Spectrum Next - MM/JSW

[Jet Set Willie]

On 7/23/2025 at 9:28 PM, Spider said:

I could possibly help graphicswise with some ULA Plus project, as it´s "close" to colourwise inferior MSX graphics, at least how the printed graphics will look like. 🙂 If I have understood it correctly, that the graphics will look same as MSX screen 2 mode, except having a big colour palette. Though, I had heard that ULA Plus graphics/colours are hard to understand how they will work. Perhaps there should be some editor for that job. I know there are graphics/drawing tools supporting ULA Plus, but are there any graphics editors for tiles? If there aren´t, perhaps somebody should do some simple and simple to use tool to make ULA Plus graphics cells and sprites? 🙂 ULA Set Willy Editor? ULA PluSet Willy Editor? 🙂 

If such project(s) will start, I hope it will be a new game or a carefully chosen gem, a new or an old gem. 🙂 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My 👍 👍thumbs  up for  

ULA SET WILLY!

 🙂

Edited July 25, 2025 by Jet Set Willie

[Jet Set Willie]

I tried ULA Plus with ZX-Paintbrush and Multipaint. The latter allows easy changing of the palette, but when I try to draw either Ink or Paper to a 8x8 cell, the cells will act just like the ordinary Speccy 8x8 2 colour cells, ie I can´t put more than 1 Ink colour and 1 Paper colour there. I can´t find any option from the menus to change it to a 8x1 cells.

ZX-Paintbrush allows the use of 8x1 graphic cells, after I had activated that option from TOOLS > SET 8x1 ATTRIBUTES. But I don´t know how I can change the hues of any selected Ink or Paper colour. There are RED C, YELLOW 1, CYAN 2 and GREEN 3 next to the colour palette to push for, but I don´t know how to change the actual hues, as it seems nothing happens when I try to click them with either mouse button. Without knowing how to do that, there are just 8 colours to use with 8x1 attribute cells. 😞 That was very easy on Multipaint, if it just could allow to put more than 1 Ink and 1 Paper colour on any 8x8cells.  

Please help if you know something about this. 

[jetsetdanny]

Personally, I love the simplicity of the original games and I'm not interested in developing MM/JSW games for the Spectrum Next that would exceed hardware limitations of original Spectrum.

The JSW64 game engine, while not exceeding the hardware limitations of the original Spectrum, allows one to create games that have many more cells and/or many more guardians than the original JSW48 game engine (Herve's "Welcome to Willy's Fun Park!", released just a few days ago, is a great example). I haven't yet tried creating a game using these possibilities, other than Willy Games: The First 30 Years Quiz which does use the JSW64 engine but is not a platform game (!). The main reason (apart from general lack of time, of course) is that I like using the possibilities offered by the engine to the fullest extent, like all available cells, all available rooms, all available guardian sprites and classes, etc. Creating a JSW64 game based on this premise would take me ages. I can't afford it timewise at present and I doubt that I will ever be willing to devote my time to it in the future.

At the same time, I greatly appreciate games created using the JSW64 game engine by others. So if someone develops a new MM or JSW game for the Spectrum Next or one of those new machines, I might appreciate it too. Who knows, a new MM/JSW game could even cause me to buy one of them, which is something I'm not planning to do otherwise...

[SymbolShift]

I've checked out some of the new games for the Spectrum Next and to be honest, they don't really feel like a Spectrum anymore. With 256 colour palettes and AY sound they feel more like Atari ST, Amiga or even SNES games.

For me personally, this takes away some of the magic and simplicity of the original machine.

[MtM]

On 8/3/2025 at 4:57 AM, SymbolShift said:

I've checked out some of the new games for the Spectrum Next and to be honest, they don't really feel like a Spectrum anymore. With 256 colour palettes and AY sound they feel more like Atari ST, Amiga or even SNES games.

For me personally, this takes away some of the magic and simplicity of the original machine.

This opinion has been raised before, it is valid, Next games can often look like Amiga games (but not quite as good imo) however it does not mean you have to make them look that way, you can use original Spectrum palettes etc, and could realise a MM / JSW game but just using a few more colours, which would be a real benefit I think, a multicolour Miner Willy, and nasties too. The palette used in Melchior's Mansion is an example of keeping the original Spectrum look but using the new HW.

 

I have backed all 3 KS for the Next, it's a great machine and worth supporting, as are the team behind it, in truth, it does lack some good games I think, there are quite a few games now, but few real quality games imo for it. It is improving though. It would be incredible if a new MM / JSW came out for the Next, and would likely capture the imagination of a lot of people. I have touted the idea of a crowdfunded version of MM / JSW for the Next - imagine if MS could be recruited, and paid, to work on it? Or even NS for that matter! We can but dream ...

Edited September 6, 2025 by MtM

[SymbolShift]

19 hours ago, MtM said:

This opinion has been raised before, it is valid, Next games can often look like Amiga games (but not quite as good imo) however it does not mean you have to make them look that way, you can use original Spectrum palettes etc, and could realise a MM / JSW game but just using a few more colours, which would be a real benefit I think, a multicolour Miner Willy, and nasties too. The palette used in Melchior's Mansion is an example of keeping the original Spectrum look but using the new HW.

I have backed all 3 KS for the Next, it's a great machine and worth supporting, as are the team behind it, in truth, it does lack some good games I think, there are quite a few games now, but few real quality games imo for it. It is improving though. It would be incredible if a new MM / JSW came out for the Next, and would likely capture the imagination of a lot of people. I have touted the idea of a crowdfunded version of MM / JSW for the Next - imagine if MS could be recruited, and paid, to work on it? Or even NS for that matter! We can but dream ...

Yes, Absolutely, although you could enhance it, it does not mean you have to. That said, I think the expectation would still be there from most Next users to have enhancements. As you mention, Melchior's Mansion did a fantastic job of blending the ZX feel with hardware enhancements, they totally nailed it.

I feel that most of the Next crowd are in it for the games nostalgia, and I really hope the KS3 gains more development traction in the coming years. Maybe one day MS could be lured back to write a sequel, I'm sure we'd all chip in and get him a TRS-80 to get cracking.

Edited September 7, 2025 by SymbolShift