Alternate Reality: The City Competition

[Xebec's Demise]

Some creatures only take damage from magical weapons. I think dragons take damage from both, but your STR and the type of weapon will determine the damage done. I believe you can find any treasure off any creature, however usually magic weapons and armor like Crystal Plate are most often found while Treasure Finding is active. I think the Magical Flame Sword is the best weapon.

[Jim Norris]

 

I have found some additional pokes, which are not in AR faq file:

 

I couldn't find the ones for potions and treasure finding.

I also have some questions to all you more advanced AR people:

• Is it possible to combat a Spectre or Arch-Mage? There was no effect when I used a Longsword. I eventually disengaged and left.
• How to successfully combat a Small Green Dragon? I remember slaying it back in the old days, no chances this time.
• Which mobs can get you a Crystal Plate Mail? I remember getting it in the old days, but not this time.
• Ditto for the best weapon? What was the name of this magical sword superior to Longsword?

 

Here is a more complete list of pokes for Alternate Reality the City for the Atari 8-bit:

 

 

Alternate Reality City Character Stats

address stat

0x8900 d1d2 os game file 1 init address

0x8902 d1s2 os game file 1 load address

0x8904 d1s2 os game file 1 end of load address

0x8906 d1s2 os game file 1 start sector

0x8908 d1s2 os game file 2 init address [called if not 0]

0x890C d1s2 os game file 2 load address

0x890E d1s2 os game file 2 end of load address

0x8910 d1s2 os game file 2 start sector

0x8912 d1s2 os game files 1 and 2 run address

0x8914 ability to surprise or notice

0x8915 encounter rareness [player must roll 0 out of this number for encounter]

0x8916 hour [0-23]

0x8917 day [0-29]

0x8918 month [0-11]

0x8919 year low byte [0xA8 is 0 and 0xA7 is 255]

0x891A year high byte not used in inns

0x891B wind blowing counter

0x891C current soundtrack playing shadow I think

0x891D weather flag [1 = raining]

0x891E no wind blowing flag when not 0

0x891F old random character id [2 bytes]

0x8921 new random character id [2 bytes changed every save]

0x8921 temporary character flag [0=no 0x54=yes]

0x8923 character save slot [0-3]

0x8924 current location y

0x8925 current location x

0x8926 last location y

0x8927 last location x

0x892A fractional location [0x24 - 0x48]

0x892B direction you are moving [0-3] for position calcs

0x892C how big character steps are

0x892D auxilary hour counter [0-23]

0x892E strength1

0x892F strength2

0x8930 strength3

0x8936 fractional strength

0x8937 intelligence1

0x8938 intelligence2

0x8939 intelligence3

0x893F fractional intelligence

0x8940 wisdom1

0x8941 wisdom2

0x8942 wisdom3

0x8948 fractional wisdom

0x8949 skill1

0x894A skill2

0x894B skill3

0x8951 fractional skill

0x8952 stamina1

0x8953 stamina2

0x8954 stamina3

0x895A fractional stamina

0x895B charisma1

0x895C charisma2

0x895D charisma3

0x8963 fractional charisma

0x8964 speed1

0x8965 speed2

0x8966 speed3

0x896C fractional speed

0x896D evilness level [0-3] [0 = 0 1 = <3 2 = <0x1b 3 = >0 0x1b]

0x896E evilness

0x896F rounds of paralysis left when not 0

0x8970 poison resist - [monster attack chance for effect must be >= to have any effect]

0x897D potions

0x897E active poisons flag [each bit represents one entry in poison table]

0x897F poison table [8 entries of 5 bytes per entry -- +00=time between damage applications +01=damage - +03=count down timer - rest unused]

0x8A0D 2 byte counter flags

0x8A0E 8 entry table of 0x0a bytes per entry [ [+00 +01]=2 byte count down timer -- rest unused?]

