[File] Manic Jet Set Willy V3

[Spider]

On 5/11/2023 at 5:25 PM, Spider said:

Video of my play , taken early January using "random by room" mode

I posted this video (or similar) into the FB 'Central Cavern' group the other day. Reasons mainly:

> The video is from the last release version

> It it on here viewable by public

> Shows the game in "random by room" mode

> Will hopefully encourage more to try the game too

 

[jetsetdanny]

On 9/29/2023 at 5:37 PM, jetsetdanny said:

That's the first impression I've had as well, that this must be the change.

I haven't played V. 3 'properly' yet because I've been immersed in other JSW-related activities, but I will get there at some point once other things I'm doing are finished. I look forward to it, too 🙂 .

I am planning to play, RZX-record and make a video of v. 2 and v. 3 of "Manic Jet Set Willy" in the near future (December).

I understand that v. 3.01 was the last one released.

A kind request to Norman Sword: could you please confirm that no more versions will be forthcoming or let us know if you should happen to have any newer versions and plan to release them (is so, when?).

[Norman Sword]

The last version V3.01 is the last official version.

However I did carry on changing the file and did add a lot more code. As is usual the amount of code change was extensive, whilst what is seen is not a great deal. The purpose of the changes was to write spider a personal version. Note I say a personal spider version and NOT a new version. The last version was V3.01  (the last official version). The spider update is V3.02. --- The updates for the Spider only version stop at midnight December 31st. (if it had been a new version it would have had its version number updated to V4.00) - instead  it is just a variant  of the official release of V3.01 updated to V3.02 - Not for release.

So what did I change.
1) Jet Set Willy was an edit of Manic Miner. Due to the editing Matthew did , the code for movement was changed to allow for stairs. That code change also modified how Willy interacts with Walls. I decided to change my code to remove the bug that Matthew had introduced with his stair collision check routine. The change I wrote only occurs when playing the Manic Miner style caverns. When playing the Jet Set Willy caverns, the bug, Matthew wrote,  is left intact. Remember I am trying to leave the Matthew bugs/quirks intact, so as to not change the game play.
2) The main screen changes, as done in the attract mode, are done by a routine I call the curtain effect. The original code simulated the appearance of closing curtains across a window. That was subsequently modified to do more.
3a) Curtains - The last official version draws curtains from the outside of the screen and draws them inward. The number of curtains can be from 1 to 4, and in any combination of the four directions This gave something like 24 combinations for the curtain effect.
3b) I added code to draw curtains from the middle outward. (in pairs, or four)
3c) I added code to remove the combinations of curtain that to me did not aesthetically look perfect. That was all the combinations that involved 3 curtains.  
3d) I added code to slow down pairs of curtains that by logic revealed the screen faster than single sweep curtains.
3e) I added code to make an SFX on curtain reveals
3f) I wondered if I could add diagonal curtains. The answer was yes and they were added

Each and every addition of code needed me to find other code that I could rewrite to make that code smaller. So whilst the above changes are not large pieces of code. The space for every addition was not available, until other code was modified to increase the available space.

