"Willy Games: The First 30 Years Quiz"

[jetsetdanny]

I am pleased to announce the creation of a new game using the JSW64 game engine (variant V). It is called "Willy Games: The First 30 Years Quiz" and it makes a VERY unorthodox use of the game engine. It will be a multiple-choice quiz in which the player will have to choose the right answers to 120 questions (divided into four sections: Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert) related to MM and JSW games for the ZX Spectrum created between 1983 and 2013. Choosing a wrong answer will cost the player one life (and he/she will have 12 lives to start with).

 

The game will use all 128 "rooms" available in JSW64 V, with 120 screens devoted to questions (30 in each section) and 8 "special" screens (the opening one, a "small congratulations" screen after completing each of the first three sections, a "big congratulations" screen after completing the whole quiz and three screens belonging to the toilet run).

 

The game will probably be the least WYSIWYG game ever as far as JSWED is concerned. A large part of the design process will involve using JSWED's Hex editor.

 

The game will not require any of the traditional skills or manual dexterity needed to complete a MM or JSW game, only knowledge (and intelligence to make intelligent guesses ;) ).

 

The special screens are all ready now as well as the first question screen. It contains the following challenge:

 

The question: Who created Jet Set Willy and Manic Miner?

 

The answers to choose from: 

 

Jeff Minter

Matthew Smith

Steve Jobs

Bill Gates

 

:)

 

This is, of course, trivial for anyone even remotely interested in the subject. However, the next questions will get progressively more difficult, with the ones in the Expert section truly requiring an in-depth knowledge of MM and JSW games.

 

If anyone would like to put forward proposals for the questions, I will be very interested to hear them. I cannot promise unconditionally that I will use them in the quiz, but it is probable, since my problem will certainly be a tendency to make the questions *too* difficult. So I might use some more balanced suggestions.

 

I was inspired to start working on this project by my research while preparing the launch of JSW Central and then the Chronology section of the website. I felt that such a game would both be a tribute to those "first 30 years" of the MM/JSW scene for the ZX Spectrum, the people involved and the games created, and a proof that the JSW64 game engine can be used in most versatile and unexpected ways.

 

I would like to say a big thank you to John Elliott for helping me out with technical problems relating to inserting patch vectors which print text on the screen.

 

I look forward to your suggestions for the multiple choice questions for the quiz!

 

Daniel

[Spider]

I'll have to have a good think.

 

Here's a couple:

 

Which JSW game featured "The Object Shop" ?

 

Which MM game was not in English ?

[jetsetdanny]

Thanks, Spider!

 

I will incorporate these into the quiz somehow.

 

There is more than one MM game which is not in English, but this is not a problem, because the test consists of multiple choice questions, so the question will feature the titles of three MM games which are in English and one which is not, and the player will have to pick the correct answer.

 

I hope to work on the quiz in the coming weeks, so if you (or anyone else) have any more suggestion, I will be glad to see them.

[jetsetdanny]

I am pleased to present the complete list of questions proposed for Willy Games: The First 30 Years Quiz. It can be downloaded from here. 

 

Please let me know any comments you may have concerning the questions! You can send them to me or, if you publish them online, please send me the link (unless you post in response to my query here or on Manic Miner & Jet Set Willy Yahoo! Group). Please send your comments preferably by 8 November 2015, and definitely not later than the beginning of December

[jetsetdanny]

This is the last call for comments on the questions in "Willy Games: The First 30 Years Quiz". I am about to start coding the questions into the game and I would prefer not to change anything after this process has started. So, if there is anything you would like to comment on, speak now or forever hold your peace!  ;)

[Spider]

I think its pretty good. I would consider the following:

 

1. Which game features "The On Licence"

 

2. Which game features the otherwise unused JSW48 sprites (periscope and tophat) *

 

* Note: I've not checked apart from JSW2 (official) if they are used elsewhere but something tells me one game does use them.

[jetsetdanny]

Thanks for your suggestions, Andy  :) .

 

With my last post I was looking for comments concerning the questions I had already prepared for the quiz more than suggestions for brand new ones, since the list of the questions was already complete.

 

Nevertheless, in a sense your recent suggestions - or at least something along their lines - have been incorporated into the quiz.

 

 

Which game features "The On Licence"? is similar to your previous suggestion Which JSW game featured "The Object Shop"? (same answer  ;)), which is part of the quiz as question No. 38. It's modifed to "Which JSW48 game", because the room is also featured (as are the other from "Join The Jet-Set!") in "Jet Set Willy 128k".

 

 

Which game features the otherwise unused JSW48 sprites (periscope and tophat)

 

There are various games which use the periscope ("Macaroni Ted"). Question No. 118 in the quiz refers to the same matter, although from a different angle:

 

Which of the above is NOT the name of a room in a released JSW game?

 

A Cannelloni Ned

B Macaroni Bill

C Ravioli Fred

D Tortellini Ted

 

Without checking it right now, I think that all of these rooms (well, the three *real* ones) use the sprite (or its modifications).

 

 

I am not sure what you mean about tophat. There is no such unused guardian sprite in the original JSW, is there? 

 

 

Anyway, thank you once again for your contribution!  :)

Edited November 26, 2015 by jetsetdanny

[Spider]

You're welcome. :)

 

I should of said 'Unused Guardian' sorry :blush:

 

http://skoolkit.ca/disassemblies/jet_set_willy/reference/facts.html#unusedGuardian

 

 

I'm sure it was called a tophat at one point, although periscope is probably better :unsure:

[jetsetdanny]

I am pleased to announce that "Willy Games: The First 30 Years Quiz" will be released very soon. If the pre-release testing goes well, the release will happen on Boxing Day (the day after tomorrow!), in the evening. Please check this page again soon :) .

 

Happy Holiday Season to everyone! :)

Edited December 24, 2016 by jetsetdanny

[jetsetdanny]

The release of "Willy Games: The First 30 Years Quiz" will not happen today, because I have not been able to playtest and describe the game to my satisfaction.

 

A couple of days ago I decided I would provide disassemblies in the Readme of the two major technical novelties I introduced in the game ("major" as compared to other, minor ones, not that they are anything super special). Writing them proved to be a time consuming exercise, plus I discovered a couple of issues with the code which needed correction. While I was at it, I also decided to introduce a couple of additional (minor) features.

 

In view of the above, since I am determined to launch the game this year, I will do my best to have it ready for release either on Thursday 29th December (which will be 6 years to the day since the release of "JSW: The 2010 Megamix") or Friday 30th December (11 years to the day since the release of "JSW: Mind Control").

 

So, once more, please check this page again soon  :) .

Edited December 26, 2016 by jetsetdanny