Prey SP - Altered Reality, episode 1: "Shrapnel City"

[Altered Reality]

I have just finished putting together the first episode of my "episodic map pack" for Prey.
The goal is to create a singleplayer, interactivity-driven first-person story that will hopefully appeal to Prey fans and generally to 3DRealms fans, as well as portray some locations that differ from, and have a higher interactivity level than, the usual space stations levels.
The famous Portal Wrench mod (thank you Sars!) is included in this project, and sometimes, the only way to make progress will be to open some dynamic portals. Portals have a lot more potential than just being used as doorways, and I hope to unlock some of it.
The title is "Altered Reality" because that's what the story is about. A malevolent entity is slowly altering Tommy's reality, and the disruptions will become more and more severe as the story progresses.

The site for the project is http://alteredreality.altervista.org .

Here are some screenshots of what you will encounter in the first episode. They have been taken at a resolution of 800*600, at medium quality. Note that the in-game graphics are not censored in any way. The SRG logo is a watermark with my initials I applied to the screenshots, it's not present in game.
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/4233/alleyje5.jpg
http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/2059/clubrl8.jpg
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/2541/casinoxn6.jpg
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/7734/highwayis8.jpg

And now, without further ado, here's the link to download this first episode. Enjoy it!
http://alteredreality.altervista.org/ar_ep1.zip
or
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AIHLYUDX

If you wonder when the next episode will be released... you know it already.

[Otto]

Groovy... I will check this out later tonight.

[Theonewayman]

Nice, i was Thinking that moders add forgotten Prey.

[Altered Reality]

So, did anyone play it? What do you think of it?

[Altered Reality]

I'm overwhelmed by the sheer number of comments to my work
No, seriously, this silence is worrying me. What's wrong? Were you put off by something? Did you find any showstopping bug I totally missed?

[ZaphodB]

Well I would be trying it, except I'm on dialup, and if anything is over 2 megs big, I have to do it over several sessions while I sleep (36kbps is about my best connect speed). Be glad when we can get broadband so I can get back into the swing of things.

[Otto]

Bah! I hit a busy spell with work and school, and have yet to actually download this thing. BUT: I am totally excited about playing an SP Prey mod! Thanks for making it! Maybe this week will be better for checking it out.

[Altered Reality]

Just letting you know that I released an updated version, which includes some map improvements and a German subtitle localization (in case you wonder: it still has English subtitles. I just added the German subtitles). Download it from:
http://alteredreality.altervista.org/ar_ep1_R2.zip
or
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EY4DS4Q0

[Kalki]

Great, I downloaded the earlier version hoping to play it once I downloaded Prey on steam. Thanks for the update though.

[Altered Reality]

Ladies and gentlemen, here's the first screenshot from episode 2.

First, I'm sorry if I disappoint you, but that does not mean the second episode is about to come out. Hey, after all, I do all of the mapping, scripting and texturing by myself, cut me some slack
It's meant, however, to give you a sneak peek of the general setting of episode 2. Before you say it has nothing to do with episode 1, think about its ending. Every episode will start right where the previous left off: if you get a glimpse of an environment at the end of an episode, you will be able to explore it thoroughly in the next. Generally, every episode will be set in a different environment: I want to give to each of them an unmistakable look.
I will surely release more screenshots before releasing episode 2, but not any time soon. And now, if you excuse me, I have some mapping to do.

[BJA]

I haven't played the first episode but the second one looks really nice. Is this supposed to be an old western environment? if so, don't forget to put some shrubs on the ground

[Altered Reality]

That's only one of the environments it'll be set in, but yes, it's supposed to be a small town that was abandoned at the end of the 19th century... and acquired a few surprises since then. And I'm not gonna say anything more than this for now.

[Neurological]

I plyed the first episode, and I really enjoyed it, hilarious intro. The only thing I can seggest is to bump map a little the custom textures like the bricks.

[samthaman]

Nice second map posted. XD. Good work but you got a string file error that floods the console and it creates major lag spikes. And i had to use noclip whit the cage part. BTW
get a better mic for recording.

[Altered Reality]

you got a string file error that floods the console and it creates major lag spikes

A string file error? Can you be more specific? What happens exactly?

And i had to use noclip whit the cage part.

You didn't need to, that's what the Portal Wrench is for.
From the official FAQ:
Spoiler:

show spoiler

Q: The voice tells me I cannot go anywhere! What do I do?
A: Walk to the newly-formed grate. Stay as close as you can and use the Portal Wrench once. Walk somewhere else and use it again. A portal will appear, walk into it and you'll find yourself beyond the grate.

[samthaman]

XD I know i forgot about the portal wrench and when i played one more time i heard try to kill a death walker whit a portal wrench i said to my self NO DUH.

Oh the string does not apear any more dont ask i do not know. but i know when i wanted to observe your map and put it in map folder and its gone.

