Scott's Jezzball Project
An effort to create a new and improved version of the classic game
* * * Important Update Below * * *
Updates | Features | Comments | Links | Contacts | Downloads | Screenshots
This page was created to provide you with everything you need to know about my plan to create a new version of the game Jezzball. Jezzball is a popular game sold by Microsoft. I plan to do a major remake of the entire game which has many holes to fill. After so many years of the same game with no updates, I think it's about time to create a new one. This project will not work out unless I have the full support of all the Jezzball fans out there. I want to hear all of your suggestions!
On this site you can view the latest news and which features are being added. You can also submit your comments which I will try to respond to as soon as possible. In addition, I will have surveys so I can take votes on how to implement certain things.
This version will be made for the Win32 platform first (Windows 95, 98, 2000, and NT). DirectX version 6.1 must be installed and is available from Microsoft's web site for free. The minimum monitor resolution is 640x480 at 16-bit color. I am programming this using Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 and the Win32 API.
A beta version will be available eventually but I cannot say when. I need a lot of suggestions on important things like high scores and the wall builder (any feature below with a high priority) before I consider releasing it.
| 4/21/00 | - The source code has been released! Obviously I haven't worked on the project in 11 months, so I might as well stop putting it off. Sorry I couldn't put the time in. You can do whatever you want with this. If you do actually make it into a finished program, I'd appreciate if you acknowledged me, thanks! Go to the downloads section. |
| 5/21/99 | - Added Bonus Squares and Special Features - Also, I am done classes now, so I should have much more time to work on this. Keep sending comments and suggestions, please! |
| 4/16/99 | - Updated the Save Game and 2 Players feature |
4/10/99 |
- Updates have been slow lately since I am currently moving to a new computer (From a Pentium 120 to a Dell Dimension Pentium III 500!) - this will certainly speed development though |
| 4/1/99 | - Added Bonus Block, Bonus Levels, and 2 player features |
| 3/31/99 | - Updated the Save Game feature and added information on beta versions (above) |
| 3/28/99 | - Added Hot/Cold balls and Atom Splitting to feature list |
| 3/26/99 | - Created the page! |
Here is a list of the current features and what I need help on:
| Feature | Comment | Implemented | Priority | Help Needed |
| Multiple board dimensions | Sizes include 20x30, 40x60, 50x75, 80x120, 100x150 | Yes | Done | No |
| Full Screen Support | Press F for full screen. Right now full screen is only in 640x480 and (so is non-full screen, but you can see the other windows on the screen at higher resolutions). I did this since otherwise the background image would have to be made for all the different resolutions (unless I stretch it which could get ugly looking). | Yes | Medium | Tips? |
| User sign in and selection | A list manages all users which can be added and deleted. Each has a password which is required for deletion and possibly other things. | Yes | Done | No |
| New Game Screen | Accessible at startup and when N is pressed. Lets different game sizes, users, and game modes to be set. | Yes | Done | No |
| Save game | This is a controversial one. Right now it saves the game after each level is completed and users can choose whether to continue that game or start a new one at the new game screen. It is possible at this point to exit in the middle of the game and start up again at the current level (this is not very good since users can just keep doing this until they are satisfied-that's not fair). Maybe there should be a password feature in which you get a password when you beat a level that lets you later come back to that level but does not count your score. Or maybe the game should keep track of the highest level each user has gotten to and only allow that user to jump levels but still would not count the score. Another idea which I will probably implement is to make it so the game saves exactly where it is and then resumes exactly at this point, eliminating the restart level problem above. But of course people can still access the configuration file and just replace it with an old one. I'll have to make this more difficult. | Some | High | Yes |
| Screen Capture | Users can capture the screen to a file. | No | Low | No |
| High Scores | Press H. There is now a single high score table that contains a lot of useful info of the game played but the problem is that it is the same table for any board dimension. So I adjusted the scoring to count each square as a smaller value for high dimensions and now its the same exact scoring. But should it be this way? Or should I have a separate table? Need some suggestions! | Some | High | Yes |
| Scrambled file | The file right now that holds both the users and the high scores is very easy to modify with a text editor so I will probably scramble it somehow. | No | Medium | No |
| Credits | I want to give credit to those who made the original! Was Microsoft the original creator or was it made solely by that person in the Help|About box? | No | High | Yes |
| Customization | Customizable backgrounds, cursors, balls, wallbuilders, sound, music, etc. | No | Low | Tips? |
