48k [File] Manic Panic

[Norman Sword]

Manic Panic uses a sequencer for generating sequences of numbers. The Amazing Final inspection is a result of that sequencer.

Since the graphics have no bearing on how the room is played, I allow the sequencer to generate new displays. For those who posses the version of Manic Panic with a cheat mode, it is possible to stop the sequencer from drawing new designs by simply moving backwards from later rooms into "Amazing Final Inspection" 

The reason moving back through the rooms stops the sequencer in its tracks, is because the sequencer is reset for every room played that needs a sequence of numbers. The rooms using the sequencer will play exactly the same on every replay with no variation.  

The room water permeation uses the sequencer in a trivial manner. Each time a drip hits the bottom a note is generated. The note is taken from the sequencer. (note this variance in pitch has no impact on game play)

In the room Particle Collision Chamber the worm kicks the balls upward. The SFX for the kick is made from two parts an initial noise taken from the sequencer data and a fixed end part. ( note again the variance in sound has no impact on game play) 

The height the worm kicks the ball is also generated by the sequencer, and due to this variable making a difference in how the room would be played the sequencer is reset every time this room is entered. So that the room playing sequence is the same every time the room is played.

The seemingly random dripping of the drips in Water Permeation is calculated by FIXED data changes. It never changes from one game to the next. The drips generate a very steady sequence of time shifts,  (nothing to do with the sequencer)

Since the Title screen is NOT a game playing screen, the kick the worm generates and all the changes in movement are taken from the sequencer. So they will and do change.

The graphic used to squash Willy is also taken from the sequencer, the sequence is not easy to determine due to the length of the sequencer data. It could display the normal boot 20 times in a row, such is the data generated by the sequencer. 

 

[jetsetdanny]

Norman Sword,

Thank you for your comments. I am glad that my playthrough did not uncover anything that you would deem as requiring an updated version of the game 🙂.

I did not realise that collecting an item made the status bar change. It's good to know that "Control ONE" also displays the room name - I'll have to correct the screenshot on JSW Central taken in Expert mode. There's probably no need to justify myself for not spotting it or indicating the reason, but if I had to, I would say that the fact I missed it is a good testimony to the speed of the game! 😉

The  sequencer for generating sequences of numbers sounds like a really advanced technical solution to me! 👍 I have to admit I did not notice what happens in "Amazing Final Inspection". We are privileged to have you here to draw our attention to such things and to explain them 🙂.

I have a question regarding your following comment:

> The crushing boot onto the plinth does not follow any fixed pattern. It could just as easily have never changed for the duration of all your plays.

Do you mean that it changes, or not, randomly? That what I thought was the pattern ("a boot in the Trainer, Normal and Ace modes, and something which to me looks like a high-heeled women’s shoe in the Expert, Lantern and Torch modes") is not a pattern at all, that it was just a coincidence, that the changes could have happened in any order or could have not happened at all?

If the answer to the above questions is affirmative, then a next question arises: are the two "boot forms" I've come across the only ones there are, or are there more types of footwear to discover after losing all lives? 😉

[Norman Sword]

The usage of random implies a random number. The numbers generated are sequences of numbers, predictable and fixed in sequence.

The are two forms of boot. Which falls is unknown by me.  The sequence is determined by the sequencer. So it can be in any order. 

 When I was changing the graphics I was repeatedly aborting the game and trying to see what the graphics looked like. At one stage I was getting convinced that the new graphic would never be seen, as I watched the old boot fall time after time after time. The suddenly it changed graphic to the high heeled boot.  

[jetsetdanny]

Thanks for the explanation! I will correct the information on JSW Central that accompanies the screenshots. 

In any case, it is good to have two forms of boot at the Game Over screen 🙂. Having said that, it is better for the player not to see either of them! 😜

[Norman Sword]

I decided when I was writing Manic Panic to make the screens as easy as possible - To celebrate nearly 600 downloads (on this website) (it is 598 at the moment) , I will show how four of the screens started off and where then  changed to be easier.

Only 4 screens here.

 

mp_4rrm.tap

[IRF]

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').

[Norman Sword]

The room/cavern count was set as (you will not know, until you try)

Technically their are 7 caverns in this code.  It was just as hard for me to delete the rooms/caverns as it was to add new ones.  Having now changed the code to now allow room deletions I can alter room count with greater ease.

Caverns included. That are changed.

1) Smelly Genes, 2)Yellow stones, 3)Balloon Popping, 4)Virus attack, 5)Particle Collision Chamber

Left as a game terminator - Control one. 

Particle Collision chamber is different from the final version.

In Balloon popping -- When playing the room, the direction of deflection of the solar ray is set to the side of the room that Willy is in relative to the beams start point.  In other words the beams will deflect left or right depending on where Willy is.

 

 

  

 

[IRF]

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!

[IRF]

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?)

[Norman Sword]

The last sprite in Particle Collision Chamber has a horizontal component of movement. I did try most of them having a horizontal component and concluded -<NO>-
In Particle Collision Chamber when played in TORCH mode. The balls have a high vertical velocity which when coupled to a horizontal component made their paths seem erratic when they could not be seen.

Your response (above) was while I typed this. 




In Balloon Popping -- The solar ray is only switched on in EXPERT, ACE and TORCH modes. 

Edited June 5, 2021 by Norman Sword