Okay, here are my comments. The recordings of my two playtests are attached below them. Please note that I didn't use JSWED for the playtest. Afterwards I opened the game file in JSWED to be able to quote the room numbers here, but I still didn't use the editor to uncover any of the puzzles of the game, such as where each teleport leads or what switches there are.
General comments
It is very nice and refreshing to be able to play a brand-new game! :D I appreciate the use of the JSW64 game engine for it, with its cool features like Trampoline cells, diagonal guardians, switches and so on :thumbsup: .
Title
It would be good to make the title of the game definite. So far I have seen the forms “Jet Set Jason in Roddënwald” and “Jet Set Jason: Roddënwald”. Personally, I like the first one much better. However, if you want to keep the colon, I would suggest expanding the second part of the name to make it something like “Jet Set Jason: The Roddënwald Adventure” or “Jet Set Jason: Adventures in Roddënwald”, or something like this.
Now, “Roddënwald “ sounds like a German name to me. However, there is no such letter as “ë” in German. I am not sure if you used it on purpose (to make the name German-sounding but evidently non-German or something). If not, perhaps it could be “Röddenwald”?
Spelling of the room names
Personally, I am not in favour of the spelling used in “Roddenwald” (and MBCM as well, for that matter), which is neither a typical English spelling (like everything in capitals except for the small words like “in”, “of”, etc.) nor the sentence case. Eg. I would spell “Magnificence hides Depravity” either “Magnificence Hides Depravity” or “Magnificence hides depravity”. Still, if it’s your conscious choice (and I suppose it is), treat it just as an observation with a little question mark . Oh, actually, is the spelling supposed to reflect the German one, perhaps – all nouns spelled with capital letters? If so, then the umlaut question (the non-existent “ë”) comes back.
Level of difficulty
After playing the game (or the part thereof I have played so far), I consider it to be fairly difficult. I must have died literally hundreds of times in playtesting (which you can’t see in the recordings, because I used Rollback). It is not criticism, just an observation. The player can also get quite frustrated when facing the puzzles related to teleports, etc. Again, this is not a criticism nor a suggestion to change anything – it’s just to say that I wouldn’t expect “casual” players (if there are any these days at all) to complete the game, they will get discouraged pretty soon.
Cells
As in any JSW64 game, since there are more cell types than in the JSW48 or JSW128 game engines, it is sometimes/often difficult to know which is Fire and which cells are harmless. This adds to the difficulty of the game I mentioned above. Again, this is just an observation, related to the JSW64 game engine more than this particular game. Having said that, I can see that in some rooms the cell patterns are repeated, so if you know a cell is harmless in one room, you can expect it will be the same in the next room, which is good.
Room comments
Playtest No. 1
“Dusty Main Hall of Roddenwald” (011 )
A nice opening room .
If the umlaut (“ë”) issue is addressed, a name change will be in order here.
I like the moving “twinkling star” guardians.
Also, the stair graphics are interesting.
I can see here that the items are “ë”-shaped, so perhaps you used this particular non-German diacritical character on purpose, after all.
“Magnificence hides Depravity” (010)
I like the vertical skeleton sprite, and the way the switch works. I hope in the final version of the game there will be rooms below to go down after opening the passage by using the switch.
I take it that in the future it will be possible to come up to “Their Screams inside the Walls” on the right and exit right to “Magnificence hides Depravity”. In such case, it must also be possible to go down to another room after collecting the leftmost item. Otherwise, if the player had not previously removed the barrier blocking the passage, they would be stuck.
Currently, you can collect the leftmost item, but you will lose a life.
“Their Screams inside the Walls” (009)
Nice graphics and a nice room layout.
There must be a room below it for the layout to make sense.
“Their Bones bleached by the Sun” (008)
Again, nice room graphics and layout. Vicious Fire cells.
It looks to me like it’s not possible to jump above the green vertical guardian on the lower right to exit the room to the right at the lower level to “Their Screams inside the Walls”. However, if someone entered “Their Screams inside the Walls” on the lower left (coming from below), they couldn’t move up to “Their Bones bleached by the Sun”. I think this should be addressed somehow, or else this bit of the game will be unreachable.
“The Weight of Tradition” (032)
Nice room title, graphics and layout.
The uppermost item is currently unreachable - when the player tries to jump for it, they enter a Multiple Death Scenario (MDS) in the room above. When there is a playable room above, it will have to have an exit back to “The Weight of Tradition” so that the player can drop down there and collect the unreachable item – which has quite a nice design pattern!
