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jetsetdanny

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  1. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to Spider in Manic Miner: The Lost Levels   
    Made a couple of adjustments for now to see how it goes. I do see one small issue still.
  2. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to The-Red-Bayron in [File] Manic Miner: The Lost Levels   
    Just wanted to say a big
     Thank You 
    To everyone in the community as there has been over 250 downloads of the game.
    I am amazed to have got more than 10 as it started as a "what if" idea with a bit of tinkering.
    All the best,
    B
  3. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to Spider in Why was Manic Miner never properly optimised?   
    Yes 🙂 That was partly the idea too. But I want to leave certain places in the code empty (3 bytes) where someone can easily CALL their own routine upon certain conditions in the game.
  4. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to MtM in Why was Manic Miner never properly optimised?   
    Very nice that Andy version 2, just playing it now thank you.
     
    Would this version be editable with JSWED etc if you were going to use it as a base for a mod?
  5. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to Spider in Why was Manic Miner never properly optimised?   
    I think the 'standard' MM and JSW run a bit too slow (honest thought) as with emulation I used to run them a bit faster. I do agree the third party edited ones are a lot harder and take into account (perhaps subconsciously) the erm "pace" ?
    I've seen myself with my own attempt at it, how fast MM and JSW can run with just a simple modification to the main loop , aka no actual detailed optimisation of the code in itself and also the next gain -if- the 'game buffer' was moved out of contended memory (easy with some emulators)
    I suppose when new on a real Speccy "back then" they seemed fast enough but these days we are spoiled a bit I suppose. 😕 I'm not sure. 🙂 
  6. Thanks
    jetsetdanny reacted to JianYang in Jet Set Steamboat Willie   
    Not really a JSW game by any purist's standards, but it's fun.
    https://sloanysoft.itch.io/willie
    Review (not mine): 
     
  7. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to Norman Sword in Manic Miner: The Lost Levels   
    The above pokes - demystified into actual Z80 code
     

    opcode                    address                 address                  comment
                                    hex #8F85             decimal 36741    ; note:- listed one byte earlier
    call #90fe               ;#cd,#fe,#90                                      ; the original call to the score routine
    changed to
    call #9352              ;#cd,#52,#93         ;205,82,147         ; note:- the call opcode is included here

    this routine is a copy of the Item collect sound in Jet Set Willy
    opcodes                ;address              ;address
    ;                             ; hex                     ; decimal
    ;                             ;#9352                 ;37714

    ld a,(#8073)          ;#3a,#73,#80      ;58,115,128              ; get border colour
    ld c,#80                 ;#0e,#80              ;14,128                   ; set loop counter (duration)
    sfx:
    out (#fe),a             ;#d3,#fe              ;211,254                  ; set border + ear + mic
    xor #18                  ;#ee,#18              ;238,24                   ; toggle ear + mic bits
    ld e,a                      ;#5f                     ;95                          ; save the border + ear + mic state in {e}
    ld a,#90                 ;#3e,#90             ;62,144                    ; calculate a pitch
    sub c                      ;#91                    ;145
    ld b,a                      ;#47                   ;71                            ; the calculated pitch to {b}
    ld a,e                      ;#7b                   ;123                          ; restore border + ear + mic back from {e} to  {a}
    sfx_loop: 
    djnz sfx_loop          ;#10,#fe             ;16,254                   ; loop (delay) for the pitch
    dec c                       ;#0d                  ;13                           ; decrease the time counter
    dec c                       ;#0d                  ;13
    jr nz,sfx                   ;#20,#f0           ;32,240                    ; keep looping till out of time, {c}=0

    jp #90fe                 ;#c3,#fe,#90     ;195,254,144            ; jump to the score routine
     
    Addendum.
    the JSW sound routine uses absolute address's for picking up the border colour. The actual routine uses relative jumps thoughout. This means this routine can be placed at any address, without having to change any of the routines data. The only change would be calculating the actual address that the routine sits at.

    Addendum 2
    A re-write can shorten the above 24 byte routine by 3 bytes. (I have not listed the re-write)
     
  8. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to Richard Hallas in Manic Miner: The Lost Levels   
    Hey, @The-Red-Bayron, well done!

    I've often thought it a pity that there was no version of The Lost Levels for the Spectrum. I've just been having an initial look and it appears that you've made a pretty good job of converting these levels. Yes, it would be nice if some of the special features from other versions could have been preserved (such as the fancy intermittent barriers that are unique to the BBC version, for example), but we can't expect miracles! For a conversion to the 'straight' Spectrum engine, this is as good as we could hope for, I think, and really nice to have.

    I've just got three points of feedback about what exists so far, though – two for you as author, and one for whoever maintains this site (@Spider?)

