jetsetdanny

I would agree that an argument could be made for the validity of a game being completed using WRITETYPER. After all, it's something that is there, so one may argue there is no reason why it shouldn't be used. I agree with this. However: On JSW Central, I mention the highest documented scores in MM games / best completion times in JSW games (where pertinent). The condition is that they should be achieved without cheating (by which I mean using the WRITETYPER or POKing / modifying the game) and (in case of JSW games) without unnecesary loss of life (if an item can be collected without loss of life, it *must* be collected without loss of life; kamikazing some items could yield a significant time gain). I could envisage (but it's hypothetical at the moment, because I have no time for this, JSW Central needs other kind of development first) having four categories for best completion times in JSW: - No unnecessary loss of life, no use of WRITETYPER; - No unnecessary loss of life, but the use of WRITETYPER permitted; - Lose as many lives as you want, but no use of WRITETYPER; - Lose as many lives as you want plus the use of WRITETYPER permitted. The last category should produce the best completion times. However, I would NEVER even consider telling the players they should not perform some manoeuvres which are possible to do in an unmodified game file. As explained above, for me it's a kind of designer-versus-player game. If the designer made some mistake and left some unintentional loopholes, it is perfectly OK for the player to exploit them, because they are there. Although being a little bit of a designer myself, I have a strictly player-centred perspective on these matters. The player loads a game and plays it. He doesn't have to know - and in many, many cases doesn't know - *anything* about the designer, who he/she was, what his/her intentions were, nothing. They may not even know the designer's name. All they get is a product, a game, which they face and need to solve. Whatever can be done in an unmodified game is perfectly valid. Now, how does WRITETYPER fit in here? It is something that can be done in an unmodified game, so yes, I would agree that in a sense it is perfectly valid. However, it introduces a new quality into the way the game is played, one that can affect the completion time significantly. It is for that reason that best completion times achieved using WRITETYPER (where possible) and not using it cannot be classified together - because we are talking about two different ways of playing the game. It's a bit like if the designer places a cheat menu up front in the game (which does happen in some hacked versions of the original JSW) and provides, e.g. invulnerability to guardians. It is an option which the designer has provided in an unmodified product (from the point of view of the player, let's say I'm taking about an original game, not a hacked version), so in that sense it's perfectly valid to use. However, *obviously* playing the same game with invulnerability to guardians and without it are two very different modes of playing the game. Therefore, if the best completion times were to be discussed, there would *have to* be two separate categories for these two modes of playing the game. It's exactly the same with WRITETYPER. Please note that an additional thing is that cheats such as WRITETYPER are perfectly definable in whether they have been used or not. However, if one started speculating about the author's intentions, you would get into a grey area of uncertainty. Did the author really intend it this way or not? And even if he did, and failed, as mentioned before - I believe it's his problem, not the player's, because it's not about the author's intentions, but about what can - or cannot - be done in the finished product, which is the game the player loads into his emulator / Vega / real hardware / GBA / whatever. One more point: it's interesting that MM has a built-in cheat which allows the player to explore the game / practise playing each room easily, but the use of which prevents the appearance of the swordfish sign at the game's completion. In a sense it's a shame that Matthew Smith didn't implement something similar in JSW (which would be really easy to do with a simple check, I think) which would be: if WRITETYPER has been used, Maria doesn't disappear even if all items have been collected (or she does disappear, but the toilet run doesn't start upon reaching the bed - no "true" ending).

Great stuff, Ian! Congatulations again! :) The sound effects are really nice and fitting :D . One thought (I'm not sure whether it would need implementing if you thought it worth it, or would happen automatically): In some MM games there is something like fast crumbling cells. I can't remember right now whether it's in the original 48K game engine or in JSW64 only (If it's JSW64 only, ignore my comment for the time being - until you get to implementing the headbutt effect in that game engine :) ). The thought is that the speed / intensity of the sound / border effect could be adjusted for the regular and fast crumbling cells, being appropriately faster for the fast ones (like the PV effect in "Rocky Road to Double Inn" in the Special Edition of "Willy's New Mansion", where the higher up you are in the part of the room where the effect happens, the faster it is). Just a thought that came to my mind after watching your impressive SFX :).

Thank you both for your kind words :).

