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This is the Jetpack page, about one of my favorite games... Jetpack.
-Overview-
-Controls-
-Strategy-
-JSwitch and the Graphics Modules-
-Level Editor Controls-
-Level Editor Tips-
-Downloads-
-Links-
-Overview-
Jetpack was written by Adam Pedersen in 1993 and released as Shareware by a company called Software Creations. That company went belly-up, and Jetpack was released a second time by some other company called Impulse, which also went belly-up. Somewhere admist all of this, Adam got the rights to the game and released it as freeware in 1998. The graphics are tiny but good enough, and the sound is almost nonexistant except for a few sound effects that get annoying when the volume is turned up, and each level takes place on just one non-scrolling screen, so in these respects it resembles one of the arcade games from the early 80's. What Jetpack really is though is one of the greatest strategy games of all time, and somehow has been almost completely overlooked, making do with a strong, devoted cult following. The basic gist of the gameplay is this: You are an adventurer with a snazzy yellow helmet, masochistic tendencies, and a jetpack, wandering through a huge cave in search of green gems. If you collect all of the gems, then a door opens up to the next level. It sounds simple, but there's a lot of depth to the game that you have to play to grasp. There are many surfaces including ice, slime, and conveyers, eight types of enemies, and a hoard of other objects to accidentaly kill yourself with- doors, giant marble worms, teleporters, and nuclear warheads, to name a few. And there is something else underneath all of this: An extremely powerful and useful level editor. In a mere matter of minutes you can design a level of quality equal to or greater than the 100 levels that come with the game. Once you save the levels, then you can play them, and there are several ways to play the game- you can save the game between levels, play custom or normal levels, and choose your starting level, play the levels in any order you want, or play the levels in a random order. This game is the very definition of replay value.
-Controls-
Movement- Arrow Keys
Jumping (If you have no fuel)- Alt
Jetpack (If you have fuel)- Alt
Phaser- Ctrl
Abort life- Esc
Abort game- Q
Flip switches, aim Phaser, use teleporters, etc.- Down Arrow Key
When flying around, hold the down arrow to maintain your altitude. This is unspeakably important on some levels.
When sliding around on ice or conveyor belts, you can hold in place by holding down the alt key. You can also walk normally, as long as you keep holding down alt.
When you're wandering around through a maze of walk-through blocks (a.k.a. mirage blocks) and can't find where you are, use your phaser. Usually but not always the phaser blast will show through the block, so you can see where you are.
When you get to a really hard level, save before you start by pressing Alt-S. If you quit, then you can start at the level you left off at by cycling through your options with F4.
You can phase through red and brown bricks, boxes, and purple blocks. You can also phase through ice, slime, and conveyor belts. In fact, you can phase through anything except for gray stone, yellow/golden blocks, and metal blocks (Those ones with the blue jewel in the middle).
The phaser has no effect on enemies- avoid them.
When you touch a spinner (that grey circle), you can walk through enemies without dying.
You can jump about one-and-a-half blocks vertically (from a standstill) and three blocks horizontally (while running).
You can aim the phaser in all four directions.
Boxes and purple blocks (a.k.a. Steel for some reason or other) take the least time to phase, red bricks take a little longer, and brown bricks take a lot longer. All bricks/blocks will regenerate after you phase them except for the boxes.
-JSwitch and the Graphics Modules-
Included with Jetpack is a small program by the name of JSwitch. It lets you switch between various sets of graphics for Jetpack. Included with JSwitch are three modules:
-Module A: Jetpack
This is the one the game uses by default.
-Module B: Christmas Jetpack
Anyone remember the Christmas edition of Jetpack that came out awhile back? This module is essentially an enhanced version of that- different backgrounds, and a nice twist- instead of taking gems from the levels, you're placing presents under trees. (In the original Christmas Jetpack, you took presents like you would gems, and I'm guessing the presents you're passing out now are the same ones you took earlier. Methinks Santa felt guilty about being a thief and wanted to make amends. But I digress.)
-Module C: Jetpack Junior
Okaaaaaay, this one is a little weird. You play as a much younger version of the Jetpack guy from Module A. This is definitely the strangest module of the three- the death animations are certainly the most morbid. Psychedelic, man.
-Level Editor Controls-
-Keys-
(After pressing Tab)
Arrow keys- Select different levels
Enter- View the selected level
L- Load the selected level to change or test it
S- Save the level you were working on before pressing Tab
Esc- Back to the Level Editor
(Within the editor)
Tab- Access levels
Enter- Access tiles
Arrow Keys- Move around on screen or in tile menu
Space Bar- Place the selected tile
Backspace- Delete selected tile
F1- Help Screen
F2- Test level
Q- Quit without saving
C- Delete everything. DELETE IT ALL!!
