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ANNOUNCE: Manic Miner: Ma jolie [Special Edition]

andrewbroadandrewbroad
edited September 2006 in Games
I am delighted to announce the release of a Special Edition of my 2003 Manic Miner game, Ma jolie.

It's based on the game-engine from Matthew Smith's classic game from 1983, Manic Miner, where you have to collect up to five items from each room before advancing to the next, whilst avoiding various deadly hazards and solving physical puzzles. The basic controls are left, right, jump... and pause!
<http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/>

Ma jolie was, at the time of its original release, the most mind-bogglingly difficult MM game ever written, with liberal use of quirky features and a need for frame-perfect timing. And the Special Edition is even harder, since Daniel Gromann brought to my attention an unintended loophole which allowed the player to bypass a major challenge in "Wiredlife" [14]!

But I have also written an easy variant of the game, called Ma jolite, which reduces the need for saving memory-snapshots every few seconds, whilst retaining most of the quirky features.

For the uninitiated, I have a catalogue of MM/JSW quirky features on my website:
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/features.html

And I am in the early stages of developing a JSW64 game called Advanced MM/JSW Trainer to teach quirky features in a non-threatening, easy-to-navigate environment. You can download (but please do not redistribute) the latest beta-revision here:
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/download/trainer.html


Ma jolie [Special Edition] is now available for downloading from my website:
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/download/

There are four changes to the game since the 2003 original edition:

1. "Wiredlife" [14] had a loophole in the original edition whereby you could simply climb the right ladder to the portal, bypassing the middle and top platforms. I have rectified this by moving the top item to the left ladder, where it is protected by a Crumbly cell so that you have to traverse both the middle platform and the top platform.
||!!!||!!!|||!!|||!!|||!!|||||||
++...........................##*
++...........................##*
++...........................++*
+?...........................++*
++||||||||||||||||||||||||.._++*
++..........................*++*
++..........................+++*
++..........................$++*
++..........................$++*
++--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=++*
............................*++*
............................*++*
............................*++*
WW..........................$++*
WW..........................$++*

2. I have patched Ma jolite to make the Jet Set Willy item-collection sound - and only Ma jolite, on the grounds that it may make it easier if you can hear the items. This patch originates from my 2004 game Manic Miner: Neighbours - Allana Truman.

3. I have edited the title-screen tune to "Heathen (The Rays)" from David Bowie's 2002 album Heathen. (I learned how to do this for MM in 2004, and Manic Miner: Neighbours - Allana Truman was the first MM mod with an edited title-screen tune.)

4. I have edited the Ma jolite title-screen picture to add a missing accent to "KRI?N?KOV?".

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/download/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/manicminerandjetsetwilly/
Post edited by andrewbroad on

Comments

  • mel the bellmel the bell
    edited September 2006
    tch

    another boring manic miner clone
    just made impossible with stupid features :P
    Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
  • Old_SpeccerOld_Speccer
    edited September 2006
    Any screenshots?
  • andrewbroadandrewbroad
    edited September 2006
    Old_Speccer wrote:
    Any screenshots?

    In the Photos section of the Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy Yahoo! Group.

    --
    Dr. Andrew Broad
    http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
    http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
    http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/
  • ArjunArjun
    edited September 2006
    I had a go at the Advanced MM/JSW Trainer but utterly miserably completely failed to collect a single key! I must be completely crap at it or I misunderstood what you meant by "non-threatening, easy-to-navigate environment". :wink:
    Zero - A modern Spectrum emulator for Windows.
    Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
  • mel the bellmel the bell
    edited September 2006
    Arjun wrote:
    I had a go at the Advanced MM/JSW Trainer but utterly miserably completely failed to collect a single key! I must be completely crap at it or I misunderstood what you meant by "non-threatening, easy-to-navigate environment". :wink:
    your not an obssessive arjun :P
    Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
  • martinballmartinball
    edited September 2006
    Some of these JSW/MM clones aren't too bad. Ma Jolie is very very very difficult however.
    I've also had a go at the JSW64 trainer and have managed to complete several screens (go me!). Some do take quite a while to figure out which kind of takes the fun out of playing (unless you are a complete JSW fan whoc does nothing else all day).
    However I am puzzled about the inclusion of invisible ladders / platforms. What possible use can these be? Even if a screen is very difficult at least you can sit down and try and work out how to complete it, but when things start being made invisible the only way to complete it is to jump blindly around hoping that you find something. This is not fun and does seem rather pointless.
  • mel the bellmel the bell
    edited September 2006
    martinball wrote:
    Some of these JSW/MM clones aren't too bad. Ma Jolie is very very very difficult however.
    I've also had a go at the JSW64 trainer and have managed to complete several screens (go me!). Some do take quite a while to figure out which kind of takes the fun out of playing (unless you are a complete JSW fan whoc does nothing else all day).
    However I am puzzled about the inclusion of invisible ladders / platforms. What possible use can these be? Even if a screen is very difficult at least you can sit down and try and work out how to complete it, but when things start being made invisible the only way to complete it is to jump blindly around hoping that you find something. This is not fun and does seem rather pointless.

    ah men lol

    thats my thoughts on the whole mm / jsw clone scene

    too hard, too cliquey, too pointless
    the originals were classics and will never be beaten, i dont see the point in new (mega super hard) versions
    Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
  • andrewbroadandrewbroad
    edited September 2006
    martinball wrote:
    However I am puzzled about the inclusion of invisible ladders / platforms.

    Where are you talking about?

    --
    Dr. Andrew Broad
    http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
    http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/
    http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/spectrum/willy/

    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/manicminerandjetsetwilly/
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