Am I missing something? It seemed to me as if enemy movements were completely random, which in a game with one-hit kills and limited lives is kinda insane. Isn't entire point of any platformer, isometric or not, is ability to predict timing of your enemies and obstacles so you can plan your movement? I haven't much experience with isometric platformers, but both Batman and Head Over Heels remakes had predictable and easily read enemy patterns - it was clear how to avoid them, the difficulty was in the execution (also in traps and puzzles).
The aesthetics are amazing and so is the idea, but I genuinelly cannot grasp enemy patterns.
Thanks for the feedback. It's based on Atic Atac on the ZX Spectrum, which had random movement patterns. Quite a lot of games back then had random movement, especially the Ultimate games. This is a run around exploration game, whereas Batman and HoH are puzzle solving games, so it's important for enemy positions to be predictable. In games like Atic Atac, it isn't, in my humble opinion. Hope it hasn't spoilt it too much for you, but if it's not your thing, that's cool, thanks for trying it out. ;o)
Everything inside of me as a designer yells that that's a terrible idea but I'm trying to be openminded. How do you prevent player from getting stuck in an unwinnable situation if patterns are random? It's a game with one hit kills and limited lives, and it might just downright not be your fault if you die and lose all your progress because all enemies randomly decided to surround you.
It's not what I'd personally call good game design but if your primary goal isn't to make a game that appeals to a modern audience with 'fun' but to simply make a clear homage to these games of old without concern of modern concepts of 'fairness' (which to be fair is a bit nebulous) then sure, more power to you.
I guess there's other revivals of classic isometric platform-adventures I can try, like Abbey of Crime, Naya's Quest, King Boo or Lumo.
It's probably not for me, but a lot of people in this comment section seem to love it, so good on you.
Thanks for the feedback. If you want to discuss it further then please feel free to contact me directly. I'm not one for public debate, it never ends well. :o)
I came here for Klass of 99, but found you made this fantastic game! I’m really bad at it, but the quality of the game is amazing, really polished (I specially love all the different rooms, I find the design really fitting!). And like the previous commenter, I appreciate it being available on Mac, so thanks for that too!
Really looking forward for your next thing, I’m sure it will be amazing.
I've only played for about 15 mins so far, but I'm genuinely impressed by the quality of this game and the way you've managed to capture the character of Atic Atac whilst bringing it into the 21st Century. Delighted that it's available on the mac too (quite a rare treat). Must have been quite the ultimate labour of love; free too.
Well done to everyone involved; I'm quite envious that I'm last to the party, just turning up to play the game.
Thank you. Your talents and generosity are both appreciated.
Thanks, that's really sincere feedback. Mac and Linux versions were a bit of a learning curve, but got there in the end. Sadly the downloads on both are quite low, compared to Windows PC, so for solo devs like me, it's hard to justify the time and hassle. Tricky one. Anyway, enjoy the game! ;o)
This is a beautiful superbly rendered game, everything here shines. It is super tough at first but you get the drill after a while and realize you can´t really take your time admiring the backgrounds and animations for time if of an essence (Do that when a friend is playing ;) ). This is highly recommended, deep root oldschool and will sure remind you what a challenge in-game is suppose to be. Sound effects and music are also awesome and so is the presentation. Can´t wait to see what the team is going to come up next. Beware, if you are the kind of person who plays to always win and prefer a fake-game to massage your brain prior to sleep, it might not be the game for you.
Wow! I was a Speccy user back in the day and got my first start in programming on that machine. I downloaded the demo of this game when it came out and was pleasantly surprised when I revisited it again recently and saw that it had been released. The final version is very impressive and captures the essence of Atic Atac in a modern way with a fantastic art style and retro sound.
I have noticed one thing however that might be an easy fix - the game does not appear to be aware of so-called "ultrawide" desktops e.g. 2560x1080. If I select "full window" or "full screen" the aspect ratio goes out of whack as the horizontal dimension is greater than the game assumes, 2560 as opposed to 1920. I assume there is no 4x scaling option as it was assumed that this would be the same as full-screen (1920x1080) on most machines.
Adding a menu option for 4x scaling, i.e. 1920x1080 would be great, or perhaps a software check to test the available desktop size, and reformat accordingly.
Thanks for the feedback, glad you're enjoying the game. It does try to figure out the highest resolution you're going to want to see as an option. It doesn't include your highest resolution, because that's full screen. The logic assumes standard HD aspect ratio. Have to be honest, I didn't even consider ultra wide. It's a lot of work to "resize" the display for any aspect ratio in a way that avoids changing the ratio so if you select full screen, it simply stretches to fit, which is why you're seeing a stretched display.
Sure, I understand that reformatting the game to a detected desktop resolution is a big job, but that's not what I'm suggesting. It's simply that today's desktops that exceed the 1920x1080 standard and/or are not 16:9 would benefit from a 4x, 5x, resolution scaling option. In fact, 8x would get you all the way to 4K as a soft-of future proofing, assuming your CPU/GPU was powerful enough. That's the part I though would be easy to implement as you already have the scaler done.
I'm not complaining though, it's still playable in a 3x window on ultrawide.
Yeh that's cool, I understand what you mean and the game does already support those higher resolutions, but only if it thinks your desktop resolution is high enough. When determining what zoom levels to offer, I look at the logical height of the game window, which is 270 pixels, then see how many times I can zoom that before it equals or goes over the height of the desktop, that's why you get offered up to x3. On a 1080 pixel high desktop, x4 is the same a full screen and x5 would be too big, so those options aren't offered. I think the maximum you'll see, if you desktop resolution is high enough, is x7, so that would be 3360 x 1890. There's always the option to manually resize the window if the option you want isn't available, and it will remember the window size. I do wonder if I tried to make it too clever! It was fun to code, but a pain in the back side at the same time :o)
Support for none XBox compatible gamepads worked in the demo version by using a 3rd party component, it's not natively supported by Monogame. That component had extra dependencies which was proving troublesome for some installations of Windows, so I chose to remove support for gamepads not supported by Monogame.
Amazing that you support all the desktop platforms. Unfortunately, I'm stuck on a iMac 2011 with 10.12.x (no longer upgradable, since the 10.13 requires more GPU HW).
Is there a chance to target 10.12 as minimum, not 10.13?
I will of course in the meantime enjoy this on my Manjaro Linux, as a fall-back.
Thank you for your dedication and passion to produce this pearl of beauty, looking very much forward to see this on the 'Next,
Thanks, it's been a bit of a learning curve, and I'm not quite there yet with some Mac hardware, but I'll keep plugging away.
I'm at the very edge of my Mac knowledge, it's all quite new to me. I can send you a test build that targets 10.12. Can you email me? You'll find my email address at BitGlint Games
Great game - really enjoyed! Well done all! Glad read the comments as was going to mention the crashes and palette lost - but seems the latest update will fix this - so great :)
That is a shame - but i'm sure you'll sort that. Only real grumble though :) I did have a few crashes on the original release - but have updated now. Enjoy the game otherwise, and very nice work. I'm sure all the ADLZ people should enjoy it too!
