[File] Manic Miner - DarkLight Modification

[IRF]

I really like these mods!

 

Gloomy Cavern restores the difficulty to being the same as the unmodified Manic Miner

[IRF]

Here's a suggestion - once Willy completes The Final Barrier, the whole cavern should be lit up 'properly', representing the daylight flooding into the cavern through the open portal. (i.e. the 'dark light' effect is switched off at that moment).

[Richard Hallas]

I would argue that it's marginally more difficult than in the unmodified game, particularly if you're not very familiar with the cavern layouts, because:

 

- The distinction between solid and crumbly platforms is less easily observed until you are up close to the platform (and potentially standing on it with it crumbling away under your feet!) - I think that's particularly pronounced in The Endorian Forest;

- Items don't colour-cycle until you are close to them, potentially making them a bit harder to spot;

- You can't see that the portal is flashing until you are close to it, so it could be easier to miss an item and get to the portal before it's opened.

 

That's all true, but I was speaking as an experienced Manic Miner player who does know the layouts very well. Certainly, the mod would provide extra challenge if applied to one of the third party MM games with less familiar (or new to the player) layouts. But as someone who's been playing Manic Miner since 1983, I don't find the lack of normal colour attributes in the standard rooms to be a hindrance at all.

 

Also, don't forget that for players who grew up with the Dragon version of the game, there wasn't actually any colour in that one in the first place! :-)

[Spider]

Noted two YouTube video's of this...

 

Manic Miner with Light Modification (2020) Walkthrough, ZX Spectrum

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3GVWY1Iq0Q

 

 

Let's Play Manic Miner Dark Light Modification & First Impressions - 2020 ZX Spectrum Game

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHXfni4ZVJU

[MtM]

Noted two YouTube video's of this...

 

Manic Miner with Light Modification (2020) Walkthrough, ZX Spectrum

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3GVWY1Iq0Q

 

That is an amazing level of skill/knowledge/memory. I would need a normal version running side by side to refer to.

 

Very impressive.

[Norman Sword]

Playing in the darkened room.

 

 

Possible the person playing has a screen with the fully lit cavern displayed on it, to guide them.

 

 

What i did find when playing the version I modified (manic panic version) was that having the attributes flicking from square to square as you walk. attunes you to the points at which you need to jump. I found the pixel perfect jumps that are sometime required to leap from platform to platform were a lot easier.

[MtM]

Playing in the darkened room.

 

 

Possible the person playing has a screen with the fully lit cavern displayed on it, to guide them.

 

 

What i did find when playing the version I modified (manic panic version) was that having the attributes flicking from square to square as you walk. attunes you to the points at which you need to jump. I found the pixel perfect jumps that are sometime required to leap from platform to platform were a lot easier.

If only someone would use this in an modded version of Technician Ted, that would make it much easier ;-)

 

I think that there would be some scope for its use in JSW, or a new modded version of JSW anyway. I like the idea that the room stays

lit once travelled through, or the parts that were travelled through do at least, albeit it doesn't seem very logical.

 

I like the idea too of having to collect a special item that then enables the lamp in JSW, say a lamp shaped collectable

item, and then the room can be lit with it. But then I wonder how that impacts new level design for a screen that will be

played partially in the 'dark' so to speak? Maybe it doesn't.

[IRF]

I like the idea too of having to collect a special item that then enables the lamp in JSW, say a lamp shaped collectable

item, and then the room can be lit with it.

 

On a sort of similar theme, in the jswmm.co.uk release 'Manic Mixup', all the items in the Solar Power Generator cavern are shaped like sunglasses, and once you have collected them all, the solar beam (with its air supply-sapping power) is turned off - there's a kind of logic to that!

[Spider]

If only someone would use this in an modded version of Technician Ted, that would make it much easier ;-)

 

The "Beaker Store" ? :D

 

On a sort of similar theme, in the jswmm.co.uk release 'Manic Mixup', all the items in the Solar Power Generator cavern are shaped like sunglasses, and once you have collected them all, the solar beam (with its air supply-sapping power) is turned off - there's a kind of logic to that!

:) That was a good idea.

 

This got me thinking but I suspect it may be completely impractical, the length of the beam should be reduced by a block or two per item collected. I do realise its length varies depending on where its pointing to, but what I sort of mean by this is:

 

No items collected = beam travels all the way to the wall/floor

One item collected = beam stops one or two blocks before the wall / floor

Two items collected = beam stops two or three blocks before the wall / floor etc

 

Upon reflection (no pun intended) I think one block per item is enough as once you've got two or more there's essentially a small gap if you're near the edge of the cavern...

[Norman Sword]

A lot of code needed to backtrack the light beam.

 

Simpler would be to set the amount of oxygen sap depending on the amount of objects collected. 

 

The code below concerns only the mod needed to change the sap

 

original

 

8D88 EXX                                      Switch to the shadow registers briefly (to preserve DE and HL)
8D89 CALL $8A3C                        Decrease the air supply by four units
8D8C CALL $8A3C
8D8F CALL $8A3C
8D92 CALL $8A3C
8D95 EXX                                      Switch back to the normal registers (restoring DE and HL)

 

 

replace with

 

       ld a,4                   ; set this value to 0,1,2,3,4 etc

       or a

       jr z,skip               ; permit no sap

       ld b,a

zap :

       exx                   

       call $8a3c  
       exx  
       djnz zap 

skip:
       nop

 

 

Addendum:-

 

If the value is never set to zero then even simpler

 

 

       ld b,4                   ; set this value to 1,2,3,4 etc

zap :

       exx                  

       call $8a3c 
       exx 
       djnz zap

 

       nop

       nop

       nop

       nop

       nop

 

 

 

 

          

Edited July 5, 2020 by Norman Sword