0x8AA6 current experience points [4 bytes hi to lo]

0x8AAA current level

0x8AAE experience needed for next level [4 bytes hi to lo]

0x8AB2 experience needed from previous level [4 bytes hi to lo]

0x8AB6 hit points [4 bytes hi to lo]

0x8ABA maximum hit points [4 bytes hi to lo]

0x8ABE gold [4 bytes hi to lo]

0x8AC2 silver [4 bytes hi to lo]

0x8AC6 copper [4 bytes hi to lo]

0x8ACA jewelry [4 bytes hi to lo]

0x8ACE gems [4 bytes hi to lo]

0x8AD2 character magical defense values 8 bytes I think

0x8ADF currently readied armor name string 20 bytes

0x8AFF armor stats 8 bytes

0x8B08 not wearing armor when not 0 flag I think

0x8B09 armor cursed when not 0 flag

0x8B0A pointer to primary weapon name

0x8B0C pointer to primary weapon stats

0x8B0E which weapon is primary [0-4] [4 is bare hands]

0x8B0F pointer to secondary weapon name

0x8B11 pointer to secondary weapon stats

0x8B13 which weapon is secondary [0-4] [4 is bare hands]

0x8F1D disease name table [16 bytes per entry] [character 0 is set to inverted space to make name invisible]

0x8F1E disease name [15 bytes long in table 8 16 byte entries]

0x8FA2 intoxication level

0x8FA6 treasure finding level

0x8FAB food packets

0x8FAC water flasks

0x8FAD hunger - visible at 7

0x8FAE thirst - visible at 4

0x8FAF fatigue - visible at 0x11

0x8FB1 saved character file checksum low [8900 - 8EFF]

0x8FB2 saved character file checksum high [8900 - 8EFF]

To melee the small green dragon I think you just need massive strength and a lot of hit points :-)

or... invulnerability sharp, invulnerability blunt, and invulnerability fire and time.

The chance to get a weapon/armor of any kind is all that is in the monster tables and it rolls for that first.

This chance seems to go up every time you get that monster until it resets somehow but I'm not sure about that...

Once the game determines you are getting a weapon or armor, the roll for the individual item seems to be the same

regardless of which monster initiated the roll... which means there is a small chance to get these items.

If I have time I'll look at the weapon/armor roll code again and see if I can figure out the true percent chances

for each individual item.

Just from my experiences playing it seems knights drop a lot of weapons/armor.

[Jim Norris]

 

• Is it possible to combat a Spectre or Arch-Mage? There was no effect when I used a Longsword. I eventually disengaged and left.

 

 

Specter's stats:

 

 

----------------

Specter ( directory entry 5684)

----------------

karma penalty flag = YES (3)

alignment flag = evil

unused flag = true

ability to surprise = 100

base strength = 3

random strength = 1

base skill = 6

random skill = 3

base chr int = 7

random chr int = 7

base speed = 3

random speed = 9

base hitpoints = 8

random hitpoints = 8

player missiles used = 2

armor defense 0 (sharp)? max = 96

armor defense 1 (blunt)? max = 0

armor defense 2? max = 64

armor defense 3? max = 0

armor defense 4? max = 64

armor defense 5? max = 0

armor defense 6? max = 0

armor defense 7? max = 32

A specter has high armor against sharp, but no blunt defense. Try bare hands or a blunt weapon.

Also I'm not sure how the armor values are used... could be 9d6... or 96... or high bit set could have special meaning...