Hi. Had some issues getting the game to run in Linux, Ubuntu 21.10 but found a workaround. Crashed on startup with this in the log file:
2022-02-02 22:46:52
Input string was not in a correct format.
System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.
at System.Number.ThrowOverflowOrFormatException(ParsingStatus status, TypeCode type)
at System.Number.ParseInt32(ReadOnlySpan`1 value, NumberStyles styles, NumberFormatInfo info)
at Melkhior.Iso.Point3..ctor(String values) in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Iso\IsoEngine.cs:line 535
at Melkhior.Objects.MapEntity..ctor(XmlNode definition, String defaultID) in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Objects\MapEntity.cs:line 197
at Melkhior.Objects.MapTemplate..ctor(XmlNode definition) in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Objects\MapTemplate.cs:line 84
at Melkhior.Objects.Map.InitTemplateCollection() in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Objects\Map.cs:line 70
at Melkhior.Helper.MapManager.Reset(Boolean editMode) in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Helper\MapManager.cs:line 213
at Melkhior.Modules.Load.Update(GameTime gameTime) in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Modules\Load.cs:line 163
at Melkhior.Main.Update(GameTime gameTime) in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Main.cs:line 194
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.DoUpdate(GameTime gameTime)
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Tick()
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.SdlGamePlatform.RunLoop()
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Run(GameRunBehavior runBehavior)
at Melkhior.Program.Main() in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Program.cs:line 30
The issue seems to be related to locales/languages and using commas or dots as decimal separators. I'm on LANG=sv_SE.UTF-8 which uses , as a decimal separator, i'm guessing the game assumes . as a separator.
I solved the issue by running the game with a different locale that uses . as separator: LANG=C ./Melkhior
After starting the game with the correct locale i got this in the log, i'm guessing the game wrote some commas in the config file while on the "wrong" locale: "Configuration file could not be read correctly. Default settings have been restored. Please click OK then try launching Melkhior's Mansion again."
Maybe you need to set a locale for XNA / FNA / Monogame to use as default to have it always getting the correct decimal?
Hope this was somewhat helpful, seems like a really cool game!
Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like you've hit the nail on the head with the cause of the issue. Appreciate you taking the time to look into it and suggest a workaround. I'll get that fixed up in the code. ;o)
Finally finished all four missions ('Lermontov' in high score table). The difficulty was perfectly pitched, I thought. Now, I can sit back and enjoy the game without the stress of completing it. First task, work out what some of these objects - soap, wand. eye, et al. - do.
Excellent, well done. Interesting to hear your thoughts on the difficulty level, that's really hard to get right. Of course, for some people it'll still be too easy, or too hard. You can't please 'em all! The soap and wand do "similar" things. The eye is most useful for Lester.
On hearing the sounds and seeing the gorgeous "retro" graphics for the first time I could easily have shed a tear or two - tears of the joy, happiness and great memories from the early '80s playing this game brought back to me.
Already being worked on, but my total lack of Mac knowledge if hampering the situation. That said, I have an expert on hand to help. Keep watching this space. :o)
After playing a lot of hours and beating the game with two of the characters (Knight and Moustache man), I can write a recommendation.
This game is gold. Seriously. It combines amazingly the best of the 80s and nowadays.
The graphics are inspired in the ZX Spectrum, but the colours are used without any restrictions and the results are beautiful.
The gameplay is frenetic, short and intense matches that makes you try again immediately after every defeat. And with every run you know a bit better the castle and therefore you are closer to the victory.
The difficulty is kind of old school, but don't let this put you off, if I can finish the game, you can too. You just need to keep trying.
I can't mention anything negative. Well, yes, one thing: the game is for free and they don't take donations. That really annoys me!
Thanks for the feedback. Your experience of the game is exactly what we were hoping to hear. It's a bit hard, a bit old school, a bit 80s, but not so difficult once you get used to it. Yep, that's exactly it! :o)
Hi, I keep playing Melkhior's Mansion and the more I play the more I fall in love with it.... A request, nothing important, just a small detail, would it be possible to make a cross appear where the character dies that stays until the end of the game, just like in the original Atic Atac?
Thanks again for creating this wonderful little gem.
Glad to hear you're enjoying the game. There used to be a cross, but it had to go because, unlike the Atic Atac cross, it had to be a solid object, other wise the isometric viewpoint screws up. Problem with it being solid though is that it can block door if you die in front of one. It turned out to be a pain in the bum, so it went. Here's an old tweet about it...
Love the game. A wonderful effort on all concerned. The 'difficulty' question in an earlier strand could only have come from a contemporary games player. Anyone brought up playing the Spectrum, where the games started at 'hard' and got more difficult from there, wouldn't have a problem with it. Anyway I wanted to jot down some tips regarding the objects in the game. So something of a SPOILER ALERT is needed. I have not worked what all the objects do, so please others contribute:
1. Lightning rod - makes you quicker for a timed period
2. Princess's'ring - allows you to crash through mirrors
3. Skeleton key (wonderful idea) which allows you to open 10 doors without the coloured key for that door. Use wisely
4. Money bag (and a few others) can be dropped to bribe the hunchback and move him away from the blue door behind him
5. Palette icon - unlocks one of the different game palettes which can be accessed from main menu
6. Hourglass - not exactly sure, but I think it stops your energy depleting for a set time
7. Leaf - allows you to get the red key in the room with the spirit. Drop leaf near the creature and he moves away from guarding the leaf so you can nab the red key.
Objects which I think have a function (beyond bribing the hunchback) but I have not worked out: evil eye, Melkhior's spare wand, glowing coin. large diamond.
General tips:
- Find the green key and unlock the green door on the floor you start, which leads the way to a specific trap door which drops onto the ground floor (a large room with six locked golden doors). You can only access this by dropping in (unless you have the skeleton key) and you acquire the gold key here. This opens the game up.
- Don't drop into the caverns unless you have the blue (or skeleton key) to get back out
- For the second mission, you need the gold key to unlock the pentagram room. The symbols are in chests and most are on the lower floors.
- Eat all food in rooms, because it almost always regenerates.
- Memories the floors
There was an urban myth which floated around (and I believed) linked to the original Atic Atac that some of the extra objects can be joined together to create a creature. I wonder if something like this has been sneaked into MM. Also, some of the more elaborate rooms - such as the giant library - may have another function, but I haven't found one. I know in Richard's original Atic Atac remake he added some rooms to the attic (a kind of long set of passages), so I wonder if there might be a secret room or two in this game.
I have managed to solve three of the four missions. The final one is really hard due to having to access rooms which are behind several colours of different doors. I have found Melchior's room (above the attic) but cannot find the labyrinth room where I am supposed to fill the first phial. I presume it is one of the rooms in the labyrinth section on the first floor, but has anyone found it?
Finally, huge thanks again to Richard - who has been a champion of Spectrum games since the early days of the internet - and his team. This is the best remake/reimagining of a Spectrum game yet created. If only he would turn his attention to delivering a decent remake of Sabre Wulf, but that's another story....
Wow thanks for all that info. I'm not posting spoilers myself, just the odd hint, but it's great to see what other folks are finding out. Just a few things to comment on:
Hourglass? Nope, it does something else.
The death eye is really useful if you're playing as Lester, but it works for all characters.
