================================================ | Jet Set Willy: Willy's New Mansion | | by Daniel Gromann 2004 | ================================================ Willy's New Mansion is a redesign of Matthew Smith's classic game Jet Set Willy (which is the copyright of Software Projects Ltd. 1984 - owned by Jester Interactive since 2001), created using the Jet Set Willy Editor v. 2.03 by John Elliott and a 'megatrainer' version of JSW by Ian Collier. It is meant to be played on a PC computer using a ZX Spectrum emulator - the .zip file from which you probably extracted this text contains the game in the .sna and .tap formats. Theoretically, you could also play 'WNM' on an real Spectrum if you manage to transfer it to tape. 1. Acknowledgements and thanks Thanks to: - Matthew Smith, for the original Jet Set Willy. - John Elliott, for his excellent JSW Editor, which was the only tool I used to create the game. I used version 2.03, but a new version (2.20) has been recently made available on John's Web page (see 'Internet Links' section below). - Richard Hallas, for kindly allowing me to use some of the sprites from his classic JSW remake "Join the Jet-Set!" - Adam Britton, for kindly allowing me to use a sprite from his three JSW remakes: "The Continuing Adventures SE", "Willy's Holiday" and "The Deadly Mission". - Vaggelis Kapartzianis, for his outstanding ZX Spectrum Emulator, which I used to test the game (I used version 1.03.97.1213) - My parents, who back in 1986 bought me my first computer - a Spectrum- compatible Timex 48K - in a special hard currency store for $130, at a time when a monthly salary in my native Poland under communist regime averaged $30. - My wife Margaret, for her patience during the long hours I spent designing the game. - My 2,5-year-old son MICHAEL, who is a great source of joy and inspiration for me, and TO WHOM I DEDICATE "Willy's New Mansion". - Andrew Broad, for the magnificent work he has been doing to keep JSW/MM's flame burning bright. - All the authors of JSW/MM games and all the members of the JSW/MM community, wherever you may be, for sharing the interest in and fascination for Miner Willy :-) :-) :-) . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Instructions If you are reading this file, you are most probably a JSW/MM fan, driven by the nostalgia for the happy gaming of your younger years back in the 80's. So there's no need to explain anything. But in an unlikely event you are a novice, here's what you need to do: The object of the game is to collect all the flashing items, avoiding the moving guardians and the stationary obstacles which may kill you. Use O-Left, P-right (or a combination of keys from the top row of letters) and SPACE or any of the letters from the bottom row to jump. A-G pauses the game, H-ENTER/RETURN unpauses it and also toggles the music ON/OFF. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The Story Twenty years have passed since Willy stepped into his mansion and realized he had to clean it before Maria would let him enter the bedroom. He has gone through countless adventures over those 20 years; he travelled extensively, went to space, fought vampires, computer bugs and the powers of darkness, got drunk, kept dying and coming to life again, and collected millions of shiny items. In the end he decided to take some rest. He bought a new mansion, with some elements eerily reminiscent of his original house, and looked forward to a few happy hours in his cosy upstairs bedroom. Alas, Maria is in his way again! And so poor Willy has to collect 256 items scattered around 64 rooms of his mansion and its surroundings. Can he count on your help? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. The Game My goal was to design a brand-new game that would keep the flavour and the atmosphere of the original Jet Set Willy. Therefore, most of the sprites I have used, as well as a number of graphic elements visible in the room and item design, come from the original JSW. I have added three of my favourite sprites from Richard Hallas's game "Join the Jet-Set!" (the fish, the sun and the waggling joystick most prominently visible on the lowest level of Willy' Private Fort Knox) and one sprite from Adam Britton's JSW games (most visible in "JSW: The Continuing Adventures SE"), first encountered on the lower right-hand side of West Wing Bedroom or on the conveyor in Entrance to the Cellar, plus some sprites of my own (not very elaborate) design. I think the game is generally guardian-intensive, which I hope gives it some liveliness with the continuous movement. I also paid much attention to the integrity of the game, in the sense of room distribution, so as to reflect a logical and realistic (well, with some exceptions :-) ) layout of the playing field built around a single, consistent theme. In my own evaluation, the game is rather easy, even though it has its difficult moments that require precise positioning and good timing. It should be enjoyable to play for everybody, even though it may not produce any special excitement for JSW experts, as it has no hidden rooms and no teleportation, and it does not use any of the tricks related to the quirky features of the game engine, developed and applied in recent years in various JSW remakes. However, my goal was to create a game space that would be welcoming to the player, giving him/her a feeling that they are at home, that it is their mansion, rather than discourage the player from the very first moment by confronting him/her with hosts of insurmountable difficulties. I do not include a room list in this file. However, if you have downloaded it as a part of a .zip file, it should be accompanied by a comprehensive map in .jpg format and a room chart in .pdf format. I recommend that you play the game first before looking at either of them, so that you don't spoil your pleasure in exploring Willy's New Mansion! It is possible to complete the game and collect all the objects without losing a single life. I achieved it by saving and loading snapshots on the emulator. If you prefer a different kind of help, the classic Poke 35899,0 will give you infinite lives. However, it may lead to an infinite death scenarios in some rooms. The Writetyper cheat works in Willy's New Mansion, and you will know easily enough where to apply it. In some cases it may save you if you fall into an infinite death scenario, but it is not necessary to finish the game. I have play-tested the game extensively and believe it to be bug-free. However, if you find any problems, please report them to me at: jetsetdanny@yahoo.com . