Alternate Reality

Alternate Reality
Publisher	Datasoft
Senior Developer	Philip Price
Erstveröffent- lichung	1985
platform	Atari 400/800 , Commodore 64 , Apple II , Apple Macintosh , Atari ST , Amiga , DOS
genre	role playing game
Game mode	1 player
control	joystick
medium	diskette
language	English

Alternate Reality is a series of fantasy - computer role-playing games of the Games Developer Philip Price . Of the seven planned episodes, however, only two ( The City and The Dungeon ) have been distributed by Datasoft . Both games were trend-setting in terms of graphics and game atmosphere in the field of computer role-playing games.

The City

Initially programmed only for Atari 800 (XL / XE) and released in 1985, the game quickly became a bestseller. The epic opening credits, the atmospheric background music by Gary Gilbertson, a sophisticated game system, various possibilities for interaction with the game world as well as the real-time-based pseudo-three-dimensional graphic implementation contributed significantly to this.

Kidnapped by a spaceship in a city on a strange planet, the player in The City tries to prepare his character for the adventures in the other alternate reality episodes. This includes, for example, putting together the best possible equipment and achieving a high level of experience.

Due to its great success, The City was ported to almost all 8-bit and 16-bit computer systems common at the time. In addition, Datasoft published an accompanying brochure called Alternate Reality Newsletter , which can be subscribed to, to support and inform the players .

The dungeon

Due to business differences between Datasoft and Philip Price, the second part, The Dungeon , was designed and programmed mainly by Ken Jordan and Dan Pinal . As with the first part, Gary Gilbertson took over the creation of the game music. It was published in 1987, initially only for the Atari 8-bit computers.

In The Dungeon, gameplay has been relocated to the underworld of the city. Players who owned both pieces could move freely between the two games, making the two games work like one big game.