Gilligan's Mine
A downloadable game
Gilligan's Mine is a new remake of Gilligan's Gold / Bagman for the ZX Spectrum (128k machines only).
The aim of the game is to navigate the mine, using minecarts, ladders and lifts, collect all the gold bags and bring them to your wheelbarrow before the time runs out.
Bandits chase you relentlessly around the mine, but you can evade them by riding a minecart, or knock them out by dropping gold bags on their heads. There are also axes scattered around to disable the bandits. Be careful to save an axe to enter the sealed cavern.
My hope with this remake is to take what that was great about the originals (the novel concepts, use of strategy and variety of game mechanics) and fix some of the glaring flaws (the primitive graphics, finicky controls and insane difficulty level). Gilligan's Mine also adds two new levels with different graphical themes..
Full Release - 31 December 2024
I'm very pleased to announce the full 1.0 release of Gilligan's Mine. This release contains the following improvements over the beta:
- Lots of wonderful new music throughout the game, with big thanks to the talented Lee Bee. As well as title screen, game over screens and so on, Lee has produced individual tunes for each level.
- A new 'spooky' Level 2, bringing the level count up to 4.
- A selectable 'easy' mode with only 2 bandits and a little extra time.
v1.0.1 - 6 January 2025
A couple of minor updates based on feedback. Thanks for your support, particularly those who gave money for the game, but also more generally. Much appreciated!
- Tweaks to "Easy" mode to make it... easier. Bandits move slower and carrying a bag doesn't slow you down.
- A couple more pixels leeway to jump onto a mine-cart from a hook.
Controls:
The game can be controlled with keyboard or joystick.
- Q: Up
- A: Down
- O: Left
- P: Right
- SPACE: Pick up / drop / use wheelbarrow / ride minecart
Other keys:
- G: Pause
- S: Toggle Music
- M: Select Easy/Normal game mode (title screen only)
A Few Tips:
- Think strategically: get bandits to follow you and lure them into positions where you can knock them out.
- Disable 2 or 3 bandits at a time to gain some breathing space.
- Gold bags and axes will slide down slopes and knock bandits over.
- It's helpful to carry an axe when heading into dangerous spots (waiting for a lift is particularly dicey)
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
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Great game!
One very small nitpick: entering and leaving ladders requires perhaps a bit too much precision when compared to the arcade "Bagman", which I think has only one pixel of tolerance (but suffices).
I've got a full walkthrough of the game here, in apparent easy mode, but I may possibly have used one or three saves
Great "Bagman" game to Spectrum, thank you. I included it in my new "Gameplay of New ZX Spectrum games from December 2024" video along with the other recently released ZX Spectrum games.
Thanks for the support - looking forward to watching the video!
Muchas gracias por tu apoyo y tomarte el tiempo para explicar tus puntos. Lo siento por mi Español (pero estoy aprendiendo). He respondido en Ingles abajo.
ss
I've been testing this fantastic game, I've played it a lot in arcade and I've seen a couple of details that could improve the gameplay.
One when entering the tunnel is too pixel-perfect, in the machine if you do it a bit earlier, the miner keeps going up or down when you press the horizontal key until he can enter the tunnel.
The other one, using the wheelbarrow as a defence on the stairs.
I haven't been able to play much, but that's what I've noticed when playing, those details and that you've done a great job.
Greetings
Thanks for the feedback! I loosely based the movement on/off ladders from Chuckie Egg as a game that I love.
Being able to block the bandits with the wheelbarrow is a good point. I'll see if I can implement it in a future update. There's so much hidden depth to Bagman isn't there? I love the level of strategy involved. It's what drew me to remaking the game.
Very cool game, thank you.
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Nice game!
Thanks again Saberman!
I played Bagman for video on the Amiga in October 2023 and this feels very much the same, even though it's not even finished yet. Excellent work. I also included it in my new "Gameplay of New ZX Spectrum Games from August 2024" video along with all the other recently released ZX Spectrum games.
Isn't the new beta 4 sometimes broken? After starting the game, our hero dies immediately.
Yes, apologies... The file has been replaced with beta1.04.1 which fixes the issue.
No new features in these releases just bug-fixes. All known/reported bugs are fixed now. Future rounds of releases (marked beta 2, 3, etc) should be a bit more exciting, with some extra polish and new features.
Thanks again,
Chris
Awesome preview !
Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it.
me encanta el juego,gracias
Muchas gracias por tu apoyo!
Many thanks for this, here is my tribute to your work...
...if you do enjoy the video please consider a subscribe to help my YT channel grow.Brilliant, I'll look forward to watching this! Thanks for your support.
Great game, very well played!
Thanks again for the support Sabreman!
Great job and great remake. I can't wait to try out the final version. Congratulations!
I'm glad you're enjoying the game. Thanks!
Really like this. Gilligan's Gold was my favourite game from the Softaid compilation, and it had a not-bad beeper tune too. Its nice to see it updated, with extra levels as well. Top stuff.
That's great to hear. Thanks!
Very nice game!
Thanks for your great work as always Sabreman!
Beta 1.02 is out now, with more lives and a fix for control selection being reset.