Post by Blaine on Apr 29, 2021 17:45:31 GMT -7
Our friend Ghislain has released yet another update to his game Realms Of Quest.
From Ghislain
And now I've broken my promise that version 1.50 was supposed to be the final one I didn't give the version number 1.60 to this revision because I think this update provides the most tangible upgrades in terms of features, hence now we have version 2.0. If I ever do put out a version 2.1, it will most likely be for fixing spelling and programming errors. I'm very excited to present this version and a detailed list of changes is provided below, as always. But here is a collage that visually demonstrates the new changes:
The magazine Komoda & Amiga Plus recently published a front-page feature on Realms of Quest V and my passion for making games for the Commodore VIC-20:
Furthermore, my previous publisher, Psytronik has re-released Realms of Quest 1-4 in a collection called _Realms of Quest Quadrilogy_:
...I will provide links on where to get these below.
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Revision 2.00 changes:
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-If you select the same monster that was chosen previously in the book of beasts, the file doesn't reload from disk
-A higher resolution version of the map is included in the digital download file
-An image of the medallion is included in the digital download file
-Fixed bug with Civil War slideshow (D81 version)
-Fixed bug with the decompressor
-Added a "Program is Loading" screen along with a memory expansion test (minimum 32K expansion required)
-Reveal location spell now also shows the map view from overhead instead of using the line of sight point of view (when on land or inside a city)
-Reveal location spell in the dungeon functions like an automap feature where you get to see the overhead view of a grid line-based map
-Fixed bug with Void Dungeon #2 that was trying to load Cerberus as a boss minion (monster no longer exists)
-Every time a new monster row attacks, its row is now highlighted
-Reduced screen redraw "blank-flash" in various areas of the game
-35K expander provides additional graphics for: Kill Zones (dungeon), Falling in pits (dungeon), hand raised in victory (combat), floppy disk (save game & prompt for inserting another disk side), stairs up/down (dungeon), and a party image (for player management)
-A Japanese language version of the manual is now available (thanks to Uncoda)
-You can view the main menu in the Japanese language by selecting the Katakana font from the settings sub-menu
-When you open a treasure chest, if your inventory is full then the 15th item gets replaced by the new item that you find. This is to avoid situations where final boss treasures are not found--because some of these are needed to progress in, or to win the game.
Revision 1.50 changes:
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-Fixed a color display bug in land/city/dungeon modules when cancelling a spell
-Selecting Give, Pay & Join in city conversation will flash the text area to provide a tactile response
-Selecting Bye during a city conversation will pause longer at the 'Farewell' message
-The Tablet is now multicolored for the Search command
-There are now 2 digital versions of the manual: Medieval font with original cover and Arial font with alternate cover
-The sailing ship icon now has animation
-Fixed bug with level draining
-Fixed bug with raise dead/resurrection where players with 0 maximum HP (permanently dead) were being revived with 0 hit points
-Corrected the Vigilant Armor so that it becomes Chain Mail+4 instead of Plate Mail+5 when it is destroyed (because this is a Priest item)
-Fixed bug so that when an ally is autokilled, its symbol is no longer displayed
-Fixed bug with Use Item->Gate Spell where the spell effect graphics became garbled afterwards
-Fixed display issues with resting at the Inn
-Reduced flicker when traveling over dangerous land or dungeon tiles
-Reduced flicker when printing numbers on the screen
-Fixed bug with greeting monsters
-Added Disk Labels graphic file to the digital download
-Changed the back cover to include a large, full screen graphic portrait image
-Fixed bug where "Use Item" would sometimes not ask the player if they wanted to use an item from their Personal items or Inventory
-Fixed display bug after using an item that had the Dimension Door power
-The screen will flash briefly when a traveling spell's effect has run out
-You can now see the direction that you're moving when you're inside the dungeons
Revision 1.40 changes:
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-The cursor color for 'Select Player' is now white, making it more visible.
-You can no longer cancel buff, clone, cure or heal spells for single player (this avoids the wasting of spell units by accident).
