[Dr. Dos]

in reply to: Speedrunning Stream this Thursday #5216

Thank you!

I’ve started getting everything split up and uploaded from the recording. Here’s the WR run and the full stream which took nearly 3 hours and includes a casual playthrough, showing off the strats used to get my first WR, a glitch exhibition, and then the final attempts.

If I have some free time I’d like to do a casual stream of the 2nd and 3rd games in the trilogy as well. They’re a bit more solidly built so I never really tried speedrunning them myself, but these games all have a soft spot for me!

And I’d be happy to join the podcast for an episode if I may! A DM on Twitter (@dosmeow) is probably the easiest way to get in touch to get the ball rolling on that.

[Dr. Dos]

in reply to: First impressions #3577

Finally got around to playing the first episode last night and was surprised that it took under an hour to complete!

I have a decent amount of experience with the shareware episode of Jill, beating it numerous times over the years. I remember it being a fun game and was curious how well it would hold up since it’s likely been a decade or more since I played it.

I got into these sort of games well past their prime, learning of Epic and Apogee from a shareware CD bought at a yard sale in 1997 so they all sort of blend together and it’s difficult for me to say how Jill would’ve fared against other games released in 1992, but I think it holds up nicely.

The grid based movement is certainly rigid, but the platforming required in episode 1 is forgiving enough that it doesn’t really bother me. I love the game’s visuals and the soundtrack is impressive.

As a huge ZZT fan, knowing this game came after ZZT/Super ZZT I couldn’t help but notice a lot of similar design. The HUD is very similar to Super ZZT and the mix of messages along the bottom of the play area and larger popup windows match up with ZZT’s messages/scrolls as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s plenty of code shared between the two since things are still grid based.

One touch I was impressed by was how the maps connect. I know plenty of games will have multiple levels on a map to save memory, but Jill seems willing to actually let you see this connected layout when most games try to prevent it. Flapping up in bird form here and realizing I was at the first level was really cool, and flipping through the other maps on VGMaps there are a few other connections as well.

As a child I was always fascinated with the weird purple mushrooms and space theme in the background during the ending, so I’m looking forward to finally trying the other episodes as well, though it sounds like they suffer the usual shareware curse of not being as good as the original.

[Dr. Dos]

in reply to: First impressions #1408

Got around to trying the game out tonight. I’m surprised I hadn’t ever played it as a kid, as I’d defintely have been a big fan then!

Playing it today so far it’s definitely a lot of fun, once you rebind the controls. I wound up putting accelerate/brake on the up/down arrow keys which makes a lot more sense to me. I found myself slowly getting better and decided I’d quit for the night after winning a race. I wound up playing a few more after finally doing so!

I’ll definitely keep going back to it as I’m still playing easy races with the starting car.