With 1,459 downloads, I’ve received a lot of feedback about Book 1 of Betrayed Alliance, and mostly I’m happy to say the game is fundamentally stable! But there were some intrepid folks who joined us on Discord and shared some curiosities and anomalies!
So why a patch so quickly?
The Kickstarter-funded update (v. 1.3.1) released just 3 weeks ago, so what did we find?
Just your typical spattering of game crashing scenarios, null textboxes, and priority drawing problems.
Not to mention more misspellings than a six year-old’s handmade birthday card:
So why a patch so quickly? Bottom line, I want people’s experience with the game to be as great as it can be, so the earlier the patch fixes a lot of the found issues, the better!
Important Notice about Save Files
Save games you made with version 1.3.1 will NOT work in 1.3.2. I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do about this, it’s just the nature of how saves work in SCI. It might load and look like it works, but in the end, the game will crash when you run into any of the changes that were made.
Other notable changes:
The 1-puzzle point tied to the dart board minigame no longer requires a game win, just challenging the sailor at all.
The circuit-board puzzle now gives feedback to the player when they place certain pieces next to each other.
“Searching” has been added to certain places where looking inside or through things is likely.
Auto-guided stairs and hills can now be reversed if triggered on accident.
Itinerary of Long-Term Fixes
There are some fixes/additions that will take some time to do and we’ll shoot for those at a later update. These are more ambitious goals that we couldn’t get out the door in just a few weeks:
Optimizing the game for era hardware
Creating a better darts minigame from the ground up
Making keyboard-only gameplay possible
Adding support for all additional sound drivers
Soundtrack News!
Also, Brandon Blume has put out the MT-32 soundtrack for Betrayed Alliance on his website. Check it out!
That said, I’m announcing a small patch update to BAB1 for next Thursday, May 23. I’ll tell you what we found, and also what we’re looking at for bigger patches down the road.
Perhaps the most egregious inconsistency is a “look at chest” command which tells you with absolute certainty that the chest has no lock on it, and yet when you try to open it, you get box-blocked by a “It’s locked” message. Nope, it’s not that the game has an untrustworthy narrator, it’s just that I messed up!
The quick-travel map is also slightly bugged, but not in a way that matters for gameplay. Yes, it will always take you to the right place, so no worries there, but a small bug makes it so sometimes foreground images are drawn OVER the map.
Believe it or not, I’m one of the most typo-prone prose writers in the known world. When you add to this the fact that SCI Companion (the tool I used to make the game) has no onboard spell/grammar checker, and you’ll be left with a game riddled with typos. Some of them have been uncovered and fixed – but I’m sure more are lurking in the shadows!
One other “fix” we’ve made concerns the darts minigame. Due to the difficulty of the game’s controls, we’ve made a small change – you now get the puzzle point tied to the game not for winning, but just for challenging the sailor in the first place. While winning 3 times does give you some stats boosts, it is no longer necessary to win a game of darts for puzzle points.
Bigger Things Down the Road
We also have some bigger plans for updates later, one among them is a complete overhaul of the darts minigame, which has been a common complaint about the game.
BAB1 currently supports Adlib, Soundblaster, and MT32 sound drivers, but we plan on getting it up and running with Tandy, PC Speaker, General Midi, and all other sound drivers that used to be standard for games of this type.
As we continue with Books 2 and 3, it will become more important to allow players the option to export and import their character and stats from one Book to the next, similar to the Quest for Glory series.
Show Me What You Got!
The update is coming in just a week. Tell me what you found! Are there bugs, inconsistencies, and/or misspellings that I missed? Join our Betrayed Alliance Discord and let me know!
Are you ready to experience the first part in a trilogy of EGA adventure? Well, it’s ready for you, too! The game is free to download and play, so get it here and have fun!
“I will never work on this again!” I said to myself.