There's no mythical creature to create in this game, sorry!
Sabre Wulf? Nah, not for me, one of my least favourite Ultimate games.
Thanks, Alber. Worked it out. It slows the enemies. Hourglass...time....I should have seen it...duh! Another item I forgot to mention was the cross which stopped Dracula appearing in the original, so I suspect probably stops Death appearing.
Exactly. And not only that, but if you pick up the cross while Grim Reaper is chasing you,... he vanishes! I have just discovered how the eye of death works. It's very cool! And it makes sense too. But no more spoilers for today hahaha.
You seem to have advanced in the game more than I have, Alber - and I'm pretty good at it! You tease me with the eye of death. Richard stated it worked the best for Lester, so it has to have something to do with the 5 main evil creatures (a la Nightshade). I thought it might be a way of destroying them without their specific weapon. However, I tried that and it doesn't seem to work. My main problem at the moment is navigating the labyrinth to get to the main room there with the sludge creatures. I found it once, but then haven't been able to since. Another object which is puzzling but I feel has a purpose is the soap. What a great game.
So. I played several times. And I think the game is ruined for general public. Maybe hardcore players can enjoy this.
Here is what I think. Just like lots of games in the past the game is made with a player in mind who already knows the game really well. Not for a first time player who have no idea where to go and what to do and why and how.
For a general player here are some things that blocking good game experience:
1. Respawning enemies. I don't know what would be best to do with that. It also ruins fun of exploring the maze.
2. Timer.(health going down) it's just one of the worst things in games from the past.
3. no map access. Why not give a map like all the best games out there do?
4. opening closing doors. I understand it goes from the urge to increase difficulty, because when developer plays his own game he doesn't feel it the way when first time player playing. So he thinks, oh it's too easy and adding something to add difficulty that he could feel.
5. items unresponsive to take. I had problems to pick up items.
6. Also the items gotta be visible on the map. As we have to drop some of them.
7. Maybe save points. Not sure tho.
I am not some unskilled player, by the way. I played and beaten many NES games. Their difficulty is way above average of todays games. Spectrum? Not so much. I did not had one at home.
If you want to bring in all those frustrating things - just add a hard difficulty and throw all that challenging stuff in there. Why not give general public to enjoy the game on a normal mode?
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. It's clear that you don't like the game, and that's absolutely fine, we all have different tastes. The feedback we've had since releasing it has been overwhelmingly positive, so I think that "the game is ruined for the general public" is a bit on the strong side. However, that's your opinion, you're entitled to it and I'm happy you've shared it with us.
I took the time to check out your game on Itch and I have to say it looks superb. All the best with future projects. :o)
Oh, you said, "the game is ruined". That kind of led me to believe you didn't like it. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, that's just how I interpreted it. :o)
"ruined for general public". It means the game is too hard for general public. And stuff like accessible map at any time is more player friendly and also most common these days.
There are map consoles on each floor. Essentially though, I wanted to keep the essence of the original game. I think I've achieved that, although I appreciate that doing so will put people off. It's a free game anyway, so you don't lose anything for trying it! :o)
It was just a small game I made at home when my friend gave me speccy. It was not released anywhere. And it was just a several levels with squares. Later I made also newer versions on ZX emulator, Pascal, QBasic, and only in 2004 first time it was something I posted to the web. In 2005 English version which called Orbox.
I disagree, and I will try to explain it in a reasoned way.
1- The game is inspired by Atic Atac, respecting its essence and mechanics deeply. It's like reliving that game 40 years later, in 3D style, with beautiful music and a really wonderful art style. And adding, in a very inspired way, new game modes. It would be meaningless without the frenetic pace, opening and closing doors, constant appearance of enemies, life drainage, etc.
2- The map is available on the consoles. There are 5 floors, and you have one map per floor. When you have discovered a complete floor, take a picture of it with your mobile phone (or a screenshot) and you have maps forever, if you wish so. Other players prefer to play without a map.
3- I don't think it's a hardcore game, not even close. My son, who had never seen a game like this before, saw it on Monday and immediately asked me to install it for him. He played two test games with Stamperlot, understood the objective perfectly, and the next game he won the game in 17 minutes (Andrew13 at the score table). I was surprised how well he knew the map after a few games, and he was more familiar with the main paths than I was. He made one more comment: Dad, it's too easy to refill the life bar, there's food everywhere.
After that, he won it twice with Lester (one of them didn't enter due to server error) and once with Zouch (was also not registered for the same reason). And although he usually plays Fortnite and League of Legends, he also loves Melkhior's Mansion.
So, as you can see, for some it is easy, for others it is hard. You have to ask yourself whether you really like it or not, it won't suit all players. In my opinion it's a marvellous game, a gem. And on top of that, it's free.
Thanks, I'd agree with all of that, but then I wrote it so I'm incredibly biased. Sorry about the server issues, Fasthosts had a big outage earlier in the week, most annoying. Take a look in the log folder, your scores may have been written out to a file, I can manually submit them for you if you like. Contact details are on the bitglint.co.uk website. Oh and I love that your son has been playing it over his usual games, that's a result!! :o)
Don't worry about the scores, my son and I will continue playing it regularly. I'll tell you something else that worries me more, and that might be a bug. Yesterday afternoon I finally unlocked all the palettes, I left the last one on (Spectrum dimmed, or something like that). Today I started the game and it's as if my data has been erased: I have all the palettes locked again. Maybe you can figure out the cause. I don't mind getting them again, it can be fun. What worries me is that it keeps happening over and over again.
I have discovered the <Setting Key="Palette" Value="0" /> value in the Settings.xml file, but I have never edited it. I don't know why it is set to zero. Maybe after taking them all, the next time it goes back to zero? Or something like that.
EDIT: Never mind: I noticed that this value is the selected palette, not the unlocked ones.
I suspect there are some hidden details about that you son was playing and found it easy. Maybe he saw someone playing it and realized some easy play tactics. Maybe you explained him something. I don't know. But I suspect there was some details that made it not a blind first play for him.
The key to the game is getting to know the map. Once you become familiar with it, things do get easier. Kids do tend to pick things up quicker than adults! Maybe he's just better at it than you are? Sorry, but you're starting to sound a little bit jealous of a 13 year old kid. By all means offer feedback on the game, that's absolutely fine, whether it's positive or negative, I don't mind, but there's no need to start having a dig at the kid's gaming skills.
Maybe if I knew the way to play easy right from beginning it would be easy for me. I gave feedback from absolutely blind playthrough. You sure his son did not saw something which made some great spoilers for him?
I find it a bit absurd to have to answer this, I don't see the point, but since you insist so much I'll do it just once. As I told you, my son saw the game and asked me to install it for him, because he liked it. He watched me play for about 2 minutes, no more. The only thing I told him was the objective of the game (which the game itself tells you), he saw that there were some coloured keys to open doors and I told him that one of the pieces he was looking for was in an attic (which the game also tells you!). From there, he went to his room and managed by himself to find the keys, look for the stairs upwards, go up to the attic, etc. All by himself and no more spoilers. And I assure you that after only three games, he knew the map much better than I did. I hope you'll feel more at ease now that I've revealed the 'hidden details'.