S- Determine starting position
D- Place Exit Door
To copy a level: Press Tab, load the level you wish to copy. Press Tab again, select save, then save the game under a different name. You now have two levels that are exactly the same except for the file name.
You can only have one Jetpack guy on each level and one door, and you must have one of each.
If you don't put any gems in the level, then the door opens immediately when you enter the level.
You need to have at least two of a teleporter, their being the same color, for them to have the intended effect. If you only have one teleporter of a certain color, you dematerialize then rematerialize in the same spot when using it; useful for dodging enemies, but otherwise pointless. If you have more than two of the same color, then the destination point is random. If you need to use teleporters to get to a certain place, don't put too many of the same color- 20 yellow teleporters would be ridiculous and rather unfun to deal with, for example.
To play with the other people's minds, 1) lay down an exit door, and 2) lay down tiles behind it. This makes it possible so that you can only get to the exit by phasing it, or by flipping a switch to remove the hidden colored doors behind it. You can put any tile behind the door, just make sure to place the door before you lay down the other tiles and not the other way around- when you place an exit door it deletes any tile that it overlaps.
As I think I mentioned earlier, the absolute largest gap between two platforms that the Jetpack guy can jump is about three tiles to the right and one tile up, with a running start. This gap can be cleared fairly consistantly with practice, but is extremely annoying and I recommend against including such large gaps to jump over in your levels. The only use I'd recommend these gaps for is for placing a 1-up or some treasure in a hard to reach spot.
Here you can download levels and graphics modules that I've designed for Jetpack. All levels have been tested and are solvable, and at least a little fun.
-Jetpack Graphics Modules-
--- My Modules
--- Making Your Own Modules
-Jetpack Level Sets-
--- Zandor's Temple
--- Zandor's Winter
--- Zandor's Legacy
--- Zandor's Return
--- Zandor Mania
--- Zandor Names Everything After Himself
--- Zandor's Joke
--- Zandor Marathon
--- Nevada Jones and the Questionable Bureaucracy
-Jetpack Misc.-
--- The Christmas .lbm
Note: When you download/unzip levels, put them in the /jetpack/levels directory of the game. Anything else you download should go in the /jetpack directory, or whatever has jetpack.exe in it.
If you don't want to read my prattling, then download every level that I have ever made. There are 248 in all, totaling about 94k. Interesting how little space these levels take up.
Thanks to large amounts of help/advice/all-right-I'll-tell-you-if-you'll-stop-asking-me from Adam Pedersen, I've been able to build my own Graphic Modules for Jetpack. To use one, unzip the files into the main /Jetpack directory (not the /Jetpack/Levels directory) - the module needs to be in the same folder as JSwitch to work right. Once you've downloaded and unzipped, go into JSwitch and type the corresponding module you want.
Here's a 114 K .zip file containing all the modules I've made. Descriptions follow:
-Module D: Zandor Jetpack-
My first module, and a big learning experience for me. I'd like to thank Adam Pedersen again- without his help, this never would have happened. The main difference is that you play as me, Zandor 12, instead of the regular Jetpack guy. Instead of gems, you collect watermelons. Some of the background tiles were changed and so were three enemies- the Rockets and Spinners became much more colorful, and the Bat has been replaced by a nearly invisible Dark Mist. Dark Mist works better in action-based stages, since you have to watch for its motion to see where it is.
-Module E: Nighttime Jetpack-
Have you ever made custom levels in the editor using that black tile, only to have the impression of night shattered by grey-background tiles like ladders, gems, and transporters? This fixes that by making the game's default background black, and making everything several shades darker.
-Module F: Nighttime Zandor-
Pretty much the same as Module E, but starring me. Curse me and my wretched vanity! Curse it to heck!!
-Module G: Zandor Jetpack v2.0-
I consider this to be my best overall module. The vast majority of the tiles have been changed in some way or other, and all 8 enemies now look different from the originals; for example, the springs and trackbots are now tiny penguins that will gladly kill you if they get the chance. The terrain is mostly brand new, too; all in all, this module flat out looks better than the previous version. Many of my later levels were designed with this module in mind; they'll play just fine in other modules but may look a little goofy.
-Module H: Jetpack Christmas Special Graphics- The original Christmas Special Edition of Jetpack had Santa wandering through the caverns taking presents. The current Christmas module, Module B, has him place presents under trees instead. This module restores that original state- as we all know, mysterious floating christmas presents are easier to comprehend than mysterious floating christmas trees.