Have you ever worked on something for so long it evolved into something else? I have! And that thing is “Betrayed Alliance”
Why am I writing something critiquing my own game series a mere 7 days before a release? Mainly I just wanted the information out there, so that people who were confused by the mess of the series, can understand why and how it got that way. And just why has “Book 1” been “released” three times?!
The Lost Demo for Betrayed Alliance
Betrayed Alliance “Book 1” starts in medias res having apparently just escaped from jail. Seems an odd place to start a game, especially since you could just as easily start the game “on the run” from the authorities. The reason for this oddity, which could have been a part of the game itself, is that once upon a time there was a demo for Betrayed Alliance called “Knight’s Quest,” where you play the character from Betrayed Alliance and you do mount a daring escape. That demo, while surely still exists somewhere, now has other plot elements that are not part of Betrayed Alliance.
Now you see what a mess I’ve really made of this whole thing!
There was never intended to be “Books” in this trilogy! It wasn’t supposed to be a trilogy at all! It was just supposed to be one big game. But, due to the fact that by 2013, I had worked on the project for almost seven years – of very sporadic and unfocused time – and completed only the first 1/3 of the game, I thought I would just finish that 1/3, call it “Book 1,” and never touch the damned thing again. After all, in that time, three large life-changes had happened:
I got a full-time job
I got married
I had just had my first child
Silly things like working truly countless hours on a game that probably no one would ever even play, and likely wouldn’t even be good, seemed like a thing of the past. Lot’s of negative self-talk in my old mindset!
Book 1 being released apart from the rest of the game limited its features, especially combat, which would play a bigger role in the entire game, but only plays a small role in the first part. Because of this, combat in Book 1 feels tacked-on and unimportant. I decided to make combat completely optional because it seemed just so unnecessary.
The release of Betrayed Alliance Book 1
Kidney stones, running 5ks, and being a dad for the first time. There was plenty on my plate already in 2013, but just before fall I made an announcement, that I would wrap development on Book 1 of Betrayed Alliance and release it to the small SCICommunity. Six months of crunching and a mad dash of bug fixes and I release on Christmas of 2013, just as a really early trailer had announced.
That was that. I released a free game to the world, but almost no one knew about it, and even less people cared! But I was proud of my little accomplishment, and there were a few people who enjoyed the game and let me know. After a while, I put together a walkthrough at the request of a few people who had gotten stuck, and after a couple of years I patched the game to fix some of the biggest bugs – one of which made the game nearly incompletable!
Six Years of Distance
Every once in a while someone would ask how Book 2 was coming for Betrayed Alliance. And I’d always reply with the same response: “Sorry, I’m not working on it anymore.”
From 2013 to 2019 I had found a new hobby, writing fiction. After I self-published a couple of young adult/middle grade stories, I set out to write something bigger and something a bit deeper. I had an idea for a pirate story featuring mystical islands with a lot more depth than a typical swashbuckling adventure. I set out to write this book year after year, each time ending in shipwreck. In the meantime, every time someone would ask about Betrayed Alliance, a new spark of excitement would ignite within me.
I also caught sight of a little indie project called The Crimson Diamond, by Julia Minamata and was blown away by the beautiful artwork she had created with the same colors and resolution I had been working with. I was greatly inspired by Julia to level up my artwork, which would lead to the creation of new backgrounds for Betrayed Alliance Book 2. In 2019, I had decided I was back on board the ol’ project.
The Attack Plan
At the outset, brimming with new project enthusiasm and stupidity, I thought I would complete both Books 2 and 3 together. After all, I completed Book 1, so I have the experience and know-how to sidestep many of the issues. This idea was short-lived, however, as the reality of the work set in.
So I formulated a new plan, one that would justify the Book division of the game. Each Book would have it’s own unique gameplay focus. Book 2 would feature a two-playable character system and Book 3 would feature a time-based day/night cycle and the ability to revisit the areas of Book 1 with new quests and things to find (in addition to a fully explorable new area of comparable size).
