The Perils of Willy

People are still making stuff for the Sinclair related machines. Tell us about new games and other software that runs on the Spectrum, ZX80/ZX81, Pentagon and Next.
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Andre Leao
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The Perils of Willy

Post by Andre Leao »

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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by R-Tape »

Very decent. I'm glad that it's not totally faithful to the VIC-20 version! Which, as Kweepa said in the other thread, look ropey to say the least.

Only played a few levels so far, and of them, it looks like most of the effort (in the original game) went on designing level 1. It's possible to get trapped if you collect stuff in the wrong order and you just have to sit the clock out (yes the player made a daft mistake not to spot it, but it still feels unfair). I see from Andre's review above that it gets better and more challenging though.

That beeper intro music has a few painful notes though!
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Re: The Perils of Willy

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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

I agree it's a very decent cinversion. I didn't know the story behind that game
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stupidget
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by stupidget »

I’ve played it a couple of time today and think it’s a great game. I would say that I’m becoming somewhat addicted to it.

Anybody now how many screens there are?
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by R-Tape »

Rev_Stuart_Campbell wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 9:53 pm There's a suicide button, Shift+Space. Says it in the docs ;)
Yeah, but short of actually reading them, what am I supposed to do?

(Ta :) )
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Andre Leao
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by Andre Leao »

stupidget wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 8:46 pm I’ve played it a couple of time today and think it’s a great game. I would say that I’m becoming somewhat addicted to it.

Anybody now how many screens there are?
The review says 32, but who knows... ;)
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by highrise »

Thanks for the kind words. With regard to the somewhat painful beeper intro music, this was done in a deliberate homage to Manic Miner which I hope you agree also has the same :)
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by jetsetdanny »

Andre Leao wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 10:26 pm
stupidget wrote: Wed Mar 18, 2020 8:46 pm I’ve played it a couple of time today and think it’s a great game. I would say that I’m becoming somewhat addicted to it.

Anybody now how many screens there are?
The review says 32, but who knows... ;)
There are 32 rooms. After the player has completed them, the game loops back to the first room (and you can continue playing and increasing your score).

You can see screenshots of all of the rooms on the game's page on JSW Central. You can also watch the game being completed if you download an RZX walkthrough of it.
Website: JSW Central
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by highrise »

yes, on the 15th March I made the first public release of the game, and asked nicely that people don't publish walkthroughs using rollback as the game may not be fully complete.

On the 16th March, rollback is published. So it seems that you guys are stuck with this version now.... :)
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by Andre Leao »

Yep, you are correct ;😉
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by Daren »

highrise wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 7:20 am yes, on the 15th March I made the first public release of the game, and asked nicely that people don't publish walkthroughs using rollback as the game may not be fully complete.

On the 16th March, rollback is published. So it seems that you guys are stuck with this version now.... :)
On the download page you only request not to make walkthrough videos of it, nothing about rollback. So when the rzx file was sent to me, I told the author I wouldn't be making a YouTube video of it.
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by R-Tape »

On the 16th March, rollback is published. So it seems that you guys are stuck with this version now.... :)
How does that stop you releasing updates?
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by Ralf »

I played it a few times and eventually watched the solution at Rzx Archive.

It's fun for a while but for me unfortunately it becomes repetitive after a moment.
All levels use the same graphics and there are only a few enemies - dog, duck, balloon and a little locomotive I believe.

I know it's being faithful to the original version but well... what was decent in 1983 isn't enough in 2020.

The graphics were however really improved, just like general smoothness.

Have a look on the original version on VIC-20. Rather poor I would say. Yet the guys in the comments still have some nice
memories with it :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWJHTZ6bK9w
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by highrise »

I think it would be pretty clear to anyone that publishing an RZX playback is in principle no different to publishing a video. It's just a different medium. It goes against the spirit of the request, if not the exact wording.

I'm not a fan of using RZX to complete games. If it were possible to prevent it happening in my games, I would. I especially don't like it when they are published within 24 hours of a game being released. In addition, since it is actually a snapshot of the entire game, you are in effect publishing the game in a format that I did not wish it to be published.

That's why i politely asked people to just wait a couple of weeks, particularly since I was planning on making some updates. That gives people time to try to complete the game without the temptation of a replay, gives me time to make updates, and for people to download the game and donate if they wish to.

It's just my view. I respect that other people don't share that view but I think it's reasonable. In addition, it does of course not stop me from releasing updates. What it does do however, is cause me to reconsider whether I should take the time to do it.
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by highrise »

and yes, you are correct, it doesn't stand up to releases in 2020, mainly as it is built using the original 1983 Manic Miner Engine, and designed in a way to look and feel as though it were created in 1984. I felt this was what the community would prefer.
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by highrise »

and just to add, I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm being an a*sehole about it, I'm honestly not. I'm really flattered and happy that people are enjoying the game. It's just that these things take a lot of time to get right so I think it's quite natural to be a little protective and try to encourage people to play the game in the spirit it was made, that of 1984 when things like rollback didn't exist.
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by Alessandro »

highrise wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 3:04 pm I'm not a fan of using RZX to complete games. If it were possible to prevent it happening in my games, I would. I especially don't like it when they are published within 24 hours of a game being released. In addition, since it is actually a snapshot of the entire game, you are in effect publishing the game in a format that I did not wish it to be published.

That's why i politely asked people to just wait a couple of weeks, particularly since I was planning on making some updates. That gives people time to try to complete the game without the temptation of a replay, gives me time to make updates, and for people to download the game and donate if they wish to.
I completely agree. I found it very annoying when just a couple of days after the release of one of my games a "walkthrough" video for it had been posted on YouTube. I complained about that with the channel's owner, which is an old contact of mine on the Spectrum scene. He understood my concern and since then he has been so kind to send me an email noticing me that he received a RZX for a game of mine and asking me when I wish it to be made public.

