"Jet Set Jason: In Roddënwald"

[Korzy_iz_Adb]

Wow! Awesome!

 

Amazing analysis, Danny! I won't make any comments on the titles of the rooms, inspiration, etc... I will leave those for the Readme.

 

I'll be back in some hours, as soon as I have read in depth your analysis and have some free time.

 

Thanks a lot again; your ideas will be very useful!

[jetsetdanny]

I am glad my comments may be useful for the development of the game, and I am looking forward to your reactions! :)

[Korzy_iz_Adb]

Hello there: time to reply.

 

 

General comments

Thanks a lot for the time you have spent on playing the pre-alpha version. 

 

Title

The name of the school is Roddënwald; you are right. It looks like German, but it isn't German at all. "Jet Set Jason in Roddënwald" sounds great, so I think I'm using this title from now on.

Spelling:
I'm going to keep the capitalization convention to make it look "German". However, there are some rooms' names which I will have to revise.

 

Level of difficulty

Your comments on the level of difficulty sound nice. I didn't really intended to make it harder that Afterlife, A Bulgarian Requiem or MBCM... I guess it ended being that way. Nevertheless, I will try to make puzzles easier and give more clues about teleports, etc... 

 

Cells

I am going to try to keep Fire cells consistent; I guess that's one of the strengths of my design style, if I may be said to have one...

 

Room comments

I am not going to say anything about the titles or the references used to create the rooms. I'll keep that for the Readme.

 

“Dusty Main Hall of Roddenwald” (011 )

The "twinkling star" guardians are supposed to be dust glittering in the sunlight. Maybe it's not too clear...

 

“Magnificence hides Depravity” (010)

There will be rooms below and rooms behind the walls, of course.

 

“Their Bones bleached by the Sun” (008)

It's great you find the Fire cells vicious but not impossible to see.

 

“The Weight of Tradition” (032)

Comments on the layout written down and dutifully noted.

 

“Mail Room – ‘Mad’ Fritz’s Lair” (007)

I'm particularly fond of the stamp guardian as well.

 

“The Dining Hall” (006)

You are right, the waiters in Roddënwald began their life as Bacchus from "Madam Blavskja's..." but without the vine leaves on their head.

 

“Ground Floor Students’ Lavatory” (005)

What do you mean by "intense"? I don't get what you mean to say...

 

“Laundry Chutes – Dirty Clothes” (042)

I have to think about this room; how to make the lower level more useful. Or not...
 

“The Locker Room – Sweaty clothes” (043) - “The Showers – Athlete’s Feet” (044)

I tried to achieve a compact, coherent look. It looks like I did it...

 

“The Gymnasium – The back Door” (045)

The items are supposed to be basketballs (basketball balls?) Did I manage to make them look like that?
I'm changing this room's title to "The Gym - The Door to the Schoolyard"

 

“What is left when Reality fails.” (000)

It's cool you like the guardians. They are supposed to be huge mascarons, like in this Wikipedia article...

[jetsetdanny]

Hi Fabi

General comments

Thanks a lot for the time you have spent on playing the pre-alpha version. 

 

It was sheer pleasure!

 

 

Title

The name of the school is Roddënwald; you are right. It looks like German, but it isn't German at all. "Jet Set Jason in Roddënwald" sounds great, so I think I'm using this title from now on.

 

Cool! 

 

Having given it some more thought, I think it may be quite cool when done on purpose: something which looks like some well-known language, but isn't.

 

It's like "Madam Blavskja", really. I think most people would agree "Blavskja" looks like a Slavic surname.

 

However, it's definitely not Polish - a Polish surname would end in -ska; it could be B?awatska (which I would perceive as coming from "b?awatek", which means a cornflower [Centaurea cyanus]). It could also be "B?awska" in Polish, that would be a Polish-looking form, although it's not a common surname.

 

It's not Russian - a Russian surname would end in -????, like ?????????? or ????????.

 

It's not Czech or Slovak - a Czech or Slovak surname would end in -ová, like Blavsková.