One major concern about the game was its lack of sound support. It was a DOS game, but used a Windows program to play music and sound. This needed to be fixed, but I wasn’t competent enough to solve it. Luckily, I knew someone who was. That’s where Brandon Blume comes into the mix. His knowledge of the hardware and sound drivers are making it possible for Betrayed Alliance to be truly DOS and truly retro in all aspects.
Needless to say there is no comparison between the old artwork and Karl’s updates. It’s like when an artist takes a child’s drawing and makes something intricate and beautiful out of the basic design.
The Third Release?
Yes, it’s true, albeit unfortunate! In 2023, I had released a demo for Betrayed Alliance Book 2 eager to share with the Kickstarter backers and legendary folks who support me on Patreon the fruits of their generosity and the outcome of my work for the last few years.
Then the obvious happened. People downloaded not the demo for Book 2, but rather Book 1, naturally! And while Book 1 has a certain charm to it, at this point I was embarrassed by the artwork, most of which was done over a decade ago at that point. And the fact that there was a game-ending bug that effected a non-zero percentage of runs irked at me. It needed addressing and fast!
I had released Book 1 in 2013, did a major update in 2019, but the Kickstarter stretch goal to update the artwork and music had not been completed. I became afraid to promote the demo for Book 2 as it would lead people back to Book 1, so I decided to shift focus from Book 2 to completing the Book 1 update, which has been a lot more work than simply switching out backgrounds and music tracks!
Where Things Now Stand
Book 1 now stands ready to launch in May of 2024. The first “launch” was in 2013, and went hidden and unpublicized. It was made for a small community and it didn’t reach far beyond it. I spent a year fixing bugs and adding quality of life features and re-released it in 2020, now with a bit more reach. I say “a bit” in that I didn’t really ask any personalities/reviewers to talk about it. But there were a few people who streamed it on Twitch and a handful of YouTube videos of people playing the game.
The third release, however, feels like a whole different animal. The game is now quite beautiful and much more polished, and best of all, doesn’t have a “heap space” error that crashes the game on at least 10% of playthroughs! Yes, the game is still free and always will be. The whole thing started because when I was 20 I found a program that could make games like I loved when I was a kid. It all comes down to that creative impulse. I just wanted to do it!
So What Now?
Get the game! It’s free! Play it, share it, do whatever with it. Have some old-school fun!
If you want to support me in finishing the series, know this, I am slow! I have a fulltime job and three dependent children! But I work on the project little by little, every day. You can support me via Patreon if this is the kind of stuff you love and you are in a position to.
You can also support the project and get really cool stuff, like the Player’s Guide!
Finally, there are beautiful shirts and hoodies you can get from Fourth Wall:
I just wanted to drop a quick update about the progress with the development of Betrayed Alliance, both Books 1 and 2.
Kickstarter Stretch Goal – Book 1 Update
This update is nearing completion and is in many ways complete. Development-wise the game is complete and undergoing final testing. The last piece of the puzzle is redoing the music to play with the old drivers. We are anticipating the initial release to work with AdLib and MT32 drivers first, then later to patch it to make other sound drivers available (such as Tandy, General midi, et al.)
There’s been some personal life stuff going on with Brandon (new job and other life events) that has stymied progress on the sound design side, so a bit more time will be needed.
With that said, let’s take a look at Book 2!
Book 2 Design Update
With my work re-coding and re-designing artwork (and testing/bugfixing) the Book 1 update mostly finished, I’ve turned my attention back to Book 2.
I’ve set to work getting a basic build of all the rooms in the game represented, mostly with scratch artwork, just to give me a final sense of the game’s geography and how the areas and puzzles should be be tied together.
With Karl Dupere-Richer’s help we’ve been iterating on an overall map of the area, which I have been working to fill in the details of some of the less-developed areas.
