March 27, 2001 – a call for Beta Testers for Jumpman 2049

New Jumpman games out, bad news on the new arcade-style display engine, guilt about not getting Jumpman: 2049, A call for Beta Testers, and other stuff for those who read all this 🙂

New Jumpman Games!

Really, I’m not kidding – there’s more than one new Jumpman game out there now! How strange – there’s Jumpman for various platforms, Jumpman Jr for various platforms, Jumpman 2 in development, Jumpman: 2049 in development, and now there is also Jumpman Deluxe for the Amiga (I’m not impressed really, based on what I saw, but I’ll have to drag out the Amiga and play it just to see!), and Jumpman Zero for Palm Pilots (and I AM impressed with that one!) Wow – it’s really awsome to see new stuff happening in the Jumpman world!

If you want to check out the review of Jumpman Deluxe, or want to grab Jumpman Zero for the PalmPilot, hit Matty’s Jumpman Lounge and get a closer look or download ’em! And stop by there from time to time if you are a fan of Jumpman – lots of news and such posted there on an infrequent basis 🙂 (Of course, if you are reading this, there’s a really good chance you got here from there in the first place! 😉

More work on the display engine

I mentioned in my last update what was going on over here, and that I was working on a new display engine for arcadish games. Well, it sucks. I’m scraping it, and restarting. Sometimes what looks good in theory sucks in practice. No problem – I had already been thinking of a different way to do things, and I’ll go back to the original puzzle-game style code, and restart from there. In fact, I think re-writing it will go even faster than this current itteration took to develop in the first place, since the new code will probably be less complicated to work with 🙂

Felling Guilty About Jumpman: 2049…

If you read the last post, you know that I’m working on two games to test the arcadish display engine with. I just finished all the core programming on Gremlin Panic! besides the title character (which is simple, and already partialy done even without the graphic for her :-), before that I finished BP!2 DX, and have tons of business dealings, etc., etc., etc. during that time period. But, I’m not getting Jumpman: 2049 done.

Now I’m starting to feel guilty about it. The problem is, doing Jumpman: 2049 is something I’m very passionate about – but the two test games I’m not. Gremlin Panic! is fun, but, it’s not what I said I’d be doing! So, you know what – screw the two test games. I’m getting back to work on Jumpman. I’ll come back to those games again in a bit, as soon as I get some serious work done on J’49. I’ve got quite a few of the levels mapped out, I’ve got most of a plotline, and quite a bit more – but I don’t have a GAME to put in people’s hands. It’s starting to bug me, ‘specially when you consider I’ve got a contract with MS to use VBA inside of J’49, and looking at the cool stuff that other people are acomplishing with the Jumpman name.

So I’m going to start kickin’ some ass, and getting a working, playable Jumpman 2049 test version together for everyone to play with and take a look at. Of course, for that I need some beta testers…

Call for Jumpman: 2049 Beta Testers

Like Jumpman, and wanna play with the newest Jumpman game before it’s available? Want to be sick to death of testing the newest build of the game? Then you can be a Beta Tester for MidnightRyder.Com’s Jumpman: 2049! 😉 Here’s the deal – I’m going to start making two pools of Beta Testers.

Pool 1 is engine testing – basically, does the ‘physics’ of the game feel right? See anything odd happening that shouldn’t be? That sort of thing. These will be the ‘original’ levels only.

Pool 2 is play testers – these lucky folks get to not only play the full levels as they come out, but, they also get to help determine when levels are too hard, etc. and determine the ‘direction’ of Jumpman: 2049 at times.

Pool 1 gets my gratitude, and a mention in the credits for Jumpman: 2049. Pool 2 gets both, plus, the full version of the game for free.

So how do you sign up? Simple – add a comment to this message, giving me your name and email address (*Be sure cookies are enabled before replying to this – PHPSlash requires cookies to be enabled.*) I’ll put you in the overall pool, and contact you via email to say you are in there. As soon as the working demo is done, I’ll start drawing names for the two pools (I’ve already got a couple of people in Pool 2 before this even started – Lord Gek for instance is one of my primary beta testers at the moment, so he always ends up as a full play tester) I’ll contact you again at that time, and make sure you are still interested, etc., and tell you which pool you are in and where to download copies at 🙂

When the beta cycle is done, I’ll be contacting you one more time to see if you would like to become a permenant beta tester for other games that Midnight Ryder Technologies develops. Beyond that, there’s not much to worry about when it comes to providing your name and email – I’ve got a fairly strict policy about spam. (I suppose I really need to put my privacy policy online sometime…)

Jumpman for GameBoy Advance?

