A look back on the creation

The origins of the project

Back in 2004, I had this idea: what if Manic Miner, the iconic 8-bit platformer, was reimagined in 3D? It wasn’t exactly a new thought—plenty of classics had made the jump to three dimensions by then—but something about the frantic, tight gameplay of Miner Willy seemed like a perfect fit for a modern spin.

Of course, this was a time when most game engines were built with first-person shooters in mind. Unity wasn’t even on the horizon yet, so the tools I needed didn’t really exist. Instead, I decided to use my own game engine, Nudge. It was something I’d been working on for a while—a lightweight, drag-and-drop engine with built-in editing tools that let me create levels without needing to dig into code for every tiny change.

The first version of 3D Manic Miner wasn’t much—just a single level I'd spent a few hours on to test the waters. It was rough around the edges, but it worked. I actually spent more time getting the controls to feel right and the transition to 3D to feel like the classic. Jumping had to be spot-on, and I wanted to keep the same sense of challenge the original game had, even if you were now navigating Willy through a 3D environment instead of a 2D one.

Revisiting the idea 15 years later

Fast forward to 2020, and I'd long forgotten/abandoned the idea. I was wanting to refresh myself on Unreal Engine (I think a new version had just released) and had been digging through old projects to see what I could tinker with. I found the old Manic Miner 3D demo and decided to start over and give it another go - it's always fun to learn new apps and techniques, and figure out new ways to use existing tools such as Unreal Engine. 

And so, Perilous Prospector was born - a fully-realised 3D re-imagining of the classic platform game, featuring reworks of some of the original levels, new spins on the enemies and a blippy, orchestral soundtrack.

Mostly original art by myself in this game (music, character models/textures, animations, most level models/props/etc.), accompanied by some amazing textures from the Substance Source library and a few great assets from the Unreal Store that do justice to stuff like Foliage far more than I could.

From spaceman to everyman

When I first imagined Miner Willy in 3D, I pictured him as a sci-fi adventurer—a kind of spacefaring spelunker with a high-tech helmet and jetpack. The idea was that each infamous cavern would be on some distant alien planet, with otherworldly hazards adding a futuristic twist to the classic platforming action.It made sense at the time. After all, the transition to 3D was a chance to reimagine the character and world, and space offered endless creative possibilities. Willy’s sci-fi look fit well with the initial concepts: shiny metallic caverns, glowing alien flora, and hazards that felt more Star Wars than coal mine. I was excited about the idea, and the first iteration of the game leaned heavily into that aesthetic.

Showing the early demo to friends and fellow developers, one of the main comments over and over was that “It doesn't feel like Miner Willy.” As much as people appreciated the creativity, the connection to the original was getting lost. Miner Willy was maybe... well, too sci-fi cool.

So, slowly but surely, Willy began to change. The helmet was stripped away, and his outfit became simpler. Instead of a shiny spacesuit, he donned a more practical, old-school miner’s getup: dungarees, a hard hat. His glowing green backpack remained (purely to make him easier to see in the dark caverns) but he was a more grounded Willy, closer to the spirit of the original.

Staying True to the Original levels

One of the biggest challenges in transitioning Manic Miner to 3D was tackling the level design. The original game’s levels were iconic—tight, tricky, and meticulously crafted for pixel-perfect jumps and fiendish puzzles. Preserving that same feel while giving everything a modern 3D twist became the heart of the project.

The first goal was clear: the levels had to remain instantly recognizable to fans of the original. The vertical and horizontal layouts—hallmarks of the original game—needed to carry over seamlessly, despite now being part of a 3D space. This meant carefully studying the original game and reimagining each level’s layout in three dimensions. An early decision I made to help with this was to have the levels wrap around the walls of each cave, providing an almost 2D layout in a three dimensional space.

I also decided early on to keep some of the original mechanics such as jumping through platforms above, or not being able to adjust velocity when jumping. These felt key to the puzzle aspect and becoming skilled at dodging a spiked-plant above, or perfectly crossing a crumbling-platform with some well-timed jumps felt central to the original gameplay.

While preserving the layouts was key, the shift to 3D opened up opportunities to expand on the game’s visual style. Each level now became a fully realized environment, with its own theme and atmosphere. For example:

• The Central Cavern became a dimly lit mine, with glowing crystals dotted between wooden beams and platforms,
• The Cold Room became an icy cavern with dense clouds of fog wafting along the floor, deteriorating rope bridges and features,
• The Menagerie introduced a luscious forest, thick grass, mushrooms and flowers and a cool-lit water feature.

