71 replies to this topic

[eegad]

okay, this is just my 2 cents tossed into the discussion of what i personally would LOVE to see. i remember reading about AR in Antic before it was released. i placed an order from some catalog immediately, and then waited 6 months to get it. played the city til i exhausted it. waited 3 years (or whatever) for the dungeon, and then played that for at least a year before finally 'winning' by getting past the aliens/robots on the lower level.

so....

i would love to see the game pretty faithfully recreated/ported to pc. the demo release looks very promising. ultimately what i'd want from this project is :

- ability to import my old ar character. i have the .atr file of my city and dungeon character disks, which i play around with on an emulator maybe once a year. so to be able to import that rather than start over is a biggie.

- ability to travel back and forth between city/dungeon (and other areas?).

- unlock areas like the arena and palace. they don't have to be massive undertakings. maybe just the ability to fight creatures and earn money when entering the arena (ie- only one or a few 'rooms' necessary, some menu options, some random battles), and some small sideline quest at the palace would be nice (run an errand for the king, maybe pay your taxes, maybe report crimes....just something to do there). ability to join guilds and do a few small quests/jobs would be most welcome.

- and most importantly, the ability to FINALLY, after 25 years, FINISH the game.  like maybe when you defeat the lowest level in the dungeon you get a key that unlocks the 'wilderness', so you can exit the city. have some area of forest and plains out there to traverse, ecountering random creatures and trying to discover a hidden area that you can enter and be able to be transported back to earth.    that's a just a random thought off the top of my head.  there's info here on atariage in some old AR posts, as well as a website devoted to the game out there on the web, that contains 15-20 year old text files from philip price talking about what he had planned for the storyline and expansion packs. just take that basic idea and condense it to something manageable, and lets all FINALLY be able to bring our poor abducted characters back home again!

[latino.ad7]

acrin1 said:

Thanks to the great efforts of other AR fans at opening up the mechanics and data from the original AR I've been able to use the real encounter data, graphics and combat mechanics where previously I was just having to make up my own.

A side question, where did you get the original code from? Is it accessible somewhere? Might be interesting to take a look at it...

Edited by latino.ad7, Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:06 AM.

[acrin1]

latino.ad7, on Mon Aug 17, 2009 1:04 PM, said:

acrin1 said:

Thanks to the great efforts of other AR fans at opening up the mechanics and data from the original AR I've been able to use the real encounter data, graphics and combat mechanics where previously I was just having to make up my own.

A side question, where did you get the original code from? Is it accessible somewhere? Might be interesting to take a look at it...

Hi,

The original code is lost we're told. I've put links on the page below to the two sites I've used a lot:

http://www.crpgdev.com/links.html

It's Kroah and Jim Norris' pages that have the detailed disassembly work.

A lot of my time is spent trying things out manually though in the original games - I've just been working on adding night and day background changes.

[acrin1]

Hi there,
  
I've updated my Alternate Reality remake project. This is my third release and includes the following additions from version 0.2.

- Character creation and gate sequence for the City
- On screen optional mini-map and full screen map (initial versions)
- Fixed teleports for level 2 of the Dungeon
- Name character with upper and lower case letters
- Frames Per Second counter option
- "Wait for encounter" option
- Buy and equip weapons and armour from the City Smithies
- Buy and equip weapons and armour from the Damon & Pythias shop
- Fixed various formatting problems (Currency, weapons and armour, combat)

You can download it from: http://www.crpgdev.com/

There is also a forum at http://arproject.50.forumer.com/ and a blog at http://crpgdev.blogspot.com/

If you don't fancy downloading it there are a number of screenshots of the latest version on the website and blog.

Feedback as always welcome.

Thanks, Acrin1

[AtariNerd]

Excellent work, as always, acrin. Was just about to bump the thread, when I saw you already had. Well, one good turn deserves another.

[bfollett]

Looks nice.  I played around with your alternate graphics.  One suggestion, you should put some sort of vertical lines at the boundaries between wall panels.  If you are trying to find a hidden door that you know is 5 wall panels down, there is no way to count the panels with your alternate tile set.  Also, I remember there are were some screenshots posted of the unreleased(I think) Amiga version of the Dungeon.  If you "borrow" those from the web, you could get some better graphics for some of the dungeon locations.  If you're interested and can't find them, let me know and I'll do a little searching.  I know they were posted somewhere on the web a few years back.