In case you didn’t see it, someone asked about the idea of Midnight Ryder Technologies creating a version of Jumpman for GameBoy Advance. You can check out my full comments on the subject in the Jumpman Games area (in particular, right here is the whole thing.

Personal Stuff… It’s That Time of Year Again.

This weekend, absolutly nothing got acomplished development wise. Why? Cause it’s almost time to plant a garden again, which means all sorts of prep work. This year, I made it really hard on myself. I own a house built in the ’40s, and it’s got a back yard that has all sorts of hole and ankle breakers in it. So I invited my father over to help – he brought a 60 year old garden tractor (basically an over-sided rotertiller with attachments) and we went to work. Plowed, disked, and harrowed the entire back yard and made it flat again. Much improvement, and now my garden area is also prepped. Amazing how much running that garden tractor really screwed up my back muscles! Anyway – my garden area is prepped, and I’m just waiting for planting season to start (mid April here) Tomatoes and various other seedlings are growing and should be ready to plant by then. Anyone else here do any home gardening?

Ok, that’s it for today… Back to work. Time to build Jumpman: 2049! 🙂

PS: Elicia, you still reading this stuff? >;-)

(Updated to that it could also be filed in the ‘Jumpman Games’ area. Be sure to check out the pic of Jumpman in that area also 😉

Reply

J’49 beta test [115]

by Rudy Moore d0l3m1t3@yahoo.com on Wednesday, April 11 @11:59AM

interested in being a J’49 beta tester if it’s still open. :) 

thanks! 

[ Reply ]

SURE! [117]

by MidnightRyder midryder@midnightryder.com on Friday, April 13 @12:01AM

Yep, there’s still more slots open (I’ve got quite a few who have registered by email). There isn’t really a ‘set’ number yet – so, just sign up, and when I think I’ve got enough, I’ll be sure to put up a message saying beta tester slots are closed :-) 

[ Reply ]

heck yeah i’ll beta test [158]

by prc xprcx@hotmail.com on Wednesday, May 16 @04:29AM

whenever, wherever. i love jumpman… played the original and jumpman jr on c64, jumpman lives on my 486, and i’d love to take jm:2049 for a ride.

 

can’t believe i saw this… found it while looking for a rom of broderbund’s music shop… if you haven’t heard kajun klog, that’s some sweet sid action… i wonder if there’s a way to rip it…

 

..prc

[ Reply ]

I’m game [335]

by Khaine Exterminatus@hotmail.com on Wednesday, December 19 @09:51PM

Over a year ago I was e-mailed asking to be a beta tester. I’ve confirmed it before and I’ll confirm it again, YES ABSOLUTELY! It would be a dream job. 

Maybe I could work on the level editor?

[ Reply ]

I hope it’s not too late! [321]

by Keir svipdag@geocities.com on Tuesday, August 21 @04:02PM

I know it’s several months later, but I haven’t seen anything about slots being closed so please consider me too!

[ Reply ]

j49 beta test [322]

by oliver schmieding oz@bytewatch.de on Friday, September 07 @04:32AM

hi, 

i hope the search for beta testers is still on ?
 

i _really_ would like to join; the original version was my personal favorite back in the early 80s.
i still can finish the ‘grand tour’, but not without losing most of the lives anymore (getting rusty with age ;> ) 

 

—ozz

[ Reply ]

J’49 Beta Testing [116]

by Brad Rigsby kevlarcc@hotmail.com on Wednesday, April 11 @01:58PM

I used to play the original cartidge version of Jman on C64. It is by far the best platform game in existence and I hope that the new version(s) will maintain that reputation. Recently, I decided to see if I could downlaod a version for PC and to my great joy I stumbled on The Jumpman Lounge! 

Since downloading it I have logged at least 100 hours of platime. I have discovered around 10 glitches in the system but it is 99% reliable and I have to give kudos to the programmers responsible. It is essentially the same as the original. 

I would love to be able to help test and improve the future release of J’49. Please contact me and let me know if there are any tester slots still available.

[ Reply ]

Jumpman Beta tester [118]

by Fred Hiss fred.hiss@qwest.com on Friday, April 13 @10:40AM

Count Jumpman as one of my favorite games of all time. I remember waiting 30+ min for it to load via the tape drive on my Atari 800. Well worth it. Cant’t wait for the new ones to surface. Kudos.