[Altered Reality]

I've been mentioned in a magazine!
The Games Machine, #229, page 116! And they even included the map in their cover DVD!

[hiob]

^Congrats.
I really have to install Prey again, I'm looking forward to playing your maps.

[samthaman]

Lol what was the comments in the magasine.

[Altered Reality]

Originally Posted by samthaman

Lol what was the comments in the magasine.

It describes the premise of the mod, summarizing what I say in the site. It praises as innovative the use of the portal wrench to solve some puzzles, it makes 2 little mistakes (it says that Prey came out in 2005 and the portal wrench was inspired by Valve's Portal). At the end, episode 1 is given 76/100.

[FatherMackenzie]

The game has lag spikes for me as well. I had to set all of the graphic settings as low as possible for it to work normally. It seems to be something specific to your mod, since Deathwalk worked fine.

Great mod though. Really funny, both because of the voice-acting and because of the intentional humor.

Fifth hallucination...

Sorry I'm late, Any idea how to get the mod working on the steam version? I threw the file on afew different areas but it doesnt show up in the mod list.

[FatherMackenzie]

Put the Altered Reality FOLDER (not the contents of the folder, but the folder itself) in the Steam/steamapps/common/prey folder.

[eightball]

I'm downloading it now. I must say im impressed. I wasn't sure ANY one was doing any mods for prey. I'll let ya know what I think once DL completes.

[ryche]

These screenshots look oddly familiar to something else..

[Altered Reality]

Thanks to Simon Guyart, "Shrapnel City" has now been localized into French.

What I uploaded is a package containing the French subtitles for episode 1 (this means that to use the localization, episode 1 needs to be already installed).

Download it from:
http://alteredreality.altervista.org..._subtitles.zip

To install, unzip the package into your Prey directory (the one containing Prey.exe). The necessary subdirectories will be added and the strings file will be created in its correct location.

A Spanish localization is also on the way and will be released

[Kalki]

The scene after the grate was interesting especially with the phone. I wish there was a better way to implement the Portal wrench mechanic when you project it beyond obstacles. Have it face outwards or something.

How long till Ep. 2?

[Altered Reality]

Originally Posted by Kalki

How long till Ep. 2?

You already knew it before asking:

[Hudson]

Originally Posted by Altered Reality

Ladies and gentlemen, here's the first screenshot from episode 2.

Reminds me of a little place I saw in a trailer once

[Altered Reality]

And the Spanish localization is done too! Now episode 1 is localized in every language you may have used for your Prey installation! Credits go to Xag for the Spanish translation.

What I uploaded is a package containing the Spanish subtitles for episode 1 (this means that to use the localization, episode 1 needs to be already installed).

Download it from:
http://alteredreality.altervista.org..._subtitles.zip

To install, unzip the package into your Prey directory (the one containing Prey.exe). The necessary subdirectories will be added and the strings file will be created in its correct location.

[pedroperu]

crear cuenta parajugar prey

[pedroperu]

crear cuenta para jugar prey

[Altered Reality]

crear cuenta para jugar prey

Uhm, "Create account to play Prey". Are you trying to play the Steam version? If this is the case, I'm sorry but I cannot help you, since I have the boxed version. But other people have the Steam version, and they will be able to help you.

Estás intentando jugar la versión Steam? Si éste es el caso, yo no puede ayudarte puesto que tengo la versión encajonada. Pero la otra gente tiene la versión Steam, podrá ayudarte.
Excúseme por favor si esta oración no es perfecta, yo tuvo que utilizar el traductor de AltaVista.

[Nukkus]

why are the screens nearly identical to the PC Gamer screenshots of Duke Nukem Forever from 1997?

[Altered Reality]

Originally Posted by Nukkus

why are the screens nearly identical to the PC Gamer screenshots of Duke Nukem Forever from 1997?

Well, I modeled some parts of the level after some of those "Quake 1 mapping experimentation" screenshots (work on DNF didn't technically start yet at the time), and grabbed my screenshots from the same angles, as an homage to something we will never see.
There is also an in-game reason, which I will reveal in one of the subsequent episodes, when questions like "Why does Tommy have a Portal Wrench?" "Who is talking in his head through the story?" and "Who is directing the unnatural changes of the environment around Tommy?" will be answered.
All I can say right now is that the appearance of those locations is part of the "unnatural changes" that are happening around Tommy.

[Malgon]

Somehow I seemed to have missed this thread. I think I'll download it and give it a go.

[Altered Reality]

Originally Posted by Malgon

Somehow I seemed to have missed this thread. I think I'll download it and give it a go.

Be sure to get the second release of episode 1. The first release lacked a couple of things in the map.

[Malgon]

Downloading now dude.

[ZaphodB]

Finally got high speed internet, d/l it to check it out.

[ZaphodB]

I've tried it, and am impressed.