The upper right part of the room could be omitted, it doesn’t serve any useful purpose. Perhaps an item would be in order there to force the player to go there?
“Mail Room – ‘Mad’ Fritz’s Lair” (007)
Some smart jumps are required.
Fritz looks like one of Drunken Master’s sprites. It it’s not his sprite, but designed by you, it still makes me think of DM’s games (“Still Stealin’”, in particular). The way he changes his speed after collecting one of the items is cool.
I like Willy the Post Stamp guardian.
“The Dining Hall” (006)
The horizontal sprites – especially the green one at the bottom – at first seemed out of place to me, because they reminded me too strongly of Bacchus from “MBCM”. I gradually got used to them – if someone doesn’t have this association, they probably look very good.
Placing an item at the upper left entrance would enforce a couple more difficult jumps. Or perhaps placing an item on the upper right of “Mail Room” (on the ledge beyond the white vertical guardian) would be even better – because it would require the player to go all the way around “The Dining Hall” and make those difficult jumps to collect them, and it wouldn’t destroy the “item harmony” of “The Dining Hall”.
A comment which concerns this room and a number of others (I will mentioned those as I go): I have covered similar themes in my game “Willy’s New Mansion” (2004, Special Edition 2016). There is a room called “The Dining Hall” there (51). It is interesting to see what I did about these themes, and what you did about them (in a more advanced game engine, which is JSW64).
“Ground Floor Students’ Lavatory” (005)
Some intense graphics here.
The pseudo-item guardian is a little irritating, but, to be fair, one can see it flashes differently from the real items – in red, so it’s OK .
I like the arrows which I saw here for the first time (and which I’ve seen in various rooms afterwards).
“I didn’t know about this place” (052)
A good revisiting of the toilet theme, strong in JSW tradition .
An interesting room layout.
“Laundry Chutes – Dirty Clothes” (042)
Cool room design, nice graphics and a good use of “droplets” (if I remember the proper name for them correctly).
I didn’t use the lower level at all to cross the room (just an observation).
“Acid Soap – The Terminal Laundry” (062)
It reminds of a room called “Acid Bath” (or something like that). I can’t think of which game it is in off the top of my head.
“The Locker Room – Sweaty clothes” (043) - “The Showers – Athlete’s Feet” (044)
These and several other rooms, with similar graphics, form a nice, solidly-designed cluster. It’s good that crumbly cells are used in this design.
“The Gymnasium – The back Door” (045)
A room of interesting design, with three ropes (including two still ones), very good use of Trampoline cells and a switch.
I like the items’ graphics particularly.
There is a room called “The Gym (Hurdle Practice)” (38) in my “Willy’s New Mansion”, but design-wise it’s very different – it’s more akin to “The Garden” from “Jet Set Willy II”.
This room is an example of the spelling I am not particularly fond of – I would make it “The Gymnasium – The Back Door”.
“What is left when Reality fails.” (000)
An interesting room which I understand is the entrance to a new cluster of rooms.
I like the guardian sprites and the item shape. And the arrows, which I’ve already mentioned.
“Nothing here but debris…” (077)
IF the spelling convention mimics the German language, “debris” should be spelled with a capital “D” (since it’s a noun).
As mentioned before, the guardians embedded in the walls remind me, to a certain extent, of the room "Ape-Men with Metal Parts" room 07 from Andrew Broad's "Ma jolie".
“A Bunch of Trees – Another Wall” (047)
When one enters this room from “Nothing here but debris…” on the upper right, one can collect the upper rightmost item. However, going back to “Nothing here but debris…” leads to a nasty Multiple Death Scenario. Thus, this item is impossible to collect as far as I can tell.
I wasn’t able to cross this room from right to left in the version I was playing and recording. I can now see (in JSWED), looking at the latest file you uploaded, that the Fire cells were removed from below the ramp, which should make it possible to cross the room – which I will do during my next playtesting [EDIT: Please see my comment at the end, the room is still not passable because of a new problem.]
I noticed that when you exit “A Bunch of Trees – Another Wall” to the right, you sometimes enter “Nothing here but debris…” and sometimes “The handless Clocks”. I don’t know what it depends on and, to be honest, it’s frustrating.
“The handless Clocks” (078)
I like the clocks graphics. I understand this room is a part of the teleport challenge which I don’t fully understand.
“Through the handless Clocks” (079)
The same nice clocks graphics and another piece of the teleport puzzle.