Now I am working to flesh out the areas with artwork that is (hopefully) a bit more interesting the the wire-frame scratch artwork:
Final Thoughts:
Things are quietly getting done. I am thankful to have a generally peaceful time in my life right now which gives me the time and attention I need to work on this project. I appreciate your patience as I know the proposed completion date for the project has come and gone. But with the demo out earlier this year and the completion of the update to Book 1 on the horizon, I have to say I am proud of the work that’s been done and I hope the love and excitement for these old games translates into the game itself.
If you have any thoughts or questions, I’d love to hear them. Thanks for reading.
Back when I had run a Kickstarter to help fund the music for Betrayed Alliance, we also had a stretch goal to revamp and update the music and visuals of Betrayed Alliance Book 1.
Tavern Exterior and Interiors
What’s been worked on recently
Thanks to the amazing productivity of Karl Dupere-Richer, over half of the background screens have now received a visual update (upgrade!). In fact, his productivity has been so good, I decided to take a month or so off of working on Book 2 just to focus my attention to the update of Book 1. That’s been my focus for the last half of August and most of September.
Reprogramming the rooms to work with the new visual information, streamlining the code, and adding features (like the autosave I’m using for Book 2). I’m hoping to fix that pesky “out of heap space” bug that crashes 10% or so of runs too.
New outdoor buildings
While the Book 1 update is not by any means complete, I’ve worked hard enough to make the programming for the new version playable to the end.
And this is where you come in!
If you’d like to have access to the update of Book 1 as it’s in development, I’m making that available to all KS backers and all “Early Access” Patrons on Patreon. I’ve also put together a Google Doc you can edit to track any bugs, parser commands that you think should work, or any general ideas or thoughts you have about a particular room. Obviously there’s no obligation to do any of that, but if you’re interested, I’d love your help to make it the best experience possible.
New Dockhouse and Interior
So that’s been it for the last month and a half or so. Book 1’s update is coming along very nicely. Beautiful new artwork and a revamp in the coding, and maybe even a few extra features!
I’ve been spending basically all of my time working on programming, fixing up some systems, and animations and props for the backgrounds.
What systems am I working on?
Cut scene dialog – if you’ve even accidentally clicked a past a box in a Sierra game, you know the frustration of knowing it’s gone for good and you might have missed vital information. I’ve put together a system that allows your to go forward and backward through the dialog if you miss anything.
Character Switching – Book 2 has two main characters, so the ability to switch between them in important. It’s not completely finished yet, but the basic structure is up and running just fine allowing for each character to hold their own items and retain their positions in their rooms.
Death Log – This one is actually proving to be quite tricky, but I think I’ve mostly got a handle on it. The difficultly comes with how Sierra games save and restore. When you restore, everything is set back to the previous save “exactly as it was,” so having the game “remember” what caused the death you are restoring from was an interesting challenge.
I ended up with the idea of writing variables related deaths to an external file, then reading those variables back into the game when the player restores. Sounds easy enough, but there’s more to it I won’t get into now. The good news is, that the system now works generally as it should and is incorporated into the menubar for easy access (many thanks to the help of more skilled programmers guiding me at the SCI Programming Community forums).
Battle System
The basic structure of the new battle system is now in place and the first (training) battle is complete. Future enemies will build on the foundation that’s already been established, but having the skeleton constructed now will make all the rest from here much easier to flesh out.
Props and animations
A big focus for me right now is getting things playable. A lot of backgrounds and animation work has been done and now it’s time to get some of them up and running!
That being said, Karl has shifted his focus from this project to another for the time being. He has put together a few sketches for updates of a few interiors in the game and they look gorgeous already!
Besides this, there is nothing new to share concerning the Book 1 update, as my main focus is the completion of Book 2.
The Kickstarter has been successfully funded (and actually was so one the first day, which was a huge relief to my nerves!)
We’ve also funded our one (and only) stretch goal – to update some of the artwork of Book 1 and overhaul the music to give it the same treatment as Book 2 will have. This goal will be completed only after work on Book 2 has ended, as I didn’t want the stretch goal to impede the original Kickstarter project.
Slattstudio 