Arch Mage's stats:

----------------

Arch-Mage ( directory entry 55B0)

----------------

karma penalty flag = YES (3)

alignment flag = good

unused flag = false

ability to surprise = 120

base strength = 8

random strength = 7

base skill = 18

random skill = 7

base chr int = 18

random chr int = 7

base speed = 4

random speed = 7

base hitpoints = 35

random hitpoints = 7

player missiles used = 2

armor defense 0 (sharp)? max = 224

armor defense 1 (blunt)? max = 224

armor defense 2? max = 224

armor defense 3? max = 224

armor defense 4? max = 224

armor defense 5? max = 224

armor defense 6? max = 224

armor defense 7? max = 224

a weak spell

select roll level 25

base antiparry 255

random antiparry max 255

number of attack rolls 3

attack roll random max 2

strength difference affects attack roll

a spell

select roll level 45

base antiparry 255

random antiparry max 255

number of attack rolls 3

attack roll random max 3

strength difference affects attack roll

a enchantation

select roll level 65

base antiparry 255

random antiparry max 255

number of attack rolls 4

attack roll random max 3

strength difference affects attack roll

a strong spell

select roll level 85

base antiparry 255

random antiparry max 255

number of attack rolls 4

attack roll random max 4

strength difference affects attack roll

a dazzling spell

select roll level 95

base antiparry 255

random antiparry max 255

number of attack rolls 5

attack roll random max 4

strength difference affects attack roll

a over-powering spell

select roll level 100

base antiparry 255

random antiparry max 255

number of attack rolls 5

attack roll random max 5

strength difference affects attack roll

animation frame 0 lasts 240 vertical blank interrupts

x=119

y=117

Not sure what 224 means... but if it's really 224 out of 255 then it would be almost impossible to hit an arch-mage in melee.

Dragon's stats:

----------------

Small Green Dragon ( directory entry 5605)

----------------

karma penalty flag = NO (1)

alignment flag = evil

unused flag = true

ability to surprise = 40

base strength = 25

random strength = 15

base skill = 10

random skill = 15

base chr int = 20

random chr int = 7

base speed = 9

random speed = 7

base hitpoints = 40

random hitpoints = 31

player missiles used = 3

armor defense 0 (sharp)? max = 10

armor defense 1 (blunt)? max = 3

armor defense 2? max = 3

armor defense 3? max = 3

armor defense 4? max = 3

armor defense 5? max = 3

armor defense 6? max = 3

armor defense 7? max = 3

it's Claws

select roll level 40

base antiparry 12

random antiparry max 15

number of attack rolls 2

attack roll random max 3

it's Teeth

select roll level 70

base antiparry 12

random antiparry max 15

number of attack rolls 3

attack roll random max 3

it's Tail

select roll level 80

base antiparry 12

random antiparry max 15

number of attack rolls 4

attack roll random max 3

a scorching breath of fire

select roll level 100

base antiparry 12

random antiparry max 15

number of attack rolls 4

attack roll random max 5

animation frame 0 lasts 240 vertical blank interrupts

x=109

y=83

Looks like a blunt weapon will work better against a dragon than a sharp weapon... but again I'm not sure how the armor values are interpreted.

[Xebec's Demise]

Those armor defense numbers don't make any sense compared to how the game actually plays. An Arch Mage has 224 in every category, while a Small Green Dragon only has 10 for Sharp and 3 for everything else? There must be some other huge factor or we are interpreting those numbers incorrectly.

[Jim Norris]

Those armor defense numbers don't make any sense compared to how the game actually plays. An Arch Mage has 224 in every category, while a Small Green Dragon only has 10 for Sharp and 3 for everything else? There must be some other huge factor or we are interpreting those numbers incorrectly.

 

If the monsters and characters use the same calculation, which I think it does, then:

 

bits 7-5 are special flags used to modify stuff. I'm not looking directly at the disassembly soo I could be making mistakes...

001 = double character's attack

010 = halve character's attack

000 = no modifications

if anything else then if wearing monster armor, character's attack is set to 0 otherwise monster's armor is set to attack value. This is the archmage case I think.

 

bit 4 is the cursed armor flag. If it is set then character's attack value is doubled.

 

bits 3-0 are used as the base armor value, (which might actually be added to any previous modifications)

 

archmage armor pattern is 1110 0000 soo it's the set armor value to attack value case which probably has the effect of nullifying the attack.

dragon's armor is 10 soo maybe the attack/damage roll for that category has to be higher than 10?