“Up the broken Stairs” (086)
I got here teleported from “The handless Clocks” right after passing through “Through the handless Clocks”.
I like the quasi-cloud graphics and Willy the Post Stamp guardian.
The cloud graphics spelling out words remind of rooms like “A Little Room next to the Clouds” (006) from “JSW: Mind Control” or “A Secret Passage in the Clouds” (094) from “JSW: The 2010 Megamix”.
Collecting the leftmost item is quite tricky, a nice challenge.
When one exits this room to the left, jumping from the rope, one goes back to “What is left when Reality fails.” This is just an observation, I’m not saying whether it’s good or bad (well, really, it's not too good: unexpected and a too abrupt change of scenery).
The jump via the platform located in-between the Fire cells – in order to reach the room below – is a quirky jump. Once again, this is just an observation. There are some people who don’t like and are against using the quirky features of the game engine. They will not approve of this solution. There are other people who love the quirky features of the game engine. They will enjoy it. Just something to be aware of.
Bug alert: If the player tries to exit the room upwards using the rope, they will get stuck in-between the two rooms, getting trapped there. The game will need to be reset (or Rollback used, or a snapshot reloaded, if someone is playing using these methods). This should be fixed.
“They said this School was gone” (081)
The red tree reminds me (just a little bit) of the room “Crusoe Corner” (58) from “Join The Jet-Set!”.
An interesting design: when you drop down from the rope on the right side of the wall, I *think* you cannot get back onto the rope and exit the room to the left.
“The Assembly Hall” (082)
A logical change of the screen background colour (going indoors?).
“The Gymnasium – Ada’s Girls” (083)
I can guess Ada is the green one in the middle .
The girls’ sprites are nice.
An interesting use of Trampoline cells.
“The Locker Room – The Showers” (084)
I don’t see any shower here?
“The Toilet Racket” (085)
It is fitting that this whole cluster of rooms has similar graphics.
“A Waiter and some Waitresses” (102)
I believe a life has to be lost after collecting the right uppermost item, because there is no way to get back.
My personal idea of elegance in a JSW game is that it should be possible to complete it without losing a single life (difficult as it may be). Therefore, I would suggest making it possible to go back down safely here, somehow.
“The Kitchen / Bertha’s Lair” (103)
A lively screen, full of guardians, fleetingly reminiscent of the Kong screens in “Manic Miner”.
There is no need to visit the upper right of this room. Placing an item there would force the player to visit that part of the room.
“Lazy Schoolgirls” (090)
Nice graphics of the lazy girls and an interesting concept of the broken stairs.
“The Corridor / History Classroom” (095)
I wondered about the item shape – what does it represent? A candle? The letter “i”?
“Botanical Experiments” (089)
Personally, I am not fond of screens which are hard on the eyes. This is one of them. It’s just an observation about a personal preference, I am not saying anything should be changed.
I like the “carnivorous plants” sprites.
“Classical Drama: The Bacchantes” (088)
I wouldn’t remember off the top of my head who the Bacchantes were or what the story was about, so the title is lost on me (possibly due to my ignorance).
The room is interesting from the technical point of view with having to trip the switch first.
“The Music Classroom” (087)
Nice piano graphics at the bottom, especially the left one (playing). What happened to those pianos at the top?
Nice music note sprites, and the other guardians.
“The Headmistress’ Office” (091)
A nice room, for me a little reminiscent of “Fresh air ain’t always good 4 U” (096) and “A Little Room next to the Clouds” (006) from “JSW: Mind Control”.
It is cool that the left item can only be collected after entering the room from above.
However, I believe it isn’t possible to collect the right item without sacrificing a life (unless I didn’t try hard enough?). Should this be the case, I would suggest correcting it.
EDIT: Now watching my RZX walkthrough, I think there may be a way of collecting it without losing a life, but I’m not 100% sure. You will know.
The telephone item graphics are nice.
“Teachers’ Room / A Coffee Break” (092)
I think these yellow things are books on the shelves, aren’t they? If this is the case, my take on this kind of graphics is in “The Reading Room” (40) in “Willy’s New Mansion”.
“The Mathematics Classroom” (093)
Nice mathematic-formula guardian sprites!
It makes me think of “Maths Lab” (36) from Willy’s New Mansion”, of course.
I have a feeling that “The Maths Classroom” would be a better name, as I think no-one (especially the students) would say “Mathematics”. But this is for the native English speakers to say.
