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[ALL PHYSICAL COPIES SOLD OUT!] Realms of Quest V for the VIC-20 (digital version is available)

hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
the demon looks a bit too much like the one from The Summoner though.
6260-summoner-windows-front-cover.jpg

I never heard of this game until now. Balrogs are fairly universal. Mine has no actual nose and has double fangs :)
 

hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
Here's a compilation of my most recent graphics work which has been focused on a review of the monster images.

file.php
 

hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
My publisher Double Sided Games has dedicated a portion of his booth at World of Commodore 2018 in Toronto (this weekend, Dec 1-2) to showcase Realms of Quest V. He also spoke about it during his panel as well. The game is being received quite well according to him.

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I really wish I still had a CRT television because an emulator or HD TV does not do justice to these graphics. There's a certain _je ne sais quoi_ in regards to the warm glow of the phosphor on these old televisions.
 

hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
I just finished a monster graphics review where I re-made quite a few images. Since this is a big game whose primary content will come from graphical images, I definitely want to make the game look as great as possible. I even re-made the player portrait images for the ogre (male and female).

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I also decided to implement some compression so that I can feature more content such as slideshow 'cut scene' images.

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hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
I just programmed poisonous marshes that appear on the map as well as they effects of poison as you travel (you lose 1 hit point for every step you take).





Poor Arwenne just couldn't make it back on time.

At this point, the game mechanics are almost completed. I just have to program a few odds and ends like the effects of walking through molten lava, how alignment affects spellcasting and the final monster encounter.

I can't wait to get started on writing the manual!
 

hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
I just finished programming the final encounter for the game. I'm so close to being finished, that I can taste it.



I'm hiding the final boss monster's name so as to not spoil anything. And of course, I have to playthrough the entire game twice to make sure that everything works properly and that the game is not broken. And there are a few minor odds and ends that I still have to do. And then, there is the manual that I have to write as well.

But today feels like a major accomplishment nonetheless.
 

hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
I'm working on the manual now. Here's a sample.

file.php


The race portraits at the bottom come from screenshots of the actual game, but hopefully a talented sketch artist will be able to draw black and white line image versions of these.
 

hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
So I am continuing to work on the manual. On the current page that I'm working on, I provide descriptions of the races in the game along with a runic symbol that they are associated with.

file.php


We've seen these before in my game because the green symbols that appear in the party list of player characters also displays runes that depict ALIGNMENT-SEX-RACE-CLASS:



So with these runes, you can look up what class or race your character is by looking up what the runes mean in the manual.
 

hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
So with these runes, you can look up what class or race your character is by looking up what the runes mean in the manual.
Won't it be easier to just open the character screen though?

I've had playtesters send me their save game files of previous games in the series where they named the characters in their party with names like ELF FIGHTER, SPRITE WIZ, etc. all the while they could have viewed those characters.

It was very annoying.

And these runes will also serve to help the player navigate through certain dungeons where magical traps will have runes that match alignment, sex, race and class.

The runes are KEY to the game.
 

V_K

Arcane
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
7,714
Location
at a Nowhere near you
I've had playtesters send me their save game files of previous games in the series where they named the characters in their party with names like ELF FIGHTER, SPRITE WIZ, etc. all the while they could have viewed those characters.
I'm not arguing with that. What I'm saying is that having an obscure rune displayed that you have to look up in the manual isn't necessarily easier.
 

hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
I've had playtesters send me their save game files of previous games in the series where they named the characters in their party with names like ELF FIGHTER, SPRITE WIZ, etc. all the while they could have viewed those characters.
I'm not arguing with that. What I'm saying is that having an obscure rune displayed that you have to look up in the manual isn't necessarily easier.

They can still view the character screen, runes or no runes. I like the runes. In fact, the catalyst for me to begin working on this game came from a dream where the idea for using runes to depict the ALIGNMENT-SEX-RACE-CLASS of the character with 4 custom characters (runes) inspired me. The VIC-20 screen size is quite limited, so this was a way to convey additional information.

So without the idea for the runes, there would be no Realms of Quest V :)
 
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hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
I'm a big fan of the old Dungeons and Dragons books, and I want the manual for this game to look like them as much as possible!

file.php
 

hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
I just added a major feature that a few people have been asking for: the ability to swap in and swap out party members in and our of a reserve. So I re-designed the save game structure to accommodate this feature. This will make it far more flexible in terms of being able to put certain player characters on hiatus if they need a certain type of character to take their place.




I also modified the mechanic for aging in that player characters will only age if they have Hit Points or Spell Units to recover as well as levels to train when they rest at the inn.
 

hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
Here I post some of the physical artwork for the manual by darkatx as well as some sample pages that I created for it.

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hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
Here's more artwork supplied by darkatx for the manual. I also started to actually do some proper playtesting for the game where I prepared a document with a list of things to verify to make sure that everything works properly in the game. I want at least to make sure that the game can be solved. I'm going to use an OpenPandora which is a Linux-based handheld gaming device that is running the VICE emulator.

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hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
I achieved a major milestone -- after playtesting the game for several weeks, I finally solved Realms of Quest V! I did it in about 50 hours of gameplay while I had access to all of the maps (effectively, I had a cheat guide handy since I am the principal designer. But rubygolem did design the dungeons). So based on that, I think it can be said that there's at least 100-150 hours of gameplay for a fairly competent old school CRPG there.

I might have made the game too big. There's 20 cities and 20 dungeons to explore. Each city has at minimum, 10 people to talk to. Each dungeon floor is 25*25 squares.

Here's some screenshots of my final playthrough session. The main quest involves uniting the legendary, but fractured Tablet of Uthar for the Grand Empress, Lady Carmilla Bane. I won't reveal what happens at the end and if you want to see it, you will have to buy the game and solve it!

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hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
The lady's last name is a bit of a giveaway :D Unless it's a red herring, of course.

I can't confirm or deny this of course. But things aren't what they seem.

I re-watched the first episode of Game of Thrones the other night. I think I might have been influenced by it when I made characters for this game, at least in terms of archetypes.

D1lzWgQUkAU6Oks.png:large
 

hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
Here is how the cloth map is going to look like. My artist has almost finished it.

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hitfan

Double Sided Games
Developer
Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
310
The boxed edition of Realms of Quest V is available for pre-sale orders. Click here to order: https://doublesidedgames.com/shop/commodore/commodore-vic-20/realms-of-quest-v/.

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Realms of Quest V is a role-playing game for the Commodore VIC-20 that is influenced by classics from the 1980s such as Ultima, Wizardry, Bard’s Tale, Phantasie and Telengard.

To play the game you will need a 32k ram expander. Joystick is recommended, but not required.

Featuring:

Over 350 multicolor graphical images that depict the monsters, characters and scenery portraits
16 races, 16 classes, 2 genders and 3 alignments
A party can have up to 10 player characters, plus 10 summoned monsters.
An overland map that exceeds it’s predecessor by a factor of four!
20 Cities and 20 villages
Persons that you can talk to and interact with
20 mazes and dungeons to explore
100 hours of game time
PAL / NTSC compatible!

Game package contains:

Cardboard Box
Game on 2 floppies (4 sides!)
Extensive Instruction Manual
World map printed on cloth
Greater Rivaria Coin
Digital version (D64 and D81 versions included)
 

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