[Xebec's Demise]

I've been trying to fix the sound on my last two gameplay videos, but I wasn't able to figure it out. I didn't bother commenting on them, because they're too annoying to watch with the sound out of sync. But, for the record, here they are anyway.

 

http://youtu.be/WJWnk6IW_kw

 

http://youtu.be/STwRzLjbgdo

Edited October 7, 2013 by Xebec's Demise

[Chunder]

Wow, can't believe that this thread is still going after all these years (or even that my account is still active!)

 

Loving all of the new stories, particularly the videos (that's what prompted me to come back - I stumbled across the Thomas Anderson one on G+!). Nice to see the competition still going, and lots of characters doing so well... has given me an urge to fire up the emulator again I'll have to try and follow some of the tips, as a lot of what you' em been doing recently is completely counter to my usual style.

 

All the new technical info from Jim is great too, so thanks for sharing it with us... and thanks also for Resurex; was it on one of the Page 6/ NAU coverdisks at some point? I've just had a quick look back over my mags but couldn't see it - but I remember it being a lifesaver (if you'll excuse the pun!)

 

Has anyone found any gold dragonskin clothing yet? I didn't see any mention of it in my catch-up read though

[Xebec's Demise]

I noticed some of the entry screenshots were broken in the OP, but thanks to archive.org I was able to fix them.

 

The mystery of the elaborate clothing system still goes unsolved! I would still like a full set of gold dragonskin clothing as a goal and to experiment more with how encounters react to clothing, but I don't think I've found even a single piece yet! I still think that such a relatively large aspect of the game must have some purpose...

[Xebec's Demise]

@Albert I was just reading the Wikipedia article on Alternate Reality and I happened to check the first reference link because I wanted to see the exact date that Alternate Reality was released. The reference didn't have the exact date, but to my surprise, our Atariage Alternate Reality: The City competition was mentioned and linked in an article from gamedeveloper.com:

 

The History of Computer Role-Playing Games Part 2: The Golden Age (1985-1993).

 

"In 1985, a Datasoft published Philip Price's Alternate Reality: The City, the first of a planned series of five games based on the same premise: aliens abducting the character and transporting him to different "realities." Even though only two of the games were ever published (the second part, The Dungeon, appeared in 1987), the series maintains a cult status, particularly among fans of Atari 8-bit computers (where it originated). Atari Age even hosts a competition for the game that is still going strong! The games feature first-person perspective and nice graphics, and are in many ways much ahead of their time. Both The City and The Dungeon are located on Medieval worlds, so most of the standard fantasy conventions still apply (mages, dwarves, etc.) However, Alternate Reality is more realistic than most CRPGs of its era--the avatar gets thirsty, hungry, and tired. The only way to address these problems (and get better equipment) is to raise capital. Thankfully, players can store their money and earn interest at banks, though the really profitable investment plans are risky. Even the treasures weren't always good; many items were cursed and had dire consequences for unwary players. And, as if all this isn't enough--it often rains, which apparently brings out the truly dangerous denizens of Xebec's Demise. Frustrated (or evil) players are free to prey upon the innocent. In any case, the high degree of realism and complexity makes Alternate Reality one of the most challenging of all CRPGs. Downloads and emulator information is available here."

 

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/the-history-of-computer-role-playing-games-part-2-the-golden-age-1985-1993-

That's pretty cool! I only found out by chance 16 years later. 😁

@eobet's website is also linked to for downloads and information.

Edited October 8, 2023 by Xebec's Demise

[Gravelpits]

Behold, the dreaded (not Richard Ramirez) Nightstalker!

 

*This is not a submission for the competition; this character was backed up numerous times. I just thought it would be fun to provide a screenshot of this rare beast to the forum members. 😛

Edited January 21 by Gravelpits