| Sound and music | Anybody have a music recommendation? (MIDI format) | No | Medium | Yes |
| Scoring | I have, for the most part, duplicated the scoring of the original game. A discrepancy is what to do for the percent cleared-does it or does it not include the space the balls take up? Also, should the scoring be the same for each screen dimension? (It is now). Should I just make up a new scoring system? | Some | High | Yes |
| Demo | The original had a demo...I suppose mine will too... | No | Low | Tips? |
| Wall Builder | I need to know how exactly to do this. Was the original's wall builder perfect? It allowed balls to bounce off the ends while building at some points but not others. It seems unclear how exactly to implement this. | Some | High | Yes |
| Ball movement | Should the balls only visit their current grid square and then jump right to then next square like the original or actually have a smooth look, visiting space in between instead of one big increment. This looks a little better but it might not be as easy to judge where the ball is exactly. | Some | High | Yes |
| Diagonal Wall Builder | This is a crazy idea, but it is possible. Obviously this would add a whole new playing strategy so it should only be an option not a requirement (if I even implement it at all). | No | Low | Tips? |
| 3D Jezzball | This just isn't gonna make into this version! Believe it or not, I actually started coding this in Direct3D but quickly realized how painfully slow it was (at least on my Pentium 120). Maybe someday... | No | Zero | No |
| Real time display | The old one showed some meaningless number, but mine will display the real time | Yes | Done | No |
| Speed change | The original let you change from slow to fast mode which doubled the point total but this allows a "cheat" where you can change from slow to fast, get some points, and change to slow again. I have decided for now not to use this feature | Yes | High | Tips? |
| Hot/Cold balls | In the original version, the balls were double sided with a hot (white) and cold (red) side. When filling in really tight areas you had to make sure that the ball faced the red side when it collided with the wall builder. That seems really annoying since its so hard to judge. Does anyone agree that I shouldn't implement this feature? | No | High | Yes |
| Atom Splitting (A new twist to the game) | I give credit to George Thomas for this idea: When the ball collides with a wall builder while building, it splits (nuclear fission) into two balls. Each goes a different direction. This adds a whole new way of playing and could possibly be a different game mode than the "classic" mode. | No | Medium | Tips? |
| Bonus Block | Basically there is a block that is placed on the board at random positions and times that will disappear after a few seconds. The player will then try to use it to build a wall and it will be a race against the clock before its too late. | No | Medium | Tips? |
| Bonus Levels | David H. Trahan recommends a bonus level after beating every ten or so levels. There are all sorts of interesting ideas for this. One might be a level where the walls keep closing in and the balls keep moving faster. Another might be one where the player has to build the walls real fast as more balls are constantly being added. | No | Medium | Tips? |
| 2 (or more) Players | Many have requested a multiplayer game. I'm not sure how this would work. I guess it could use two input devices or maybe work over a network. Each player would either alternate turns or maybe actually play at the same time (Players race each other to get the most points and fill the most area). Maybe it could merge high score lists with other players or with the "official" high scores of players around the world. Another suggestion I have received is split screen support. I don't know if this will be the best solution..it would be hard to fit on the screen and the only way two people can play at the same time is if there are two input devices (or over a network). | No | Low | Tips? |
| Bonus Squares | These will appear randomly throughout the board at random time intervals and will have a little picture covering the square to indicate what it is. They can be activated by being trapped by the wall builder. Here's some ideas for what they may do: free life, extra points, jump level, add time, extra or removed ball, crazy moving ball and explosions and varying ball sizes and level score multipliers (ideas from Forrest Briggs), change ball speed, and change wall builder speed. I'm sure there's tons of possibilities (it's similar to the dropping bricks in the old Breakout game). | No | Medium | Tips? |
| Special Features | I have gotten numerous requests for special features. Here's a list of some of them (they probably won't all be implemented): Lightning bolts, animated background, point bonuses for ball isolation and other things, changing backgrounds for each level, and different percentages to clear (instead of 75%). | No | Medium | Tips? |
Please type your comments here (I will receive them by E-Mail):
David Rich's Jezzball Page - Don't miss this site. It is THE site for jezzball fans and contains high scores, tips, and much more
Microsoft - They sell Jezzball as part of thier Entertainment Pack (It's not sold separately)
Here is the source code. I used Visual C++ 6 and DirectX 6.1.
This page was created on March 26, 1999 by Scott Newman