Manic Jet Set Willy.

[Norman Sword]

When I finished version 1 of Manic Jet Set Willy. I was already aware of a problem - which was subsequently mentioned by others.

The problem was caused by the editor having a column mode. Which I use occasionally to copy data and very rarely to delete data. The problem with using the column mode is the editor allows hard tabs and spaces to exist in the same text. The column mode struggles to understand where the visual columns are and as a result can do strange things. What it highlights and what it does are two differing things.

At some stage during the last release of MJSW (Manic Jet Set Willy) I deleted a great quantity of old code and at the same time deleted a good deal of the comments that, due to editing, meant nothing for the code displayed.

So I casually deleted a great deal of obsolete comments by using the column select and delete method. What I had not noticed was the delete has a bug in it. Which is different to the mess it normally creates. When a column is selected the program deletes all the data and can delete an extra byte on the last line. So it will correctly delete a column of 40 comments, but for the last comment deletes one byte extra. 

This was not noticed by me, and as I was at that time unaware of the problem (It was unusual usage from me) and it went undetected.

What this did was it deleted a bit from a binary value. So:- (as an example)

h_common:
    ld    a,d                       ; transfer        
    cp    e                         ;  limit  
    jr    nz,h_move           ; 
h_reset:
    ld    a,(ix+#00)         ; data
    and    %000$11111  ; mask
      
is edited by the block delete to    
    
h_common:
    ld    a,d            
    cp    e            
    jr    nz,h_move
h_reset:
    ld    a,(ix+#00)    
    and    %000$1111    
    
which does not look a great deal different amongst 15,000 other lines of data and code.

It does however create a bug.

Since I had already stated I was not updating the code for a year. It also meant I was not updating the code I had written with a fix. 

--------------------------------

A few days after the release I decided to undertake a revamp on the method of compression. (not explained here)

The revamp on the compression method allowed more free memory to be released. 

The chance to change the method of play and integrate the two parts was my next challenge. So a new version was undertaken at the end of December 2021 and completed before the end of the month in 2021. Since I was not releasing an update of V1    I decided that V2 would not be released until 12 months after V1. 

Since it is now December 2022, the file I wrote is included here. 

This file should have a loading picture. I have not attached the loading picture to the game update. I include here only a .PNG image of the loading picture taken from a zx spectrum screen. 

-------------------------------

Mid 2022 I was casually playing with data and sprites - and wondered if I could implement a new method of drawing the sprites which would also store the data differently. Over a couple of days I implemented the new method in JSW and in MJSW. It proved the concept worked and it also released more free memory. I have spent the last 6 months with the help of Spider changing V2 and adding a lot more data and graphics. The new version is known as V3.  V3 is probably more in keeping with what I had originally planned on doing. V3 will be released Next year (probably Jan 1st 2023)  
 

Note - game wise V3 is only modified slightly from v2 - 4 more rooms and slight edits in some rooms- This was not meant to change the game play. The scope of the changes was adding graphics and making the transistions between screens more flowing. These versions contain both Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy. V3 contains more graphics than either of the original game versions. So the Manic Miner part of MJSW has all the necessary graphics of the original version. In a similar way the JSW part of MJSW has more graphics than the original JSW. In fact the JSW title screen has far more variaties than the same JSW title screen, and yet both the games of JSW and MM  and comapcted to fit into the 48k of the original games.

 

------------------------------

Due to circumstances - this is my next to last game file post and the posting of V3 will be my last.

ADDENDUM - I have found the original .scr spectrum screen for the .png picture. So I will add on here the .scr picture - should be attached to the start of the file and displayed as the primary loading screen.
 

MJSw_v2.tap

MSJS_PIC.scr

Edited December 29, 2022 by Norman Sword
addendum

[MtM]

Very sorry if this is your last game Norman, that will be an incredible loss for all Spectrum fans, but if it is better for you then completely understandable.

 

[jetsetdanny]

The same feeling here - it will be a great shame if Norman Sword leaves the scene. I hope he will reconsider/circumstances will change favourably. In any case, thank you for the release of V2 and I look forward to V3!

[IRF]

On 12/12/2022 at 3:52 PM, Norman Sword said:

When I finished version 1 of Manic Jet Set Willy. I was already aware of a problem - which was subsequently mentioned by others.

Norman, is the problem you refer to above the quirky behaviour of horizontal guardians when they turn around at the rightmost extent of their range (skipping two frames of animation in the process)? Something that made, for example, Cuckoo's Nest slightly more difficult to complete. (And also had an effect on the timing/positioning of the solar beam in Solar Power Generator, because of the complex interactions between the solar beam and the relative positions of the slow and fast horizontal guardians in that cavern.)

Am I safe to assume that that quirk has now been fixed in V2/3 of the game? 