[ Reply ]

Jump Man Jump! [343]

by Ryan Molecke ryan@molecke.com on Saturday, March 30 @05:45AM

Let me help! I’ll play the hell out of jumpman 

[ Reply ]

tester [119]

by Linda linda.dupree@ncmail.net on Monday, April 16 @08:42AM

would luv to test 4 you !!!! i work on an NT. hope that doesn’t prohibit my name from being entered. i’m the big fan of boulder with the son who plays it so much. still would luv to have boulder dx for the nt.

[ Reply ]

count me in! [120]

by Michael Black mblack@tornspace.com on Friday, April 20 @06:43PM

I can test for whichever version of windows/directX you want. 

-M

[ Reply ]

jumpman [310]

by mike towner janitormt@yahoo.com on Tuesday, August 07 @04:27PM

jumpman was the game i grew up on and i still play it all the time

[ Reply ]

Beta tester request [125]

by Benjamin Stauffer dstauffe@mail.win.org on Thursday, May 03 @09:39AM

I’m interested in testing Jumpman 2049. I wasn’t around computers when C64 was popular and IBMs had CGA graphics, but my cousin showed me Jumpman on his C64, and I’ve enjoyed playing it ever since.

[ Reply ]

JM2049 [139]

by Gavin Baker gbaker@metrolink.net on Friday, May 11 @02:00AM

Countless hours of my childhood were spent watching the pretty color scroll in the intro for the C64 Jumpman Jr. Jumpman is my hero. I would lay down my life for him– or even, beta test. 

In other words: count me in!!

[ Reply ]

Beta testing [145]

by Mario D’Alessio dalessi0@email.mot.com on Monday, May 14 @05:25PM

I’d love to beta test the new Jumpman. I played the original and Jr on an Atari 800, as well as “Jumpman’s brother” (Ultimate Wizard) on the C64. Thanks.

[ Reply ]

i’m interested in becoming a beta tester… [195]

by Dax thedax@hotmail.com on Saturday, May 19 @06:55PM

…so if you need me, contact me. 

Greetings, 

Dax 

[ Reply ]

Jumpman is one of my all time favorite games! [247]

by Howard Abraham junk@frozennorth.com on Saturday, June 09 @01:54AM

I’m really excited to hear that Jumpman is being brought back. I would really like to be a beta tester.

[ Reply ]

Count me way in! [267]

by ALex Stone Stonedragon@dragonslave.com on Thursday, June 21 @04:20PM

I was a big jumpman when it came out on my commodore, I am a big jump man today. DEFINITELY COUNT ME IN!!!

[ Reply ]

beta testers [273]

by Shawn Marshall 1marsh@pathcom.com on Tuesday, June 26 @03:51PM

I just found your site, and was wondering if you were still looking for beta testers for Jumpman 2049. I’m a HUGE fan of the c64 version of the original, and I’m interested in seeing what ideas you have for a sequel. 

Your post was quite a while ago, so if you don’t need any more, that’s ok. But, if you’re still looking, drop me a line! 

Sincerely, 

Shawn Marshall

[ Reply ]

jumpman lover [293]

by floris f.haan@hccnet.nl on Thursday, July 19 @12:07PM

hi there, 

first of all i think it’s really fantastic that jumpman continues, it’s a dream come true. i’ve played this game over and over since i was a little kid and i never found a game which had the same gameplay. those new games with fancy graphics really make me puke. please count me in as a beta tester, i assure you that i can give some objective comments. i love the old platform games, also wizard, which is very simmular to jumpman. i hope to hear from you soon! 

regards, floris the netherlands

[ Reply ]

I would love to help test the engine and or the ga [323]

by Richard Moss jumpman@jumpspot.net on Tuesday, September 11 @02:43PM

As a long time jumpman player, I would very much like to help test this game if possible. I think I can give you good feedback as to the feel of the game and it’s ability to remind people of the original classic. I even still have an old c64 that works to compare it against 🙂 Thanks for the consideration. 

Richard Moss

[ Reply ]

Count me in as a beta tester [337]

by Mike Hetman mikehetman@hotmail.com on Friday, January 04 @03:35PM

I was a huge fan of Jumpman in the 80’s on the Atari platform and never understood why such a great game could never be brought back to life — that is until now. By the way, where did the year 2049 come from? Is it any nod to another great classic, Miner 2049er? Just wondering. 

Mike Hetman