Quick Update – 8-bit graphics

admin March 11, 2018 0 Comments

I’ve been working on the Atari 8-bit graphics when it comes to the city.  I’ve completed completely over hauling the background system.  No more multiple images for the background images.  There are only 4 textures,  one for each moutain.  Also,  The original 8-bit game has animation on the southern mountain with a river.   I’ve added that part to the game.  Looks good.   Also,  added the sun rise and sun set effects from the original 8-bit game.   I’ve completed the rain effect in the 8-bit version of the game.  Like the other systems, the rain intensity is based on the weather condition.  I”m not completely happy with the look.  It feels different from the original.  Not sure how much more I’m putting into it.  But the weather system for the 8-bit and 16-bit are completey now.  Feels so much more like the original game.   The game is coming together.

• Added – 8bit style.  If you become very thirsty and you have water packets. The player automatically drink the water.  This is the new style.
• Added – 8bit river.   The 8 bit bit river animation has been added to the game when viewing the mountains in the south.
• Added – 8bit sun.   Sunrise and Sunset is now implemented in the 8bit version.
• Added – 8bit rain.  The rain for all system of system is in the game.  They are in their own class,  At start of game it determines the graphics  defined and creates the correct class for that type.

Quick Update – Lightning effect for 16-bit

March 11, 2018 0 Comments

I’ve implement the 16-bit lightning effect and got it into the game.  It looks good.  I actually like it, like the little flashes that it creates during the duration of the lightning.  Also, implement the 8-bit rain effect and it is working great.  Even though it doesn’t have the exact feel of the 8-bit.   I’m not sure if I’ll continue tweaking it to be 100% like it.

When it comes to the weather the 16-bit and alternate has a new feature that the 8-bit will not have.  If the weather indicates it is freezing and it calls for rain,  it will render SNOW instead.  Snow intensy is based on the storm intensity.  So it could fall light to heavy based on the degree of the storm.  During a SNOW STORM, the sun effect during the 16-bit version, will not be drawn.  

Also,  implement the timer event for the game.  This way can start to implement timed events for potions.  Really implement deseases and curses correctly.

Torches work on the timed events.  Also, they work in The City.  It will light the area for a timed event.  Then the torch becomes a dead torch.  Which at this point it is just a stick as a weapon.

• Added – Timed events started.  Works with Torches.  Torches has a duration now.  Will burn out and become useless. Can be used as a weapon but just like a stick.  a blunt weak weapon.  This is the start of events for potions/magic.
            Now I can give potion timed event.  do not like items structure.  It is way to hard coded and limiting.  Like a torch the type is a weapon.  There is no way to determine what kind of weapon it is.  I want to change this but it is not important at this time. 
• Added – You can use torches in the city now.  At night the city can get dark and its hard to see in the distance.  If you use a torch, it will provide light for a period of time
• Added – 16-bit Amiga –  It now has snow.  If the temperature is below freezing, and the game calls for rain.  It will display snow instead how much it snows is based on how big of a storm it is.  Also, during a snow storm, the sun doesn’t show. 8bit it only rains, no matter how cold it is.  The game didn’t have that feature.
• Fixed – Fixed the thunder sound.  It can choice between short vs. long thunder sound and will repeat based on how frequent it calls for it.         
• Added – Experience points are rewarded differently between charm/trick  vs. death from fighting.  Your experience points for charming is different from the attack.
• Added – Started to add in “Game Options”.  The ability to select 16-bit Guilds   vs. 8-bit Guilds.
            Started to add the ability to select 16-bit experience point rewards vs. 8-bit
            Started to add the abillity to select 16-bit healer options bs. 8-bit
            Once a character is created, then from that point forward, you are force to use that type of game option.
            No switching back to the other style after creating your character.
            
            Right now missing menu option during creation to select which style you wish to use. Its hard coded to a certain one right now

Quick Update – Shops and Alcohol

admin March 8, 2018 0 Comments

This is a small update and it is mostly related to Shops and drinking.   Friendship for shops is completed.  If you enter it while your drunk, they will kick you out and reduce your friendship level.  30 day waiting period if your friendship gets to low. Taking damaged during working at a shop can now happen.  Greetings change based on your friendship level in the shop. So you can use this to judge where your friendship level is.

Bargain system for shops is much more complicated now.   It was very simple before.  Now your friendship with the shop does affect how well you can bargain with the shop.  Don’t piss off the shop keeper or your friendship will reduce.  You only have so many attempts to bargain unless you piss the shop keeper off and they can quit the bargain then.  Or extend it if your not to bad on the value.  So play around and get your items for the best price.

Character creation numbers where to high.  It is possible in the 8-bit version to go as low as 3 and ARX limited it to 10.  I changed it back to 8-bit version.  Want that hard feel the original game had.

