Thanks for playing Altera Orbis!

grinninglizard.com/altera

http://http://grinninglizard.com/altera/wiki/

Altera is a simulation of an alternate world; a world inside the computer. You play as a Domain Core trying to grow and survive in an ever changing digital world.

Altera Orbis is a Dungeon-Keeperish / Dwarf Fortressy sort of game set in a Star Wars-ian & Tron-esqe world.

Altera Orbis is in long term playable Beta. The game is playable, the game mechanics are in place, and there is a lot to do and explore. But it keeps changing and growing. Thanks for playing and checking the game out. Feedback on the forums is appreciated!

Run the installer; it will install the game into your Program Files (x86) and save files into the Documents/AlteraOrbis directory. The Microsoft Visual Studio redistributables will be installed as well. You can skip the redistributable installation if you already have them, but if in doubt a re-install of the redistributables is harmless. You can safely install over previous Altera Orbis game installations.

Linux is more experimental. It works on the dev Ubuntu box, and your mileage may vary. Please feel free to bring up any bugs on the forums or an issue in Github.

You need the SDL and SDL-mixer runtimes to run Altera Orbis. They are at:

https://www.libsdl.org/

On the dev Ubuntu machine, these commands will automatically install SDL and the mixer:

sudo apt-get install libsdl2-2.0
sudo apt-get install libsdl2-mixer

Download and install the linux AlteraOrbisLinx_.tar.gz file. You can extract it with:

tar -zxvf AlteraOrbisLinux_<version>.tar.gz

And then to run:

cd AlteraOrbis
./alteraorbis

Save and log files will be placed in the "save" subdirectory.

• Much more travelling between domains, and the AI is more aggressive. You won't get bored from you domain not being attacked. The game may be too hard now. Feedback appreciated.
• There is now a (simple) event Director to make sure battles are waged and denizens move around.
• New UI mode: Avatar is separate from View. PgUp now teleports the Avatar home.
• In view mode you can click on any monster, denizen, or building and get info in the upper right. Tapping the button will take you to the monster/denizen/ building info screen.
• You can now send a squad to take over a neutral core. Make sure you have enough Au - the new core needs a bunch. (The wiki will be updated with advice.)
• Water pools can be of any size. Any enclosed area will create water. Lava/Water emitters have been removed from the game.
• Only sensors need to be connected to devices. Temples will automatically supply power.
• There is a new circuit type: Timed Gate. Silica that will appear, and then automatically remove again. Very useful for pool traps.
• The Bar is now a Tavern.
• Squads should stay together better.
• Other deities (besides Truulga) help followers and make weapons.
• Camera tracking on avatar fixed
• Sub-domains (those you have conquered) will now tithe with Au if they are wealthy enough.
• General AI fixes; greatly simplified AI code.
• Fix / rewrite Rampage AI.
• UI tweaks.
• New font!
• An evil bug where blaster bolts disappeared has been fixed.

Why do denizens just stand there or get stuck?

Make sure you don't have a porch that isn't accessible. They may be 
trying to get to a facility and can't.

Why is everyone carrying fruit?

You don't have a distillery, or the distillery can't keep up
with production. Build another distillery.

Why is a strange blocky flag thing on my core?

That is a squad destination flag. (Your own look the same.)
Someone is attacking you.

• 'Tab' key toggles between top down and isometric views.

• 'Home' key centers the camera on your core.

• 'End' key centers the camera on your avatar; if already centered, the end key teleports the avatar home.

• 'Escape' key backs out of the menus back to 'view' mode.

• 'Space' pauses the game.

• Left-click moves the avatar, selects things, builds.

• Left-click & drag builds lots of pavement or ice at once, or clears an area.

• Left-click on rock or plants attack the rock/plants.

• Right-click & drag moves the camera.

• Ctrl-Right-click & drag rotates and zooms the camera.

• The arrow keys move the camera.

• Ctrl-Arrow keys rotates and zooms.

If in build mode, but no building selected (so click "Build" but don't select a building), then left-click & drag rotates buildings.

• F11 toggles full screen.
• F3 saves a screenshots. (In Documents/Altera Orbis)

1. I try to keep save game compatibility in major release #s. (So Beta2a-2c all have compatible save games.) This hasn't gone so well with Beta3. The game won't let you load an incompatible save file; so if the only option is "Generate World" when you upgrade...that really is the only option.
2. The game is intended to run on a tablet (Windows tablets only at this point) but touch controls aren't implemented yet. Although the new control scheme is intended to make touch as seamless as possible.

If you find an issue,

1. Make sure your graphics drivers are up to date. I know, it's annoying, and every game says this. But the OpenGL drivers (especially on windows) make
   a big difference. OpenGL 3.1 has rendering issues. OpenGL 3.2 and higher should work.
2. Open a "new issue" at http://code.google.com/p/alteraorbis/issues/list
3. Write down the steps to reproduce
4. IMPORTANT: include the release_log.txt file. It is written anew every time you run the game, so be sure to include the log that show the problem you are submitting.

Extra info for bug: The rendering features can be toggled with the number keys. If you a rendering bug, knowing if it can be toggled on/off is very valuable information. For example, if you spot the "blue wall" rendering bug, you can tap (1) to turn off glow, then (1) to turn glow back on. If the "blue wall" goes away then returns, it's part of the glow rendering.

1. glow
2. particles
3. voxel
4. shadow
5. bolt

The current bug lists that I'm personally tracking: https://code.google.com/p/alteraorbis/source/browse/bugs.txt

And reported issues: https://code.google.com/p/alteraorbis/issues/list