Millie and Molly (Atari 7800)

[+mksmith]

*** PLAY THE DEMO ***

Final playable demo is now available in JS7800 (thanks @raz0red).

 

 

Edited December 6, 2020 by mksmith
Updated link

[+MrFish]

Thanks for the demo. Nice job on everything, including the gradual progression of difficulty.

 

 

[+mksmith]

1 hour ago, MrFish said:

Thanks for the demo. Nice job on everything, including the gradual progression of difficulty.

Thanks for checking it out ?

[+Pat Brady]

Yes, excellent work on the port. Nice animation, fantastic VHS effect on rewind, and the best POKEY/7800 audio I’ve yet heard.

 

For my taste the difficulty curve is overly shallow, with multiple screens to teach “you can fall off ledges,” multiple other screens to teach “you can climb ladders,” and a couple more for “you can push boulders.” But I know you were reproducing the levels from the original, and I assume the other 80 levels are mostly akin to the last few in the demo.

Edited September 21, 2020 by bizarrostormy

[+mksmith]

4 hours ago, bizarrostormy said:

Yes, excellent work on the port. Nice animation, fantastic VHS effect on rewind, and the best POKEY/7800 audio I’ve yet heard.

 

For my taste the difficulty curve is overly shallow, with multiple screens to teach “you can fall off ledges,” multiple other screens to teach “you can climb ladders,” and a couple more for “you can push boulders.” But I know you were reproducing the levels from the original, and I assume the other 80 levels are mostly akin to the last few in the demo.

 

Thanks @bizarrostormy for trying the demo.  Bobby has done an awesome job converting over the tunes putting a pokey spin over each - each of the 5 themes has its own soundtrack as well.  The levels are definitely graded easy early doors but there are some tough ones as you move through.  By the last 40, most take quite a bit of thought, strategy and time to finish but as we a finding doing our final testing replayability is fantastic as you attempt to resolve a level.

 

Yeah the VHS effect is brilliant as discussed by the team you can sit there and just rewind to watch it.

 

[+mksmith]

I'm pleased to announce that Millie and Molly 7800 has gone gold and the game is fully tested and complete ?

 

Huge thanks again to Mike, Bobby, Robert and Steve for their dedication to help complete Millie and Molly 7800 and to Carleton Handley and his team for allowing us to bring their game to our platform.  It's a great joy to do this stuff with you guys.

 

 

[+Muddyfunster]

On 10/1/2020 at 12:27 AM, mksmith said:

I'm pleased to announce that Millie and Molly 7800 has gone gold and the game is fully tested and complete 

Excellent news !

[electronicsibley]

On 9/30/2020 at 7:27 PM, mksmith said:

I'm pleased to announce that Millie and Molly 7800 has gone gold and the game is fully tested and complete ?

 

Huge thanks again to Mike, Bobby, Robert and Steve for their dedication to help complete Millie and Molly 7800 and to Carleton Handley and his team for allowing us to bring their game to our platform.  It's a great joy to do this stuff with you guys.

 

 

Congrats! Someone should move this one into the ‘completed’ section in the 7800 2020 games tracker post. 

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

On 10/27/2020 at 6:52 PM, electronicsibley said:

Congrats! Someone should move this one into the ‘completed’ section in the 7800 2020 games tracker post. 

That someone is me and I'm on it. ? Thanks for the heads up.

 

Also, congratulations @mksmith on finishing Millie and Molly, what a great game!

 

- James

Edited November 1, 2020 by ZeroPage Homebrew

[+mksmith]

Thanks @electronicsibley and @ZeroPage Homebrew James ?

[electronicsibley]

9 hours ago, mksmith said:

Thanks @electronicsibley and @ZeroPage Homebrew James ?

Just curious. Do you plan to publish this with the next batch through Atari Age? I’d love to get a copy, especially boxed. 
 

Also, looks like Arkanoid’s getting close. Can’t wait for that one too!

[+mksmith]

9 hours ago, electronicsibley said:

Just curious. Do you plan to publish this with the next batch through Atari Age? I’d love to get a copy, especially boxed. 
 

Also, looks like Arkanoid’s getting close. Can’t wait for that one too!

 Thank you for your support! Yes that is the plan I believe and a boxed version will be available ?

 

Once the current release batch is fully released I'm sure Al will start preparing for the next release which I think will also include another Champ Games special.

 

Oh - Arkanoid is very slowly progressing at the moment as I've been doing a lot of coding for my business recently and it's been a bit too much computer time unfortunately.  I will get back to that soon and look to release a demo before Christmas. Currently working on the floating enemies and a bit of more!! reviewing of the ball collisions.

