Talk:Jet Set Willy/Archive 1

Quirkafleeg

The sentence

 The most famous of those platform antics being the Quirkafleeg.

doesn't fit grammatically with the surrounding text. Since my reading of this article has been my first exposure to the Quirkafleeg, perhaps someone else more knowledgable could rephrase what was trying to be said. mat_x 21:55, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The Quirkafleeg page on Wikipedia does a pretty good job of explaining it, or else have a look at the following link [1]. Richard W.M. Jones 09:36, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

Matthew Smith

Matthew Smith did indeed disappear into a Dutch commune, but has since turned up, even being interviewed on British TV. Perhaps we should change the text to reflect this? Richard W.M. Jones 09:36, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

Game difficulty

Despite the pokes for solving the screen bugs, this game is impossible for a human to win. What about creating a section about this?

With the pokes in place, the game isn't impossible, merely mindblowingly difficult. Here's the proof. Slovakia 12:37, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

The Dragon 32 version was also impossible to complete (without cheating) because it was impossible to traverse "The Drive" in a right-to-left direction, which was required to finish it.

Animated GIF

The animated GIF screenshot that was previously on this page was ridiculously gigantic (nearly 1 MB) and crippled Safari. Moreover, it didn't even show any gameplay. I have replaced it with a 4 KB PNG.

I reverted this change. Others seem to like the animated GIF. I also use Safari and the GIF displays with no problems at all. Perhaps we can discuss this before getting into a pointless revert war. I've got a better idea: how about people vote below on whether to keep or remove it. Richard W.M. Jones 09:37, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Well, I vote remove, of course. It makes scrolling on my iBook G4 very choppy. Even more importantly, it's 1 MB! That's completely unacceptable for people on dial-up or even on slower broadband connections. I could understand if the screenshot showed actual gameplay -- when I first saw it was animated I watched with rapt attention hoping that it would. But all it shows is the rope swinging back and forth and the enemies walking back and forth, something you could probably guess would happen simply by looking at the still picture which loads instantly. So I think an appropriate thing to do would be to make the main picture in the article the still PNG, but to link to the animated version for those who want to see it. That way people can still check it out but users aren't assaulted with a 1 MB picture without asking for it.

I vote remove. It makes the page take a long time to load with a dialup connection. What you could do is place it on another website and use an External link to link to the gif. Ae-a 13:30, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Just to make it clear, I vote keep. Richard W.M. Jones 21:29, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Remove: it's cute, but too big. On the other hand, it's still a nice image and we should link to it somehow as Aaron says. It would be a shame to lose it entirely --Pak21 14:44, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

In accordance with the vote above, I have again changed the animated GIF to a small PNG file. I will leave it up to someone else to link to the animated one, since I'm not sure how best to do that. I do think it should be done, though. It was a cool animation, but just too large to have displayed in the article.

Two other votes, huh. Richard W.M. Jones 17:39, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

I've again removed this image. It's 1Mb in size, which even in the day of broadband is still excessive, and it contains massive borders which unnecessarily increases the size of the image without increasing the value it adds. Also, as stated in the orignal rationale for removal - it doesn't really add anyting that a static image does. I'd be happy to reach a compromise - if the animated image was to be re-done without the huge borders and was cropped to 256x192 resolution I'd not be against its inclusion. Chaheel Riens (talk) 10:01, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

Bugs

"Due to bugs, the game could never be completed and various POKEs (low-level memory-writing hacks) were necessary to correct this..." LOL So it wasn't only me, gotta give it a shot one of these days

Room count

The article states:

 A different expanded version of Jet Set Willy was released for the Dragon 32/64, with 13 extra rooms[4].

but does not say how many rooms the original Spectrum version had, making this comparison useless. It would be nice to add a room count to the article, as one of the distinguishing features of this game was that it was very large compared to other games of its time.

Added. Slovakia 12:38, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Also, the Dragon 32 version had 78 rooms, while the cited reference [4] incorrectly mentions 75 screens for the Dragon version.

83.40.140.141 17:12, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Peform

RE my last edit: http://www.russandem.co.uk/quirk/

I've incorporated that link into the main article. Alf Boggis 08:11, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

C64 Music

I was going to add the fact that the C64's in-game music was Bach's Invention No.1... but I was very suprised when I couldn't find a reference. Can anyone find one? --StuartBrady (Talk) 03:05, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Merge Quirkafleeg here

It seems to me that the Quirkafleeg article is just a convoluted way of expressing the factoid "The bizarre room title We Must Perform A Quirkafleeg is a quote from The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers", and only really exists because someone thought it would be a jolly good lark to have an article titled Quirkafleeg in an encyclopedia. The walkthrough is possibly worth keeping (although there's nothing really notable about the room, and if we have a walkthrough of that one, why not the other 59...) - but other than that it's mostly waffle.

I've never heard of anyone referring to the manoeuvre itself as a Quirkafleeg, and I suspect that's an invention to give the article a better premise than "Quirkafleeg is the fifth word of the name of a room in Jet Set Willy". And what on earth is 'To "perform a quirkafleeg" quickly became a playground requirement for teenagers in the UK at the time' supposed to mean? I don't know about you, but none of the playgrounds at my schools ever had places to plug in Spectrums, or indeed any gaping spike-filled pits. Slovakia 13:24, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Removed section

This was stuck-in at the "See also" section so I removed it. If there's anything in it people can use to improve the article, please do so --Zagrebo 13:15, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

- Jet Set Willy was released on the Commodore Amiga as Jet Set Willy but was actually Jet Set Willy II to play, or, as the demo screens display, Jet Set Willy Two (sic). It was still a platform game but featured now a scrolling area instead of the original flip screens. Further, the areas were not named either unlike the original. The packaging featured exactly the same picture as the Spectrum original of the miner with their head in the toilet. On the back of the packing it says "Copyright 1983 Software Projects." The game was written on the Amiga by Stephen McMaster. It was released circa 1989. It was not a rewarding game to play compared to the original.