 

I would risk a strong statement that it's not a typical surname in any of the Western or Eastern Slavic countries. I don't think any of the languages there has the "-skja" ending in female surnames.

 

It might be - and it's the only option I see - a Southern Slavic name, perhaps Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian, Serbian or Slovenian. I am not familiar enough with these languages to know.

 

Or perhaps it's just like with Roddënwald seeming German - looking Slavic, but not Slavic at all...

 

 

Spelling:
I'm going to keep the capitalization convention to make it look "German". However, there are some rooms' names which I will have to revise.

 

Remind me at the very end of the process, once you have a release candidate ready, and I will look through all of the room names to check for any possible inconsistencies in relation with the "German" convention.

 

 

Level of difficulty

Your comments on the level of difficulty sound nice. I didn't really intended to make it harder that Afterlife, A Bulgarian Requiem or MBCM... I guess it ended being that way. Nevertheless, I will try to make puzzles easier and give more clues about teleports, etc... 

 

I believe it's definitely harder than any of your preceding games. Which might be as well...

 

 

“Dusty Main Hall of Roddenwald” (011 )

The "twinkling star" guardians are supposed to be dust glittering in the sunlight. Maybe it's not too clear...

 

I think there are many guardians that one cannot expect to be identified in the same way one identifies them. Even the guardians from the original "JSW" - there are various names for many of them on various websites, and then interviews with Matthew Smith shed some light on some of them from his perspective, and at times what he thought they were was very different from what some people thought they were.

 

The fact that it's not recognised uniformly does not take anything away from a good guardian, though

 

 

“Magnificence hides Depravity” (010)

There will be rooms below and rooms behind the walls, of course.

 

Good! 

 

 

“Ground Floor Students’ Lavatory” (005)

What do you mean by "intense"? I don't get what you mean to say...

 

Well, I guess I didn't mean anything specific with this comment, just meant it as a general compliment on the nice graphics in this room

 

 

“The Gymnasium – The back Door” (045)

The items are supposed to be basketballs (basketball balls?) Did I manage to make them look like that?

 

Yes, you did 

[IRF]

Fabian, whilst assisting Daniel with his conversion of 'Madam Blavskja's Carnival Macabre' from 128K to 48K, I discovered an unused two-frame sprite buried in the code. It looks like some kind of one googly-eyed robot. Perhaps it could be used somewhere in your Roddenwald project?

 

(I also noticed that there was an unused frame of animation for the 'Playing Card' guardian in the room 'Malocchio's Games of Chance' - the guardian in question doesn't animate, staying stuck on the same animation frame. But the presence of another unused frame seems to suggest that it was supposed to alternate between looking left and right?)

[Korzy_iz_Adb]

On 3/22/2020 at 1:30 AM, IRF said:

Fabian, whilst assisting Daniel with his conversion of 'Madam Blavskja's Carnival Macabre' from 128K to 48K, I discovered an unused two-frame sprite buried in the code. It looks like some kind of one googly-eyed robot. Perhaps it could be used somewhere in your Roddenwald project?

 

(I also noticed that there was an unused frame of animation for the 'Playing Card' guardian in the room 'Malocchio's Games of Chance' - the guardian in question doesn't animate, staying stuck on the same animation frame. But the presence of another unused frame seems to suggest that it was supposed to alternate between looking left and right?)

 

Thanks, I'll check it.
 

Have you tried Roddënwald, IRF? What do you think?

[IRF]

I haven't had chance yet, no. It's on the To Do list.

[Korzy_iz_Adb]

My further comments on your comments, Danny:

My further comments on your comments, Danny:

 

 

“Nothing here but debris…” (077)

 

The guardians in this room were inspired by real world phenomena. I'm quite proud of them.

 

 

“A Bunch of Trees – Another Wall” (047)

I have written down all your comments about this room, specially about the teleport puzzle.

 

“The handless Clocks” (078)

 

Same as above; the teleport puzzle. Glad you liked the clocks!

 

“Through the handless Clocks” (079)

 

Ditto.