    1. There's a typo in the DS version. Eddie's Forest is spelt EDDIE'S FORREST in the game – i.e. one R too many in Forest. It'd be nice if you could fix that, and it'd alleviate my OCD about such things! 🙂
    2. There may be a good reason why you've done this (e.g. to match some of the other versions), but I'd personally MUCH prefer it if you could change all the room names to use "Title Case" rather than "ALL UPPER CASE". Some machines had to be in all upper case because that's all they could do, but the Spectrum original – and many other conversions – used mixed case names for all the rooms, and it really does look much better. So I for one would greatly appreciate it if you could adjust all the room names to match the approach used in the Spectrum original.
    3. At present, only the original non-DS version appears to be linked in the Downloads section of this site. Unless I've missed something obvious…? And only that version has an RZX file by @Spider. The DS version really needs equal treatment to the non-DS version, so I'd suggest either adding it separately to the Downloads section, or perhaps instead combining the two games into a single download (with just the updated PDF ReadMe and cassette inlay files). That'd be the more efficient option, and one only really needs one set of documentation for both games. (And perhaps @Spider could do an RZX of the other version, too?)

    Oh, and a PS: The version of the cassette inlay that contains both DS and non-DS inlays is missing the DS spine with the blue telephone. It's there in the single-page-only PDF, but needs to be brought across to the two-page version.
    I hope that's all helpful.
    Anyway, thanks again for your great work! I'm really pleased that someone has done this at last!
  9. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to Spider in Manic Miner: The Lost Levels   
    Was on my 'todo' list as well which still grows , but its one to remove now.
    Signup = Will investigate in a few days when I am able to. I -think- I can guess the likely causes.
  10. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to JianYang in Manic Miner: The Lost Levels   
    Probably more in the "loosely based on"-category. Based on a quick image search.

  11. Thanks
    jetsetdanny reacted to Richard Hallas in Manic Miner: The Lost Levels   
    That’s interesting. In which case, the Eddie in question is Eddie Edwards, who wrote the original Archimedes ports of MM and JSW. (He’s still a Facebook friend of mine.) It’s a long time since I played them, so my memory is a bit hazy (and I don’t remember Eddie’s Forest at all, off the top of my head), but they were good ports. (Eddie later went on to write the Acorn 32-bit conversions of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. He also worked with Jon Ritman of Head Over Heels fame.) Eddie started out on a Dragon 32, which explains why his Archimedes version of JSW contains conversions of the extra screens from the Dragon version of the game.
    Just thought you people here might be interested in these anecdotal details… 🙂
    By the way, Darren Salt also ported MM and JSW to RISC OS (his own original implementation of JSW with inbuilt level editor, and a straight conversion of Andy Noble’s PC remake of MM), but these came later; Eddie Edwards’ versions were first, and had some unique features (including memorably good in-game background music in JSW).
  12. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to CPL in JSW with scrolling   
    Thank you for posting this @AukonDK. I appreciate it.
    It's a shame the licensing / ownership of Jet Set Willy is such a mess. Otherwise I'd happily release it to the public. Matthew Smith has seen a video of it though, and he liked it, so that's enough approval for me. 🙂
  13. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to Spider in Manic Miner: The Lost Levels   
    I think that's it really , in that it does not matter how far MW falls if he hits one of these, he's safe (and bounces back up a bit) very similar to Dynamite Dan
    This just sort of makes him fall a lot faster , I can't recall -if- there's anything else to prevent a fatality with the fall as I do remember one cavern had this near the top, so he'd fall say 2/3rds the way down.
     
    Sorry the above is a bit vague.
  14. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to Spider in [File] Manic Miner: The Lost Levels   
    Hi.
    Thank you again for the game! 🙂 
    The AMS and BBC levels were appreciated, the last AMS one being quite hard and I'm thankful that in BBC Meteor Storm the 'gates' were not electric.
     
    Oddly enough, I have (before I saw this message) just had a playthough again , this time (as I should of done first time) with your standard game as provided , so this one I -can- attach here:
    I did not rush hugely so its not a massively efficient way and I merely looked at what was going on in the cavern, then took a 'best guess' , I did lose one life probably shown in the playback and had about 4 rollbacks in total.
    Lost_Levels_Spider_1st_May_23.rzx
    Recorded in Spectaculator, should play back in that and Spin/Fuse/Zero.
     