-You can use the exit keys from the History or Settings menu to return to the main menu.
-You can no longer remove allies (this was an almost never-used option)
-"Save & Return" has replaced "Return to Main" in the settings menu.
-Graphics display data is no longer corrupted when viewing a player who wields a missile weapon
-Fixed bug for "Use Item" where selecting an empty item to inspect caused the menu to change
-You can now use items directly from the inventory in non-combat mode (this reduces the need for having to equip them first, especially in the case of single-use items)
-You can now swap a player's equipment directly from the party inventory (this reduces switching between various menu contexts)
-Queen Alania is wearing fuller armor on the cover of the manual (this doesn't change what has been published in physical form, this is just my personal preference.)
-Added the "What We Are Fighting For" section on page 35 (replaces the full page image that used to be there)
-Added "Notes On The Revised Edition" on page 51 that explains why I still continue to work on this project, long after it was published in physical form.
Revision 1.30 changes:
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-New items: Aspergillum, Balthazar Ring, Blade Of Titus, Phase Armor, Shield Of Grace, Spirit Shield and Vigilant Armor were added
-Improved the presentation of the Items and Monster listings in Appendixes B & C of the manual
-Revised Armor Class values for Tiamat and Bahamut.
-Revised and corrected the XP values (LEV) for the more powerful monsters.
-Fixed a major bug (that was introduced in version 1.20) with the inventory that was causing the game to crash
Revision 1.20 changes:
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-Added images to death slideshow sequence
-Added 2 images for the "Dark Times" sequence
-Added digitized map to "Castle Rivaria" sequence
-Added additional images to "Civil War" sequence
-Made the in-game Search Tablet chart easier to read (to match what appears on page 34 of the manual)
-Changed "Acknowledgements" to "About This Game" to show a slideshow sequence about the features. Acknowledgements are listed at the end of the sequence.
-The Allies menu allows you to view information about your companions directly from here
-You can choose to view "alignment-sex-race-class" with runes symbols or 2-letter abbreviations
-The number keys can be used to switch the player that you are currently looking at with the View command.
-View Pic allows you to select additional player portraits to view when you are under this command
-Exit keys can be used to go from "menu mode" to "movement mode"
-A "Join" symbol appears next to the player when they have an ally.
-The number of files that are loaded when the game boots have been reduced
Revision 1.10 changes:
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-Lady Carmilla Bane's portion of the tablet is now located in the centre. This makes more sense from an aesthetic perspective.
-The village leaders now give you tangible clues on how to succeed in the game (instead of them saying "We saw orcs marauding in Samunda!" which is random and meaningless, they will say something quite useful like "Protection from Evil will raise the armor of your entire party during battle!")
-3 magic spells have been modified (for the sake of game balance)
-There were minor spelling and grammatical errors that needed to be corrected.
-Several graphical slideshow sequences have been added to the "History And Lore" section of the main menu. <- I found that I had a lot of free space across 4 disks after I implemented compression, so I decided to make use of it.
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Links from where you can buy Realms of Quest products:
Realms of Quest V (Double Sided Games): doublesidedgames.com/shop/commodore/commodore-vic-20/realms-of-quest-v/
Realms of Quest Quadrilogy (Psytronik): binaryzone.org/retrostore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=468
Komoda & Amiga Plus Magazine #15: ka-plus.pl/en/issue-15/
Online video and web reviews of the game can be seen here:
*VIDEO SERIES* Zerfall and Auld Dragon do a playthrough of Realms V: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCjjg0ubaac&list=PLjs2NZCwCa7Ld780a61gaOAYfd9uw-w1L&ab_channel=Zerfall
*BLOG SERIES* Ruby Golem Adventures in the Realms Of Quest: rubygolem.wordpress.com/
Robin 8 Bit Show And Tell: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUsYNwISNNs
Chickhead Chronicles: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-96vLn_SNzY
8 Bit Guy: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIKKuyGoqwI&fbclid
Thank you,
Ghislain de Blois