Each theme kept the spirit of the original but embraced the visual possibilities that 3D allowed. This “lick of paint” didn’t just aim to make the levels look better—I wanted to add an extra layer of immersion, making each cavern feel like a unique world for players to explore.

Critters Reimagined

One of the most memorable aspects of Manic Miner has always been its bizarre roster of enemies and obstacles. From hopping toilets to giant mutant penguins, the game’s original critters had a surreal charm that stuck with fans for decades. Reimagining these creatures for a 3D world was an opportunity to go wild—staying true to their weirdness while giving them a little extra personality and detail.

While I'd stayed relatively grounded with the environments, I wanted to give each new monster a strange twist or feature. Ultimately, the goal was to keep that homage to the recognisable classics alive, but each creature should be just weird enough to make you laugh or tilt your head.

For me, this part of the process was the most fun. I could experiment, exaggerate, and throw as much personality into these designs as possible. Seeing them come to life in the game—ready to trip up the player at just the wrong moment—made every bit of effort worthwhile.

A Musical Blend of Old and New

No Manic Miner experience would be complete without its music. The original game’s score is iconic - the ZX spectrum doing it's best to recreate the classical pieces by Strauss and Grieg. For the 3D reimagining, I knew the music had to strike a perfect balance: faithful to the original while taking advantage of modern sound design to bring it to life.

Tracks like In the Hall of the Mountain King and Blue Danube were integral to the game’s identity. For this version, I recreated those pieces with rich, realistic instrumentation, giving them the weight and texture of a full orchestra. But the goal wasn’t to make them overly polished. The spirit of Manic Miner called for a touch of shoddy-playfulness, so the arrangements leaned into the synth blips and bloops of old. This hybrid approach let the music feel both nostalgic and modern, grounding the game in its ZX Spectrum heritage while pushing it into new territory.

Spit and polish

After countless hours of building and experimenting, the last stage was to pull everything together into a polished, playable demo. This was the part where the project truly began to feel real—a cohesive experience rather than just scattered bits of code, art, and design. It was all about taking the raw elements of the project and wrapping them in something that felt complete, exciting, and distinctly similar to the original, while feeling modern, new and fresh. 

The original game had such a simple, iconic title screen, but with the move to 3D, I wanted to give it a modern twist. The result was a fully 3D version of his iconic home with all the recognisable features - the sea, his house, his car and the elevator shaft.

As with the other aspects of the game, this was done via a mix of assets created by myself in Substance painter/designer, as well as some amazing assets from the Unreal store.

For the front end menu, I kept it simple with clean and intuitive options. From here, players could start the game, tweak settings, or check out extras. It wasn’t ground-breaking, but it tied the experience together and let the players tweak and change settings to fit their hardware or preferences.

The Central Elevator Shaft: A Seamless World

One of the bigger changes I introduced was the concept of the central elevator shaft to link all the levels together. Instead of collecting all the keys and dashing for a door in the corners of the level, Willy would now travel between levels using an elevator that cut through the core of the cavern system.

Each floor would start with the elevator shaft breaking down, and he'd have to navigate the level, collect the collectables and then fix and unlock access to the next cavern above.

This not only added a sense of continuity to the world but also served a practical purpose: hiding loading times. While the elevator ascended or descended, the next level quietly loaded in the background. I even added little touches like flickering lights and creaks to make the elevator rides feel immersive.

Bonuses and Challenges

Collectibles were another fun addition. Each level featured bonus items hidden in tricky-to-reach spots, encouraging players to master the platforming mechanics. These weren’t just for show—collecting all the bonuses in a level unlocked extra content, including new skins for Willy, new hidden music or interesting gameplay changes.

To keep things competitive, I also introduced a time trial mode. Once you beat a level, you could replay it from the main menu to try for the fastest possible time, with your best results tracked on a leaderboard. This added a layer of replayability for those who wanted to truly master each stage. It also let me lean into the precision-platforming roots of Manic Miner, rewarding players who took the time to perfect their jumps and timings. There's even a ghost-Willy akin to to those found in classic time-trial games (Micro machines, etc.) that allows to you see if your current run is beating your best.

Release

We've somehow reached 2024 now, and I finally decided to wrap up the project in a pretty package and get it out there. I feel like I've created something that feels polished and professional - it was a lot of fun pulling together all my skills and knowledge to create. I hope you enjoy playing the demo as much as I did creating it. Let me know in the comments what you think of it - what you like (and what you don't), what levels you wish were in there and what monsters you'd be keen to see my take on.