Hi there,
I’m trying to raise some additional funding through Paypal donations so that I can invest in better graphics software, off the shelf resources and/or some commissioned art. If you feel you could help out with any donations (however small) towards the project they would be greatly appreciated. Donations received will go directly back into the project to enhance it and allow Alternate Reality X to reach its maximum potential.
The project is now very lucky to have a professional musician working on the project and he’s doing some great work including content for the Arena, Palace and Wilderness scenarios. The new sound effects and music are really going to add significantly to make ARX come alive and have an even better atmosphere than the original I feel.
How will extra funding help? If the project can obtain some more substantial funding (don’t worry I’m not thinking Project Eternity here!) then it will give the project a lot more options about how we can develop it. The most common request I receive is to develop the remaining scenarios and whilst I have plenty of ideas of how the gameplay, mechanics, new features and story may develop, these scenarios will all require new visuals and graphic content if they are to be effective and enjoyable.
For basic graphics work I’ve been using Paint Shop Pro and its ok but it would be good to upgrade as it’s several major versions / many years behind and a bit buggy. Some 3D modelling software would allow us to produce 3D models and renders for new animated encounter graphics, animated shop interiors rather than the current static ones and some rendered 3D objects for the other scenarios to make the environment that bit more interesting. Maya was one I looked at briefly but I would look again before spending any money / funds. Another option would be software that can export to a 3D object format as well so that I could display the model geometry using OpenGL (Milkshake I think is one) for real 3D encounters which could maybe even be visible in the distance rather than just appearing at point blank range.
I have attempted to attract a serious artist to the project but no one seems interested and I’ve asked in several quarters where I thought I’d get good responses. I also contacted someone who had done art for a similar project which I liked but he has no interest in contributing to ARX. I am also considering commissioning an artist to do graphics but I would expect this to cost a fair bit which the project / I can’t fund at the moment.
I’ve also come across some excellent graphic resources such as textures and images which would be ideal for ARX but you need to pay for them – using these would save considerable time in developing my own and provide much better quality results than I can manage or that free resources can provide.
Some more funding will allow us to be able to consider these options seriously though and to produce the quality of imagery and potential of what ARX could be and that we all hoped for with previous Alternate Reality related projects.
Thanks for your continued support for ARX.
All the best,
Acrin1
Thanks for the compliments on the music. I am having a blast re-creating what is, in my opinion, one of the greatest – if not the greatest – gaming soundtrack of all time. It was ground breaking at the time…almost 30 years later, I still remember all of the lyrics to those songs. I hope that everyone feels like I do the audio some justice! I'll be contributing some original, new material, as well that will all keep w/ the spirit of the original stuff by Gilbertson…
acrin send me an email so we can chat about your latest topic.. thanks! MZ/JN
Have you tried Blender for 3D modelling? It does animation as well, and is free.
The music is very good. I like the improvements to the old AR music. You need to post the lyrics to the rest of the songs, and make sure the timing is right for the lyrics.