  15. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to IRF in "Terry The Turtle" - item completability?   
    That much is technically true, in so far as the room Hidden Chamber is first encountered early on in the game (before Styx) - where only the area to the right of the partition in that room is accessible - and then later on in the game (after Styx, I believe) a pair of teleporters allows you access into the area of Hidden Chamber to the left of the partition, and back again to the same 'zone' (the jungle-themed area - not sure how that works in a sub-aqueous environment but there you go)...
    ... That's where the problem lies - once you teleport back to an earlier part of the layout, you cannot do anything but teleport forwards again. So a second bite of the Styx Cherberus isn't possible.
  16. Like
    jetsetdanny got a reaction from Spider in JSW with scrolling   
    Thanks for the link, AukonDK! It looks very nice, I must say. This kind of "moderate scrolling" solution works very well.
    And please don't apologize for resurrecting an old thread 🙂 . New info is always appreciated, and the JSW games scene (at least the Spectrum one) has seen a number of projects resurrected and released after many years - and it's just awesome to see such things happen! 🙂
  17. Thanks
    jetsetdanny got a reaction from Spider in Why was Manic Miner never properly optimised?   
    Thanks for the file, Andy! 🙂 It does run visibly faster than the original.*
    * One thing that has always puzzled me is why some people are so excited about speeding MM and JSW up (there have been various attempts to do it, some admittedly very successful), while others complain that these (and many newly created MM/JSW) games are so difficult. It seems to be a contradiction. If you take a difficult game (where manual dexterity is involved) and make it run faster, it will be even more difficult. So anyone who thinks these games are difficult (and they are, *unless* you use Rollback, for example), should be thinking of slowing them down rather than speeding them up. That's what I think would be logical, at least...
  18. Like
    jetsetdanny got a reaction from Spider in "Terry The Turtle" - item completability?   
    Ian, thank you SO MUCH for analysing this issue! Indeed, you have put my mind at rest that I haven't missed anything. And the timing has been very helpful as I will soon set out to re-record the first file in question (the Yellow version).
    I also congratulate you on collecting the last remaining items in the Cheat mode 👍. This is not pertinent to my YouTube videos (as I don't use any cheat modes in them), but a testament to your tenacity in pursuing the specified goal 😉.
  19. Like
    jetsetdanny got a reaction from Spider in "Terry The Turtle" - item completability?   
    Yes, the linear nature of the route doesn't allow for dropping down into Styx twice during the same game AFAICT.
    The question would be whether there isn't some kind of exit somewhere which allows Terry to go back to an earlier part of the route and drop down into Styx again. However, I couldn't find any such exit, and the layout of the map doesn't suggest there is one.
  20. Like
    jetsetdanny got a reaction from IRF in "Terry The Turtle" - item completability?   
    Yes, the linear nature of the route doesn't allow for dropping down into Styx twice during the same game AFAICT.
    The question would be whether there isn't some kind of exit somewhere which allows Terry to go back to an earlier part of the route and drop down into Styx again. However, I couldn't find any such exit, and the layout of the map doesn't suggest there is one.
  21. Like
    jetsetdanny got a reaction from IRF in "Terry The Turtle" - item completability?   
    Ian, thank you SO MUCH for analysing this issue! Indeed, you have put my mind at rest that I haven't missed anything. And the timing has been very helpful as I will soon set out to re-record the first file in question (the Yellow version).
    I also congratulate you on collecting the last remaining items in the Cheat mode 👍. This is not pertinent to my YouTube videos (as I don't use any cheat modes in them), but a testament to your tenacity in pursuing the specified goal 😉.
  22. Thanks
    jetsetdanny reacted to IRF in "Terry The Turtle" - item completability?   
    I have interrogated the code for the Yellow Edition.
    I looked at all the rightward exits from the rooms (at Offsets #EA in each pair of pages across the four banks of room data), but I couldn't find and trace of a room exit that would lead into the Forbidden Holy Grounds at the top left of either the Hidden Chamber or the Secret Load and Kill Screen.
    I then scrutinised the teleport code (which took a while as I had to re-learn where the teleport data is stored in JSW64, and what format it is stored in), in case any teleporters (other than the ones you already know about) could provide access to those unobtainable items. But alas, no such luck.
    ***
    I didn't investigate the uncollectable items in the Cyan Edition because, based on your description, they just seem to be a subsection of the uncollectable ones from the Yellow Edition?
    ***
    I didn't check out the Vector Edition either, but if you say that there is no way to be able to drop down into Styx twice during the same game (presumably because the linear nature of the route doesn't allow for that?), then I can't see how you can collect both items (unless a gust of wind can blow Terry sideways as he descends - or I suppose it might be a sea current given the nature of the setting - or unless he can take a fat pill to expand his sprite across four columns!)
    ***
    So in summary, I couldn't find a way to obtain any of the 'Forbidden Holy Items', but at least hopefully I have put your mind at rest that you haven't 'missed a trick' in that regard!?
    [Of course, there is always the JSW64 Cheat Mode...]
  23. Like
    jetsetdanny got a reaction from SymbolShift in Post number 10000!   
    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! 🙂 
  24. Like
    jetsetdanny got a reaction from GawpGRP in Post number 10000!   
    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! 🙂 
  25. Like
    jetsetdanny reacted to IRF in Manic Miner: The Lost Levels   
    I'm sure patches could be devised in JSW64 which replicated both the safely-break-a-long-fall trampoline and the vacuum descent blocks. Even if they involved an adjustment to Willy's air fall counter, etc, based on a check of Willy's coordinates compared against a hardwired value (the air cells just above the blocks in question), rather than recreating generic new block types and associated major changes to the game engine. (Though the latter would be preferable if you wanted to create brand new caverns and employ the new blocks elsewhere.)
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