Manic Miner Redux

[DigitalDuck]

I've been a fan of the Miner Willy games for a while; I played the games as a child and didn't especially like it then, but after learning to speedrun them I found a new appreciation for them. Manic Miner is designed around score attacking (which for 17 of the 20 levels is the same as speedrunning it), and is more fun when you play it that way. Since then I've played basically every version of Manic Miner going and enjoyed most of them, and I was especially enamoured by how most versions add their own mechanics and levels.

For the 40th anniversary of the game I wanted to write a love letter to the game in all its forms, and after experimenting with a few different ideas and tools I ended up remaking the game from the ground up in Godot.

So here's Manic Miner Redux. It contains:

• 83 levels from various official releases of the game, including Spectrum, BBC Micro, Dragon 32, Game Boy Advance, Oric Atmos and SAM Coupe; levels almost exclusively use graphics from the Spectrum versions of Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy, but in terms of gameplay they should be near-perfect.
  • In addition, 56 levels have slight variations fixing minor issues or making them fit a more general mold; 2 levels have major variations that basically make them entirely new levels; and there are 3 "fun" experimental levels thrown in for good measure.
• 3 preset modes; Original (Spectrum Bug-Byte recreated as accurately as I can), Redux Short (my preferred physics options and the same levels reordered with a few fixes and tweaks), and Redux Long (80 levels... good luck).
• Choice of music from the Spectrum, GBA, and SAM versions (or turn it off)
• Choice of Willy sprite, colour, and outline colour; doing well in the preset modes unlocks more options
• Lots of gameplay customisation
  • Game speed is adjustable from 12fps (roughly Manic Miner Spectrum speed) to 30fps (roughly JSW2+ speed)
  • Jumping, conveyor behaviour, and item collection behaviour can be switched between how it works in Manic Miner Spectrum ("Smith"), Manic Miner PC/GBA ("Noble"), or JSW2 ("Rowson"). Note that I haven't emulated the different turning behaviour or sprites of JSW2.
  • Nasty collisions and fall damage can both be made more lenient, allowing you to "stand" on nasties as long as there is also floor present, or fall a further distance before dying. They can also be made to drain air instead of killing Willy, as can guardian collisions.
  • Items can be made to be retained after death; Willy's spawn position can be set to the last safe ground he stood on; and there is the option for a JSW2+-style temporary invulnerability on entering a cavern or after death.
• Gameplay mechanics from other versions implemented:
  • Forcefields that toggle on/off (BBC Micro)
  • Horizontal level wrapping (Dragon 32)
  • Diagonally moving guardians (Oric Atmos)
  • Trampolines (SAM Coupe)
  • Vertical conveyors (SAM Coupe)
  • Ice (Spectrum, not used and probably unintended)
  • Stairs (JSW)

 

Future plans:

If you look at any of the level files, you might notice that they're fairly easy to read and edit. At some point I'd like to add a level editing and sharing tool, but I currently don't have an idea of what that would look like and I don't have much free time to work on it at the moment.

And of course I'd like to give JSW the same treatment.

Any comments, criticism, bug reports, suggestions for improvements, heckles, and sharing of high scores welcome.

 

EDIT: v1.1 released, check this post: 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by DigitalDuck
Removing old version

[Spider]

Thank you! 🙂

(And welcome)

[Spider]

@DigitalDuck , taken me a bit to find some spare time to play this, and I'm impressed.

I'm pleased you did not implement the graphics from some of those versions though! 🙂

I find its fun at the full 30fps, the same speed (possibly slight variance) in the ZX version of MJSW which is fast on full pelt.

Although fractionally off topic, I did plan on 'converting' the SAM extra level sets to the ZX at some future point. I may not have a need now.

I appreciate the extra humour note on the settings too. Reminded me immediately of the BBC version of JSW where 'Nomem Luni' was renamed 'Nomem Luni' possibly due to C.R's annoyance at squashing it all in, that's just my reasoning.

I did have to use the openGL option to fire it up but otherwise all good.

Attaching some random pictures in a spoiler...

[/spoiler] 🙂

[DigitalDuck]

2 hours ago, Spider said:

@DigitalDuck , taken me a bit to find some spare time to play this, and I'm impressed.

I'm pleased you did not implement the graphics from some of those versions though! 🙂

I find its fun at the full 30fps, the same speed (possibly slight variance) in the ZX version of MJSW which is fast on full pelt.

Although fractionally off topic, I did plan on 'converting' the SAM extra level sets to the ZX at some future point. I may not have a need now.

