Over three years in development, but here it comes, finally. My remake of "Island of Dr. Destructo" is complete. Here, for all allegro.cc community members and guests, a Release Candidate of "Return of Dr. Destructo".

Download link:
Return of Dr. Destructo 1.0 RC (Windows)
Return of Dr. Destructo 1.0 RC (Linux 32-bit)
Return of Dr. Destructo 1.0 RC (Linux 64-bit)

Please note, that Linux version in untested on real OS and uses LD_PRELOAD to load Allegro. I have tested it on VMs running CentOS 6 and Elementary OS, and it worked on both, but that's all testing I've done. Also, gamepad support is somewhat broken (mapping is wrong even for generic devices).

(MacOS X version coming later)

Screenshots:
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Reporting bugs and crashes:

• Please report any bugs you encounter.

• If the game detects a crash, it will ask you to send me a crash report using Google Breakpad. Such crash reports only contain call stack which lead to crash, and no identifying information about your computer, so please allow the game to send them if possible, especially when you encounter a crash for the first time.

Known bugs & limitations:

• Turning VSync on (via config file) in DirectX mode might lead to noticeable lags whenever plane or bomb hits level's target

• Only generic XInput and DirectInput gamepads are fully supported. If your gamepad is not supported, you can still play the game, but buttons and sticks labels in tutorial and control menu might be wrong

• If you want to tinker around with game's resources, be careful: it does very little checking, and likes to assert or crash when there is something missing or wrong!

Game description:
You may, or may not remember my posts here back in 2012 when I started this game, so here's a quick reminder of what it is. "Return of Dr. Destructo" is a remake of ZX Spectrum game, "Island of Dr. Destructo" released in 1987. My version includes all-new graphics, created by a professional artist, slightly different damage model and a storyline. The basic gameplay, however, remains the same: you control a propeller plane and you must stop evil Dr. Destructo from completing his diabolical plans. To this end, you must fight your way through 21 levels, destroying warships, castles, islands, bunkers and other objects of value to Dr. Destructo. Your plane is armed with a single bomb (per life), and your gunfire has no effect on heavily armored targets, so the only way to accomplish your mission is to shoot down various air vehicles that Dr. Destructo sent to fight you, and let them crash into level's target. After enough chunks have been blown from the waterline, it will surely sink into ocean deeps.

I did not change any part of gameplay, which means that this game retains its quirks. The main of them, is there is no way to tell, which enemies are harmless, and which will crash your plane if you collide with them. So, discovering this for yourself remains an important part of game experience, just as it was for me in 90's, when I loaded then original game from audio tape.

Another bit that might seem strange, which I did not correct, is somewhat unusual difficulty curve of the game. See for yourself, if you can handle it I, for one, got stuck on level 5 for a long, LONG time back in my childhood!

As a bow to realities of modern gaming, "Return of Dr. Destructo" contains "Casual mode", which allows you to start the game from any level you have previously reached, either in Hardcore or Casual modes. But there is a separate achievement for winning the game in Hardcore mode in one sitting!

Further plans:

• Release Linux and MacOS X builds of Release Candidate

• Fix bugs (if any) and prepare the final version

• Prepare source code of final version for release (update comments and Readme file)

• Release the final PC (Windows/Linux/MacOS X) version

• Start work on Android and iOS versions (which should be available later as paid apps in respective stores). Android version will come first.

At this point, I have no plans to add any new functionality to this game, as it has been in development for too long already. Still, if there is enough interest, I might release some patches later.

Libraries and components used:
"Return of Dr. Destructo" is made using Allegro 5.1.x (various branches were used during development, currently I'm on some Git revision with my patch for getting joystick GUIDs applied). It also uses TinyXML, Lua, Luabind, FastDelegates, Google Breakpad and a part of Boost library. It is built using CMake for all currently supported platforms.

+1 on the linux version...

I think the loading/front page is absolutely lush (though let down by the stereotypical rendition of the female persona), indeed the style should be carried through to the graphics, which in comparison look like a let down. Maybe time to push the boat out that extra bit, and use some shaders/effects to bring that style into the main game. Certainly softening the pixelated effect at the least, and go for a more drawn look. But that is just my "first impression", and it is meant constructively.

I really look forward to giving this game a go, as it reminds me of an old fave on the speccy.

Neat! I'd make sure the text has a border/margin. When it crosses into, or over, the box, it breaks the illusion.

Xubuntu 14.04

-error while loading shared libraries: liballegro_monolith.so.5.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Max Savenkov: Second to last, and third to last pictures. Second to last cuts into the bottom. Third to last cuts into the right.

Also in the second-to-last, the way the text box margin graphics looks wrong. Right above "destructo" and below "very similiar." Those cuts where the foreground box graphics stops and the transparent background remains. It doesn't look right. It looks like they should still remain, if perhaps just much darker to signify depth. But removing them completely looks like the artwork is chopped off / like a graphics glitch.

These are minor things, but they immediately popped up when I glanced through the pictures.

Oh the brightside, the green planes immediately reminded me of the graphics for Advance Wars!

[edit] Also, in the first picture. That chick looks like she has gigantor boobs... and a giant belly. I think the perspective is off slightly. If her gut was sucked in, it would look better. I'd personally try moving both to the left so she looks a little more proportioned. I mean, if you look at raw pixel area, her boobs are as big as her head AND her hat!

[edit] Actually that chicks mouth plus her facial expression and her distant eyes... she reminds me of a blow up doll. I would add some stress to her facial features so she looks more like she's angrily yelling into her radio.

% chmod +x run_dd2.sh

?

Sorry to be a pain....

yodhe@yodhe-multidesktop:~/DrDestructo2$ % chmod +x run_dd2.sh
bash: fg: %: no such job

Looks very nice !
I'll give it a try as soon as I have the time..

I could do a linux test...

What distro do you use? libjpeg.so.62 is included in LSB and should be available on any modern Linux system (I was counting on that, at least)...

Is this a 64-bit system? Some people say this might be a problem for 32-bit binaries (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2067790) and recommend installing 32-bit libraries manually.

Things will be easier when I upload source code, but I also would like to provide a binary distribution It seems this isn't going to be easy, though

Thank you for investigating this problem. Missing libjpeg is still strange, but I'm pretty sure Vorbis isn't in LSB, so it's an error on my part not to link it statically

That graphical problem looks very strange, never seen this before. I'll have to look into it. Did you get good FPS, by the way?

As for levels, they follow the same pattern as in original game. There, too, a spike in difficulty in 4th and 5th level was very noticeable, so I faithfully reproduced it here Dropping levels is out of question, but maybe I can think of spicing them up somehow, or maybe making "historical" and "modern" difficulty levels, so you could play with the original, unbalanced levels, or with ones that introduce enemies in a more sensible progression...

Great! I'm looking into providing easier to run version as well fixing graphical issues.

I was able to play the game on Ubuntu 14 LTS 64 after installing a whole ream of 32 bits libs. And I must say, it's a fun little game, and hard as nails too, especially when helicopters are introduced!

The only that seemed "off" to me was the sun, it seemed a bit too simple compared to the nice pixel art of the planes and ships. Also, please do consider releasing 64 bits versions too, for Windows and Linux, it will make installing the game that much more easy for everybody.

For the rest, I experienced no crashes or bugs and the animation was smooth, and mode setting and full-screen worked fine (I use Xfwm4 as my window manager). And my joystick worked fine and I could configure it as I liked.

All in all a great effort! Congratulations!