[IRF]

6 hours ago, IRF said:

Norman, is the problem you refer to above the quirky behaviour of horizontal guardians when they turn around at the rightmost extent of their range (skipping two frames of animation in the process)? Something that made, for example, Cuckoo's Nest slightly more difficult to complete. (And also had an effect on the timing/positioning of the solar beam in Solar Power Generator, because of the complex interactions between the solar beam and the relative positions of the slow and fast horizontal guardians in that cavern.)

Am I safe to assume that that quirk has now been fixed in V2/3 of the game? 

To answer my own question, after having checked out the V3 game file, the bouncing horizontal guardian behaviour does seem to have been fixed.  However, in the process of investigation I have noticed another bug/glitch/(feature?) which is present in both V3 and (although nobody seems to have noticed it before) in V1.05.  Namely that when you lose your penultimate life:

- the current room is reset as it was at the point of Willy's previous death (instead of him being at his earlier point of entry to the room, and also guardian positions don't reset themselves to their initial starting positions for the room);

- the flashing death effect repeats;

- and Willy immediately loses his last life and the game ends. i.e. two lives are lost consecutively.

The effective consequence of this bug is that you have one fewer life to play with than you think you have.

I would surmise that @jetsetdanny never noticed this, despite his extensive playtesting of V1 of the game last year, because he tends to try to avoid losing any lives (using a Rollback feature to assist in this endeavour), and so wouldn't normally proceed to the point of only having one life remaining.

[IRF]

13 minutes ago, IRF said:

However, in the process of investigation I have noticed another bug/glitch/(feature?) which is present in both V3 and (although nobody seems to have noticed it before) in V1.05.  Namely that when you lose your penultimate life:

- the current room is reset as it was at the point of Willy's previous death (instead of him being at his earlier point of entry to the room, and also guardian positions don't reset themselves to their initial starting positions for the room);

- the flashing death effect repeats;

- and Willy immediately loses his last life and the game ends. i.e. two lives are lost consecutively.

The effective consequence of this bug is that you have one fewer life to play with than you think you have.

I've just carried out further investigations into the above quirky feature (whilst exploring V3.01 of MJSW).  It seems that in the Central Cavern (accessed via the Bathroom portal), there is even more unusual behaviour:

- If you lose your penultimate life whilst there are still some items flashing in the Central Cavern, then both of your final lives are lost consecutively;

- But if you lose your penultimate life after having collected all of the items in the Central Cavern (but before reaching the portal), then the cavern is reset and you have your final life remaining to try and complete it!

I tried to replicate this in another cavern (Cold Room) to see if there was a difference between JSW rooms and MM caverns, but the above pattern wasn't replicated there.

Very peculiar!!

[Norman Sword]

When the cash reaches £00000 a new life is not avaialable .... LOOK and observe the FLASHING £00000 value

[MtM]

On 1/2/2023 at 7:01 PM, IRF said:

To answer my own question, after having checked out the V3 game file, the bouncing horizontal guardian behaviour does seem to have been fixed.  However, in the process of investigation I have noticed another bug/glitch/(feature?) which is present in both V3 and (although nobody seems to have noticed it before) in V1.05.  Namely that when you lose your penultimate life:

- the current room is reset as it was at the point of Willy's previous death (instead of him being at his earlier point of entry to the room, and also guardian positions don't reset themselves to their initial starting positions for the room);

- the flashing death effect repeats;

- and Willy immediately loses his last life and the game ends. i.e. two lives are lost consecutively.

The effective consequence of this bug is that you have one fewer life to play with than you think you have.

I would surmise that @jetsetdanny never noticed this, despite his extensive playtesting of V1 of the game last year, because he tends to try to avoid losing any lives (using a Rollback feature to assist in this endeavour), and so wouldn't normally proceed to the point of only having one life remaining.

In truth I had forgotten about the paying for the lives feature of the game, Norman, is it possible for a definitive tape inlay-card style explanatory paragraph to be put somewhere that explains all the features, keys etc? I remember reading one at perhaps the start of this thread but maybe a slightly updated definitive version? - apologies, edited, as I had forgotten about the word doc in the archive! Stand down!

 

I try not to lose lives playing games, but I do it by re-loading saves if I get killed.

 

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by MtM
realised I am thick :-0

[jetsetdanny]

On 1/2/2023 at 2:01 PM, IRF said:

I would surmise that @jetsetdanny never noticed this, despite his extensive playtesting of V1 of the game last year, because he tends to try to avoid losing any lives (using a Rollback feature to assist in this endeavour), and so wouldn't normally proceed to the point of only having one life remaining.

Yes, that's precisely what happened!

[jetsetdanny]

On 1/3/2023 at 2:42 PM, MtM said:

I try not to lose lives playing games, but I do it by re-loading saves if I get killed.

From the functional point of view, Rollback is exactly the same thing. It takes you back to a previous point in the game (before the mistake you made) and allows you to start again from there. Just an observation from an intense Rollback user 🙂 .