to the rescue, where's woody? (the first ever JSW game to have 256 edited rooms) and STRANGEL, and a coauthor of Jet Set Willy: Mind Control. That's only speaking about the gamma-released games, as there are those awaiting release (like Jet Set Willy: Role Reversal that Sendy mentioned above) and others awaiting further development 🙂 . Thanks for the screenshots of "RR", Sendy. I am looking forward to this project being finalised, and if there is anything I could be of assistance with, I'll be happy to get involved 🙂 . Regarding this: "It is (I believe) the first Erix1-mode game," it is certainly the first Erix1-mode game edited by someone else than Erix1 (Vidar Eriksen), the first one ever Erix1-mode game being his own Maria vs. Some Bastards 😉 . Do you still have that Hackulator tool (if I remember the name correctly) he developed? Are you able to modify any of the elements that are outside of the regular JSW48 game engine?

Thanks, Ligan, it will spare me spending time on trying to complete the game in vain 😉 .

Isn't this because in the upper room the colour attributes of the ramp are the same as the colour attributes of Water? As a result of which, the Water-ramp cells take the shape of Water (but at the same time should behave as ramps, I think). If this is the case, you should just change the attributes of either of them and then the ramp will become 'ramp only' again (with its proper shape) and Water will become 'water only' (with its proper behaviour).

No, because I don't consider it a finished, gamma-released game. It seems to be a product of someone playing with the editor, but not necessarily finishing the job. I did attempt to complete this game once. I managed to collect 66 items, which is not bad, actually. I never completed this endevour - I stopped trying, but not because I determined it was impossible to collect all of the items, but because I had other things to do and this didn't feel important enough. I do keep the recording of my attempt to complete the game and can resume it at any time. IF I manage to complete the game at some future point, I might have to reconsider its classification. However, I don't think I will, even if the game turns out to be completable. This is because I've played it using Rollback, always rolling back when I fell into a multiple death scenario, etc. It is only thanks to this that I have managed to collect the 66 items. However, the game is full of exits leading to death scenarios, etc. So it's not really designed to be played in a "normal" way, and hence does not fit the classification of a finished, released game. But thanks for mentioning it anyway 🙂 .

We have just gone over 15,000 posts on the forum! I believe the one I posted just a couple of minutes ago was #15,000 🙂 . For the purposes of Chronology on JSW Central (which otherwise needs updating), I will consider this new milestone to have been passed on the 12th January 2023. From my personal perspective, that message was actually posted still on the 11th, but currently I am in a different time zone than probably most of the forum users, and if you had read that post of mine "in real time", you would have done so on 12th January 😉 . So the 12th it will be in Chronology. I know it's just statistics (and it's in decimal! 😲) but it does show that people are still interested and active, so I believe there's a reason to celebrate 🙂 . Thanks to everyone who has ever posted on this forum! 👍

The JSW Remakes website has not been updated since 2002. It is a very valuable resource for the state of things on the MM/JSW scene back then (and it's great that it's still online!), but obviously it will be grossly outdated at this point.

Thanks for confirming the room can be finished without any loss of life 👍.

Congratulations on designing a JSW room! 👍 When you say it can be "finished with one life", do you mean it can be finished without any loss of life, or it can be finished but one life has to be sacrificed to finish it? Just asking to be sure. Please keep your room and we will make sure it gets included in the Mass Collaboration Project when it's relaunched! 🙂

From the functional point of view, Rollback is exactly the same thing. It takes you back to a previous point in the game (before the mistake you made) and allows you to start again from there. Just an observation from an intense Rollback user 🙂 .

Yes, that's precisely what happened!

No, "Utility Cubicles" was a JSW48 game by Stuart J. Hill which served as a starting point for the JSW128 Mass Collaboration Project. The project was never finished, but its file and documentation have been preserved and I aim to relaunch it one day so that it can be completed (with the involvement of a new generation of JSW authors, plus some of the old-timers 😉) and released. I'm not quite ready to devote time to it right now, but perhaps after a certain stage of development of JSW Central has been completed (a couple of years from now), I will be happy to do it. Unless there's so much interest in it that several people are ready and willing to design some new rooms for it right now. Please let me know if you (plural - whoever reads this) are among them! 🙂

Thanks for reading the "Technical notes" from the Special Edition of "Willy's New Mansion", Jet Set Willie! 😊 I suspect you may be the first person in the world (other than myself who wrote them and Ian [IRF] and Andy [Spider] who proof-read them while in development) to have read them 😁 . Writing them was a hugely time-consuming, daunting task, but I am glad it was done, because I even use them myself from time to time when working on new projects. I hope they will actually be useful to you one day 🙂 .