Bob

[Tin_Lunchbox]

eegad, on Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:11 PM, said:

[some text clipped] there's info here on atariage in some old AR posts, as well as a website devoted to the game out there on the web, that contains 15-20 year old text files from philip price talking about what he had planned for the storyline and expansion packs. just take that basic idea and condense it to something manageable, and lets all FINALLY be able to bring our poor abducted characters back home again!

I agree with this. It would be wondrous to let Price's old remarks about his vision inform the development of the remake. Do I recall as well he had in mind some gladiator sequences in the "Arena?" It would also be compelling if multi-player Internet play could be added, though that may be asking for a lot of work.

I looked at the website briefly and those images look great and, while the graphics are somewhat improved, they seem true to the Atari 8bit style fom what I saw.

[acrin1]

Hi,

I've just uploaded the latest version of my remake - release 0.4 to the downloads page of:

http://www.crpgdev.com

The main additions are as follows:

* Encounter transact menu added
* Monster behaviour now based on alignment
* Added some encounter behaviours for healers (healing), thieves and noblemen
* City night and day encounter tables added
* Added some dungeon fixed encounters in the Well Lit Area
* Added group encounters to the fixed encounters in the Well Lit Area above
* City Inn room bonuses for regaining HP now in place
* Fixed currency handling in City Inns
* Treasure drop and pickup added for food, water, torches, timepieces, compasses, keys, crystals, gems, jewels, gold, silver and copper
* Fixed currency calculations when paying for items with gold, silver and copper
* No longer displays a second window when game is running
* Added Dungeon Level 3
* Fixed the second encounter bug
* No longer crashes when leaving the City for the Wilderness

Thanks,
Acrin1

[Xebec's Demise]

Tin_Lunchbox, on Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:29 AM, said:

I agree with this. It would be wondrous to let Price's old remarks about his vision inform the development of the remake. Do I recall as well he had in mind some gladiator sequences in the "Arena?" It would also be compelling if multi-player Internet play could be added, though that may be asking for a lot of work.

How about just an online version of the original game first? Where the game is run online and characters are stored on the server? I know this is more inline with web development and modifying the original game to run and save in a web browser, or with a small client, rather than a rewrite, but I think the programming experience may be even more beneficial and interesting to someone in that line of work.

acrin1's project is even more beneficial in the long run if it allows the creation of the expansions and missing content, but I suppose some kind of online emulation like in Java would allow a similar outcome?

[Xebec's Demise]

Xebec, on Tue Aug 30, 2011 7:45 PM, said:

Tin_Lunchbox, on Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:29 AM, said:

I agree with this. It would be wondrous to let Price's old remarks about his vision inform the development of the remake. Do I recall as well he had in mind some gladiator sequences in the "Arena?" It would also be compelling if multi-player Internet play could be added, though that may be asking for a lot of work.

How about just an online version of the original game first? Where the game is run online and characters are stored on the server? I know this is more inline with web development and modifying the original game to run and save in a web browser, or with a small client, rather than a rewrite, but I think the programming experience may be even more beneficial and interesting to someone in that line of work.

acrin1's project is even more beneficial in the long run if it allows the creation of the expansions and missing content, but I suppose some kind of online emulation like in Java would allow a similar outcome?

Apparently someone has already made a Java emulator. You can play many of the following Atari games online in a web browser, just click on the joystick on the right of each game page:

http://atariland.spb.../4---atari.html

Doesn't look like they have AR yet.

More info: http://atarionline.p...nID=1442&page=1

This comment was interesting: "you can compile Atari800 directly to Java (using NestedVM)"

Edited by Xebec's Demise, Sat Sep 3, 2011 12:33 AM.

[acrin1]

Hi,

I'm still working away on this and after a long break I've released a new version of my Alternate Reality remake, version 0.41. It's available from the download page at:

www.crpgdev.com

Additions / Fixes include:

• City Courier healer bug fixed
  
• Use food packets and water flasks
  
• Buy food and drink from City taverns
  
• Basic recording of hunger, thirst and alcohol levels added
  
• City Tavern jobs and memberships now available
  
• Updated city map with correct signs and Arena walls by Dalimar
  
• Added Trolls and Goblins palaces
  
• Added Dungeon Chapel placeholder and music
  
• Added fountains to Dungeon
  
• Mini map and full screen map no longer slow down frame rate due to SFML 2.0 library
  
• "Use" command now works during encounters
  
• Mercenaries / Paladin guilds in Dungeon no longer crashes
  
• No longer crashes when using the secret doors in the outer City walls to move from one map side to another
  
• Mini map now displays during encounters
  
• Lots of code reorganisaion behind the scenes

Feedback as always greatly appreciated.