Honestly, I think you've put a lot of effort into criticising a game you clearly don't "get".
It's a bit like criticising a bullet-hell game for being unrelenting, or a roguelike for permanent death. If it's not the sort of game you enjoy, then perhaps spend some time on other games?
Your criticism also appears rather contradictory - you want it to be easy to explore the maze AND to have a map of the maze given to you?
The fact that this is not like "todays games" is exactly the point.
I find the never ending spawn of enemies kinda annoying. I have to keep a finger on shoot button all the time. It's just gets tired. As well as to must always move around just exhausting.
By the way, if you're planning a Linux version, *please* can you check out the RG351 console(s) (based on Ubuntu 19) - they would be the perfect home for this game and already have some excellent native titles.
Does it actually run Ubuntu? I've not had much experience with Linux so excuse my limited knowledge. I have an OpenGL version of MM running on the latest version of Ubuntu, so should I expect that to just work on the RG351?
It's linux on ARM, so you would have to compile for the platform - and I think it runs Open GLES, which you can use directly, or may be able to use the GL4ES wrapper. The biggest thing would be to make sure it worked with the controls.
Wonderful game! A lot of work went into this. Excellent graphics and gameplay. I particularly like the music.
The only issue I am having is that I am getting flickering at the maximum resolution 2880 x 1620 both windowed and full screen. The lower resolutions work fine.
Thanks, glad you're enjoying the game. Testing beyond 1920x1080 was a bit limited due to my hardware. What's the resolution of your monitor? Do you see the flickering on full screen mode?
My monitor resolution is 3840 x 2160 which is the default for my Windows 11 Dell system. Yes, I do get the flickering in full screen as well. It is not a problem since I can use a lower resolution in the game settings and it works fine.
Ok, I figured out what was causing the flickering...it was the GPU. My laptop has two GPUs: an Intel UHD Graphics 620 and a NVIDIA GeForce MX 130. The Intel GPU was the default for the game. When I changed it to the NVIDIA GPU the performance improved and all flickering stopped.
What I do is to press the print screen key and immediately after that the ESC key. Then I go to my favourite editing program, for example paint, and paste it (ctrl+v). It's not the most comfortable, but it works. I hope it helps.
Una extraordinaria noticia. Dos preguntas, por favor: ¿Está su desarrollo finalizado completamente? ¿Opciones para roms en raspberry? Saludos y enhorabuena por esta brillante 'vuelta de tuerca' al maravilloso Atic Atac.
Absolutely magical - nice work on this ... and the blurb is just awesome - I live in Leicestershire and not that far from Ashby-de-la-Zouch! So obviously the links there are fantastic. ;)
First of all, the game is just wonderful! It has exceeded all my expectations, which were very high. I am enjoying it enormously.
If I may, I have two small suggestions:
1- I agree with what others have said: it would be great to be able to move the character with the left joystick.
2- I think the food respawn time needs a little tweaking. As it is right now, you can wander around a few rooms, without even needing to change floors, and you won't be short of food.
Best regards and thank you very much for this precious gift.
Glad to hear you're enjoying the game, thanks for offering feedback. Joystick control is on the additional features list. The food thing is a very tricky one to gauge. Try the harder tasks, you may find yourself short on food there :o)
Thanks for the answer! What do you think about a menu option to choose between short, medium and long food respawn time? It would be like a customisable difficulty level.
If I did add something like that, and it was actually considered during development, then it would be a more general "difficulty level" setting that could affect other things, eg. energy drain, number of baddies etc, etc. It does however complicate the high score table, because I then have to take into account difficulty level. Also worth noting that I've got quite good at the game, as you might expect, and I still find myself running short on food when playing the harder quests. Like I said, it's tricky, getting the difficulty level right is so hard. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts, consider it "being pondered". :o)
If you finally decide to implement full difficulty levels, of course that would be great. But it seems like more work. What I proposed is simpler: Leave the current food respawn as "Short" and make it the default option, and then add the Medium or Long options in the menu (totally optional) for those who want a greater challenge, without needing to change anything on the leader boards. In any case, and whatever you decide, it is a real pleasure to share these thoughts with you, and that you are such a nice person :-)
Yeh I see what you mean. I think I'd still want it mentioned on the leader board though, it's makes the challenge worthwhile if you get a fast time on hard core. I'll stick it on the "ideas" list. Thanks again. ;o)
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Do you have plans to make the source code available?
No plans at the moment.
Am I missing something? It seemed to me as if enemy movements were completely random, which in a game with one-hit kills and limited lives is kinda insane. Isn't entire point of any platformer, isometric or not, is ability to predict timing of your enemies and obstacles so you can plan your movement? I haven't much experience with isometric platformers, but both Batman and Head Over Heels remakes had predictable and easily read enemy patterns - it was clear how to avoid them, the difficulty was in the execution (also in traps and puzzles).
The aesthetics are amazing and so is the idea, but I genuinelly cannot grasp enemy patterns.
Thanks for the feedback. It's based on Atic Atac on the ZX Spectrum, which had random movement patterns. Quite a lot of games back then had random movement, especially the Ultimate games. This is a run around exploration game, whereas Batman and HoH are puzzle solving games, so it's important for enemy positions to be predictable. In games like Atic Atac, it isn't, in my humble opinion. Hope it hasn't spoilt it too much for you, but if it's not your thing, that's cool, thanks for trying it out. ;o)
Everything inside of me as a designer yells that that's a terrible idea but I'm trying to be openminded. How do you prevent player from getting stuck in an unwinnable situation if patterns are random? It's a game with one hit kills and limited lives, and it might just downright not be your fault if you die and lose all your progress because all enemies randomly decided to surround you.
It's not what I'd personally call good game design but if your primary goal isn't to make a game that appeals to a modern audience with 'fun' but to simply make a clear homage to these games of old without concern of modern concepts of 'fairness' (which to be fair is a bit nebulous) then sure, more power to you.
I guess there's other revivals of classic isometric platform-adventures I can try, like Abbey of Crime, Naya's Quest, King Boo or Lumo.
It's probably not for me, but a lot of people in this comment section seem to love it, so good on you.Thanks for the feedback. If you want to discuss it further then please feel free to contact me directly. I'm not one for public debate, it never ends well. :o)
I really recognized the Atic Atac design and aesthetic. But Atic Atac hasn't one-hit kills.
Not sure what you mean by one-hit kills?
That's great,Took me strainght back to 1984!! Most excellent!
Thanks :o)
what are the controls besides arrow keys for movement.
You can redefine the control keys, or use a gamepad if you prefer.
Awesome little game, quick and frantic. And a thousand bonus points for offering a Mac version. Kudos!
Thanks, glad you like it. Appreciate the bonus points! :o)
I came here for Klass of 99, but found you made this fantastic game! I’m really bad at it, but the quality of the game is amazing, really polished (I specially love all the different rooms, I find the design really fitting!). And like the previous commenter, I appreciate it being available on Mac, so thanks for that too!
Really looking forward for your next thing, I’m sure it will be amazing.
Thanks, good to hear you're enjoying the game. Good luck with it! ;o)
Glad to make your acquaintance!