Alcohol system has been completely rewritten.  You don’t get drunk instantly.  partial effect to the blood system and then the rest has to get digestion and then into the blood stream.  So you can drink several items and not be completely drunk but 20 minutes later become very drunk.   Now since the alcohol system is now complete.  The next step is to put in the side effects of being  tipsy, drunk and very drunk.   random screens,  random moves,  possible blacking out.   Don’t pass out in the street, you might wake up with missing items.  Thiefs are plenty in city streets.

• Added – Alcohol effects your stealth stat.
• Added – Alcohol drinking has changed.  It uses blood concentration and instetine concentration.  So you don’t become instally tipsy or drunk. Over time the alcohol is transfered to the blood and your level of alcohol in the blood affects your drunkenness.   Then slowly over time, once all the alcohol is out of your instetines, then removed rom the blood you return back to normal.  This is like the original game.
• Added – Change creationg stats to match more of the 16-bit game.   The stats were always to high for minimum.
• Added – Taking job in a Inn will use the fatigue rate for the job.  So you will get tired faster than normal.
            You have a probablity of receiving a wound during your job.  It could be a minor or major wound.  Luck would be have it to die during work.  Watch out.
• Added – Add sequence for shop offers.   This is much more advance and your friendship to the shop affects what is acceptable.  If your offer is to low then you may be kicked out and your friendship is reduced.  If it gets to low then you will not be acceptable for 30 days.
• Added – Shop friendship is in place.  If it is over 30 days since last visit, your friendship will be reset for that shop.  Based on your buying of items and bargaining, your friendship can increase and/or decrease.
• Added – Shop,  if you enter while drunk, they will kick you out.  This hurts your friendship with the shop.
            Frequency changes the greetings,  so vist more often.
            If you fail to bargain then it will reduce your friendship level with the shop.
            If your friendship falls to low then you will not be allowed in the shop.  Have to wait for 30 days.

Quick Update – New addidtion to the game

admin March 4, 2018 0 Comments

This is an update on what I’ve been working on this week.   I’ve worked on the weather system and got most of it working.  Missing the 8-bit graphics and the visual part of lightning.  the 16-bit and alternative graphics has rain drops and those rain drops have depth to them. You will see rain falling behind walls in the city.   Also, when you go into a building you can still here the rain but its sound is reduce by more that 60%,  so it just sounds like outside instead of no sound at all.

In the weather system, there is temperature now,  so the player can get cold and hot throughout the year.   I did an update on the weather system already, so I will not go into it here. So clothing is required now and has an effect.

The best part of the update is the HUGE expansion on the shop.  The clothes has had a complete over all on it.  It doesn’t have limited clothing anymore.  They are not hard coded anymore.  The game will make them up based on the 4 types that make up a piece of clothing.

Each shop has only 12 items per day,  it might not be for a very long time you see all possible combinations.   A random number is generated for each type and then the system generated an item based on those 4 types.  Cost, weight, dapper, warmth, ware quality and water proofness is generated through a combination of those items.   So during the summber months I would not suggest wearing heavy items, save them for the winter so you don’t freeze.

Player can be affected by the temperature, so watch out what you where in what temperature.   You coulbd become “Cold!” and then affect your ability to fight and stay alive. or get too hot and become more fatigue and become thirsty even faster.  Inside the any shop will be always 72°f. 

Next big update that happened this week was getting 3 different primary stats working for the player.  You have  shown, active and real stats for all 6 primary stats.   If you are having dilusions, the stats shown on the screen will not be true and you will not know what your true stats and even HP are, so watch out.  Each stat has 3 kinds of penalties for them,  you have hunger, thirst, fatigue, depending on how your player is currently affected.  So you can’t go without eating forever anymore without a side effect.

Everywhere in the game it calls for one of your stats to determine a charm, trick or surprise and etc..   It get your active stat for that stat.   That may or may not be what is shown on the screen,  so keep your character healthy.

You can become bloated in the game from eating and drinking to much at one time.  So don’t let yourself become to hungry or thirsty at one time because you might have to drink and/or eat to much at one time to remove that and become bloated.   Being bloated will slow down your movement in the game.  Depending on how bloated you are, the speed will be reduce in different stages based on that players stat. So don’t get to full.  Also, when trying to leave an encounter your speed is what determine if you leave.  If you are bloated then this affect your ability to run away.  So don’t go fighting on a FULL stomach.

 Potion,  you now have the ability to identify the potion going through the steps.  But also, in the original you had the ability to lose that potion,  small chance but its there going through identifing it.  So watch out you don’t want to see “Poof!” as a result of taste or sip.  Also, your wisdom is used to idenitfy a potion, so it will use your active wisdom and not your true wisdom.