I like the winding stairs.
“The French Classroom” (094)
It made me wonder if it would be followed by “The Spanish Classroom”, “The English Classroom” and some other ones, of the same design, but differing only in the flags which are displayed!
I like the Eiffel Tower item graphic. The Fire cells have the same design. I would suggest that you consider changing it – I think it would be best if there was only one Eiffel Tower in the room (the item), just as there is only one in real life (in Paris, at least, I know there are some smaller images of it here and there, in places like Disneyland, etc.).
“The Cabinet of Natural History” (099)
What happens once the switch is activated is fully expected - I knew something would happen when I entered the room, it’s too empty / too quiet to start with – but very well implemented.
Apparently, the colour attributes of the character which is the second “a” in the word “Natural” in this room name (and every other room name it there isn't empty space there) is not BRIGHT yellow on black, but NON-BRIGHT yellow on black. I only noticed it in this room. I don’t think it’s on purpose – is it? If not, it should be changed to BRIGHT yellow.
“The Science Classroom” (098)
Nice winding stairs again.
A moment of hesitation of how to get back down from the upper level.
“Library / The English Classroom” (097)
The left hand side of this room reminds me, even more than “Teachers’ Room / A Coffee Break”, of “The Reading Room” (40) from “Willy’s New Mansion”.
The chairs, in turn (here and elsewhere) remind me of “The Cinema” (42) of “Willy’s New Mansion”.
A good use of crumbling cells.
“Chapel of the Ladies of Sorrow” (100)
A nice room which makes you wonder what is up there above it.
The three green moving guardians are eerily reminiscent of the screen “I Bring You Love!” (009) from “Bizarre”.
“Schoolgirls’ Bedroom” (096)
The moving girls in their beds make me think of racing cars.
Is the “ZZ” the sound of their snoring?
“I can see Roddenwald from here!!” (101)
A nice, suggestive name.
Good to see Trampoline cells again.
“A School Wall? / Schoolgirls!” (080)
An interesting screen, both graphically and technically.
The return to “The handless Clocks” when exiting left is disappointing (a sudden change of scenery, no more nice tree graphics, a return to the room which I don’t particularly like because it’s a little frustrating), although it does allow the player to collect the sole item there.
The possibility of an MDS when jumping into “The handless Clocks” is very real, though.
End of Playtest No 1.
Playtest No. 2
“1st Floor – The forbidden Lift” (018) – “2nd Floor – The Condemned Lift” (25)
This whole cluster of rooms is nicely designed. The player needs to visit the sides of the rooms independently from the centre, which is cool.
It’s good that the graphics are consistent in both rooms, too.
Are there going to be other rooms where the exits are currently closed with Fire cells?
An inconsistency in the room naming: “forbidden” is spelled in lower case, “Condemned” is spelled with a capital letter. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for the difference.
Some smart jumps are required on the second floor to be able to go back.
“3rd Floor Students’ Lavatory” (33)
The number of the toilets reminds me of “BOG BYTE!” from “Henry’s Hoard” (present also as “Bog Byte!” – room 56 in “Willy’s Hoard”) and of “The Multi-Toilet Bathroom” (33) from “Willy’s New Mansion”.
There’s no way to reach the item on the upper level, because exiting leftwards takes one to “Around the Merry Go Round” from “MBCM” and going right – to “The Marine World”.
“The Hall of Sport Trophies” (004)
No particular comments here, apart from wondering if there will be a room to the left (there should be).
“The Backyard – The School Wall” (046)
A very nice screen, both graphically rich, with two visually different parts, and with an interesting technical twist. AFAICT it is impossible to pass it from left to right, which arouses curiosity – I would expect to be able to reach it from the other side, from the forest (which, inexplicably, leads to “The handless Clocks”). It’s also impossible to collect either of the two items, even though they seem to be within reach – a very cunning design!
End of Playtest No. 2
I wanted to carry out Playtest No. 3, taking advantage of the fact that you have removed the Fire cells in “A Bunch of Trees – Another Wall” (047), which should make the room passable from right to left. Unfortunately, there is another problem there – which wasn’t there in the previous version: the white vertical barrel crashes against the tree branch beneath it, killing Willy a few seconds into the screen. So it’s still not passable .
One can see that a lot of work has already gone into this project, and the results are impressive. I hope that you will continue it, Fabi
Roddenwald - Daniel's playtest No. 1.rzx
Roddenwald - Daniel's playtest No. 2.rzx