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Internet Links The following list of internet links related to JSW/MM games is by no means comprehensive. It does contain, however, some of the most important ones, which may serve as a good starting point for any further exploration. At this time "Willy's New Mansion" homepage can be found at: http://jsw.0catch.com or: http://www.jsw.0catch.com I have just set this page up on a free server, and I am not sure how long I will be able to maintain it. However, I plan to keep 'WNM' available on the Web in the years to come, so even if the address changes, you should be able to find the game (and my home page) using one of the search engines. Dr Andrew Broad maintains an excellent, regularly updated website devoted to Jet Set Willy / Manic Miner games. Go to: http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/ for the top-level index of his Spectrum pages, or directly to: http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy for his JSW/MM pages. He also founded a Yahoo! club for JSW/MM fans. Go to: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/manicminerandjetsetwilly/ Gawp's JSW pages hosted by Emulators Unlimited contain a lot of interesting information and links related to Jet Set Willy and Manic Miner. It looks like they haven't been updated for a couple of years now, but they're still very much worth visiting: http://jswremakes.emuunlim.com/ John Elliott's main JSW page can found at: www.seasip.demon.co.uk/jsw/index.html I can also recommend the following pages (in no particular order): Geoff Eddy's Jet Set Willy page: http://www.cix.co.uk/~morven/jsw/ Richard Hallas's Spectrum page: http://www.hallas.net/Software/spectrum.htm Jet_Visy's JSW page: http://www.geocities.com/jet_visy For the general Spectrum resources, including the emulators, go to "The official world archive for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and the largest on-line gaming center on the Internet", located at: http://www.worldofspectrum.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Background Information As I hinted at the beginning, I became a proud owner of a Spectrum-compatible Timex computer back in 1986. Jet Set Willy was one of the first (if not THE first) games I ever loaded into it, and I fell in love with it right from the beginning. I preserved fond memories of the long hours I spent playing JSW 1 and 2 even after I stopped using my Timex (which, by the way, is still functional) altogether. I was blissfully ignorant of the existence of ZX Spectrum emulators for PC computers until 2001, I think. I must have heard of them, but I didn't pay any attention, and so I had more time for reading, social life and physical exercise... Then I suddenly became interested in the subject, for no obvious reason, and I also discovered and downloaded the numerous redesigns of JSW and MM games. I had a brief look at them, arranged convenient shortcuts to them with the intention to play them at some point, but then, after reformatting the hard disk, I let them slip into oblivion again. At the beginning of 2004, after another reinstallation of my operating system, I arranged the shortcuts again. This time I installed J. Elliott's JSW Editor v. 2.03, and played around with it for a bit, designing a room which then became Jump 'n' Jive. And then I started working on another room, and then another, until I realized I wasn't getting enough sleep and I was definitely neglecting my family... So now, towards the end of the year 2004, I have actively joined the JSW/MM community, drawn by the magic of Miner Willy's numerous worlds. It's probably a stupid thing to do at the age of 32. Still, if there are at least several hundred (or should I say: thousand?) of us worldwide, we can't all be wrong... And just to explain (and, indeed, justify) the phenomenon of Jet Set Willy revival, here are some other people's thoughts I particularly like: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Favourite Quotations "People in the Eighties did not just buy 'home' computers. They fell in love with them. And first loves tend to stick with you for the rest of your life". Vaggelis Kapartzianis "Whether because of the personalities of the designers, or for some other reason, designing JSW rooms became to be regarded as an artform in itself, a kind of aesthetic challenge to produce interesting results within a limited environment, as well as producing a working, playable and enjoyable game". Geoff Eddy "Everyone needs a little escapism, and that's what JSW is all about. I'm slightly alarmed by the seriousness with which some people seem to treat the subject, but at least JSW is completely harmless entertainment, and doesn't pervert the minds of the younger generation with knives, machine guns and death". Richard G. Hallas "JSW isn't just a game - it's a relationship! One that stays with you from the very first game". Adam Britton ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. The Legal Bit Willy's New Mansion is FREEWARE. Enjoy and share! Copy it and distribute it freely, but don't sell it or any part of it as a single unit or as part of a package. You are most welcome to put it on your own website or redistribute it otherwise, provided that no money is charged, and that you acknowledge my authorship. Please, include this document and, if possible, the accompanying map files with all copies of the game. I will be quite happy if you use portions of the game or the room graphics, which I guess are my copyright, in your own games, or if you convert the game to another computer. I will appreciate it, however, if you give me credit for whatever might be my humble contribution, and if you let me know what you have done with JSW WNM. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. Final Remarks I am very interested in what you all think of the game. Please, e-mail any comments, suggestions and bugfixes to: jetsetdanny@yahoo.com I will be happy to hear from you and I will try to respond to everybody (unless the worldwide JSW/MM community is bigger than I think :-) ). Due to the lack of time and a load of various obligations, I do not have plans to release another Jet Set Willy game in any specific time perspective. However, I do feel tempted to exploit the possibilities offered by John Elliott's 128K engine. So, you never know... Play, enjoy and let me know what you think! Daniel Gromann, October 2004