Thanks! :)

I got in touch with Ian Collier (fortunately, his e-mail hasn't changed in the last 13 years, since our last exchange of messages!) and he let me know that his version of JSW was created back in 1985 or 1986 and released in 1994 (not 1995, as I wrote originally, following the date stamp on the file; this has now been corrected). His post announcing the release is here.

I got in touch with Ian Collier (fortunately, his e-mail hasn't changed in the last 13 years, since our last exchange of messages!) and he let me know that his version of JSW was created back in 1985 or 1986 and released in 1994 (not 1995, as I wrote originally, following the date stamp on the file; this has now been corrected). His post announcing the release is here.

It was in Crash magazine apparently, according to the info here: Matthew Smith, when writing the legendary Jet Set Willy, originally called this screen "The Gaping Pit", and it appeared as such in Crash Magazine when they got the scoop preview of it. However the retail release called it "We must perform a Quirkafleeg", this is because Matthew read some rather strange magazines, specifically, Fat Freddy's Cat - an American comic book, itself a spin-off from the Amazing Furry Freak Brothers. Most of these comics are about smoking pot, drinking beer, and not washing for several years, or all three, and are consequently very funny.

The 'Game' Menu page IS a part of JSWED's GUI, isn't it? :P * This is what I meant - being able to apply it without resorting to Hex editor and any particular knowledge about code modifications. * After my having said that, you'll probably tell me that the Hex editor is part of JSWED's GUI. too :lol: .

I am pleased to inform everyone interested that J. G. Harston has updated his version of 'JSW' :) . The files hosted on his website are now completable. In fact, I have recorded an RZX walkthrough of this version, which can be downloaded from RZX Archive. "I'm sure I've seen this before.." is there now, but not where you would normally expect it to be... B)

Andy, Thank your for the file and your interesting analysis :). First of all, I would kindly suggest that this topic be moved to the general area (JSW section). I think it doesn't have to be limited to Contributors only, as it doesn't contain any 'sensitive' information :) and the file has 'always' been available for download also from here. I analysed this version (in a different way than you did here) on JSW Central. Following the info provided by Andrew Broad, I believe that it is, indeed, Ian Collier's hack which is called "a Z80-version with megatrainer" on Gary Pearce's old JSW website. Furthermore, apparently the so-called 'Gaping Pit' version originated from it (the only change being the name of the room "We must perform a Quirkafleeg", I think - although I didn't try to confirm it by comparing the files). The file "JETSETHK.z80" I have in my archive is dated 19.02.1995 (I think it's the same as yours - are you sure yours is from 19 January 1995, not February? - if you download the file from here, it's also 19.02.1995), while the "GAPING.SNA" file which is the 'Gaping Pit' version is dated 04.05.1999, so - if the time stamps on the files are correct - it was created four years after Ian Collier's version. An interesting variant it is, indeed, with the megatrainer and four new rooms :). It can be completed if "Under the Roof" (42) is chosen as the starting room in the cheat menu, which allows the player to reach the items in "Conservatory Roof" (43) without climbing the Banyan Tree (which is not fixed and there's no option to fix it in the trainer). I did just that and made an RZX recording of my walkthrough, which can be downloaded from RZX Archive.

Ian, the 'headbutt' idea is truly great stuff. I really like this effect! It feels refreshing and it certainly allows for some interesting design patterns and challenges :D . I wish the ability to apply this feature was added to JSWED's GUI at some point...

I am pleased to announce that JSW Central has just been updated. The main change is the launch of a new section: 'Minor modifications of the original Jet Set Willy'. Apart from its main page, it features 22 individual sub-pages for each discussed variant (in one case - variants, where a few very minor hacks are discussed together), with general info, info about the completability of the game (or lack thereof), download links and a screenshot gallery, illustrating new elements / differences from the original JSW. In all, over 630 new screenshots have been added to the site. Subsection 'B. Advanced modifications of the original JSW' of section II. Jet Set Willy (JSW48) has also been modified, with Darren McCowan's Jet Set Willy: Wet Sunday Afternoon Graphical Remix included there as the first entry (I meditated on this a lot, but finally decided to do it, because the modified graphics accompany the player throughout the game, giving it a different feel to the original). The update includes some 'JSW Central Special' download items, which are mainly bug-fixes / completable versions of some variants, which had not been available online before (TTBOMK). These are: New standalone, ready-to-play variants of games with additional rooms exported from very old editors - JSW - The Softricks editor version - JSW - Mark Woodmass's fast version - La casa di Jack / La casa de Jack (which is also available for download from this forum). Furthermore, my new RZX recordings of 17 variants of JSW can be downloaded from RZX Archive. Please let me know if you have any comments about the update or JSW Central in general :).