Wondering how to make a module? It's not as easy as making a level, but here's how:
Download Rune's Module Kit (663k). I used to have my own module-making kit, but this one's way better. Once you've downloaded the module, just follow the instructions in the Readme file. The main improvements over mine are that there are two handy .bat files- one (by Rune) automatically uses .LBM2DAT, while the other one (by Ian) is very useful- it converts the name.txt file into a module name, so no more programming! Thanks to Rune, Ian, Adam Pedersen, and the makers of Deluxe Paint 2 for making the components of this great utility.
-Custom Jetpack Levels-
First series (24 levels)- Zandor's Temple
This is my first set of levels. It is set in a psuedo-egyptian temple and I tried to put the levels in a semi-logical order. Most of the levels are exploration and puzzle-focused, with few or no enemies. Many levels have no fuel, or a small amount that must be rationed. I made a few different versions of some of my favorites, so there are three Hallway levels, two Storeroom levels, and two Vineyard levels.
Second Series (24 levels)- Zandor's Winter
This set is much harder than Zandor's Temple. There's an awful lot of ice and spikes here! Then I forgot what I was doing and did a seven level setpiece about a UFO. There are more enemies than there were in the first set.
Third Series (24 Levels)- Zandor's Legacy
The third set of levels that I've designed. Unlike the first two, it has no distinct theme- they're just a bunch of levels. Three of the levels are ones that I had designed several months earlier with the shareware version of Jetpack back before I had found the freeware version. One of these is The Funhouse, my first custom level (That I remember making).
Fourth Series (24 levels)- Zandor's Return
This set is called Zandor's Return since there was a two month delay between it and the previous one, which seemed like a huge amount of time back when I was active with Jetpack. Like Legacy, this set has no real connecting theme. The Gem Cobra and Tunnel levels from previous sets have been given sequels, and there are also a few levels where you have to get the enemies to flip the switches for you. Also, two of the levels are from the Zandor's Shameless Copyright Violation set, which I ended up axing because I didn't like it.
Fifth Series (24 levels) -Zandor Mania
In an effort to make this set different from the last two, I added the idea of Master Levels. There are eight of them, one themed around each of Jetpack's eight enemies.
Download all 24 Mania Levels G'wan. Guess.
Sixth Series (24 Levels)- Zandor Names Everything After Himself
It's true, ya know. Two of this set's levels, Watermelon Shadow and Too Many Ladders, were initially so frustrating that I had to tone them down a bit. Yeah, even compared to King of the Hill.
Download all 24 Name Levels 9k of .zip madness!!!
Seventh Series (24 Levels)- Zandor's Joke
I originally built this theme to be a bunch of crud levels which I would release on April Fool's Day, hence the name. In every level, I would put in a switch which, when tripped, would form the word "Hi!" somewhere on the screen. I did end up putting Hi buttons into most of the levels, but eventually gave up on that. Then, ten or so levels in, I played through the levels I had and realized that, well, I had made a bunch of crud levels with Hi buttons in them. Getting fed up with the ultra difficulty of some of my levels, I switched gears to the the set's current theme of easy-ish levels.
Eighth Series (32 Levels)- Zandor Marathon
For awhile, I thought I had stopped playing Jetpack, but as soon as I thought I was free, IT PULLED ME BACK IN. These levels were made in little fits and spurts over a long amount of time, between May and December 2002. The set is 32 levels instead of the usual 24 so that my 200th released level to conclude the set.
Download all 32 Marathon Levels
Ninth Series (48 Levels)- Nevada Jones and the Questionable Bureaucracy
This jumbo-sized level pack was made with some help from my friends Aeris and Surlent. It took seventy million years, but we did it! I probably won't make any more Jetpack levels after this.
Download all 48 Nevada Jones Levels
There's not much here, but I do have this for you:
The Christmas .lbm. This is the .lbm Adam Pedersen used to create the Christmas graphics module, a potential alternative to the regular module as a base for creating your own modules. You'll need the module kit to do much with it, though.
-Links-
Download Jetpack- Don't have Jetpack yet? Well, what are you waiting for? Go to the official home page and download it... now. I COMMAND YOU. There are also links to several fan sites, hundreds upon hundreds of fan-submitted levels and even several graphics modules.
Jetpack HQ- After over a decade of on-and-off development Adam Petersen finally managed to release Jetpack 2. It's not freeware like the original but it's still worth checking out.
Runevision- Although the Jetpack part of this site is relegated to a single page, it is very much worth checking out. Make sure to download the Module Kit, if you haven't already. There's also the Sick Angel module and 10 nifty custom levels.
Retro Heaven- Download yourself some custom levels. You can never have too many of those. This is one of the few Jetpack pages I've seen that isn't linked to at Adept Software's site.
