Topic: Jurassic Park (Sega Megadrive/Genesis)

[Vertigo]

This week I finished mapping all the levels for both campaigns of Jurassic Park for the Sega Megadrive / Genesis. There are two versions for each map - one is basic, just how it looks in the game (albeit with the backgrounds slightly edited to fit the frame). The other is a +hints version, which highlights enemies/items (I was watching a lot of Person Of Interest when I got started ), start/end points, climbable/pushable objects, brightens some of the backgrounds to make the foreground more legible, and occasionally has tips in places where passage requires a technique that's not immediately obvious.

I've attached the basic version of the Raptor's Canyon, and the +hints version of the Grant's Pumping Station. The whole set is up on the JP wiki:
Jungle
Grant (basic) (+hints)
Raptor (basic) (+hints)

Power Station
Grant (basic) (+hints)
Raptor (basic) (+hints)

River
Grant (basic) (+hints)

Pumping Station
Grant (basic) (+hints)
Raptor (basic) (+hints)

Canyon
Grant (basic) (+hints)
Raptor (basic) (+hints)

Volcano
Grant (basic) (+hints)

Visitor's Center
Grant (basic) (+hints)
Raptor (basic) (+hints)

They aren't direct engine rips, I made all of them by just stitching together screenshots; thankfully Jurassic Park has a noclip mode built in. The backgrounds were a bit trickier - this layer scrolls at half the rate of the foreground, so the resultant image is half the size of the foreground layer. The obvious thing to do would be to enlarge it or tile it, but I thought this looked a bit odd. So instead I went through the background images (sometimes pixel by pixel) stretching/moving/copying them in specific places so they'd fill the visible area while still looking more-or-less how they do in the game. Another issue is that JP has a high-priority foreground layer that sometimes occludes the sprites; in most cases I've kept this occlusion in place, but some items in Grant's Visitor's Center are completely blocked by the occlusion, so I didn't bother implementing it in that level.

I'd like to map out JP Rampage Edition too, but it's a *vastly* bigger game. I mapped the penultimate level (Raptor Rapids) last year, and it was about the same size as the entirety of JP1... I think I'm going to need an auto-stitching tool to get it done, so if anyone has any recommendations for guides, or tools that still work in Windows 10, I'd love to take a look.

[VGCartography]

cool, love the big brachiosaur head. the two-version approach is nice also!

[Cyartog959]

Very nice! I love your collection of Jurassic Park game maps! Really helps so many that had trouble on where to go and what to avoid. And with the Jurassic Park Classic Games Collection already up and about, well, what better time to give guidance than having maps for that game, and others?

Really neat, all the same. And thanks for providing the links to the maps on JP Wiki, but you know, Vertigo, they can be simply submitted to VGMaps, too. Just saying. Love to see it in the Atlas.

And I see the game's first level is entirely made in an endless vertical loop, but you've given the necessary guidance to overcome it. No wonder I had so much trouble getting through that stage when I played it before. I ended up losing more lives than winning many times.

[Vertigo]

Thanks, you two!

Really neat, all the same. And thanks for providing the links to the maps on JP Wiki, but you know, Vertigo, they can be simply submitted to VGMaps, too. Just saying. Love to see it in the Atlas.

Yeah, this was my way of submitting the maps. I could email them over if that would be easier, but I noticed that the Bubsy maps had been submitted via links on the forum kind of like this, so thought this way might be okay.

And I see the game's first level is entirely made in an endless vertical loop, but you've given the necessary guidance to overcome it. No wonder I had so much trouble getting through that stage when I played it before. I ended up losing more lives than winning many times.

It is a *weird* way of doing it, especially as the loop is technically a tiling effect, rather than the Sonic style of teleporting from the bottom to the top of the level. I'd guess it's part of why that level lags so much, there's a lot of geometry loaded into memory.

The game is generally super hard. I got started mapping by just doing River and Pumping Station, because those levels are *designed* to make the player die repeatedly - there are drops and jumps that you can only learn to do safely via trial and error. The game could really do with an Ecco-style system in which you have unlimited lives, so can afford to throw them away. I think there's a Game Genie code that can do that, but in my version it makes Grant unable to jump off moving objects.

[John Brain]

I, too, wanted to make maps of this game from my childhood, but that crazy scrolling first level and weird "ghost mode" scared me away.  I'm glad you managed to fight through them and get things done, nice job! 

[Cyartog959]

Yeah, this was my way of submitting the maps. I could email them over if that would be easier, but I noticed that the Bubsy maps had been submitted via links on the forum kind of like this, so thought this way might be okay.

Well, yeah, but I kinda have the foresight to play it safe for that, just in case such outlets could be temporarily out for maintenance. I mean, its fine, but, better safe than sorry, I say. Map submitting to alternate outlets besides VGMaps has never been carved in stone. And, that was from quite before I mentioned to the mapper responsible they can still be submitted to the Atlas.

It is a *weird* way of doing it, especially as the loop is technically a tiling effect, rather than the Sonic style of teleporting from the bottom to the top of the level. I'd guess it's part of why that level lags so much, there's a lot of geometry loaded into memory.

The game is generally super hard. I got started mapping by just doing River and Pumping Station, because those levels are *designed* to make the player die repeatedly - there are drops and jumps that you can only learn to do safely via trial and error. The game could really do with an Ecco-style system in which you have unlimited lives, so can afford to throw them away. I think there's a Game Genie code that can do that, but in my version it makes Grant unable to jump off moving objects.

