Alternate Reality (series)

Alternate Reality
Company type	Video game franchise
Industry	Video games
Founded	1985
Founder	Philip Price
Products	Alternate Reality: The City, Alternate Reality: The Dungeon
Parent	Paradise Programming

Alternate Reality (commonly abbreviated as AR) represents an incomplete role-playing video game franchise developed by Philip Price, the founder of Paradise Programming. The series was published by Datasoft, with the initial release, AR: The City, debuting in 1985, followed by AR: The Dungeon in 1987. While Price was unable to finalize the second installment, it was completed by Ken Jordan and Dan Pinal, featuring a soundtrack composed by Gary Gilbertson.

Concept

In the game, players find themselves abducted by extraterrestrials and transported into an "alternate reality" through a portal that resets their character attributes. In 1988, Datasoft refuted claims that the storyline would conclude with The Dungeon, outlining plans for a finale where players uncover that the city's residents are encased and preserved aboard an alien pleasure craft. This ending would present pivotal decisions impacting the fate of the ship, its alien occupants, or a possible return to Earth. Nevertheless, only two titles reached completion.

During the late 1990s, Price intended to develop an MMORPG iteration titled Alternate Reality Online (ARO) in collaboration with Monolith. However, financial obstacles impeded progress as Monolith concentrated on existing projects and encountered difficulties securing external publishers due to the game's technical complexity and uncertainties surrounding the MMORPG market. Consequently, rights reverted after the partnership ended; Monolith eventually proceeded with creating The Matrix Online.

The "Lost" Games

The original concept for the series encompassed six titles:

The City
The Arena
The Palace
The Wilderness
Revelations
Destiny

Datasoft's early release of The City separated what was initially a combined package including The Dungeon. The original design aimed for seamless transitions between game worlds—for instance, prompting disk changes when exiting specific areas—but this functionality was only partially realized on the Atari 8-Bit version of The City. Later sequels lacked compatible programming to support such integration.

Beyond The City, only The Dungeon reached completion. The other five titles remained at the conceptual stage without further development.

The City (and its sewers evolving into The Dungeon)

Set in the city called Xebec's Demise, this location served as the central hub for the series. Beneath it lies The Dungeon, comprised of four nested levels, each progressively smaller than the one above.

The Arena

Within this setting, captors seize new gladiators from the City/Dungeon to compel them into combat, reflecting the player's own initial abduction from Earth. Players may enter as either spectators or free combatants, engaging in limited "character versus character" battles utilizing saved game profiles. Characters can be retired into a life of luxury—effectively marking a victory—but continuing play requires starting new characters. Retired figures return as opponents for newcomers.

The Palace

Centered on political maneuvering and property management, players have the ability to modify city layouts by constructing or demolishing buildings. Advancing through political ranks could culminate in becoming king of the city—a form of character retirement. New entrants would then encounter or challenge this reigning monarch.

The Wilderness

Designed as an expansive outdoor environment for discovery, The Wilderness served as a journey to unveil the mysteries behind Alternate Reality. It incorporated various traps and obstacles intended to test and challenge participants.

Revelation

Players could exit the holographic realm by either accessing an extraterrestrial vessel located beneath The Dungeon or by navigating through the wilderness area.

Destiny

Armed with sophisticated alien technology and aided by extraterrestrial allies, players confront their captors aboard the alien ship. Within the ship, they find a chamber filled with metallic cocoons containing captured individuals, revealing that their experiences have been projections while their actual bodies remain confined. The ship’s computer orchestrates these illusions, prompting reflections on the nature of reality and consciousness.

In the end, players must make pivotal decisions: accept existence as immortal projections under alien dominance; disconnect from the system at the risk of destroying either the ship or Earth; flee Earth in a smaller craft; choose to either annihilate or bring the planet aboard for examination; or betray humanity. These choices mark the conclusion of the player’s narrative.

Technology

AR utilized a 3D first-person viewpoint featuring a small central viewport that occupied roughly one-ninth of the display. Control was limited to a single character, who had minimal on-screen representation—most notably through encounters with "doppelganger" enemies. Contrary to other 3D titles of its era that relied on static wall textures and grid-based movement, this game enabled smooth incremental movement influenced by character speed, with distant walls becoming clearer over time.

The game employed a raycasting engine akin to that used in Wolfenstein 3D, which was released seven years later, though movement was restricted to right angles only. Environmental dynamics included color shifts at sunset, animated waterfalls, and visual rain effects.

An innovative anti-piracy mechanism was integrated into the initial game, The City. Unauthorized copies appeared operational but resulted in character deterioration and death after gameplay commenced—manifesting as illness on Atari systems or relentless combat encounters in Apple II and Macintosh versions. In The Dungeon, pirated versions triggered unbeatable battles against two "FBI agents," halting player progress. Due to a software glitch, transferring characters from the city to the dungeon required mailing disks for a corrected version.

Gameplay

Character attributes such as strength, intelligence, and charisma were displayed at the top of the screen; some traits like alignment were concealed and deduced through interactions with non-player characters. Temporary or permanent changes to stats could occur due to potions, poisons, intoxication, or disease. Players needed to manage hunger, thirst, fatigue, comfort (temperature), and carrying capacity. Supplies of food and water were scarce and had to be replenished regularly; resting was only possible within inns, obliging players to return periodically to safe zones during their adventures.

Due to financial limitations, the first title featured minimal storyline content; conventional RPG narrative elements emerged primarily in the sequel, although players often spent considerable time before appreciating their relevance.

The user interface dynamically cycled through displays at the bottom of the screen showing consumables (food, water, currency, torches), equipment status, combat options, spells, and more. A compass appeared on the left side when available; directional arrows were placed on the right.

Gameplay complexity surpassed many contemporaries: items within the finite world could be stolen but were recoverable. Carrying an excessive inventory prompted an encounter with The Devourer—a creature that forcibly removed items from players to prevent memory overload. Death was a fundamental aspect and difficult to circumvent—characters started marked as deceased and could only be revived upon saving the game; revival imposed penalties on statistics.

Ports

Originally created for Atari 8-bit computers, the Alternate Reality series was subsequently adapted for various other systems.

The City

Amiga
Apple II
Atari 8-bit computers
Atari ST
Commodore 64
MS-DOS
Mac
Tandy Color Computer 3

The Dungeon

Apple II
Atari 8-bit computers
Commodore 64 / 128

Reception

Alternate Reality: The City garnered a range of responses, receiving a 3 out of 5 star rating in Dragon issue #135 and achieving a perfect 5/5 value score in Computer Gamer issue #12. Reviewers noted the game required considerable dedication to progress. Its follow-up, The Dungeon, obtained a somewhat lower rating of 2.5 stars from Dragon. In a 1993 review, journalist Scorpia acknowledged improvements in The Dungeon over its predecessor but pointed out that both games exhibited significant flaws.

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