You can read about updates and what's next here:

http://crpgdev.blogspot.com/

Thanks,
Acrin1

[Rybags]

The stats scroll way too quickly at the selection screen.  Although I'm used to playing on Pal systems so maybe they roll slower on Pal.

The Smithy didn't seem to have anything under 7,500 coins.  I initially went to the other one near Arena but he was closed (which in itself was a real annoying aspect of the original game)

First time I tried to play City it dumped me back at the name entry after selecting stats.  Worked OK though when I tried it later.

[bfollett]

Rybags, on Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:32 AM, said:

The stats scroll way too quickly at the selection screen.  Although I'm used to playing on Pal systems so maybe they roll slower on Pal.

The Smithy didn't seem to have anything under 7,500 coins.  I initially went to the other one near Arena but he was closed (which in itself was a real annoying aspect of the original game)

First time I tried to play City it dumped me back at the name entry after selecting stats.  Worked OK though when I tried it later.

I have to agree with the Scroll speed I've played on an NTSC machine and the stats still scroll much faster than the original.  I don't know if that was intentional, but with the original game, you could actually watch the stats scrolling and pick a favorable time to enter the gate.  With the current scroll speed, its just a crap shoot at what you get for stats.  Didn't you used to have an option for enhanced graphics?  Did you do away with that?

Bob

[acrin1]

Rybags, on Sun Mar 25, 2012 8:32 AM, said:

The stats scroll way too quickly at the selection screen.  Although I'm used to playing on Pal systems so maybe they roll slower on Pal.

The Smithy didn't seem to have anything under 7,500 coins.  I initially went to the other one near Arena but he was closed (which in itself was a real annoying aspect of the original game)

First time I tried to play City it dumped me back at the name entry after selecting stats.  Worked OK though when I tried it later.

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback.

I need to work on display timing for both the stats screens and the encounter animation so that they don't run at different speeds on different computers. This will also be really important when I try and imitate the music / lyrics in taverns and other shops.

From memory each smithy will pick 10 random items to sell every day. This has the annoying side effect of sometimes not having anything affordable to buy. I think this was the same with the original.

Not come across the dumping back at name entry problem before -  I'll watch out for that one.

[acrin1]

bfollett, on Sun Mar 25, 2012 11:14 AM, said:

I have to agree with the Scroll speed I've played on an NTSC machine and the stats still scroll much faster than the original.  I don't know if that was intentional, but with the original game, you could actually watch the stats scrolling and pick a favorable time to enter the gate.  With the current scroll speed, its just a crap shoot at what you get for stats.  Didn't you used to have an option for enhanced graphics?  Did you do away with that?

Bob

Hi,

I'll try and fix that speed issue.

I've temporarily removed the enhanced graphics option but it will still be there in the final version - mainly because many of the textures in the enhanced set were missing which kind of ruined the effect. I really want to combine the replacement textures with some replacement encounter images as well but I haven't anything suitable just now. I'll get back to it when the gameplay is more complete.

Thanks.

[Rybags]

From memory, the main Smiths always had at least one of the cheapest 2 blade weapons.

Maybe a better idea is to create pools of weapons/armour and do the random selection such that at least one from each pool is available.  I'm not sure on the exact method in AR but I think that on a given day the selection available would always stay the same.

The map is handy, but it's hard to pick up where you are.  Maybe a flashing arrow slightly larger could help.
It does give thinigs away though, maybe the option to have establishments hidden until you actually visit them would be better.