The 3D MM version you are referring to is classified as a "minor mod" of the original game on JSW Central, because the game file (at least the one that's known publicly) has three edited rooms and 17 rooms from the original JSW. Yes, it's playable and completable (but the only novelty are the three edited rooms). Its page on JSW Central is here. For those who will not bother to consult it, "Manic Miner: 3D Demo" is a three-room demo of a new game created and released by the late Jim I. Langmead back in 2004 as an April Fools joke, with a claim that it was a demo of a 3D version of "Manic Miner", when in fact it was a "sneak preview" of his then-upcoming 2D MM game. The actual title of the game was never revealed. The game was never completed (according to information provided by Andrew Broad, as of September 2004, it had five rooms written but hadn't been touched for months). Sadly, Jim Langmead passed away in April 2007. The game features three new rooms: "APRIL FOOL hahahahahahahahahaha", "Tis just a sneak preview of my.." and "..Manic Miner 2D game..sorry..". The remaining rooms are unedited. I referred to the "publicly known" game file in the first paragraph, because since Andrew mentioned five "written" rooms, there may have been a different, more developed game file (with five edited rooms instead of three) Jim was working on. However, that (hypothetical) version has never surfaced publicly TTBOMK. My RZX walkthrough of this version can be downloaded from the RZX Archive. As for the complete list of games, it's a kind of project I would not be willing to lead right now (I have too many other MM/JSW-related things to do, plus any non-Spectrum games are outside of my immediate interest), but if someone started it and a serious discussion and development ensued (especially on this forum), I would be happy, time-permitting, to contribute.

Yes, that could be an option 🙂.

I certainly keep your personalised cheat mode password option in mind 🙂 . However, it is more probable that I will use a modified JSW48 game engine for a future project. We shall see...

Jet Set Willie, I have no idea why you don't see the other rectangle, i.e. why JSWED does not allow you to move the rectangle defining the arrow placement (height) up and down. In the worst-case scenario, an arrow's height can also be defined in the Hex Editor, but it will be less comfortable to do than just dragging it around with your mouse.

The idea is certainly interesting and challenging. Determining whether something is a "clone" of MM or JSW may be tricky (how similar does the game have to be in order to be considered that?). My JSW Central website aims to list every single gamma-released MM and JSW game for the Spectrum, as well as minor versions of the original games. Non-Spectrum games are beyond its scope of interest and will not be part of it in the foreseeable future. As described here, whether a game is defined, or not, as a 'Willy game' for the purposes of JSW Central depends mainly on the game engine it uses. The only exception to the rule are games using game engines other than the several well-defined categories, but which for various reasons are without any doubt 'Willy games'. I would suspect that almost all of the ZX Spectrum games included in the 'Complete list of MM and JSW games' on JSW Central should be incorporated into the hypothetical all-encompassing all-platform list you've described. "Almost all", because there is one exception: my "Willy Games: The First 30 Years Quiz" IS a Willy game by the JSW Central definition - because it uses the JSW64 game engine - but in fact it's not a platformer, but a multiple-choice quiz (in which the ingenious use of the game engine is part of the tribute to the whole phenomenon of Willy games). So it would certainly not fit on any list of JSW clones. JSW Central also lists, as separate lists, "Versions and minor mods of the original Manic Miner" and "Versions and minor mods of the original Jet Set Willy". These are creations I do not classify as "new games", but as "versions" and "minor mods" of the original games (only), and I do feel very strongly about making this distinction, because it's often blurred on general ("non-MM/JSW-specialised") Spectrum websites, to the detriment of common sense and clarity of what we are talking about. It would have to be an arbitrary decision by whoever was making the all-encompassing list if they would want to include any of these entries. Section I. "Games inspired by and/or similar to MM or JSW" on the "Games of MM and JSW interest" page, which Andy (Spider) pointed to (thank you!), is a half-hearted attempt to create a list of Spectrum games that may be particularly enjoyable to people who like MM/JSW because of their similarity. It's grossly underdeveloped, and will unfortunately remain so in the foreseeable future, because developing it is very low on my priority list. However, IF a list of Spectrum games similar to/inspired by/amounting to clones of MM/JSW is developed elsewhere (like on this forum by following Jet Set Willie's idea), I would be happy to take advantage of it in the future and use it to add new entries to the "Games of MM and JSW interest" list on JSW Central. As for the lists on new MM/JSW games and minor versions on JSW Central, to the best of my knowledge they are currently complete, with the exception of two "versions/minor mods of the original Manic Miner" and a sub-version of one of them that have been around for over a year now, but I haven't got down to creating separate pages for them yet (they are Allan Turvery's "Manic Miner: Trick or Treat" and its 'Silver Shamrock' variant plus his "Manic Miner Presto"). I will include them in the list and create separate pages for them one day. If someone knows of anything else that is missing, please let me know!