Alternate Reality X - Release 1.0 - Target Release Date!

Time to draw a line in the sand. I first started the current form of my Alternate Reality: The City & Alternate Reality:The Dungeon remake project back in 2009 - A long, long time ago. I think I even still had a full head of hair back then! Alternate Reality X (ARX) as it's now known has come a long way since that 0.1 release back in 2009 and I've found myself diverted or distracted on occasion but the project is now well and truly back on track and developing on a daily basis.

Based on the solid progress I've made with development of ARX during 2016 I now feel that I can confidently announce a target release date for release 1.0 of the game. I have always envisaged 1.0 as completing my original vision for my Alternate Reality remake project - a full recreation of both The City and The Dungeon in a single, easy to use, seamless game for modern systems.

At the beginning of 2016 the game was still a confused mangle of code which I'd built up steadily between 2009 and 2015. It was full of workarounds, hacks and was very difficult to expand and add new features to. I've spent a lot of time reacquainting myself with some of my earliest code during the last few months which was a big challenge. I kept asking myself "Why did I do that????" Back then the main problem was that I was learning a lot about game programming for the first time and at the same time trying to develop the game. This often led to me making short sighted decisions without realising their longer term consequences. Later I would then struggle to bolt on a new feature to an increasingly precarious code base.

I'm pleased to say I'm now a lot more confident in my programming and game development skills and I've managed to gradually start to restructure my ARX code into a more sensible project. I've learned and read a lot about programming, C++, SFML and game development so I'm a lot better equipped to complete the project. I still have more work to do (and plenty to learn) but I expect to have a complete, well organised and (easily) expandable game by the end of 2016.

There is still a lot of work to do and features to complete before then but I feel really confident and excited that this is achievable and realistic. I can't think of any area or feature that I'm particularly daunted by. I know that completing the game will be hard work, challenging but also extremely satisfying. If the 1.0 release is well received then I can look to really expand on the Alternate Reality universe during 2017 with additional scenarios and other enhancements to the City and the Dungeon.

As you can see from some of the screenshots here I've finally set up Alternate Reality X so that you can finally encounter some of the more exotic Dungeon encounters that haunted the corridors and halls of the original game. I'm also continuing to add in the special behaviours and actions for each encounter type.

So, without further delay I'm pleased to announce that my target release date for Release 1.0 of Alternate Reality X is:

 Monday 5th December 2016 

It's a date I'll be putting in my calendar! Hopefully something of an early Christmas present for some people. This is likely to be Microsoft Windows only initially and will focus on completing 100% of the original features from The City and The Dungeon. You will also be able to complete all the Dungeon quests and complete that scenario.

I just want to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to those people who have supported me through Paypal, Patreon, the AR forums, Facebook or by sending me personal emails of support and encouragement through the life of the project. It has made a big difference to me personally that you've had faith in what I've been working on and continued to support the project. If you have questions about this release or how I plan to achieve it then please post them here, on Facebook, the forums or send me a private message / email.

I'm not announcing this release date lightly - I take it very seriously. It's not only a commitment to those who've supported the development of the game - some from the early years - It's also a big commitment that I'm making on a personal level to myself. I think for me setting this release date will only strengthen my resolve to complete the game and help me focus on reaching my development targets. Regular releases of the game will continue to appear leading up to the final 1.0 release. Release 0.75 will focus on numerous improvements around City and Dungeon encounters. Thanks for your patience and support.

Alternate Reality X - Encounter Update, May 2016

As mentioned previously the encounter code in ARX had a lot of issues and really needed some serious work if I was ever to make it complete and feel authentic to the original Alternate Reality combat. I've basically taken apart most of the encounter code before refactoring it and putting it back together again. This has taken me a lot time and a lot of hours but I feel I've made a lot of progress.

The encounter code is now much more sensibly organised and structured and it is much easier to add in additional encounter features. The code is hopefully a lot more readable now, not only saving me a lot of time when I add to it but also meaning that others will be able to understand it a lot more easily should they want to.

I'd crammed a lot of only vaguely related code into the encounter module including the character and monster encounters themselves as well as their weapons so it was desirable to split these into their own source files. My plan is to gradually make these much more object oriented with player and opponent objects sharing a lot of code and functions for much better consistency.

I've been adding in new encounter features that were previously missing in ARX such as the player surprising encounters (or in turn being surprised) or being stunned and missing a turn. I'm still doing a bit of testing of the original game to understand exactly ow waylay and snatch should work but it's good to have them in the game finally. You can see these illustrated here. The next change will be to add the Dungeon style combat messages and implement different body parts for the player which aren't fully active at the moment.

It shouldn't be too long before the next release is out. This will be focused on completing the remaining encounter features. I feel this will make ARX feel a lot more playable and authentic and will herald a big step forward for the project. Thanks for your support and patience as always.

Alternate Reality X- May 2016 Update

Work on improving the encounters in Alternate Reality X is going well. I've been stripping down the old encounter code, seeing what works and what needs re-working or simplifying as well as adding in the new features such as blocking, knock downs and special encounter actions. Lots of late nights but hopefully you'll think the improvements make a big difference and all the long hours have been worth it.

I've been reading up a lot on game programming (mainly C/C++ and SFML) and how to better organise my code for CRPG and Roguelike style games. I'm resisting the temptation to just build on some of my earlier shaky code as I really want to make ARX maintainable and expandable - it's the only way it will possible to expand the game to include other scenarios and new features.

I'm thinking of splitting the encounter updates and item updates into 2 separate releases to keep up with my plan of more frequent updates during 2016. Thanks for the continued support.