IRF

The quirks relating to the jumps referred to above in JSW occur because, in each increment of a jump cycle, Willy is moved vertically before the check is made as to whether there is a standonable cell underneath him. (Logically, you might expect the check to be made before the move.) Then horizontal motion is dealt with later in the jump cycle: if Willy is about to pass horizontally into the next pair of cell-columns, there is a check for solid blocks immediately ahead of him, and if not then he is moved sideways. The net result means that he can fall down into solid blocks during the descent of a sideways jump at a certain angle, especially if there is a solid wall to the right of his head (which 'guides' him into the situation, as per the approach to The Chapel). The combination of the above also means that he can't jump sideways into a channel between solid blocks, so Matthew fudged that by removing the check for head-height solid blocks to Willy's left only. That fudge allows him to access the items in the left-hand side of the Wine Cellar, which would otherwise be unreachable (and also to jump back over the barrel in Ballroom East after returning from the top of Front Door. In a laterally inverted game, Willy lands on the floor where he is supposed to in the approach to The Chapel, but the Wine Cellar is impossible to complete.

Endorian Forest is also lacking a third placing in the high score table.

I've already put someone straight in the comments section, regarding the joke (in the room names of the two opening rooms).

I just completed all six caverns in Expert mode, anticipating that Ace mode would now be available in the title screen by pressing 'T'. However, it doesn't appear in the list of modes. Do you have to complete Lantern or Torch mode to activate Ace mode, or is the above quote not correct about there being an Ace mode in this demo version?

I've seen that in action now, it's a nice touch. I haven't managed to get high enough up in the cavern yet to be affected by the beam - those pesky balloons keep appearing and getting me! - but I can imagine the beam always being deflected towards Willy will make it harder for him to avoid contact with it. The solar beam also seems to switch on and off, seemingly randomly. Is there anything controlling that, or is it random? Have to go offline now but I'll resume playtesting the new caverns later this evening. 🙂

I've just managed to complete Smelly Genes in the Expert mode - choosing the correct order to collect the items is important; there is more than one 'Eugene'. Those disguised trap cells in Yellowstones are really sneaky! (Also, to a lesser extent, the hidden crumbly cells in Virus Attack.)

Ah, I was playing in Trainer mode - perhaps that explains why I didn't see the solar beam!? (And why I didn't notice any difference in the Particle Collision Chamber?)

Now that I think about it, in Particle Collision Chamber do some of the bouncing balls bounce sideways (whereas they previously only bounced vertically?) I must admit I didn't even notice the solar beam in Balloon Popping!

There's some interesting and novel guardian behaviour within the four new cavern layouts. I like the simultaneous upward and downward 'Skylabs'. Point of clarification - there are actually six caverns in this test file (but only the first four are new; the last two are apparently the same as two of the later caverns in 'Manic Panic').

Nice mix of BRIGHT and non-BRIGHT colours in the latter file. 🙂

Yes, I did consider whether the flags might be affected differently, but took the view that it didn't matter in the context (as you have now confirmed 🙂). The equivalent commands in Manic Miner could also benefit from the same optimisations.

#8F14 is a two-byte RLC A command; I can't see any reason why it couldn't be a one-byte RLCA?

I presume FPS = Frames Per Second?

POKE #8FBB, #00 (POKE 36795, 0 in decimal) - Willy can jump a bit further horizontally off the end of a rope.

The only potential adverse effect of that might be when jumping off a rope, where the RET at 36795 means that the 'Move Sideways' part of the 'Move Willy' routine doesn't get executed in that time-frame - so if Willy is facing leftwards on a rope and you hit Right+Jump simultaneously, then he might jump off the rope to the left rather than to the right? (In which case, to be sure that he leaves the rope in the direction you wanted, you would have to face Willy in the correct direction first, then hit Jump in the next time-frame.)

I wonder whether the effect could be reduced by shuffling the code around, placing 36674-36716 after 36795? So that straight after Left-Right movement keypresses have been stored in E, the Jump keypresses are dealt with (the code for which doesn't involve E), before the value in E is used to update the direction/movement flags (34256), and then flow of execution progresses straight into the code at 36796.

RB, I've just noticed a comment you made in one of your videos (the sub-20minute one), where you said "The semi-colon button failed". Am I right in my interpretation that you use the semi-colon button (on a PC running a Spectrum emulator) as a shortcut key for "Left+Jump" buttons being pressed simultaneously, in order to perform a leftwards jump (an example of the use would be to avoid risking walking off a precipice, as can happen if you press the separate Jump button too late)? But that it doesn't work in all circumstances (in this case it caused a vertical jump instead), so it isn't entirely reliable for that purpose? ** Incidentally, I've just established that the Hash key has a similar effect for jumping rightwards using a single keypress. i.e. Hash is a shortcut for "Right+Jump" buttons being pressed simultaneously. But perhaps that is similarly unreliable?

I won't disagree with that. On the other hand, I think the time saving you would gain by perfecting the 'stair clip' is probably at least as much, if not more than, the 2 second difference that you've just established between the 'Offy First'/'MegaTree first' routes!

I had those vertical guardians down as being Bats, so it seems you agree with me on that point! (I can't think of any other flying rodents!)

One final word on the relative timings for Off Licence first versus MegaTree first - I think the difference* would be even more marginal if you were comparing the two routes being conducted with only two spare lives remaining at the start of each run. (*By which I mean the absolute difference in seconds - i.e. Off Licence first would be the same percentage faster, but both runs would be shorter anyway, if you see what I mean?)

I've just tried out the jump/fall-through-the ramp-and-over-the-saw in one jump manoeuvre in 'Foot of MegaTree', and it's actually quite easy to pull off. You just have to make sure that Willy is in his 'feet wide apart' stance next to the base of the ramp, at the point when he begins the jump.

So, it seems I may have led you down the garden path, both figuratively and literally... 😜 Still, it's nice to see that triple jump in Out on a Limb in action, swiftly followed by the BOGOFF death jump! 🙂

Nice investigative work, RB! By the way, when you say 'stair clip', are you referring to jumping through the ramp in 'Foot of MegaTree' without landing on it? i.e. getting the start position of the jump right so that Willy doesn't land on a ramp cell with his back foot, so that he jumps and falls through the ramp in a single manoeuvre - which in this case allows him to get ahead of the saw so he doesn't have to wait for it to move ahead and then jump over it later?

I might have a go at trying to do a recording of that section, for comparison with your run through the equivalent section - although I'm not sure whether my personal degree of aptitude is up to it! 🤔

I'm one step ahead of you there! If you have ventured out to collect the item in 'Under the MegaTree' on the way down the MegaTree [e.g. to take advantage of the time saving from having kamikazed a life in 'Out on a Limb'] - as per my suggested schedule about ten posts back - then the saw is well out of the way at the point when you jump through the ramp in 'Foot of MegaTree', so in that scenario the saw doesn't cause any delay in proceeding down to floor level and walking out to the right. 🙂