I've only played for about 15 mins so far, but I'm genuinely impressed by the quality of this game and the way you've managed to capture the character of Atic Atac whilst bringing it into the 21st Century. Delighted that it's available on the mac too (quite a rare treat). Must have been quite the ultimate labour of love; free too.
Well done to everyone involved; I'm quite envious that I'm last to the party, just turning up to play the game.
Thank you. Your talents and generosity are both appreciated.
Thanks, that's really sincere feedback. Mac and Linux versions were a bit of a learning curve, but got there in the end. Sadly the downloads on both are quite low, compared to Windows PC, so for solo devs like me, it's hard to justify the time and hassle. Tricky one. Anyway, enjoy the game! ;o)
Amazing game, lot of fun! 9,5/10!
Thanks, glad you like it. ;o)
This is a beautiful superbly rendered game, everything here shines. It is super tough at first but you get the drill after a while and realize you can´t really take your time admiring the backgrounds and animations for time if of an essence (Do that when a friend is playing ;) ).
This is highly recommended, deep root oldschool and will sure remind you what a challenge in-game is suppose to be. Sound effects and music are also awesome and so is the presentation. Can´t wait to see what the team is going to come up next.
Beware, if you are the kind of person who plays to always win and prefer a fake-game to massage your brain prior to sleep, it might not be the game for you.
Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it. ;o)
gracias por el juego
De nada :o)
Supremo !!!!! May the Ferranti ULA bless You.
Haha, thanks very much, although the Ferranti ULA will play more of a role in this version... Melkhior’s Mansion by Bob's Stuff (itch.io)
Right, and I'm waiting for the Zx Spectrum Next version too...
:o)
This black and white version would look stunning on the Playdate.
Wow! I was a Speccy user back in the day and got my first start in programming on that machine. I downloaded the demo of this game when it came out and was pleasantly surprised when I revisited it again recently and saw that it had been released. The final version is very impressive and captures the essence of Atic Atac in a modern way with a fantastic art style and retro sound.
I have noticed one thing however that might be an easy fix - the game does not appear to be aware of so-called "ultrawide" desktops e.g. 2560x1080. If I select "full window" or "full screen" the aspect ratio goes out of whack as the horizontal dimension is greater than the game assumes, 2560 as opposed to 1920. I assume there is no 4x scaling option as it was assumed that this would be the same as full-screen (1920x1080) on most machines.
Adding a menu option for 4x scaling, i.e. 1920x1080 would be great, or perhaps a software check to test the available desktop size, and reformat accordingly.
Best regards and well done.
Thanks for the feedback, glad you're enjoying the game. It does try to figure out the highest resolution you're going to want to see as an option. It doesn't include your highest resolution, because that's full screen. The logic assumes standard HD aspect ratio. Have to be honest, I didn't even consider ultra wide. It's a lot of work to "resize" the display for any aspect ratio in a way that avoids changing the ratio so if you select full screen, it simply stretches to fit, which is why you're seeing a stretched display.
Sure, I understand that reformatting the game to a detected desktop resolution is a big job, but that's not what I'm suggesting. It's simply that today's desktops that exceed the 1920x1080 standard and/or are not 16:9 would benefit from a 4x, 5x, resolution scaling option. In fact, 8x would get you all the way to 4K as a soft-of future proofing, assuming your CPU/GPU was powerful enough. That's the part I though would be easy to implement as you already have the scaler done.
I'm not complaining though, it's still playable in a 3x window on ultrawide.
Yeh that's cool, I understand what you mean and the game does already support those higher resolutions, but only if it thinks your desktop resolution is high enough. When determining what zoom levels to offer, I look at the logical height of the game window, which is 270 pixels, then see how many times I can zoom that before it equals or goes over the height of the desktop, that's why you get offered up to x3. On a 1080 pixel high desktop, x4 is the same a full screen and x5 would be too big, so those options aren't offered. I think the maximum you'll see, if you desktop resolution is high enough, is x7, so that would be 3360 x 1890. There's always the option to manually resize the window if the option you want isn't available, and it will remember the window size. I do wonder if I tried to make it too clever! It was fun to code, but a pain in the back side at the same time :o)
When the time passes one hour it becomes wrong.
I think this is already fixed in version 1.2
Err ... the latest version doesn't recognize my gamepads.
The demo version still does.
Tested on Windows 7 Ultimate, DirectX 11 installed on two different hardwares.
Any suggestions ?
Support for none XBox compatible gamepads worked in the demo version by using a 3rd party component, it's not natively supported by Monogame. That component had extra dependencies which was proving troublesome for some installations of Windows, so I chose to remove support for gamepads not supported by Monogame.
Sorry about that.
Hi all, just reporting that M.M. is running beautifully on latest Manjaro Linux KDE. See screenshot.
Excellent, thanks for the info. ;o)
Hi BitGlint,
Amazing that you support all the desktop platforms. Unfortunately, I'm stuck on a iMac 2011 with 10.12.x (no longer upgradable, since the 10.13 requires more GPU HW).
Is there a chance to target 10.12 as minimum, not 10.13?
I will of course in the meantime enjoy this on my Manjaro Linux, as a fall-back.
Thank you for your dedication and passion to produce this pearl of beauty, looking very much forward to see this on the 'Next,
Cheers,
Gunther
Hi Gunther,
Thanks, it's been a bit of a learning curve, and I'm not quite there yet with some Mac hardware, but I'll keep plugging away.
I'm at the very edge of my Mac knowledge, it's all quite new to me. I can send you a test build that targets 10.12. Can you email me? You'll find my email address at BitGlint Games
Cheers,
Rich.
Email sent.
Thank you for the new fixes, very much appreciated ;)
Cool, I waited on them for a while, see if anything else got reported.
Absolutely gorgeous! Love this game, love you guys!!!
Thanks, enjoy the game ;o)
Great game - really enjoyed! Well done all!
Glad read the comments as was going to mention the crashes and palette lost - but seems the latest update will fix this - so great :)
Map console very handy!
Great work all!
Thanks. There is still a palette bug in the latest version, it resets when you collect all 10.
Indeed, I lost my entire palette collection yesterday. :( I hope you get it fixed soon.
That is a shame - but i'm sure you'll sort that. Only real grumble though :) I did have a few crashes on the original release - but have updated now. Enjoy the game otherwise, and very nice work. I'm sure all the ADLZ people should enjoy it too!
The game is wonderful, I have no complaints! And of course I'm enjoying it a lot :-)
:o)
Works perfectly in Manjaro with 5.16.
A real treat, many thanks.
Brilliant, thanks for the info. I'm loving that it's working on distros other than Ubuntu. :o)
Hi. Had some issues getting the game to run in Linux, Ubuntu 21.10 but found a workaround.
Crashed on startup with this in the log file:
2022-02-02 22:46:52
Input string was not in a correct format.