Thanks, I've downloaded it :).

Congratulations, Ian! :) ... but there's no attachment :o .

An interesting article about whether or not "internet" should be capitalised, and how the UK leads the trend to write it in lower case.

Thanks, Andy. I don't know if colour photocopiers were readily available on your side of the Iron Curtain back in the 80s (they weren't here, I think), but if they were, it would have solved the 'problem' of the 'extra thing' easily enough... for those who copied games illegally, of course.

Andy, how would you define "padlock protection" in case of Spectrum games? "Colour code protection" makes sense to me (because it kind of describes the way the protection works, or rather what it requires), but why "padlock"? There's a whole list of games featuring padlock protection on WoS, but certainly they didn't all have colour code sheets. So what do they have in common as far as copy protection goes?

This is post #9000! We have just reached another milestone :D. Congratulations to everyone involved! :)

It's an academic discussion, I guess :), but it highlights the difference between what I would call 'technical demos' and 'real games'. For me, a 'real' MM/JSW game is a product which is launched - thrown at the player, so to speak - with a task which is the same for all games of the kind, i.e. collect all items before the time runs out (if there is a time limit), without losing all lives (and without cheating). That's it. It doesn't matter how you collect an item or move from room to room. Only the final result matters. If someone told me: You need to collect the item in "The Nightmare Room" by passing through the uppermost row of platforms, I would reject that claim, because you can collect it without jumping on those particular platforms. I would see no reason why the way in which I am to collect an item should be imposed upon me. That's in a 'real' game. In a 'technical demo', which is meant to demonstrate some particular feature, or quirk, or innovation, I guess requiring the player to do things in a certain way is justified. Having said that, a perfect solution in any kind of game is that the design of the game should enforce the way things need to be done. If the author wants the player to do things in a certain way, he should enforce it by design, so the player cannot do things otherwise. If it is indeed enforced, it's the author's triumph, so to speak. If the player manages to find loopholes in the design and perform a certain task (collect an item, move from room to room) in a way 'better' than what the author intended (easier, faster, less troublesome in the sense of avoiding guardians, etc.), it's the player's triumph. In the history of MM games some Special Editions have been released to eliminate loopholes discovered by players. If someone told me: You should complete the original 'JSW' without using the shortcut from "Rescue Esmerelda" to "Ballroom East", I would object. Why should I not use this shortcut if it's there? I'm not cheating, I'm performing a legitimate action I've performed a hundred times in other rooms: I'm just leaving the room. If it takes me to a place which is very convenient for me as a player, it's not my problem, it's the designer's problem. He should have not allowed me to exit there, if his intention was that I shouldn't. So I guess a lot depends on the point of view and the intention. I approached the "Comprehensive Willy Movement Rewrite" files in a real-game way, i.e. it was like: here are some fine, new, quirky challenges, let's tackle them and see if I can complete these games. From this perspective, I didn't "miss" anything, I completed the task. Your expectation was, however, to approach them as 'technical demos', performing certain actions in a certain way. When I said, 'Solved!' at the beginning of my message, I meant it from the perspective of my approach. However, as you pointed out correctly, I didn't quite comply with the mission that you set. Whether I 'solved' the challenge or not and whether I 'missed' anything or not depends on the approach and the expectations. Having said all this, taking into account your expectations and the 'technical demo' character of the files, I will have a look at them again in the next few days to solve the "Before" one according to your suggestions :).

Not long ago (November 2017) there was a quiz on the Spectrum Computing Forum about how well people know 'JSW'. A dozen of cells from selected rooms were shown and the task was to identify which rooms they came from. The quiz, started by Rorthron, an administrator over there, was solved and is over now, but it shows there is still some detailed interest in 'JSW' among the general ZX Spectrum community. I wonder if anyone who is a member here took part in the quiz or, to look at it the other way round, if Rorthron and/or other participants are also members here. And one more thought: would it be proper to add another message in that thread over there to advertise this community? One can assume that people who participated in the quiz / read the related posts over there are interested in 'JSW' to some extent, and it is possible that some of them are aware of the existence of this community. What do you think?