[acrin1]

Hi,

Release 0.42 of Alternate Reality X is now available from the downloads page at:

www.crpgdev.com

The main changes include:

•    Adjusted the speed of City and Dungeon gate counters to make them slower as pointed out above - let me know if you think this has improved things
  
•    Added save and load game option (10 slots)
  
•    Updated auto map to only display explored areas and it mark establishments when discovered
  
•    Smithies should always offer at least one cheaper weapon
  
•    Smithies now restock on a daily basis as in the original Atari 8bit City
  
•    Added a save game / quit game options & keyboard commands help screen
  
•    Sell gems and jewels at the Dungeon D & P
  
•    D & P now displays coins in silvers not coppers
  
•    Level 2 fountain now recognised
  
•    Various bug fixes

Please note that the save and load game options are really only experimental just now so I wouldn't recommend putting lots of time into building up a character at this point as I can't guarantee that the save games will be forward compatible.

Thanks.

[bfollett]

I didn't play with the new program too much yet, but a couple of quick notes.  First, as to the scrolling speed of the stats at the gate,  I think you went too far in the other direction, now the stats scroll too slowly.  Second, I'm under Windows 8 preview, so I suppose this could be an issue only there, but your program does not respond to trying to close the program either by clicking on the X in the upper right hand corner of the window or typing "ALT" F4.

[acrin1]

bfollett, on Tue May 29, 2012 4:03 PM, said:

I didn't play with the new program too much yet, but a couple of quick notes.  First, as to the scrolling speed of the stats at the gate,  I think you went too far in the other direction, now the stats scroll too slowly.  Second, I'm under Windows 8 preview, so I suppose this could be an issue only there, but your program does not respond to trying to close the program either by clicking on the X in the upper right hand corner of the window or typing "ALT" F4.

Ok thanks for the feedback - I'm glad to see you said it was too slow - I was worried you and Rybags might still find it way too fast on your machines. I'll now try some side by side tweaking of the original with my version to try and get the speed about right.

You can quit the game by pressing ESC and selecting Q to quit. It will then prompt you "Yes or No" and send you back to the main menu - a bit long winded I suppose. I disabled X and ESC to quit because a few people said they quit the game by accident or by pressing ESC too many times - I'll try and tweak behaviour here a bit so it maybe gives you the "Quit (Y or N)" message rather than just close down the whole program.

[acrin1]

Hi,

Demo 0.43 of my Alternate Reality X remake is now available from the downloads page at www.crpgdev.com. The main changes since demo 0.42 include:

• Added full source code for ARX to the game download
  
• City and Dungeon guilds now fully merged together
  
• All Guild functions added including joining, remove curses, learn spells, practice spells, deposit / withdraw from guild locker, resign, full / associate membership
  
• Added "Drop" command
  
• Added "Cast spell" command
  
• Added "Healing", "Conjure Food", "Conjure Key" and "Location" spells
  
• Added "Offer" command to "Transact" menu
  
• Fixed visual map zone issues where walls and floors had incorrect textures and colours
  
• Tweaked City and Dungeon gate counter speed and increased starting values slightly for stats
  
• Fixed move backwards bug which allowed characters to pass through walls

There's a saved game included with a level 3 character to allow people to join the guilds and try out the new features there.

I've also put together a "Release Roadmap" which I'm confident will take ARX up to version 1.0 by the end of this year. I've posted this on the ARX forums and the blog at http://crpgdev.blogspot.co.uk/.

Feedback as always greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Acrin1

[acrin1]

Hi,

Release 0.5 of Alternate Reality X is now available. You can download it from the downloads page at:

http://www.crpgdev.com





It includes the following changes:

• Added "The Retreat" in the Dungeon for resting and recovering lost hit points
  
• Added "bartering" for weapons and armour at the "Damon & Pythias Shoppe"
  
• Added "bartering" for weapons and armour at the City Smithy
  
• Added "Alternate graphics" option back in from the main menu
  
• Added an "Acknowledgements" page from the main menu
  
• Added F1 - F4 hotkeys for going directly to the information screens

I'd welcome any feedback, comments or bug reports you may have for this release.

I'm also accepting donations via Paypal (link on www.crpgdev.com) if you would like to help support the further development of ARX.

Thanks,
Acrin1

------
Alternate Reality X / Stone of the Citadel
Email: acrin1@googlemail.com
Website: www.crpgdev.com
Forums: arproject.50.forumer.com
Blog: crpgdev.blogspot.co.uk

[acrin1]

Hi,

I've now set up an Alternate Reality X facebook page. You can see the latest screenshots for ARX and expect other interesting bits of news relating to all things Alternate Reality.

http://www.facebook....277276259054861

To get things started we have:

A couple of screenshots showing the new full screen 3D view mode
Screenshots from the planned Monolith / Philip Price AR remake

I've a few other pieces of news coming up including another AR remake I've come across and "job openings" on the project team for ARX to help take it to another level!