System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.
at System.Number.ThrowOverflowOrFormatException(ParsingStatus status, TypeCode type)
at System.Number.ParseInt32(ReadOnlySpan`1 value, NumberStyles styles, NumberFormatInfo info)
at Melkhior.Iso.Point3..ctor(String values) in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Iso\IsoEngine.cs:line 535
at Melkhior.Objects.MapEntity..ctor(XmlNode definition, String defaultID) in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Objects\MapEntity.cs:line 197
at Melkhior.Objects.MapTemplate..ctor(XmlNode definition) in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Objects\MapTemplate.cs:line 84
at Melkhior.Objects.Map.InitTemplateCollection() in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Objects\Map.cs:line 70
at Melkhior.Helper.MapManager.Reset(Boolean editMode) in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Helper\MapManager.cs:line 213
at Melkhior.Modules.Load.Update(GameTime gameTime) in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Modules\Load.cs:line 163
at Melkhior.Main.Update(GameTime gameTime) in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Main.cs:line 194
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.DoUpdate(GameTime gameTime)
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Tick()
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.SdlGamePlatform.RunLoop()
at Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game.Run(GameRunBehavior runBehavior)
at Melkhior.Program.Main() in C:\Dropbox\MyGames\Monogame38\MelkhiorGL\Program.cs:line 30
The issue seems to be related to locales/languages and using commas or dots as decimal separators. I'm on LANG=sv_SE.UTF-8 which uses , as a decimal separator, i'm guessing the game assumes . as a separator.
I solved the issue by running the game with a different locale that uses . as separator:
LANG=C ./Melkhior
After starting the game with the correct locale i got this in the log, i'm guessing the game wrote some commas in the config file while on the "wrong" locale:
"Configuration file could not be read correctly. Default settings have been restored. Please click OK then try launching Melkhior's Mansion again."
Maybe you need to set a locale for XNA / FNA / Monogame to use as default to have it always getting the correct decimal?
Hope this was somewhat helpful, seems like a really cool game!
Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like you've hit the nail on the head with the cause of the issue. Appreciate you taking the time to look into it and suggest a workaround. I'll get that fixed up in the code. ;o)
Finally finished all four missions ('Lermontov' in high score table). The difficulty was perfectly pitched, I thought. Now, I can sit back and enjoy the game without the stress of completing it. First task, work out what some of these objects - soap, wand. eye, et al. - do.
Excellent, well done. Interesting to hear your thoughts on the difficulty level, that's really hard to get right. Of course, for some people it'll still be too easy, or too hard. You can't please 'em all! The soap and wand do "similar" things. The eye is most useful for Lester.
On hearing the sounds and seeing the gorgeous "retro" graphics for the first time I could easily have shed a tear or two - tears of the joy, happiness and great memories from the early '80s playing this game brought back to me.
This game is a true masterpiece.
Thank you, that's really nice feedback. :o)
please don't hurt me but is there any chance of a mac version coming one day or not really?
Already being worked on, but my total lack of Mac knowledge if hampering the situation. That said, I have an expert on hand to help. Keep watching this space. :o)
wizard
After playing a lot of hours and beating the game with two of the characters (Knight and Moustache man), I can write a recommendation.
This game is gold. Seriously. It combines amazingly the best of the 80s and nowadays.
The graphics are inspired in the ZX Spectrum, but the colours are used without any restrictions and the results are beautiful.
The gameplay is frenetic, short and intense matches that makes you try again immediately after every defeat. And with every run you know a bit better the castle and therefore you are closer to the victory.
The difficulty is kind of old school, but don't let this put you off, if I can finish the game, you can too. You just need to keep trying.
I can't mention anything negative. Well, yes, one thing: the game is for free and they don't take donations. That really annoys me!
Thanks for the feedback. Your experience of the game is exactly what we were hoping to hear. It's a bit hard, a bit old school, a bit 80s, but not so difficult once you get used to it. Yep, that's exactly it! :o)
Hi, I keep playing Melkhior's Mansion and the more I play the more I fall in love with it.... A request, nothing important, just a small detail, would it be possible to make a cross appear where the character dies that stays until the end of the game, just like in the original Atic Atac?
Thanks again for creating this wonderful little gem.
Glad to hear you're enjoying the game. There used to be a cross, but it had to go because, unlike the Atic Atac cross, it had to be a solid object, other wise the isometric viewpoint screws up. Problem with it being solid though is that it can block door if you die in front of one. It turned out to be a pain in the bum, so it went. Here's an old tweet about it...
(1) Richard Jordan on Twitter: "Gravestones will be solid, but what happens if you die in front of a door? This temporary gravestone graphic demonstrates Sir Stamperlot's solution... @hot_piping #melkhiorsmansion #aticatac #zxspectrum #gamedev #monogame #screenshotsaturday https://t.co/ULjkaTROri" / Twitter
Thanks for the reply, I miss this tweet...
Too bad, that would have been a really nice touch....
Love the game. A wonderful effort on all concerned. The 'difficulty' question in an earlier strand could only have come from a contemporary games player. Anyone brought up playing the Spectrum, where the games started at 'hard' and got more difficult from there, wouldn't have a problem with it. Anyway I wanted to jot down some tips regarding the objects in the game. So something of a SPOILER ALERT is needed. I have not worked what all the objects do, so please others contribute:
1. Lightning rod - makes you quicker for a timed period
2. Princess's'ring - allows you to crash through mirrors
3. Skeleton key (wonderful idea) which allows you to open 10 doors without the coloured key for that door. Use wisely
4. Money bag (and a few others) can be dropped to bribe the hunchback and move him away from the blue door behind him
5. Palette icon - unlocks one of the different game palettes which can be accessed from main menu
6. Hourglass - not exactly sure, but I think it stops your energy depleting for a set time
7. Leaf - allows you to get the red key in the room with the spirit. Drop leaf near the creature and he moves away from guarding the leaf so you can nab the red key.
Objects which I think have a function (beyond bribing the hunchback) but I have not worked out: evil eye, Melkhior's spare wand, glowing coin. large diamond.
General tips:
- Find the green key and unlock the green door on the floor you start, which leads the way to a specific trap door which drops onto the ground floor (a large room with six locked golden doors). You can only access this by dropping in (unless you have the skeleton key) and you acquire the gold key here. This opens the game up.
- Don't drop into the caverns unless you have the blue (or skeleton key) to get back out
- For the second mission, you need the gold key to unlock the pentagram room. The symbols are in chests and most are on the lower floors.
- Eat all food in rooms, because it almost always regenerates.
- Memories the floors
There was an urban myth which floated around (and I believed) linked to the original Atic Atac that some of the extra objects can be joined together to create a creature. I wonder if something like this has been sneaked into MM. Also, some of the more elaborate rooms - such as the giant library - may have another function, but I haven't found one. I know in Richard's original Atic Atac remake he added some rooms to the attic (a kind of long set of passages), so I wonder if there might be a secret room or two in this game.
I have managed to solve three of the four missions. The final one is really hard due to having to access rooms which are behind several colours of different doors. I have found Melchior's room (above the attic) but cannot find the labyrinth room where I am supposed to fill the first phial. I presume it is one of the rooms in the labyrinth section on the first floor, but has anyone found it?
Finally, huge thanks again to Richard - who has been a champion of Spectrum games since the early days of the internet - and his team. This is the best remake/reimagining of a Spectrum game yet created. If only he would turn his attention to delivering a decent remake of Sabre Wulf, but that's another story....