I will consider it, but it's unlikely I'll do it, because it goes against my JSW philosophy, which is: It is important to collect an item without losing a life in any way which is possible; once it's collected, don't think about it again. A part of it is RZX-recording the way it is collected for future reference (if needed), but this is in order to be able to collect it *the same way* as before. For me the challenge in MM/JSW games is to collect an item safely (without cheating), not any particular way of collecting it. I feel that once I know how to collect an item safely, thinking about other ways of collecting it would not be an optimal use of my JSW-time :o . I would perceive considering alternative ways of collecting an item as justified only if I were trying to make an RZX recording showing a walkthrough as efficient as possible, and I would suspect that there may be a substantially quicker way of collecting an item than the one I've come up with so far. This is not the case here. No. I had it a passing thought about it and decided that it would be impossible :blink: .

I have come across a very interesting article, which discusses copy protection in Jet Set Willy in a truly academic manner. It is called Copy Protection in Jet Set Willy: developing methodology for retrogame archaeology and it was written by John Aycock from the Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Canada, and by Andrew Reinhard from Archaeogaming. You can read it here. It's amazing :).

Last night I did what I postulated above, i.e. I edited the Download page to make it reflect the current knowledge about these two variants. One little point now: the name of "The Banyan Tree" is the same in both variants. It is "Jack lametta alla riscossa", which is Italian. So it's an example of the 'original' Italian room name left untranslated in the Spanish version.

Solved! :D Thanks, Ian, it's a very nice set of quirky challenges for an early Saturday afternoon :). *Very* nicely designed! :) The RZX recordings are attached below, but they are of course spoilers. So I would encourage everyone interested not to download them before completing the games yourselves, it's a lot of fun! Before Rewrite solved.rzx After Rewrite solved.rzx

OK, here we go. Attached below are the eight files mentioned above, i.e. 2x TAP and 2xTZX versions of both files which are essentially unmodified original releases (apart from deleting unnecesary files from TZX tapes which contained many programs, and saving half of them as TAP instead of TZX) and bug-fixed releases made completable by applying the four official Software Projects POKEs. La casa.zip And here are the source files which were used to create them (using ZX-Blockeditor), downloaded from here (I don't know how to point to the sub-pages here, because the address in the browser always seems the same, no matter what sub-page I'm on): LNR_Zx_Ita_11.tzx LNR_Zx_Esp_n1_02.tzx I would kindly suggest that the 8 files attached above as ZIP be hosted here, as they are the original releases (extracted from the original TZX tapes) plus their bug-fixed versions (fixed only by using the official Software Projects POKEs, with no other changes). There are two interesting things I've noticed: 1. In all of these files, the addresses in the #A4.. range, describing item locations, are unchanged in relation to the original JSW. So in the bug-fixed files attached here the 'regular' value of #0B was applied at #A4C7 to transfer the First Landing item (contrary to what I discussed previously). I am mystified as to why the addresses are changed in the two 'less original' files I had worked with previously. 2. Choosing the option of playing with infinite lives (2) in the cheat menu does not really give you infinite lives, but a very interesting effect I haven't seen before, which could actually be a good idea as an option for some future project: your lives are renewed as you move to another room (or re-enter the same one). In other words, if you keep losing lives in one room, you don't see them disappear from the status bar (lower third of the screen), but after you've lost the 8th life in this room, it's Game Over. However, if you exit to another room, your lives are replenished (and you can lose 7 of them again, and then it's Game Over after losing the 8th life in the same room, unless you move to another screen). Interesting, isn't it? The bug-fixed files I uploaded previously and the file of 'La casa di Jack' copied from Darkman's compilation should be deleted from here (I'll try to do it after posting this). I am not sure what to suggest about Andy's TAP version of "La casa de Jack". On the one hand, it is certainly not the original release. On the other hand, Andy put some work into creating it, and it was perhaps the best available version at the time. So I'm not sure - perhaps it'll be best that he decides himself :).