It's not nice to see that after months of working at a game and fine tuning it before release, people cheat by using rollback and snapshots and complete it almost soon after it has been released. It feels lazy and cheap to me. Couldn't these users at least try if they can complete it for a week or so before resorting to cheats?

Sorry if I sound argumentative, I am glad to know people are enjoying my creations, too. But at the same time I would also like my games to be tasted as a good meal, not devoured like junk food :)
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by highrise »

It's frustrating isn't it. What's worse is that you can even end up feeling like you are being selfish simply because you put in a ton of time and then express disappointment because people choose to steamroller through your work within 24 hours and make that available to everyone.

It doesn't exactly encourage people to create more work does it.
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by akeley »

Ralf wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 11:06 am I know it's being faithful to the original version but well... what was decent in 1983 isn't enough in 2020.
I wouldn't agree with that. I always like to think that what was good back then, should still be good now. This is the retro gaming mindset, where decent gameplay is timeless. And the simplistic gfx is a part of the retro charm too (baring the blasted blinking perhaps), for me at least. Of course, if somebody made a port with souped-up fx (like that Atic Atac on C64) that'd be cool too, but we got a faithful one and I'm happy with that.

About rollbacks (weren't they used to be called "save states" btw?), well, it seems an unfortunate function of the insta-access/gratification times we live in now. The race to be the first to post something on utubz is relentlessly ruthless. I'm sure it'd be the same if we had this internet malarkey back then, but we didn't and it's perhaps fortunate. Personally, I was never into even using POKEs, and I'm glad that it remained so to this day. I don't feel like I have to complete or see the ending of every game out there and I'm okay with just dying at some point and perhaps coming back to it - or not - later. That's just me though.

But if author explicitly asks for something like that not to be done, for a short while at least, then all that's left is just smh mode.
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by Ivanzx »

I have to say that I highly disagree with Alessandro and Allan, up to a point that it is really difficult for me to understand some of your points, guys :roll:

First, if 1 person, 1 or 2, the one that are doing the videos, are playing using Rollback... what makes you think that the rest of the people that are playing the game will also use rollback? or how that will encourage other people to use also Rollback?? :shock: I think most of the people who are seeing the videos do not even know about rollback. And, how do you know the amount of hours this person used to get the video? Maybe, even with Rollback, he spent 3-4 hours playing your game until completion, something that, let´s admit it nowadays, will not happen with most of the other people who will play your games (from any creator of new Spectrum games)

Another factor, Spectrum games are hard, and very likely, 50-60% of the games are almost impossible to complete without using little advantages, and maybe some people would not even care to try the games without Rollback, maps, pokes, etc...

Third, I also think that the videos in Youtube provide a great visibility for the game. In many cases, specially in Homebrew games, the RZX is the only video in the whole internet about a specific game and that encourages other people to play it (it does it with me) and allows the game to be spread out and more known.

Just that, of course I understand everybody has different opinions and it is about someone´s work, but I felt that other point of view was really needed here ;)
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by highrise »

I understand your point Ivan, but if you look back you will see that I didn't ask people not to post these videos, I only asked that people show a little patience and wait around two weeks before they post or share a full video of a playthrough. I think that is fair.
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by highrise »

Incidentally, with this particular game, with regard to it not being a '2020' game. I was very aware of how beloved the original games are, so a lot of discussion was had with long term fans of the games as to how best to find the balance and get it to feel like it fitted in with the other two games. Since it was always going to use the original graphic for Willy, it was important that the rest of the graphics were drawn to try fit into that same style.

The same applied to the jump mechanic. It was impossible to complete the levels as they were without either changing it, or the levels themselves. I was determined to keep the original levels as intact as possible, so the jump mechanic had to be rewritten. As a result Willy's jump is one pixel further than in the original, and he also continues to jump even when he hits his head (which was true in the original Vic game). Getting this working whilst at the same time ensuring that the change would hardly be noticed proved to be trickier than you might imagine, but in the end I found a solution I could work with.

The idea was to make the game feel instantly familiar, stayed true to the Vic version whilst also feeling like something slightly different and new.
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by Ivanzx »

highrise wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 9:26 pm I understand your point Ivan, but if you look back you will see that I didn't ask people not to post these videos, I only asked that people show a little patience and wait around two weeks before they post or share a full video of a playthrough. I think that is fair.
Yes, it is true that if the creator asks for something, it would be good to respect it, although it is a bit hard to understand why was requested.

On another page, I liked the game, I have never been a fan of Manic Miner and so, actually I never liked it, but this one plays similar but better and easier.
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Re: The Perils of Willy

Post by highrise »

To be clear - I'm not against walkthrough videos - I actively encourage them, especially when people actually play the game properly and give their opinions, good or bad.

What I am against is people using RZX rollback simply to be the first person to complete a game and post a video, often doing so within 24 hours of the release, not posting opinions or reviews, and doing so for every single game, regardless of how they feel about it. This is because (a) I don't think it requires any great skill or talent, (2) I don't think it benefits anyone except themselves, because they aren't actually interested in the game, they re interested in getting some kind of credit or hits on Youtube.

By asking that people don't publish complete walkthrough videos of the entire game in the first couple of weeks of release, I'm hoping that it gives people a challenge, because if they publish a live walkthrough of them completing the game with NO rzx rewinds, I would 100% approve it.

I know that I'm not the only author that feels this way, and I believe that if this became the standard practice, it would actually be for the benefit of the community. There are many arguments in favour of walkthroughs, many of which Ivan mentioned. None of these are lost by asking people to show a little more respect and patience.
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