Manic-4-Noobs / MANIC-minor

[jetsetdanny]

In case you do not frequent the Central Cavern - The Wonderful World of Willy Facebook Group, a new remake of "Manic Miner" has been discussed and announced over there earlier this year. It is called "Manic-4-Noobs". Its final version was released at the end of May 2021. It was created by "Bob The Polar Bear" (the author's real name can be found on the FB group easily enough, but he prefers to be credited by this pseudonym). He is currently working on another remake, called "MANIC-minor", which IIUC is meant for younger players/kids.

The author's link to download the game is here. I have also added it to the list of MM games on JSW Central and created an individual page for it, with a complete screenshot gallery and links to videos of an RZX walkthrough.

However, before watching these spoilers, I would strongly encourage you to play it, as it's got great graphics and various interesting technical features, it's a lot of fun to play and it's not too difficult! 🙂

[Spider]

Yes I've been following it a bit and when I've been able to providing a bit of feedback to the author. 🙂

Its a great game! 🙂

[jetsetdanny]

Bob The Polar Bear released a new variant of his game yesterday, called "MANIC-minor", aimed at "Ages 6 to 12 (and the young at heart)". The direct download link is here. A release in the TAP format is still pending.

I will add the game to JSW Central after some time has passed since the release (it's only mentioned in the Chronology section for the time being). I will probably convert the current "Manic-4-Noobs" page into a page embracing both incarnations of the game ("Manic-4-Noobs" and "MANIC-minor").

[MtM]

Good work by Bob, but I found the new Central Cavern too hard 😉

 

[Norman Sword]

Concerning the version for Minors

 

I'm glad it was not just me that found the level of difficulty too hard. Unfortunately the amount of editing from the original is very little. This is basically a graphic edit, with the rooms partially redrawn and some sprites removed. The sprites that are edited (movement path) are not edited a great deal.

The problem is this needs a routine similar to the routine I added to Manic Panic, where the instant death routine is turned off, and the air bar is depleted. Until that simple modification is incorporated this will always be difficult. Having watched people play Manic Panic (adults) it is evident that the death on contact for the casual player is a great turn off.  For example in modern games I play some of the combat games, where you play trying to take out terrorists etc. I play mainly to gawp at the graphics and push my graphic card as much as possible. I normally last but a few seconds before a sniper takes me out... This tends to make me turn the game off after a few deaths. Manic Miner and JSW exhibit similar characteristics for those that are not accustomed to the game. Play a few times and switch off when the game never lets you progress far.

Adding a air bar depletion on contact makes the game as easy as needed. If the game is then found to be too easy with the air bar depletion on contact, then the Minor is old enough to play the full game.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Norman Sword
Clarification.

[Spider]

The air bar upon contact I actually thought about for a project a long time ago, but (as it was easier) I found it simpler in my case to merely add more air to it, and set black/black for the 'next row down' so you'd not actually see the extra air. A small additional tweak to the ending point also helped. It gave the seemingly valid impression that you'd get 30 to 60 seconds 'air grace' period, whereas in reality the visible part of the air bar which was still the whole row would simply not get touched as it was busy depleting it from the hidden row below. I found 30 to 45 about best as any more and a very fast player on an easy quick cavern (Cold Room) would mean they could finish the cavern before the visible was decremented, resulting in a slightly unusual initial 'air bonus' sound. 😄

[Spider]

4 hours ago, Norman Sword said:

Manic Miner and JSW exhibit similar characteristics for those that are not accustomed to the game. Play a few times and switch off when the game never lets you progress far.

There was something similar I read a few years back , I think they actually called it "console syndrome" or something. Basically someone who was not used to 'older games' would be alarmed a bit at no save points and for instance would walk into a fire cell, lose a life and then repeat that action ( ! ) , not expecting such an erm 'harsh' output from it. This could well be perhaps why junior players are not always that great at older games, but I don't really know anyone that can verify this for me. My gaming experiences started where collision detection meant a loss of life or worse still end of game!

There is much merit in removal of the air supply for contact with nasties/fire cells etc, as its then in one way perhaps seen more as an energy bar, although for those without much coding experience it may be not that simple. Having said that, there's a bagfull of freespace in MM to use I guess and modern emulators with breakpoints make the job a bit easier as you can step through it to see what went wrong right

[Spider]

Pavero's excellent maps site has produced a "map" , well I guess caverns preview for this:

 

[jetsetdanny]

Thanks for the info, Andy!

I have added a link to the game's page on JSW Central (offline version, it will go online tomorrow or the day after with some other updates).

I can see there are some other relative new maps on Pavero's site, I'll have to add these too.

[jetsetdanny]

On 10/16/2021 at 8:15 PM, jetsetdanny said:

Bob The Polar Bear released a new variant of his game yesterday, called "MANIC-minor", aimed at "Ages 6 to 12 (and the young at heart)". The direct download link is here. A release in the TAP format is still pending.

I will add the game to JSW Central after some time has passed since the release (it's only mentioned in the Chronology section for the time being). I will probably convert the current "Manic-4-Noobs" page into a page embracing both incarnations of the game ("Manic-4-Noobs" and "MANIC-minor").

And so it has been done. "Manic-4-Noobs" and "MANIC-minor" now share the same page on JSW Central. There is a complete screenshot gallery of each game and a link to a YouTube video, among other things.

I have also changed the name of this thread to reflect that it includes both variations of the game.

I have been able to complete "MANIC-minor" with a score of over 39,000 points, which proves it is a relatively easy game. The RZX recording (which served as the basis for the YouTube video) can also be downloaded from the game's page on JSW Central.

Do give it a try if you haven't played it - it's very nicely done and easy to play! 🙂