If you are into retro-gaming you probably have some idea of what DOSBox is. If you're still not aware, it's the Disk Operating System (DOS) emulator. The project started several years ago, and it's aimed mostly towards video-games. It's quite mature and stable, and companies like GOG.com or Steam are using it, in most cases, to allow the execution of old games in modern computers. Have you ever tried to play a game pre-2000 in Windows 7, or even Windows XP? It usually won't run, as most of these games were written for DOS. Even when Windows 98 was already standardized, there was no reason to create a game that run on it natively. Even games that needed windows to run, still worked pretty much under DOS (it makes sense, as Windows itself was just, somehow, another layer over MS-DOS).

DOS/32 Advanced DOS Extender is a drop-in replacement for the popular DOS/4GW DOS Extender and compatibles. During 1990'es many software applications and games were developed using Watcom C/C++ and Fortran compilers which allowed DOS applications to run in 32-bit flat protected mode environment, e.g. be "DOS Extended." This functionality was provided by the DOS/4GW DOS Extender from Tenberry Software, a middleware product which at the time was bundled with Watcom tools. While being royalty-free, DOS/4GW was big, slow and lacked many important features, all in favour of its commercial (and rather expensive) siblings. To remedy the situation a number of independent projects set out to create a replacement of DOS/4GW that could match and exceed it in terms of features, performance and price. DOS/32A is the result of such a project.

There are probably many more tweaks, but until now I didn't really need more. Also, notice that some particular games may be a bit picky, needing special settings for themselves.

I've been messing with Construct these past days, and decided to finally give it a chance and try to do some basic stuff; some kind of basic platforming + hack&slashing game. Maybe even just a short level, no more than 5 to 10 minutes to get through. Anyway, as I'm still thinking on how to deal with it, I'll show you what it'll get for sure:

As the dungeon system has been completely re-vamped (will talk about it on my next post), we currently found ourselves with an attribute that's more or less useless. Leadership doesn't impact anymore the amount of people that can come with you to a dungeon, as these are currently open to everyone. However, there's still the Pressure system (and we don't plan to remove it). Should we keep the attribute just for this? Well... with one of the great mechanics being developed at this very moment, it will be replaced by something that may prove to be more interesting. What am I talking about, you may be asking? Well, stay tuned and you'll know!

In case you're not still aware of it, Sleep is Death, by Jason Rohrer (Passage), may be the next big thing. This two-player (and only two-player) storytelling game follows a very original formula. While one player plays the main character, the other one is in charge of -the rest- of the game. Everything! You may be thinking of something like the DM client for Neverwinter Nights or Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption, and I guess you'd be correct to a certain point. The possibilities, however, are a bit wider here. Plus, the more you play (and, especially, the more you play with different people) the more stuff you'll be able to do. Why? Because all the stuff created for one game is carried with you to the next one. A bit like Animal Crossing, when your character appears in someone else's console.The game is already available for pre-order for just $9. If you're interested, just check Sleep is Death's official webpage!

Today was the last day of the Second Season of the Death Raiders Alpha. To celebrate it, we run a small event where two of the players engaged in a small ceremony that reached its climax with the couple casting "Link" on each other:

General Bauhaus, the city's fascist dictator, has had all the green space in town destroyed! Trees are banned! Flowers outlawed!

I've played some Dragon Age during the past days. Even though I'm not sure if I'd qualify the game as something as amazing as the critics say it is, I've found some really nice stuff throughout the game, and hell, it's being quite fun. And some times frustrating, in a lovely way. Probably many of you have lived the following situation:

The last head falls to the ground. Enemy corpses lay around your badly injuried (but still alive) party members, as they rest for a couple of seconds cathing their breath. They need to ration the provisions, as the final confrontation against the $evilmotherfucker feels closer and closer.

The group continues its journey through the dark dungeon, following a perfect formation. The full-plated warrior walks first, followed by the rogue and the archer. Behind them, the mage. There's a big room at the end of the tunnel they're walking across right now, roughly at 15 metres in front of them. The warrior draws his sword and holds his shield, anxious. The party moves forward and... "click". Silence. Trap.

Fire everywhere.

The warrior tries to get back to verticality, only to see how the party is ambushed from both sides. First one to fall? The mage. The group tightens their positions, trying to overcome their enemies, and the battle rages. The archer is bleeding a lot, and won't be able to hold much longer. Her wounded look reaches the warrior, who suddenly pauses the game and, getting pallid by moments, exclaims:

I haven't saved the game for... 40 minutes!!

We got lots of new graphics for Death Raiders this week, apart from the tiles I mentioned in the previous post, and I'd like to mention a couple of them. While many were taken directly from the RL Tiles (altars, fountains, stairs...), and Tome Tik (jewelry...), there are some made from scratch (and consequently, worse, but I'm still kind of proud of the results).

So, we've just implemented new variables on the terrain generator, specifically, more tiles. Before, the generator built either walls or grounds. It still does that, but now those walls or grounds may be made out of different materials: sand, rocks, grass, wood, lava, water, ice... and right now that's more or less everything. There are, of course, new types of classical dungeon tiled floors and walls.