Soul Miner............................................................

An adventure starring Jet Set Willy

By Edward Martland
2001-02

***The "setting"***

"This better work" Willy said, as he stepped up to the machine to operate it.
Steeling himself, he loaded in the spare parts and closed his eyes before hitting
the switch...

"Oof!" Willy said as he felt himself drop down from a great height. "Where am I?"
he said to himself. After a moment it occurred to him that this was one of the
spare rooms of the house, near to the entrance to the basement in fact. But
thoughts of location were all pushed out of his mind as he looked down

"WHAT IN GOD'S NAME HAS HAPPENED TO MY HANDS???" he cried. Sure enough his hands
had become paws. In fact his whole body seemed to have become animal-like. And
since when the hell could he see so much of his own nose? "Oh Lord, now what do I
do?" he said forlornly...

...So now Willy's soul has split in half, leaving Willy himself as a wild animal.
He must now search through what's left of his house (which is torn apart - part of
it buried in a mountain - and constantly slipping in and out of the Netherworld)
and the surrounding area to collect a magical energy called "genru", which might be
found in anything - a fork, a shoe, a bird - and bring it home to bring his soul
back together. Along the way he must dodge strange religious sects, giant mushrooms
and distinctly camp robots, all of whom would much like to see him dead. But can he
do it all before Midnight? Don't just sit there reading this, go find out dammit!

***A message from the author***

I started this game to get back into Willy editing, as the completion of JSW vs the
Beatles drifts ever further out of sight (probably giving it waaaay more mystique
than it rightly deserves). Early on the game was called such things as Casa Villa
and Willy In Chaos, before I accidentally purloined the name of an album by The
The. The name then suggested the plot - such as it is - rather than the other way
round. That done, I went off to graft a fitting adventure (and the prerequisite
musical references) onto the story ideas I had so far. It came out rather well I
thought, even if it is startlingly full of itself in places. Throughout the game
teleporters form an important part of Willy's progress. Generally their presence
will be hinted at in some way, such as a panel in the floor or an item to lure you
into it, or some other clue. You'll see as you play through the game.

One big difference between this game and its predecessor is that this time round I
forced myself pretty much to use my own graphics, with only a couple that were
looted from JSW or other games. They came out pretty top as well. I should tell you
though that's a pile of sausage meat on the conveyor belt in The Belly Of The
Beast, nothing else

Finally, I should warn you that there are quite a few in-jokes and deliberately
pretentious moments scattered throughout the game. Don't worry yourself too much
about them, 'tis all just a bit of colour. Just sit back and enjoy the silliness

Well, that's the end of that. Enjoy

***Graphics credits***

All my guardians and room designs are free for use so long as you get in touch with
me first at edward@manmart.demon.co.uk. All graphics by Edward Martland except:

Willy; the toilet - from Mutant Monty (C64)

The spider - not a clue. Probably from Mutant Monty as well

The skulls are an enlargement from Dynamite Dan 2, and the clockwork bird is
adapted from the Menagerie in Manic Miner. One of the robots is visibly made out of
Macaroni Ted's caterpillar tracks

All rooms and that hideous title screen also by Edward

Thanks to Dave and Kevan (who will probably never read this) for accidentally
suggesting "Flying Saucer Death Cult".

Thanks to Vidar Eriksen (who may also never read this) for accidentally suggesting
"I Dovregubbens Hall".

Thanks to Andrew Broad and John Elliott (who *will* read this) for spurring me into
actually making The Bunker and Ice Age Coming, and getting everything running
smoothly respectively.

Thanks to Alex "Send" Cornhill, who was cool throughout and who I meant to send
this game to test it, but I ran out of time on my own deadline. Sorry Alex :)
Everyone please tell me if there are problems in the game that I missed, won't you?

That's the end folks. Remember to check out

groups.yahoo.com/group/manicminerandjetsetwilly for more Matt-tastic Smith-errific
JSW and MM related shenanigans. You'll thank me for it

JSW is the brainchild of Matthew Smith and � 2001 Jestersoft. Viva Italia!