48k [File] Manic Panic

[IRF]

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.)

[IRF]

1 hour ago, Norman Sword said:

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.

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. 🙂

[Norman Sword]

Balloon Popping. The solar ray is controlled  by the vertical sprites. 

The skylab sprites step sideways. Either left or right with a programmable defined step. (each sprite has its own step)  Due to the start positions being anywhere, that stepping could move the sprite over a wall and/or the graphic depiction of the remaining air/oxygen. Whenever this instance happens, the sprite is moved again. Whenever the double move condition is done, the solar ray is switched on and off. 

The magenta skylab comes down 3 times before stepping onto the edge. It switches on/off the solar ray and is moved to the left of the screen to repeat.

+ the yellow Balloon moving left
 

 

Edited June 5, 2021 by Norman Sword

[MtM]

Norman, how about a tennis themed set of screens somewhere? Seems timely at the moment with the French open, and Wimbledon approaching, and I am sure Andrew Broad would like that too 😉

I have downloaded your latest file and will give it a go tonight on the old Next. Thanks for all your top work.

Edited June 5, 2021 by MtM

[IRF]

21 hours ago, Norman Sword said:

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

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?

[jetsetdanny]

Njenkin's review of "Manic Panic" has just been published on YouTube.

And there are various, very positive comments below! 🙂

[Norman Sword]

When Willy returned to the house, it did not feel the same. Those long years being lathargic had dulled his senses. 

Revisiting his past (Manic Panic) has installed a new vigor in his life. His activities have pushed has lathargic past into the past. Now he has no need for a zimmer frame, and no need for glasses. Willy has a new purpose in life.







The file that was here has been deleted. The reason is because an extended version is listed eleswhere under the heading Manic Jet Set Willy.

 

 

Edited December 1, 2021 by Norman Sword
Explaning removal of game file.

[MtM]

17 hours ago, Norman Sword said:

When Willy returned to the house, it did not feel the same. Those long years being lathargic had dulled his senses. 

Revisiting his past (Manic Panic) has installed a new vigor in his life. His activities have pushed has lathargic past into the past. Now he has no need for a zimmer frame, and no need for glasses. Willy has a new purpose in life.









(any problems and I will probably fix them)

MW-v1.tap 29.92 kB · 1 download

I love the spirit of the game description Norman! Not just because it probably applies to us all well middle aged men now on here, but because it stays true to the days of buying a game on tape, and there only being limited room for about a paragraph of narrative as to what the situation was regarding the game, the backstory if you will. Bravo!

 

 

[jetsetdanny]

26 minutes ago, MtM said:

I love the spirit of the game description Norman! Not just because it probably applies to us all well middle aged men now on here, but because it stays true to the days of buying a game on tape, and there only being limited room for about a paragraph of narrative as to what the situation was regarding the game, the backstory if you will. Bravo!

 

 

Thanks for this new file, Norman Sword! 👍 It's very nice to be able to play this version 🙂 .

Attached below is an RZX recording of my playtest (a picture being worth more than a thousand words 😉), in which I collected 82 items from the original JSW rooms. The playtest is incomplete - Maria is still there. I wonder whether item No. 83 is out there somewhere, and whether the Manic Miner rooms are out there somewhere to play - I didn't come across any entrance to them, but I suspect they may be there. Any hints would be appreciated.

The issues I have come across mainly have to do with ropes. They don't work the way they do in the original JSW, i.e. Willy does not move up and down on them the same way he does in the original. He can still move on them, but it works in a different way and causes a disorientation to the player and some other issues.

The most important one is that you cannot exit down from "Watch Tower" via the rope in the room below because Willy gets thrown back up every time. This can be circumvented by dropping down on the side of the room and getting killed below (just once, thanks to the immunity after getting killed you added, which is a nice feature). So this doesn't make the game incompletable, just makes you lose one life, but it would certainly be better if it was fixed.

When you drop down from "Orangery" into "Swimming Pool", the rope in "Swimming Pool" is moving in a different way than in the original JSW. I think it starts on the right instead of on the left. Because of this, if you drop down the way you are used to doing in the original JSW, you get killed. IF the game is to be faithful to the original, this should be fixed. 

I suspect, without analysing it, that it may be that ropes in some other rooms are set to a different starting position than in the original JSW.

Finally, the Water cells in "Rescue Esmerelda" do not work as ramps. It's not a huge issue, but a difference from the original JSW.

These are my initial observations. I will be happy to continue playtesting if new versions are uploaded and if you give me hints as to what I've missed in my first playtest (which prevented me from completing the game).

MV v. 1 - Daniel's playtest.rzx

[Norman Sword]

Unexpected features - or more correctly - features due to bad typing.  

On the mega compression of the rope, There was/is a conditional branch that sets the rope draw direction. That condition was wrong. 

The direction of conveyors and ramps. For every room I retyped a macro, which was supposed to be using a duplicate of the original data. but written differently and compressed. Incorrect retyping of the 64 room data. If the data was only one room it would not be so bad, but every change I do ends up being typed out for 64 possible data versions.

I actually spent a couple of hours fixing a bug that was due to the code I was working with, still contained the Attic bug. So I rediscovered the effects of that bug.   < the demo of all the rooms kept crashing> just rememberd also that the rope overflow problem was also probably causing a problem with the ropes.

 Water cells in Esmerelda - those macros again. 

Not yet looked  at the problem for keys/items.  

================================

I start out with mainly one aim, and nearly always get side tracked onto another path. I aim one day to fit in 48k a full blown version of Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy. So the assumption Manic Miner is hiding somewhere is not a bad guesse . (just not in this version) (not yet)

===============================

What has changed from the standard JSW.

1) memeory for copy screens sits in high memory - faster

2) screen copy is a raster copy not a simple ldir

3) the rooms are reformatted - no longer 256 bytes - smaller

4) rooms are compressed - by macro's and also by code

5)key data is stripped of unwanted data and also sorted with a simple bubble sort. The sort is needed to implement the removal of unwanted key checking. Each room checks only the keys in it's room, and no other.

6)nasties are removed from being jumped on (Manic Panic style) this is needed due to invincibilty and being able to jump on nasties otherwise. Can cause some rooms to have no floor (just a consequence)

7)added invincibility after death

7+1) super compressed the rope - (an eight is replaced with a face - so 7+1)

9)deleted all unused data in the sprite list. Each sprite is seven bytes and not eight. (it is expanded to eight)

10)removed unused sprites

11)deleted most of the un needed duplicates of data that causes flicker on room entry. e.g. duplicate text

12)time and objects are only updated when needed.

13)dancing willies only update when a change in animation.

14)item collection updates the number of items collected (the text) not every loop

15)background updates are done as a duplicate of the draw updates. e.g. to restore the screen to a clean state, sprites copy the background

16) sprite routine has been split into draw and merge (2 seperate routines)

etc  

It became evident that the compression of data was not savage enough, which meant this code was a dead end. So I added the demo screen part, then added a title screen and left it as that.

To do what I want (mm and jsw combined) means I need to start from scratch and ditch most of the original data and how it is laid out. Which was NOT what happened here. All those crashed hard drives SSD's etc have deleted most of my other source code and utilities- so anything I try out, is basically starting from scratch.

I will look at the key data - probably tomorrow, sometime.
I am also in the process of redrawing the title screen - I am not happy with the first version.

 

Addendum - just before I go to bed... The statment that I had to fix the attic bug, then looking at the screens around the end of the rzx recording.....

The missing key is in the first Landing - I am using the original data. Duhh.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by Norman Sword
Clarification of terminology.