AMIGA Version

The information about the Amiga version being shelved before release is incorrect.

My brother actaully has it for the Amiga as I bought it for him a number of years ago.

The game style is different though as it scrolls rather than containing seperate rooms. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Phil3012 (talk • contribs) 10:36, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Jet set willy we must perform a quirkafleeg.png

Image:Jet set willy we must perform a quirkafleeg.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 19:08, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

miner willy meets the taxman

This is based on a interview that Matthew did with ZZAPP magazine, it was a simple joke about the tax Matthew owed the tax man, nothing more nothing less. There was never going to be a game of that name, despite your childhood fiends telling you there was. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.135.12.73 (talk) 21:12, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

Actually, there are multiple references to Taxman in different publications of the time - and most recently in an interview with Matthew Smith in a 2008 issue of Retro Gamer. a_man_alone (talk) 14:23, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

If you've got that issue, perhaps you can fill out a Template:Cite journal citation? Excitingly, I'm going to see Matthew Smith at a talk/lecture thingy this Sunday, so perhaps the subject will come up. Marasmusine (talk) 09:13, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Sure, I'll get round to it. Where d'you suppose it should go? I mean, as it's a game in it's own right, it shouldn't really be on any of the Jetset pages, which refer only to JSW1 & JSW2, etc.

Whilst I'm on, I also remember reading an article that said Matthew was using a C=64 1541 disc drive to store Taxman & Megatree master files on, but whilst taking them home one night he had a moped accident and smashed it all up (including his moped) - could be this had influence on neither game seeing the light of day. If you get chance, you might be able to prod his memory over that incident. Damned if I can remember the name of the mag it was in though. —Preceding unsigned comment added by A man alone (talk • contribs) 12:17, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

So I saw Matthew Smith at the Videogame Nation exhibition at Urbis [2]. I was able to field a question about Taxman! Matthew said that the "moped accident" couldn't have been true. "I had about three games on the go at the same time after Jet Set Willy, and I had all of the pressue and none of the support. Everything was vapourware then - it was all on paper, a lot of it was coded as proof of concepts for the engines. But there wasn't any hope of any of it getting done - all of us fighting, all the people around me at the time. That would have been the third one in the trilogy, 'cos everything is trilogies. That was the third part so there was a natural progression: Making a fortune, blowing a fortune, and meeting the taxman at the end of it."

I have most of the talk on camcorder, so will sort out a citation and make it available for anyone who is interested. Marasmusine (talk) 20:21, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Very much so. Not just in the spirit of Wiki, but to wallow in nostalgia as well. Ahem. —Preceding unsigned comment added by A man alone (talk • contribs) 16:22, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

I very much like that last quote of Matthews "That would have been the third one in the trilogy, 'cos everything is trilogies. That was the third part so there was a natural progression: Making a fortune, blowing a fortune, and meeting the taxman at the end of it."

I think we may be approaching the stage where we can create a stub for Willy meets the Taxman. There are plenty of other vapourware examples on Wiki. Is there an opinion on this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by A man alone (talk • contribs) 12:02, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

I really don't think it has enough coverage, based on WP:VGSCOPE: all verifiable material about it can fit into one or two sentences and it's unlikely to go beyond that. I'd suggest writing about it here and at Miner Willy (in which The Perils of Willy and some other unofficial sequels are mentioned.) I'm going to see about breaking down the Urbis video into 10-minute sections and putting it on Youtube. I must admit, because of the angle I was at, Smith's face was largely obscured by the table and a glass :/ So a single audio file is a possibility. Will let you know when it's sorted. Marasmusine (talk) 13:16, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Ok. Kind of weird, but The Perils of Willy links back to the Miner Willy page. I might have a look at that later on tonight, with a view to consolidating it all, and including a few more Taxman references. a_man_alone (talk) 14:25, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

First three parts of the interview uploaded here. Suggested citation fields: {{cite interview |last=Smith |first=Matthew |subjectlink=Matthew Smith (games programmer) |interviewer=Drury, Paul |title=Manic Musings |url=http://www.urbis.org.uk/page.asp?id=3333 |format=Video |program=Videogame Nation |city=Manchester |date=2009-07-19 }} Subtituting the url for a link to an appropriate video segement. Marasmusine (talk) 15:07, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

"Early example of nonlinear gameplay"

Is it really worth mentioning this? If all it takes is "multiple routes" then JSW is predated by (On the Spectrum alone): Atic Atac, Moria, The Crystal Orb, Valhalla and Dungeons. As always, if a reliable source discusses this then I have no objection. Marasmusine (talk) 12:56, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Nightmare Room

I've just read an article on the BBC about Alan Turing which says 'Turing had cyanide in his house for chemical experiments he conducted in his tiny spare room - the nightmare room he had dubbed it.' - could this be the origin of the name of the room in the game or just a coincidence? Thought I'd flag that up in case anyone knows or could verify it - David — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.99.126.86 (talk) 12:55, 23 June 2012 (UTC)