Adjusted the trick/charm options in the encounter.  Charm is based on the opponents charisma,  is they are to simple it will not work.  The difference between your charm and the opponents charm determines your chance at success.  Of course it is using your active charm now.   Tricking an opponent works the same way but it uses your intelligence.

Offering an item during encounter is way more complicated then before.  There are many variables to determine what happens.  Sometime the opponent will accept and leave, sometime take the item and stay and sometime refuse to take the item at all.  Its based on their intelligence and alignment what they will do.

Now if your are in the palace court at the top of the hour, you will hear the palace theme playing like the original game.

When leveling up, stamina plays a big part in your increase in HP.  But when this occurs it uses your active stamina.  so don’t leave up when your under something.  Another option that changed for leveling up is all of your stats, before was just a random number to increase your stats.  Now it is based on a random number and that stat,  so the higher the stat the smaller amount that stat will increase over time.  So it will be hard to jump to 255 really fast.

All parts of the encounter system will use your active stat and not the real stat to determine what ever it needs at that time.  So being hungry, thristy and cold  is not a good time to go looking for a fight.

Big changes to the banking system.   Governemnt game in and said we needed regulations, so there are new rules for each bank.  Ok,  there are failure for saving accounts now.  So watch out, before it never did failures.  Each day the system will run and check for failure and handle your interest rate increases for each account in each bank.  Bank hours have been added to the game, they are not open 24hrs anymore.  Selling gems/jewelry has different values based on the bank you are trying to sell it to.  The game did not implement the appraisal option. Still have to add that.

• Added – Shown stats so delusion and other magic works on what you think your stats are.  So you now have shown, active and real stats for the primary stats.
• Added – Complete rewrite of the clothing items.
            It is somewhat dynamic now.  Clothing is made up of 5 different things to make an item.  So there are
            now hundreds and hundreds of clothes.  You can dress as you wish.
            Quality of cloth, Color of cloth, type of fabric, type of clothes (robe, shirt, pants and etc)
            Price is based on all those types to come up with a total.  
            Clothing affect your warmth level, so it will prevent you from being to cold.  But could make you too hot
•  Added – Added possible account failures in banks
•  Added – Bank hours added to the game.
•  Added – Selling Gems/Jewelery  has different values depending on the bank you are trying to sell it to.
•  Added – encounter sequences now uses the affect stats value instead of true value.
•  Added – If you offer an item to an encounter where the intelligence is less than 5 and evil.  They take it and still stays.  If the character is bad alignment, then based on alignment and money you have, they will decide if it is ok and leave.  Otherwise take item and stay.
• Added – The chance of charming an encounter is now based on affected charisma not true charisma.
• Added – Player status level up is based on the players stats, the higher the stat is the lower chance of increase
• Added – Level up of hit points is based on affected stamina instead of the true stamina.
• Added – Added temperature system into the game.  Its based on month, weather type and hour of the day.
• Added – Added playing the palace theme song on the top of the hour every hour if if you are in the palace courtyard like the original 8-bit
• Added – enhanced the background mountain images.  Background texture is just the mountain now.  Sky and ground is drawn by the software now.
• Added – charm/trick attempt that fails, will cause any attempt after than a 50% likely to fail again.
• Added – Started to add in speed feature.  Depending on your speed, it will determine how fast the player will move around in the game
• Added – Idenity of potion feature is completed.  Based on wisdom you have a chance of identified the name of the potion if it is successful
• Added – Original game had a small chance of the potion going “POOF” during the Sip/Taste/Quaff.  This had been added to the game
• Added – Bloated to the game.   Once you eat you will get bloated if you eat to much.  This will reduce the speed of the character while  bloated.  Depending on how bloated you are, the speed will be reduce in different stages based on that players stat. So don’t get to full.   Right now it is only movement speed that is working.

Quick Update – Weather Update

admin March 3, 2018 0 Comments

This is another short update on the weather system in Alternate Reality.   The weather system is almost complete and working pretty nicely.   I’ve gotten the 16bit version working pretty nicely.   The rain is based on the 16 bit information,  like how much, how long and etc…   it changes based on month and type of weather that is selected.  Lightning sounds will play also, but do not have the visual aspects implemented.   Next I will put in the 8-bit graphics of the rain.  Want the 8-bit rain to look like the old 8-bit rain.

Also, in the 16-bit version, the rain has depth unlike the original where it only rain in front of the screen.  You will see rain fall behind walls and out of view.  Will see large rain drops when they are close.

The background in 16-bit mode is completely different from the C++ version.   The only texture is the mountain.  The sky and ground is drawn based on weather condition and time.  

Hope you enjoy.