Yes, and not a pint of time and thought has been spent optimizing the geometry to smooth the lag out.

Too bad that game didn't have chances to gain extra lives by a bonus stage, nor have extra lives hidden in levels. There's only three, no more. Would've made the game a bit more lenient.

*sigh* Well, we all grew up with enduring trial and error in games all the time, its natural.

A rather nice alternative, but, I felt that could've been an unlockable option by clearing the game.

[Vertigo]

I've made the mistake of getting going with Rampage Edition before figuring out a way to automate anything... the game really is vast, here's my progress after 3 days. Still a lot left to do even just in Grant's version of this one map. The whole game is going to take at least a couple of months, at this rate.

[JonLeung]

The Jurassic Park (Genesis) maps are now up!

Kind of a perfect day for it, too...

Yeah, this was my way of submitting the maps. I could email them over if that would be easier, but I noticed that the Bubsy maps had been submitted via links on the forum kind of like this, so thought this way might be okay.

Well... if I had received them in an email, I would have been less likely to miss/forget about it, and then they could have been up sooner.

There's a reason why the "Contribute" button on the front page just takes you directly to writing an email... since email is the preferred way of receiving maps.

In any case, they're up now.  Thanks for your submission, Vertigo!  Hope the credits information (name/email in the last column) is correct.

[Vertigo]

Brilliant, cheers!

I dimly remember that comic, and back then 2025 felt so far away that surely it could never happen. Time had other ideas 

***

I've just finished mapping Rampage Edition's Aviary for both characters, with and without hints. Jon, would it be better for me to submit them now, or wait until I've finished the whole game (which will be a few more weeks)? There's a chance I might edit those maps, but I think they're all done now.

I was surprised to find that Aviary's layout is significantly different between the two campaigns, even though the most memorable landmarks are almost identical. I'd thought that Cargo Ship was the only level with a different layout for each character, but no. It's also a bit different to the WIP version I attached to my last post: that layout is from the July 8th 1994 beta (which I was using because it's the last version of Rampage Edition with a stable noclip mode). The retail build of the game has a handful of different foreground sprites in the canopy and along the edge of the right tree, and a couple of changes to the ledge configuration.

Anyway, now on to the l-o-n-g Savanna. If anyone's curious just how long it is, here's a rough video autostitch from the beta...

[JonLeung]

Jon, would it be better for me to submit them now, or wait until I've finished the whole game (which will be a few more weeks)? There's a chance I might edit those maps, but I think they're all done now.

In terms of my workflow, I prefer to get all the maps of a game at once, it helps with making sure the filenames are consistent (since I'm constantly backing things up quintuply, it's annoying to rename a file later because then all the backups have an extra file with the wrong name), or more generally, just to get in the groove and get the game up, a one-and-done deal, and then it's also easier for me to get a sense that a game is complete (so that it can be considered for a front page thumbnail and/or Maps Of The Month or checking it off any request topics that include it).

Though, I'm certainly not going to reject any maps if you really want to submit them in installments for some reason, like perhaps you're looking for feedback from someone and want them accessible somewhere besides the forums and VGMaps Discord server.  But, you know, be reasonable, if you're mapping a game with a hundred maps, don't be sending them to me one at a time, in a hundred emails over a hundred days. 

If you need to replace any of your own existing maps that have been published, like perhaps you want to correct them or improve them or do something different, I can certainly accept resubmissions.  They won't get a mention on the front page's "News" if it's not a considerable overhaul.  But yeah, I'm fine with that, it's actually a good thing when people take some pride in the maps they made and want to ensure they're the best, most accurate they can be.  Having good content reflects well on not only you but the site as well.

But again, within reason.  Earlier this year, there was a week where two different mappers coincidentally decided at about the same time to change some stuff on maps that they had already submitted AND resubmitted before, and not just once that week, but multiple times.  I uploaded and renamed the maps as they had requested, but I was thinking, like, "really???"  I don't see myself rejecting a requested change, so if I was willing to do it multiple times for them in a short amount of time, if you have to resubmit your maps one, two, or three times, if it's actually reasonable, you can be sure I will let you do that.

[G.E.R.]

It's wonder how you felt about Sonic Advance 3 map set in 2020, when I contributed them first, then contributed them again (after small corrections after check them by Boniarchi on SonicRetro forum) and then contributed them for the third time eight months later (because I found hidden keys after playing the game).

[JonLeung]

It's wonder how you felt about Sonic Advance 3 map set in 2020, when I contributed them first, then contributed them again (after small corrections after check them by Boniarchi on SonicRetro forum) and then contributed them for the third time eight months later (because I found hidden keys after playing the game).

I don't really remember that.  In this case, that's a good thing.

I wouldn't be annoyed by replacements if they aren't memorable in some way - eg. accompanied with longwinded explanations why things need to be replaced (it's actually nice to know why, but I don't need a wall of text), if the filenames match how they're currently up on the site with so it's an easy replacement, if it doesn't involve renaming a bunch of other existing files, if they've already been run through PNGGauntlet multiple times so that I don't have to do that again more than necessary, if they are months apart, etc.

[Vertigo]

Thanks for explaining Jon. Okay, I'll submit the whole lot when I'm done, it's just that it will probably be a while.

I've just finished Savanna for both players. This time it's the exact same layout for both campaigns, and the beta's the same too. Just different object placements (and some of that's the same too, eg. the helicopter, compy and pterosaur positions). Grant's version feels weirdly unfinished even in the retail build, there aren't any health pickups or checkpoints in the second half of the map.