Thanks,
Acrin1

[acrin1]

Hi,

I've now released version 0.55. It's available from www.crpgdev.com.




In release 0.55 you can find:

• Banks added - Open and close up to 9 bank accounts, deposit and withdraw, sell gems and jewels, apply for jobs, view account balances and view bank failure rates
  
• New smooth version of the AR font
  
• New full screen / window 3D view with information overlays and large encounter graphics (just borrowed placeholders for now)
  
• New 3D fogging for darker dungeons (new graphic style only)
  
• Lots of new graphics textures including Palace and Arena entrances, enclosed areas, level 2 of the Dungeon etc
  
• Added ARX.ini configuration file for setting video resolution, full screen mode and graphic style
  
• Added F12 key to display information for debugging / bug report purposes

If you have any comments or issues with the latest release then please let me know.

Many thanks,

Acrin1

acrin1@gmail.com

Edited by acrin1, Tue Oct 9, 2012 1:33 PM.

[acrin1]

Hi,

It's been a while since I posted but I've busy updating Alternate Reality X which is now up to release 0.60.

I've fixed a lot of bugs and expanded the gameplay quite a bit.

There's also a set of new versions of various Aternate Reality music provided by Furious. These are well worth checking out if you're a fan of Gary Gilbertson's original AR music.

Release 0.60 can be downloaded from the downloads page at www.crpgdev.com

The changes (excluding bug fixes) since 0.56 include:

• Implemented City and Dungeon encounters as a single set using same encounter object format
  
• Combined encounter images into single set using Dungeon images for majority
  
• Added all Dungeon fixed encounter specials (32 in total)
  
• Added weapons for encounter specials above
  
• Added a Dungeon Quest
  
• Added stat bonuses when levelling up
  
• Added Strength, Intelligence and Charisma bonuses for repeated successful actions
  
• Dungeon encounters now award correct experience points when you defeat them
  
• Dungeon encounters now award correct experience points for 50% of hits during combat
  
• Added Knight to Dungeon encounters & related alignment adjustments
  
• Added Pauper introduction message
  
• Added text for quests to Oracle module
  
• Switched development to new version of SFML 2 media library
  
• Switched development to Visual Studio C++ Express 2010
  
• Added Barred door interaction in Dungeon - Locked, Bolted and Enchanted
  
• Added some Dungeon unique treasures - Razor Ice, Sword of the Adept, Map Stone & Amethyst Rod
  
• Expanded weapon format to include bonus to hit, parry, 2 handed, alignment, minimum stat requirements
  
• City Enclosed areas added by Dalimar
  
• City deathtraps fixed by Dalimar
  
• Fixed some Dungeon zone colour schemes
  
• Added Encumbrance / object weights, messages and some side effects
  
• Added "Use timepiece" option to display hour and minutes
  
• Added menu option to select new music where available (Tavern, Smithy, Troll King, Goblin King, Guild, Death)
  
• New versions of Tavern, Smithy, Troll King, Goblin King, Guild and Death music from "Furious"
  
• Added on screen song lyrics for Death and some other music
  
• New song from Furious - The Nightstalker added to Taverns

[acrin1]

Hi,

I've released a couple of updates of my Alternate Reality X project since last posting here (recent screenshot below). The option to play with the original Atari 8bit graphics and music are still there for those who want a more authentic AR experience.



The most recent changes allow you to make friends at the City Taverns through buying rounds. If you then find yourself in trouble later on and visit a tavern where you've made friends they might look after you. I've also completed all the functionality for the Dungeon's Damon & Pythias shop so you can now buy those much needed provisions such as torches and water flasks for exploring the dark Dungeon corridors.

The previous version also introduced the switch to CodeBlocks for development and project files so if you would like to try ARX on Linux or Mac it should be fairly quick to recompile. All the source and project files are included in the download. This version also added the artwork from the unreleased 16bit Amiga version of the Dungeon and fixed the compatibility issues some players had with onboard Intel graphics chipsets.

You can download the latest version from : www.crpgdev.com/downloads.html

I'd welcome any comments you have on the current version or project in general.