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

Just finished the demo, and have to hand it to everyone involved: I should have been in bed almost 90 minutes ago, but the gameplay kept me coming back to see it through to the end.  It really does manage to have a good balance of frustration and wanting to give it just one more shot.  Well done

Edited October 29, 2020 by x=usr(1536)

[+mksmith]

13 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Just finished the demo, and have to hand it to everyone involved: I should have been in bed almost 90 minutes ago, but the gameplay kept me coming back to see it through to the end.  It really does manage to have a good balance of frustration and wanting to give it just one more shot.  Well done

Thank you for trying the demo! An additional 80 further levels, 4 more themes, a ramping up of the difficulty plus the ability to switch between both Millie and Molly in the full version - very hard to put down as you have found!

[+Muddyfunster]

Great job with Milly & Molly Matt, looking forward to making this my first 7800 purchase to play on my newly refurbed 7800.

[+mksmith]

Just now, Muddyfunster said:

Great job with Milly & Molly Matt, looking forward to making this my first 7800 purchase to play on my newly refurbed 7800.

Thanks Lewis!

[Iwantgames:)]

I need this! Looks awesome!

[+mksmith]

4 hours ago, Iwantgames:) said:

I need this! Looks awesome!

Thank you for your kind words! The team has worked very hard to bring the game to the 7800!

[mdoerty]

Never thought to look here for my Atari 7800 new releases.

 

How will this be sold? I am looking forward to purchasing a copy.

[+mksmith]

9 hours ago, mdoerty said:

Never thought to look here for my Atari 7800 new releases.

 

How will this be sold? I am looking forward to purchasing a copy.

Thanks for considering Millie and Molly! It will be available for purchase from the AtariAge store next year and will include a box and instructions etc. Not sure of an official date just yet.

[mdoerty]

22 hours ago, mksmith said:

Thanks for considering Millie and Molly! It will be available for purchase from the AtariAge store next year and will include a box and instructions etc. Not sure of an official date just yet.

Excellent. I order the 7800 games from Atari Age almost as soon as they are posted.

 

 

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

On 9/30/2020 at 6:27 PM, mksmith said:

I'm pleased to announce that Millie and Molly 7800 has gone gold and the game is fully tested and complete ?

 

 

OK...  I fully understand exactly what is meant by the above quote.  Now I'm going to ask a question that is really stupid in light of that statement for what's ultimately a pretty inane reason.

 

Just how frozen is the code?

 

Inane reason: I keep coming back to the demo version every few days, and thought that it might be a nice touch if Millie and / or Molly did a victory dance when a level is completed.  The sprites remain animated after the last object is collected, so why not have them do something a little different compared to their in-level motions?

 

There's absolutely no expectation on my behalf of this being included - I really do understand what going gold means, having been there myself.  But it was something I figured I'd mention for no very good reason at all ?

[+mksmith]

Just now, x=usr(1536) said:

 

OK...  I fully understand exactly what is meant by the above quote.  Now I'm going to ask a question that is really stupid in light of that statement for what's ultimately a pretty inane reason.

 

Just how frozen is the code?

 

Inane reason: I keep coming back to the demo version every few days, and thought that it might be a nice touch if Millie and / or Molly did a victory dance when a level is completed.  The sprites remain animated after the last object is collected, so why not have them do something a little different compared to their in-level motions?

 

There's absolutely no expectation on my behalf of this being included - I really do understand what going gold means, having been there myself.  But it was something I figured I'd mention for no very good reason at all ?

Hi! thanks for the suggestion! I tried to follow the c64 version as closely as I could but then as the wipe was different I decided to add the 'poof' animation to sorta match the 'magical' entry.  A little dance might be possible if existing frames can be used as the gfx blocks (and everything else!!) are totally full and only a handful of bytes are available.  

 

I might have a look over Christmas to see what might be possible but really appreciate you playing and thinking about how things could be improved!

[+x=usr(1536)]

5 minutes ago, mksmith said:

Hi! thanks for the suggestion! I tried to follow the c64 version as closely as I could but then as the wipe was different I decided to add the 'poof' animation to sorta match the 'magical' entry.  A little dance might be possible if existing frames can be used as the gfx blocks (and everything else!!) are totally full and only a handful of bytes are available.

 

Totally understood.  If it's not doable in the space available, I think we'll all live ?  The game is really great as-is, so the suggestion is really just extra frosting.

 

5 minutes ago, mksmith said:

I might have a look over Christmas to see what might be possible but really appreciate you playing and thinking about how things could be improved!

 

Cool, thanks!

[TwentySixHundred]

And while i was at it, with the moment of free time i had today, playing a bunch of new 7800 dev builds i gave the latest Millie and Molly demo a run. I haven't a 7800 so closest experience i can get to the physical copy. Very very nice and fun puzzle game! Really enjoyed this and got to around level 20 or so (wasn't keeping track). Just kicked my feet up and had alot of fun working out the puzzles. Nice relaxing no rush type of game i could just casually play through. The difficulty progression of the puzzles works really well. Not too hard but requires some planning ahead and smart thinking to solve. Such a great game ?