 

“Up the broken Stairs” (086)

 

I have to fix the bug when you go to the upper screen. The quirky jump was totally unintentional, but I think I will leave it there. It is cool.

 

 

“They said this School was gone” (081)

 

Nice.

 

“The Assembly Hall” (082)

 

Yep; the background colour changes because you are indoors.

 

“The Gymnasium – Ada’s Girls” (083)

 

Glad you liked the trampolines. Yes, Non-Player Characters with personal names are those in green, so Ada is the one in the middle.

 

“The Locker Room – The Showers” (084)

 

I think you didn't notice the showers, but they share the graphic pattern with the showers in the boys' school; nevertheless, the room is unfinished.

 

“The Toilet Racket” (085)

 

Yep.

 

“A Waiter and some Waitresses” (102)

 

I have to fix the problem with getting that token.

 

“The Kitchen / Bertha’s Lair” (103)

 

I have to do something with the upper right corner.

 

“Lazy Schoolgirls” (090)

 

Cool!

 

“The Corridor / History Classroom” (095)

 

It is supposed to be a candle.

 

“Botanical Experiments” (089)

 

The room is, maybe, too hard on the eyes...

 

“Classical Drama: The Bacchantes” (088)

 

Glad you liked having to flip the switch beforehand. The Bacchantes is the name of a classical tragedy by Euripides; it is the name of a group of bloodthirsty priestesses of Bacchus.

 

“The Music Classroom” (087)

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

“The Headmistress’ Office” (091)

 

I have to check whether it is possible to get the token without sacrificing a life.

 

“Teachers’ Room / A Coffee Break” (092)

 

I'll check your books in Willy's New Mansion.

 

“The Mathematics Classroom” (093)

 

I'll think about the title of the room.

 

“The French Classroom” (094)

I guess I wanted to say that there is only an Eiffel Tower (the item) and many imitations (the Fire cells).

 

“The Cabinet of Natural History” (099)

 

Cool.

 

“The Science Classroom” (098)

 

Cool.

 

“Library / The English Classroom” (097)

 

Thanks.

 

“Chapel of the Ladies of Sorrow” (100)

 

Above it? A classic "Promised land" (I think that's Andrew Broad's term for it).

 

“Schoolgirls’ Bedroom” (096)

 

Yep, the zzz are meant to represent snoring. A classic graphical metaphor.

 

“I can see Roddenwald from here!!” (101)

 

Thanks.

 

“A School Wall? / Schoolgirls!” (080)

 

Thanks.

 

And that's it.

 

 

 

[IRF]

Quote

“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).

Fabian, I should warn you that there is a bug in the JSW64 game engine, which may or may not affect your game. Do you have any 'Skylab' type entities in the game? (i.e. Droplets that shift horizontally in between each descent.)

Because if there are any Skylabs, what you will find is that, once you have visited the room containing Droplets during the course of playing the game, then the Skylabs will be turned into Droplets (i.e. They will no long shift their horizontal position), and that will remain the case even if you abandon the game and start a new one. (Only reloading the game file will revert them back to horizontally-shifting Skylabs.)

There is a fix for this bug though, should you need it. Let me know if the game contains both Droplets AND Skylabs, and I'll go back through my notes and dig out the bugfix.

[Korzy_iz_Adb]

I'll have to check this, IRF.
 

Fabian, I should warn you that there is a bug in the JSW64 game engine, which may or may not affect your game. Do you have any 'Skylab' type entities in the game? (i.e. Droplets that shift horizontally in between each descent.)

Because if there are any Skylabs, what you will find is that, once you have visited the room containing Droplets during the course of playing the game, then the Skylabs will be turned into Droplets (i.e. They will no long shift their horizontal position), and that will remain the case even if you abandon the game and start a new one. (Only reloading the game file will revert them back to horizontally-shifting Skylabs.)

There is a fix for this bug though, should you need it. Let me know if the game contains both Droplets AND Skylabs, and I'll go back through my notes and dig out the bugfix.