I appreciate the extra humour note on the settings too. Reminded me immediately of the BBC version of JSW where 'Nomem Luni' was renamed 'Nomem Luni' possibly due to C.R's annoyance at squashing it all in, that's just my reasoning.

I did have to use the openGL option to fire it up but otherwise all good.

Attaching some random pictures in a spoiler...

 

  Hide contents

 

[/spoiler] 🙂

Glad you enjoyed it!

I did think about having an option to turn on the GBA backgrounds for fun, but that seemed too cruel. I would've liked to bring the SAM version's enemies into the Spectrum style but that's far beyond what I'm capable of.

Personally I find 30fps too fast - Manic Miner is all about precision and timing rather than pure "action", and I think the default 15fps works best for that; but everyone has their own preferences, which is why there are so many options. I did think about including a 60fps mode but that's obviously too fast.

SAM levels on the Spectrum would still be a worthwhile project - this version obviously isn't running on the Spectrum, and not all levels are included (I didn't make an attempt to port the two Twilight Zone levels as they're... very non-standard).

The extra notes are there because I felt some options needed explaining, but not having notes for all options felt empty so I figured it was an opportunity to have some fun.

I do have a patched version imminent which fixes a few issues that have been brought to my attention and adds a few features that have been requested, but don't let that stop anyone from making more suggestions.

[Jamie Howard]

Hey - I've been working on a Chuckie Egg Godot version to practice a bit of platforming skills - would be interesting to compare notes - are you on mastodon? I'm there on Jamie Howard@algorithmic@mastodonapp.uk

I come from a Gamemaker background and find Godot quite refreshing (and fast) I'm totally new to it so feeling my way. I've got 4 levels of the MSX Chuckie Egg working with fairly accurate (but not entirely) mechanics.

[CPL]

@Jamie Howard I'd definitely be interested to hear about the transition from GMS to Godot. My JSW scrolling remake was all done in GMS but I'm tempted to translate it over or write something new in Godot. What's the learning curve like?

You also get bonus points with me for the magic word 'MSX'. 🙂

Edited August 5, 2023 by CPL

[jetsetdanny]

Hello, DigitalDuck,

Thank you so much for "Manic Miner Redux"! 🙂 It sounds very impressive from the description 👍. I have just downloaded it and I look forward to actually playing it, which I hope I should be able to do soon. I will certainly report back with some feedback when I've had time to play it (but don't let that stop you from releasing the tweaked version 😉).

[DigitalDuck]

8 hours ago, Jamie Howard said:

Hey - I've been working on a Chuckie Egg Godot version to practice a bit of platforming skills - would be interesting to compare notes - are you on mastodon? I'm there on Jamie Howard@algorithmic@mastodonapp.uk

I come from a Gamemaker background and find Godot quite refreshing (and fast) I'm totally new to it so feeling my way. I've got 4 levels of the MSX Chuckie Egg working with fairly accurate (but not entirely) mechanics.

I've never actually used Gamemaker, I'd originally remade Manic Miner in MonoGame and then gave Godot a go and I think it's better for this. Having said that, Godot is only being used for rendering, sound, and inputs - the physics and collision detection is done entirely manually in code. If there's something in particular you need I can give some pointers but I think a large portion of it is either generic to every project, or too specific to Manic Miner to be applicable.

[DigitalDuck]

Here's v1.1; saves are fully compatible so it's safe to just extract this over your old version, or copy your save file to the new version, if you want to keep your progress. I'm not expecting to make another smaller patch like this, next time will be a more substantial update.

Added:

• Progress is saved as you play, so now you can close the game and continue where you left off another time
• Input handling revamped, now supports controllers
• There is now a progress counter showing how many levels have been completed so far
• Final score screen now shows the preset game name just above overall rank
• After completing or quitting a game it now returns to preset/custom game screen instead of main menu
• General optimisations

Fixed:

• Smith jump was one step too short
• One of the sprite options wasn't being added to the available list when unlocked
• Level version menu option could sometimes be highlighted and changed when greyed out
• Music volume wasn't set correctly on game load

Probably fixed (these are hard or impossible for me to reproduce for various reasons):

• Deaths sometimes caused the game to freeze for a few seconds
• Game ran too fast at 120/144Hz

Balance tweaks:

• Small modifications to a couple of levels to allow them to be completable in all modes
• Score rank requirements raised

As always, any comments, criticism, bug reports, suggestions for improvements, heckles, and sharing of high scores welcome.

I'll leave you with CPL's playthrough of this version: 

 

ManicMinerRedux11.zip

[jetsetdanny]

Thanks for v. 1.1, DigitalDuck! I hope to be able to play it soon 🙂 .