We tried to fix some of the major problems that people had with version 1.0:
- the RAM requirement is much lower, thanks to a new version of the Sprite Animation Toolkit and some improved memory-management code in the main module. Thanks to these changes, the RAM requirement for Asterax is now about 2500 K for a 640x480 system.
- you can now "suspend" a game, which will be stored on disk, to return to at a later date. To suspend your game, you must be in the marketplace (between levels). There, you should pause the game (using caps lock), and select "Suspend Game" from the Game menu (or hit command-S). Your game status will be recorded, and you will return to the main screen. You can resume your game from the main screen by selecting "Resume Game" from the Game menu (initially invisible, but just click and it will appear), or by hitting command-R. The suspended game is not saved more than once... once you resume it, you cannot return to the point you suspended it from. You will be returned to the marketplace you left; you can buy new equipment or suspend your game right back again if you like.
We included some changes designed to prevent the major slow-down at high levels, too. If the "New Game Parameters" option is set in the Preferences (it is on by default), fewer rocks will emerge at each level, but they will start with higher speeds; as the level grows, the number of rocks will remain more or less constant, but their initial speed will grow.
Other changes:
- added a "Double Speed" mode, which will attempt to run the animation twice as fast as normal. This is still limited by the abilities of the machine running it, but is generally pretty good on fast '040 and PowerPC-based machines. A "x2" label will be added after any high score that is won in the double-speed mode. If you thought Asterax was too darn slow, just try this mode out...
- to make the aliens a little more threatening, they now gain guided shots at higher levels. Buy mines. You'll use them.
- fixed some high-score display bugs
- made Asterax localizable, and translated it to French (that's version 1.2fr, if you're looking for it). We would be grateful to anyone who wishes to translate Asterax into another language with Roman-style script... if you're interested, please contact us!
- insured items now have an "In." written next to them in the Finances area.
Asterax version 1.0.1 notes:
Bug fixes:
- Fixed an error in the sound code that generated an erroneous "out of memory" error on LC's, IIsi's, IIci's, and other older models.
- Multiple monitor problems persist. Sorry; we'll work on it as much as we can.
- Added "unusual monitor size" button to screen prefs, to satisfy owners of 15", Portrait, and Pivot monitors.
- Increased number of crystals slightly, decreased cost of "safe shots" slightly.
- There is a problem with the "fade-to-black"... it has a write to NIL in it that may cause problems
for some people. You may deactivate it by changing the PREF resource in the Asterax application.
Since this is a problem that mostly bothers developers, I think they have access to ResEdit and
can make this change.
- You can't activate special items in the marketplace anymore.
- Some new sounds
- Miscellaneous other little stuff...
Thanks to all who sent in reports; sorry about the bugs.
A Clarification about Insurance:
Insurance insures only those items currently owned when the insurance is bought! If new equipment is purchased later, the equipment will have to be re-purchased... think of it as a sort of "snapshot" of your ship's current status that is restored after death. (This will be worked into the online docs when time allows... sorry about the vagueness.)
Designer's Notes:
To everyone who thinks that Asterax is too hard, some design comments:
Asterax is not just an arcade game; it was designed to include strategic aspects as well. The choice of your initial ship has a lot to do with how you will play the game, and how you spend the crystals you earn in the early levels will determine the strategy you follow in later levels.
You can't get high scores in Asterax by shooting wildly at everything that moves (well, not until you get safe shots, at least). In the higher difficulty levels (especially Expert), it is designed to be challenging from level one, to reward precision and skillful play. In fact, the crystal system rewards a minimalist style of play, where the highest scores can be had by those who have the least need for screen-sweeping automatic-scatter-triple shot and the greatest ability to make the base ship models work efficiently.