Wow thanks for all that info. I'm not posting spoilers myself, just the odd hint, but it's great to see what other folks are finding out. Just a few things to comment on:
Hourglass? Nope, it does something else.
The death eye is really useful if you're playing as Lester, but it works for all characters.
There's no mythical creature to create in this game, sorry!
Sabre Wulf? Nah, not for me, one of my least favourite Ultimate games.
:o)
Take the hourglass and look at the behaviour of the enemies... If you don't see anything different, simply change room ;-)
Thanks, Alber. Worked it out. It slows the enemies. Hourglass...time....I should have seen it...duh! Another item I forgot to mention was the cross which stopped Dracula appearing in the original, so I suspect probably stops Death appearing.
Exactly. And not only that, but if you pick up the cross while Grim Reaper is chasing you,... he vanishes! I have just discovered how the eye of death works. It's very cool! And it makes sense too. But no more spoilers for today hahaha.
You seem to have advanced in the game more than I have, Alber - and I'm pretty good at it! You tease me with the eye of death. Richard stated it worked the best for Lester, so it has to have something to do with the 5 main evil creatures (a la Nightshade). I thought it might be a way of destroying them without their specific weapon. However, I tried that and it doesn't seem to work. My main problem at the moment is navigating the labyrinth to get to the main room there with the sludge creatures. I found it once, but then haven't been able to since. Another object which is puzzling but I feel has a purpose is the soap. What a great game.
The route to the sludge room in the labyrinth is quite straightforward when you know it. :o)
I have been waiting 39 years for this game, great work!!!! Congratulations to the team that brought us this marvellous sequel to Atic Atac!!!!
Wow, that's a long time. Hope it was worth the wait! :o)
Version 1.1, nice! The palettes resetting bug was very annoying. And the joystick control is a fantastic addition. Thank you very much ;)
Thanks. I'm fairly sure I've found the palette issue, hope there isn't another way to make it go wrong! :o)
Absolutely beautiful game!!
Thanks! :o)
It's out ! It's out ! Didn't notice till now !!!
If I could have just a little extra time to play it ...
As soon as possible I'll give you my feedback.
Thanks !!!
Thanks, I hope you enjoy it. All feedback is welcome, good and bad! :o)
So. I played several times. And I think the game is ruined for general public. Maybe hardcore players can enjoy this.
Here is what I think. Just like lots of games in the past the game is made with a player in mind who already knows the game really well. Not for a first time player who have no idea where to go and what to do and why and how.
For a general player here are some things that blocking good game experience:
1. Respawning enemies. I don't know what would be best to do with that. It also ruins fun of exploring the maze.
2. Timer.(health going down) it's just one of the worst things in games from the past.
3. no map access. Why not give a map like all the best games out there do?
4. opening closing doors. I understand it goes from the urge to increase difficulty, because when developer plays his own game he doesn't feel it the way when first time player playing. So he thinks, oh it's too easy and adding something to add difficulty that he could feel.
5. items unresponsive to take. I had problems to pick up items.
6. Also the items gotta be visible on the map. As we have to drop some of them.
7. Maybe save points. Not sure tho.
I am not some unskilled player, by the way. I played and beaten many NES games. Their difficulty is way above average of todays games. Spectrum? Not so much. I did not had one at home.
If you want to bring in all those frustrating things - just add a hard difficulty and throw all that challenging stuff in there. Why not give general public to enjoy the game on a normal mode?
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. It's clear that you don't like the game, and that's absolutely fine, we all have different tastes. The feedback we've had since releasing it has been overwhelmingly positive, so I think that "the game is ruined for the general public" is a bit on the strong side. However, that's your opinion, you're entitled to it and I'm happy you've shared it with us.
I took the time to check out your game on Itch and I have to say it looks superb. All the best with future projects. :o)
I don't know why you think I did not liked the game. I did not liked the mentioned items. They block a great game experience for me.
Oh, you said, "the game is ruined". That kind of led me to believe you didn't like it. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, that's just how I interpreted it. :o)
"ruined for general public". It means the game is too hard for general public. And stuff like accessible map at any time is more player friendly and also most common these days.
There are map consoles on each floor. Essentially though, I wanted to keep the essence of the original game. I think I've achieved that, although I appreciate that doing so will put people off. It's a free game anyway, so you don't lose anything for trying it! :o)
And by the way. The first game I ever made was on ZX spectrum. And it was a very simple version of the game you saw on my itch.io
Was around 1996
Cool, what was the Speccy game called? I don't remember anything like that.
It was just a small game I made at home when my friend gave me speccy. It was not released anywhere. And it was just a several levels with squares. Later I made also newer versions on ZX emulator, Pascal, QBasic, and only in 2004 first time it was something I posted to the web. In 2005 English version which called Orbox.
Ahh sorry, I misunderstood. I've made the same little games for various platforms over the years, it's good practice.
I disagree, and I will try to explain it in a reasoned way.
1- The game is inspired by Atic Atac, respecting its essence and mechanics deeply. It's like reliving that game 40 years later, in 3D style, with beautiful music and a really wonderful art style. And adding, in a very inspired way, new game modes. It would be meaningless without the frenetic pace, opening and closing doors, constant appearance of enemies, life drainage, etc.
2- The map is available on the consoles. There are 5 floors, and you have one map per floor. When you have discovered a complete floor, take a picture of it with your mobile phone (or a screenshot) and you have maps forever, if you wish so. Other players prefer to play without a map.
3- I don't think it's a hardcore game, not even close. My son, who had never seen a game like this before, saw it on Monday and immediately asked me to install it for him. He played two test games with Stamperlot, understood the objective perfectly, and the next game he won the game in 17 minutes (Andrew13 at the score table). I was surprised how well he knew the map after a few games, and he was more familiar with the main paths than I was. He made one more comment: Dad, it's too easy to refill the life bar, there's food everywhere.
After that, he won it twice with Lester (one of them didn't enter due to server error) and once with Zouch (was also not registered for the same reason). And although he usually plays Fortnite and League of Legends, he also loves Melkhior's Mansion.
So, as you can see, for some it is easy, for others it is hard. You have to ask yourself whether you really like it or not, it won't suit all players. In my opinion it's a marvellous game, a gem. And on top of that, it's free.
Thanks, I'd agree with all of that, but then I wrote it so I'm incredibly biased. Sorry about the server issues, Fasthosts had a big outage earlier in the week, most annoying. Take a look in the log folder, your scores may have been written out to a file, I can manually submit them for you if you like. Contact details are on the bitglint.co.uk website. Oh and I love that your son has been playing it over his usual games, that's a result!! :o)
Don't worry about the scores, my son and I will continue playing it regularly. I'll tell you something else that worries me more, and that might be a bug. Yesterday afternoon I finally unlocked all the palettes, I left the last one on (Spectrum dimmed, or something like that). Today I started the game and it's as if my data has been erased: I have all the palettes locked again. Maybe you can figure out the cause. I don't mind getting them again, it can be fun. What worries me is that it keeps happening over and over again.
I have discovered the <Setting Key="Palette" Value="0" /> value in the Settings.xml file, but I have never edited it. I don't know why it is set to zero. Maybe after taking them all, the next time it goes back to zero? Or something like that.