4) I redesigned the credits page. For that I needed more graphics.
4a) I added a graphic to replace the Andy Ford text
4b) I modified the graphic drawing routine to allow changes in the graphic output via the insertion of inline code parameters.
5) I changed the method of changing the game music tempo.
5a) the music tempo now tracks the game speed more accurately.
5b) I removed the static Willies. They now dance all the time. The Music on/off has an icon indicating the sound status. 
5c) I slowed the overall speed of the game down. The slowing down of the overall game speed was to enable the game to play at the original game speed of Jet Set Willy. So MJSW at its slowest speed setting will now play at about the same speed as the original JSW. A side effect of the slowing down is it slows down all speeds. Whilst the fastest speed is still fast, it still has a big delay incorporated into each loop.
5d) I can/could remove the unneeded delay from the game loop introduced by the overall slowing down. Instead I use that extra delay to change the super fast music clicks into a more pleasing blip.
6) When cash is being taken from Willies ready cash for life rejuvenation. It now highlights and flashes the cash when it is depleted to zero.
7) When spider played the game without the sound on. It was obvious that KONG needed to have some SFX's.
7a) When the switch in the KONG room is flipped a compound SFX is played
7b) Followed by a slight delay
7c) followed by an SFX as periodically a piece of the wall barrier is erased
7d) KONG drop SFX and speed was changed.
Eight) I Added some more objects to collect in the JSW part of the game. Just checked MJSW v3.02 now has 132 object in the JSW part of the game. No additions of objects in the Manic Miner part of the game.
8a) the added object (in most cases) are not objects that will take any effort to collect. The added objects on the whole are placed where Willy normally travels.
9) The portals are restricted to 20 known places when played in "fixed by play" or "fixed by room". In order to add more change when playing in the "random by room" or "random by play" versions. I have added an extra 20 portals. 
9b) the random versions now selects 20 portals from a list of 40 portal locations. So the random element has the added variation of not being able to predict which room will have a portal in it.
10) Skylab crash SFX changed
11) The revealing of the final barrel/ Plinth screen (GAME OVER SCREEN) was done in MJSW v3.01 by scrolling the screen upwards. That was replaced by a routine to scroll the screen downwards. And finally for this version even that was replaced by a random reveal routine.
11a) the plinth or Barrel graphic is decided now by which screen/cavern he was in when he met his final demise. So in MM screens he will be placed on a plinth, and for JSW room on a barrel. In V3.01 only the barrel is used.
12) added sound to the congratulations final screen.
13) lots more - just not listed.

Whilst the topics mentioned above have changed and can be seen or heard. The game code has been changed to enable me to add the above changes. So whilst V3.02 started as the code of V3.01 it has a very different look.

On reflection of what I wrote above. I wondered why I added a slow down to the game speed. Just now I have remembered that one of the updates/test pieces of code I wrote was investigating the screen refresh routine. I ended up writing around six or seven differing versions, each using vastly different ways to update the screen. In code changes of this sort, the code has many design criteria it needs to meet. The ultimate code would be a logic change that removes all the code, so it becomes a routine that consumes no memory and runs instantly. That aim in most cases can not be met. In MJSW the code is already suffering from constraints to how much memory it is allowed to use. So in order to add these test routines. I switched off the curtain effect the multiple graphics on the JSW title screen, the animated end game pac man and the bed jump fanfare. With those routines removed I had a few kilobytes of now unused memory.

The screen update code changes were time consuming to write, the differing versions allowed me to investigate which was the most viable to continue with as a means of updating the screen. Each version ran at a different speed. The fastest code version, was also the version that consumed far too much memory. The code I ended up using, was a compromise between speed and size. Once the code was picked for usage. I then needed to scan every routine I had written in the game and investigate how I could shorten that code to enable me to add the new screen update routine. Without going into further detail - I managed to add the new screen update code and re insert all the routines I had originally switched off .... Hence the next decision to slow the game down again. see 5c above. 

Remember V3.01 is the last official version. 

V3.02 is a spider modified revision - meant for spider only, and "I" will not post that version here. 

Edited November 27 by Norman Sword

[MtM]

Thanks for this Norman, it's fascinating how you have continued to code and work on this over such a long period of time, and continue to refine it - long may it continue. A real pity it may never make it to the general public but understand and respect your decision and it is of course your right to do so...

 

A v4 would be good if you ever came up with the time and reasons for doing it ... public release of course 😉

[jetsetdanny]

Thank you so much for this detailed explanation of your further work on the code, Norman Sword! The modifications you've added sound most impressive, and definitely like something that would merit public release. 🙂

 

 

On 11/24/2024 at 11:49 AM, Norman Sword said:

The updates for the Spider only version stop at midnight December 31st. (if it had been a new version it would have had its version number updated to V4.00)

So is there any chance that after the Spider version updates have stopped on December 31st (2024, I take it), a new 4.00 version will be released in 2025?

In any case, I understand that there will be no more official releases of v. 3 (v. 3.01 being the last one), so the situation is clear as far as my RZX-recording and movie-making plans are concerned (I will publish a walkthrough of v. 3.01 in December 2024 if all goes well). So thank you for clarifying the situation! 👍