Playing around with the in-game tune in JSW

[Hamish]

Ah, excellent -- DigitalDuck's tip that it was in JSW online led me to this: it's the in-game music in the MSX version.

 

 

Are we sure that this music isn't already encoded into the Spectrum version? Seems quite a coincidence that it should be here but not there...

I would also still love to find out what this music is...! I'm sorta assuming it's something classical (or at least, out of copyright)?

[Hamish]

Turns out it's an original composition by Steve Wetherill, who did the MSX port: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=1190683880796002&postID=5991347669152922159

[IRF]

The original blog post which you've commented on there is quite interesting:

https://blog.stevewetherill.com/2022/01/software-projects.html?m=1

Edit: It's a blog by Steve Wetherill, co-author of JSW2 with Derrick Rowson. (Well, it's not that simple - the blog entry explains the precise history).

This one has some interesting nuggets as well:

https://blog.stevewetherill.com/2022/01/q-with-retrogamer-magazine-on-manic.html?m=1

P. S. The references to Woolton village (where Software Projects were based, and where I live) has got me wondering if the elephant in Dr Jones... was based on the local Elephant pub?

Edited October 19, 2023 by IRF

[CPL]

I love the Steve Wetherill tune. I guess because it was the one I grew up with, but for me that is THE Jet Set Willy theme.

All the music in my JSW Scrolling Edition remake is variations on that theme, and it changes style depending on which room you are in. I made a musical tour video of all the variations to send to Steve Wetherill to check he was OK with me playing with and arranging his composition. He's fine with it, thankfully. I'll post the video here if people are interested.

[jetsetdanny]

23 hours ago, Hamish said:

Are we sure that this music isn't already encoded into the Spectrum version? Seems quite a coincidence that it should be here but not there...

Thanks for the interesting info and discussion about this tune.

I am pretty sure it's not coded into the Spectrum version. The whole game code has been analysed, there is an excellent disassembly, no mysteries left, at least not of this kind.

When I listened to the tune you posted in MID format, I couldn't identify it, but I had an association with a movie (I'm not sure if it's a real movie or a figment of my imagination) about a composer who suffers from a creator's block, but then starts hearing this tune in his head, it keeps haunting him, and he tries to discover where it comes from. And gradually he discovers that he was a child survivor of the Holocaust (which he didn't remember, perhaps pushed out of his memory) and that the tune was something from his childhood. And then he beats his creator's block and composes a magnificent symphony based on this tune, which he dedicates to other survivors (or something along these lines; is there really such a movie? 😮)

[IRF]

Danny, the above linked blog by Steve Wetherill provides confirmation of something we were discussing a while back, when you were putting together a readme file for one of your/our projects (I can't recall which one off the top of my head).

You were attempting to give due credit for certain guardian sprites that you had adopted from Jet Set Willy 2.  You had said something along the lines of "Sprites in rooms X, Y and Z taken from JSW2 by Derrick Rowson".  I said that should have said "JSW2 by Rowson & Wetherall".  You pointed out that JSW2 for the Spectrum was only itself credited to Derrick Rowson.  I think in the end we settled on something like: "JSW2 by Rowson, which was itself back-ported from a version of JSW on another platform called JSW: The Final Frontier, by Derrick Rowson & Steve Wetherall".

Whilst you were right to insist on accuracy in terms of how the Spectrum version of JSW2 was credited at the time of its release (and I'm sure the 'source material' - original cassette sleeve notes for JSW2 - would have given Steve Wetherall a mention), my substantive point was that if your objective in the readme was to give direct credit to whoever designed the sprites (as opposed to, say, the new room layouts or game engine changes in JSW2), then solely mentioning Derrick Rowson might not have given that due credit.

Now, based on Steve Wetherill's blog that I linked to the other day, it transpires that he was indeed responsible for at least some of those sprites that you borrowed for the game that the readme was associated with:

 

Several of the new rooms contained sprites that I previously created for the demo that I’d originally sent to SP. I modified Willy, adding the space helmet, for the new Starship Enterprise “space” levels we added.

 

Some of the sprites I created for Jet Set Willy CPC-464

[Hamish]

On 10/19/2023 at 2:15 PM, CPL said:

I love the Steve Wetherill tune. I guess because it was the one I grew up with, but for me that is THE Jet Set Willy theme.

Me too. It actually slightly spoiled JSW2 for me that it didn't have Steve's in-game music!

On 10/19/2023 at 2:15 PM, CPL said:

All the music in my JSW Scrolling Edition remake is variations on that theme, and it changes style depending on which room you are in. I made a musical tour video of all the variations to send to Steve Wetherill to check he was OK with me playing with and arranging his composition. He's fine with it, thankfully. I'll post the video here if people are interested.

I would love to see / hear this!

[Hamish]

18 hours ago, jetsetdanny said:

Thanks for the interesting info and discussion about this tune.

I am pretty sure it's not coded into the Spectrum version. The whole game code has been analysed, there is an excellent disassembly, no mysteries left, at least not of this kind.

When I listened to the tune you posted in MID format, I couldn't identify it, but I had an association with a movie (I'm not sure if it's a real movie or a figment of my imagination) about a composer who suffers from a creator's block, but then starts hearing this tune in his head, it keeps haunting him, and he tries to discover where it comes from. And gradually he discovers that he was a child survivor of the Holocaust (which he didn't remember, perhaps pushed out of his memory) and that the tune was something from his childhood. And then he beats his creator's block and composes a magnificent symphony based on this tune, which he dedicates to other survivors (or something along these lines; is there really such a movie? 😮)

I asked ChatGPT about it and it said it didn't know of such a movie, but that the synopsis showed great promise! Time to write to Spielberg ...

[jetsetdanny]

4 hours ago, Hamish said:

I asked ChatGPT about it and it said it didn't know of such a movie, but that the synopsis showed great promise! Time to write to Spielberg ...

Yeah, make a couple of quick millions and then I won't have to work any more and will be able to devote all my time to JSW and MM... I'm in! 😁

[jetsetdanny]

9 hours ago, IRF said:

Now, based on Steve Wetherill's blog that I linked to the other day, it transpires that he was indeed responsible for at least some of those sprites that you borrowed for the game that the readme was associated with:

 

Several of the new rooms contained sprites that I previously created for the demo that I’d originally sent to SP. I modified Willy, adding the space helmet, for the new Starship Enterprise “space” levels we added.

 

Some of the sprites I created for Jet Set Willy CPC-464

OK, you were right! 🙂 

Although, for the sake of discussion, one could probably say that the fact that someone claims something on their personal blog does not necessarily mean it's true. Corroboration by third parties would be needed to establish the claim to be factual truth.

Please note I'm not specifically questioning anything Steve Wetherill says, I'm just referring to a general rule regarding anyone's personal claims of some past achievements.

These are cool sprites which may be reused in the future. Credit to Steve will then be in order, I guess...