[File] WiLLY iN ThE MiRRoRVeRSE

[jetsetdanny]

View File

WiLLY iN ThE MiRRoRVeRSE

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I am thrilled to announce the release of Carl Paterson’s second Jet Set Willy game: “WiLLY iN ThE MiRRoRVeRSE”.

The Plot

While innocently doing his business in the bathroom Willy looks in the mirror, a sudden flash from a nearby nuclear power plant combined with aliens fighting the drone wars in your loft [so original] create a rip in the space, time continuum. 

When your eyes refocus after the flash your still in the bathroom but is it your bathroom? It certainly looks like it but little things are different, who left the cap off the toothpaste? My gaze catches the toilet, hmm it shouldnt be there, wait is it moving? The toilet seat suddenly crashes open and closed and then starts coming towards me, i think it wants to eat me.. My mind wanders to my love, "Maria" i must find her..

Willy must traverse almost 60 rooms of mystery collecting all the items as he goes so he may be reunited with Maria and hopefully return to his own universe, well Maria is an astrophysicist, all that sciency stuff she knows im sure she can get us home in some kind of "magiver" episode ive watched but cant remember the ending.. 

The game features:

- 61 newly designed rooms;

- New and modified guardian sprites;

- 256 items to collect (yes, they can all be collected without losing a single life! - but it's not easy...);

- A moderate level of difficulty, which won’t put off a novice and won’t bore an expert;  

- A new title-screen tune and 18 new in-game tunes, most of which are 128 bytes long and have never been used in a JSW game before;

- A custom-made title screen, custom font and other enhancements;

- Something extra at the completion of the game.

The ZIP file includes the game in TAP and TZX format (this first public release is v. 2), the Readme and info about the game's credits.

Please download, enjoy and share your impressions and feedback!

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• Submitter
  jetsetdanny
• Submitted
  02/10/2023
• Category
  Jet Set Willy [Remakes]

 

[Spider]

Thank you! 🙂

[MtM]

I have just gotten around to playing this a bit more properly, there have been so many top releases of late.

 

I particularly like the early screen Subatomic Collapse Imminent, the tiny platforms remind me of a few levels

out of Turmoil which is a very good thing, I really like the visual look of it all. Mind you it is a hard screen that.

 

I can't imagine the amount of work that has gone into it Danny, it's a completely new game really. I wonder

what MS himself would make of such a rework of his work? I can only say Bravo yet again! I don't know if Carl

reads these forums as well but he and you should be rightly proud of it, it's a great contribution to the world

of JSW & MM. Merci beaucoup!

 

 

Edited March 25, 2023 by MtM

[jetsetdanny]

Thank you for your feedback, MtM! 👍

The congratulations and gratitude for creating this great game go to Carl Paterson, its author 🙂 . He designed all of the beautiful rooms we can now enjoy (I only assisted with some 'postproduction' aspects, such as music). Thank you, Carl! 🙂 

 

5 minutes ago, MtM said:

it's a completely new game really

I'm glad you have mentioned that, because it is one of the things I've been 'preaching' very hard all along: that it is good to have a clear distinction between games that are evidently new games (using the excellent JSW game engine and its general concept, and perhaps some other elements, like selected sprites - but still new games) and 'products' which are not new games as such, but modifications of the original JSW (and MM, respectively), sometimes very minor, sometimes a little more expanded, but still not enough to be considered new games. On JSW Central, the distinction is made at the level of the lists: the "List of Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy games for the ZX Spectrum", with all its sublists, is the place where (what I consider to be) new games are listed, while there are separate lists for what I classify as "Versions of the original MM" and "Versions of the original JSW".

It is an arbitrary choice of how to classify a given game, of course. In some cases, the classification is not so obvious, which has led me to create a sublist called "B. Advanced modifications of the original Jet Set Willy" within the list of "II. Jet Set Willy (JSW48) Games using Matthew Smith's original Jet Set Willy game engine for the 48K Spectrum and its modifications".

Fortunately, in case of "WiLLY iN ThE MiRRoRVeRSE" (as well as Carl's first game "AmAZiNG WiLLY") there is no doubt whatsoever: they are new games, allowing the player to experience brand-new parts of Willy's universe, while still using the exquisite game mechanics of Matthew Smith's timeless original 🙂 .

[MtM]

Yes that seems entirely appropriate Danny, to differentiate between mods and what you might say are beyond mods, new music, sprites etc, room layouts / maps.

 

I think this happened with PC games didn't it a good few years ago, when you would get mods for say Quake 2, but then complete reworks on the same engine you could buy, I am trying to think of the name of one, was Hexen one such game? Anyway it seems like a valid point and way of doing it, and does aid in trying to keep track of them all, and make a more informed selected of what you want to play - something really JSW like, or something with as you say the exquisite game mechanics of MS's timeless originals but a different look and feel and maybe sound. Which one of your games was it that changed the music on the first screen as you moved right, I forget? That was a great feature I thought. 40 years this year since MM, 40 next year for JSW, who could possibly have thought they would still be going so strong all these years later? I hope we all live to see the 50 year anniversary in 10 years time! I hope that MS gets some kind of recognition too - I wonder if there are more mods / reworks for JSW than any other 8 bit game, maybe any other game full stop? Could be a world record? Certainly for longevity and reworks, I can't think of anything else that may equal it?

[Spider]

27 minutes ago, MtM said:

Hexen one such game?

Hmm. Duke Nukem maybe ? Or Wolfenstein ?

I've not played either. I still have my original Quake(s) 1/2/Arena somewhere. Was a Wolfie (hidden) level on Doom thinking about it.

[Spider]

28 minutes ago, MtM said:

40 years this year since MM, 40 next year for JSW, who could possibly have thought they would still be going so strong all these years later? I hope we all live to see the 50 year anniversary in 10 years time! I hope that MS gets some kind of recognition too

Yes I did plan on something game-wise for MM but I have to confess I don't have the sane time for it, I do have (will find) time to do "something"

Yes JSW next year too.

What would also be good would be to hear from the authors of these games on other platforms if they wanted to say anything specific about it, I can think of about half a dozen names here.

[jetsetdanny]

On 3/26/2023 at 3:47 PM, MtM said:

Which one of your games was it that changed the music on the first screen as you moved right, I forget? That was a great feature I thought.

Thank you! 🙂 This happens in the Special Edition of "Willy's New Mansion". The in-game tune in "The Front Door" (60) changes in mid-room. It is "In the Hall of the Mountain King" (from "Manic Miner", also used in "Jet Set Willy II: The Final Frontier") when Willy is outside the house, and it turns to "If I Were a Rich Man" (from the original "JSW") as soon as he steps inside.

When creating "Willy's New Mansion", I wasn't yet able to code in-game tunes (I didn't realise how easy it is). If I had been, I would have probably coded two new tunes there. Still, the original tunes from "JSW" and "MM" are always great to hear 🙂 .

[jetsetdanny]

On 3/26/2023 at 3:47 PM, MtM said:

I hope we all live to see the 50 year anniversary in 10 years time!

Amen to that! 👍

And maybe a couple more beyond the 50th... 🙂 

[MtM]

18 hours ago, jetsetdanny said:

Amen to that! 👍

And maybe a couple more beyond the 50th... 🙂 

I wonder if in 100 years time, we will all be gone, as will MS, but will JSW still live on? Will people still be interested?

 

No idea really ...

 

I wondered Danny if you or Carl had any sort of explanation as to why you give up so much time doing these things! 🙂

 

It must have taken literally hours and hours to do it for no financial gain, I think you have both earned the right to say

a few words about the process, please do!