EDIT: Never mind: I noticed that this value is the selected palette, not the unlocked ones.
Yeh sorry about that, it's a bug that other folks have reported too. I'll be looking into it soon. Bit annoying that one.
Ok, thank you ;)
I suspect there are some hidden details about that you son was playing and found it easy. Maybe he saw someone playing it and realized some easy play tactics. Maybe you explained him something. I don't know. But I suspect there was some details that made it not a blind first play for him.
The key to the game is getting to know the map. Once you become familiar with it, things do get easier. Kids do tend to pick things up quicker than adults! Maybe he's just better at it than you are? Sorry, but you're starting to sound a little bit jealous of a 13 year old kid. By all means offer feedback on the game, that's absolutely fine, whether it's positive or negative, I don't mind, but there's no need to start having a dig at the kid's gaming skills.
Maybe if I knew the way to play easy right from beginning it would be easy for me. I gave feedback from absolutely blind playthrough. You sure his son did not saw something which made some great spoilers for him?
I find it a bit absurd to have to answer this, I don't see the point, but since you insist so much I'll do it just once. As I told you, my son saw the game and asked me to install it for him, because he liked it. He watched me play for about 2 minutes, no more. The only thing I told him was the objective of the game (which the game itself tells you), he saw that there were some coloured keys to open doors and I told him that one of the pieces he was looking for was in an attic (which the game also tells you!). From there, he went to his room and managed by himself to find the keys, look for the stairs upwards, go up to the attic, etc. All by himself and no more spoilers. And I assure you that after only three games, he knew the map much better than I did. I hope you'll feel more at ease now that I've revealed the 'hidden details'.
Honestly, I think you've put a lot of effort into criticising a game you clearly don't "get".
It's a bit like criticising a bullet-hell game for being unrelenting, or a roguelike for permanent death. If it's not the sort of game you enjoy, then perhaps spend some time on other games?
Your criticism also appears rather contradictory - you want it to be easy to explore the maze AND to have a map of the maze given to you?
The fact that this is not like "todays games" is exactly the point.
Thanks for your support. He's barred now for going off topic.
I find the never ending spawn of enemies kinda annoying. I have to keep a finger on shoot button all the time. It's just gets tired. As well as to must always move around just exhausting.
It's inspired by Atic Atac on the ZX Spectrum. It's not a slow game, it's meant to be a bit manic! I appreciate that it's not for everyone. :o)
"never ending spawn of enemies" definitely sounds like Atic Atac.
Haha, yep!! :o)
By the way, if you're planning a Linux version, *please* can you check out the RG351 console(s) (based on Ubuntu 19) - they would be the perfect home for this game and already have some excellent native titles.
Does it actually run Ubuntu? I've not had much experience with Linux so excuse my limited knowledge. I have an OpenGL version of MM running on the latest version of Ubuntu, so should I expect that to just work on the RG351?
It's linux on ARM, so you would have to compile for the platform - and I think it runs Open GLES, which you can use directly, or may be able to use the GL4ES wrapper. The biggest thing would be to make sure it worked with the controls.
Ok thanks for the info. Have to be honest, that'll be quite low down the list, but never say never.
Wonderful game! A lot of work went into this. Excellent graphics and gameplay. I particularly like the music.
The only issue I am having is that I am getting flickering at the maximum resolution 2880 x 1620 both windowed and full screen. The lower resolutions work fine.
Thanks for this great game! Well done!
Thanks, glad you're enjoying the game. Testing beyond 1920x1080 was a bit limited due to my hardware. What's the resolution of your monitor? Do you see the flickering on full screen mode?
My monitor resolution is 3840 x 2160 which is the default for my Windows 11 Dell system. Yes, I do get the flickering in full screen as well. It is not a problem since I can use a lower resolution in the game settings and it works fine.
Ok, still useful to know, it shouldn't flicker. I'll get my laptop connected to the 4k TV in the lounge!
Ok, I figured out what was causing the flickering...it was the GPU. My laptop has two GPUs: an Intel UHD Graphics 620 and a NVIDIA GeForce MX 130. The Intel GPU was the default for the game. When I changed it to the NVIDIA GPU the performance improved and all flickering stopped.
Ahh, brilliant, thanks for the info. ;o)
Is there a Pause key? I keep getting killed off while trying to take screenshots of all the great rooms! 😄
Oh, no sorry, pressing Esc is the pause key, but I guess that's no use! :o/
What I do is to press the print screen key and immediately after that the ESC key. Then I go to my favourite editing program, for example paint, and paste it (ctrl+v). It's not the most comfortable, but it works. I hope it helps.
Thanks! I'll try that.
Una extraordinaria noticia. Dos preguntas, por favor: ¿Está su desarrollo finalizado completamente? ¿Opciones para roms en raspberry? Saludos y enhorabuena por esta brillante 'vuelta de tuerca' al maravilloso Atic Atac.
¡Muchas gracias! Puedo agregar más características. Lo lanzaré para Linux. No sé si eso funcionará en Raspberry PI.
Absolutely magical - nice work on this ... and the blurb is just awesome - I live in Leicestershire and not that far from Ashby-de-la-Zouch! So obviously the links there are fantastic. ;)
Haha, nice one, I've been waiting for someone to mention the Leicestershire references. They're all over the game, some more subtle than others. :o)
Ey! Very good job and very very funny the game! Congratulations and thanks very much!
Thanks ;o)
First of all, the game is just wonderful! It has exceeded all my expectations, which were very high. I am enjoying it enormously.
If I may, I have two small suggestions:
1- I agree with what others have said: it would be great to be able to move the character with the left joystick.
2- I think the food respawn time needs a little tweaking. As it is right now, you can wander around a few rooms, without even needing to change floors, and you won't be short of food.
Best regards and thank you very much for this precious gift.
Glad to hear you're enjoying the game, thanks for offering feedback. Joystick control is on the additional features list. The food thing is a very tricky one to gauge. Try the harder tasks, you may find yourself short on food there :o)
Thanks for the answer! What do you think about a menu option to choose between short, medium and long food respawn time? It would be like a customisable difficulty level.
If I did add something like that, and it was actually considered during development, then it would be a more general "difficulty level" setting that could affect other things, eg. energy drain, number of baddies etc, etc. It does however complicate the high score table, because I then have to take into account difficulty level. Also worth noting that I've got quite good at the game, as you might expect, and I still find myself running short on food when playing the harder quests. Like I said, it's tricky, getting the difficulty level right is so hard. Appreciate you sharing your thoughts, consider it "being pondered". :o)
If you finally decide to implement full difficulty levels, of course that would be great. But it seems like more work. What I proposed is simpler: Leave the current food respawn as "Short" and make it the default option, and then add the Medium or Long options in the menu (totally optional) for those who want a greater challenge, without needing to change anything on the leader boards. In any case, and whatever you decide, it is a real pleasure to share these thoughts with you, and that you are such a nice person :-)
Yeh I see what you mean. I think I'd still want it mentioned on the leader board though, it's makes the challenge worthwhile if you get a fast time on hard core. I'll stick it on the "ideas" list. Thanks again. ;o)