Melkhior’s Mansion (the Atic Atac remake for Windows PC)

Splash screen for Melkhior’s Mansion

Back in the mid-1980s my friends and I would often tease each other about which was the better home computer, the Commodore 64 or the ZX Spectrum.

Clearly it was the Commodore 64!

Atic Atac

There was one Spectrum (and BBC micro) game, however, that I was very envious of: Atic Atac from Ultimate Play The Game.

The video game was a top-down view set inside a labyrintine castle where your intrepid hero (a wizard, knight or serf) needed to locate the pieces of the Golden Key of ACG in order to escape.

Screenshot of Atic Atac on the ZX Spectrum

I know it doesn’t look like much but it was great fun to play. Each hero had a different weapon, and each needed to escape the castle via a different exit.

Melkhior’s Mansion

A few years ago, I spotted on Twitter that Richard Jordan (@EricRetro) was creating a remake of Atic Atac for the Windows PC.

As I recall, the original publisher gave the developer permission to recreate it as long as he didn’t use the name Atic Atac. So, welcome to Melkhior’s Mansion.

The entrance hall

Unlike the original top-down view, Melkhior’s Mansion adopts an isometric view of the rooms in a beautifully cartoonish style.

It’s free to download and play, and great fun. Although, I needed to remap the keys as I couldn’t work out which was attack and which was pick up/drop.

Download Melkhior’s Mansion from BitGlint Games

Using an external aerial for my Pure Marshall Evoke-1XT DAB radio

Radio that looks like a Marshall guitar amp. The volume knob goes up to 11.
My DAB radio on my bedside table (ignore the dust!)
The volume goes up to 11.

As I have said elsewhere, I love my Pure Marshall Evoke-1XT DAB radio. However, over the last couple of years my experience with it hasn’t been great due to poor radio signal in my house.

With the radio sited next to my bed, every time I moved into a particular spot the signal would drop and the sound cut out. Moving it to the bedside table on the other side of my bed improved things but it’s literally on the other side of the room (I have a big bed and a small room) and I would need to step across the bed to reach it.

If only there was a way to afix an external aerial…

Continue reading Using an external aerial for my Pure Marshall Evoke-1XT DAB radio

Epiphany

I couldn’t find a stock image of stars on my PC but this looked pretty and festive

This is the sermon that I preached at St Mary’s, Newport-on-Tay on Sunday 2 January 2022 when they celebrated the feast of the Epiphany (which is today, 6 January).

Introduction

When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.

— Howard Thurman

Continue reading Epiphany

My albums of 2021

All the albums I bought or acquired in 2021

My annual review of what I’ve most enjoyed listening to during the last 12 months, and my albums of the year.

  1. Mordred—The Dark Parade
  2. Sel Balamir—Swell (EP)
  3. Amplifier—Bonus EP (2004) / Glory Electricity (Sunset Version)
  4. Steven Wilson—The Future Bites
  5. Jerry Cantrell—Brighten
  6. Graeme Lamb—Winter Passing
  7. Gojira—Fortitude
  8. Mastodon—Hushed and Grim
  9. Charlie Benante—Silver Linings
  10. Sepultura—SepulQuarta

Honourable mentions:

  • Aporia—Internal Conflict
  • Exodus—Persona Non Grata
  • Iron Maiden—Senjutsu
Continue reading My albums of 2021