Alternate Reality "The Remake"

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.

 

 

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.

Quality	Color	Fabric	Type
Cheap	Gray	(Not specificed)	Jerkin
Simple	Green	Linen	Breechcloth
Fine	Gold	Wool	Toga
	Orange	Silk	Robe
	Red	Cotton	Cloak
	Silver	Satin	Vest
	Black	Fur-Lined	Hat
	Brown	Dragonskin	Pants
	White		Shirt
	Purple		Dress
	Plaid		Blouse
	Yellow		Skirt
	Blue		Socks
	Striped		Scarf
	Maron		Tie
			Raincoat

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.

 

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.

 

This is another small udpate on what all has changed from the 0.83  version of ARX to the Java Edition that is related to the game.  Nothing about inside code changes between the two.

This update is about the Tavern mostly,  ironing out all the different things about a tavern that was in the original 8-bit/16-bit game.  Friendship level is complete now,  done to the point if your friendship gets to low they will kick you out and you have to wait for 30 days to get back in.  This is a very minor change in the game but want to make the feel of the game complete.  Still need work on the digestion part of the player stats.

• Added - If you become VERY drunk in a tavern, they will kick you out and reduce your friendship level
• Added - Random chance of alignment increase if you take a job at the tavern.
• Added - Multiple message for buying round based on your friendship.  Instead of the static message, it can be between
            2 different messages based on your friendship level for each group.
• Added - If you attempt to but a drink or food item and do not have enough money, your friendship value will decrease
• Added - If sitting at a private booth in a classy tavern, the items on the table change.  They are not just popcorn or nuts
             They are Breadsticks or Hors d'oeuvres, it randomly picks which item to put on the table.  For a non classy tavern
             it will randomly pick between nuts or popcorn in the booth.
• Fixed - Food and drinks change on the hour like the original game not once a day any more.
• Added - Friendship will be reduce if last visit is over 30 days.  Come on Cheers guys showed up everyday!!!
• Added - Tavern, if friendship is to low, you will be thrown out.  Have to wait 30 days for this to be reset.
• Added - Different greetings in the tavern based on your friendship level like the original.

 

This is a small udpate on what all has changed from the 0.83  version of ARX to the Java Edition that is related to the game.  Nothing about inside code changes between the two. I'm working hard on getting all the Modules to be a state machine so they do not loop inside its code forever.   This way it just goes into the module displays its screen and checks for user input and leaves.  So the main game loop keeps looping all the time.   You can die in a shop now!!!   Say if you have a desease and standing in the lobby, if the update hits you with a new update on the desease and takes hit points away you can die in the shop on the lobby floor.   Poor shop keeper, he has to clean you up.  Talking about not being a good customer!!!!

• * Added - Fatigue has been added to the game. You will get tired over time.  Your Embumbrance will increase how fast you become fatigued.
             Once your very tired,  then it will start affecting your stats like the original game.
• * Fixed - Thirst and Hunger stat has been enhanced,  while sleeping the amount is reduced while sleeping by 50%.  So you get hungry/thirsty
            slower while sleeping like the original
• * Added - Rotating indicator on status panel like the dungeon has been added to show when time is advancing.  In many shops(Interactive areas)
            the time doesn't change ever, thirst, hunger and etc never changes when sitting at these menus.   I've started changing all modules to not get stuck
            in loops causing it to have its own loop for drawing screen and getting inputs.   They go through the main game loop and time is updated.
            So sitting at a menu in say shop, time will progress and you might leave and it be dark now.  Or desease will affect you standing the the lobby.
• * Added - ViewPort size menu option.  You can select between "Small" and "Large".  Small is the normal viewport like the original. Large is full screen
            below the status panel.
• * Added - Title songs with text has been added to the main menu.  Also, in the background,  stars fly by like the original.  
            It will play it at random intervals.  You can stop is by pressing "S" or start is by "P".
• * Added - You have 3 screen sizes to select from.  Orignal of 672x512, 1344x1024 or fullscreen.  The game will just scale all items for the last two
            screen options.
• * Added - Put in more of the gate sequence features the original had.  You now have the electric fence effect, and also after selecting your stats.
            The screen will be erased just like the original 8-bit/16-bit The City game.
• * Added - You now have the ability to select the different graphics options like 8-bit/16-bit/Alternative, and now you do not have to restart the game.
• * Added - Game Configuration now saves on exit of the game.  So manually editing of the ini file is required.