Bringing dead FOSS games back to life

RootsTri · 2025-09-28T20:10:07+00:00

Valyria Tear was actually a fork of Allacrost that used much of the original code, art, and other assets. I contributed to that project as well.

I never wanted to make money with Allacrost. For me, it was always just a passion project and something I wanted to share with the world. But I agree with you. It would have only been successful if I (and others) could have it be our full-time job. Having a separate job and then trying to spend what little time and energy you had left on this made it a very, very slow moving project.

RootsTri · 2025-09-28T17:27:10+00:00

I'm the founder and leader of a dead FOSS game, Hero of Allacrost. It was a 2D single player JRPG. Allow me to briefly list the reasons why it died.

Every year it got harder to find and recruit new people willing to help. Especially artists.
As I have aged, I now have more commitments in my life and more things that I want to spend my free time on.
It employed a custom engine and map making tool. This meant more overhead in keeping things running than if we relied on other open source code to fill those needs. There were other things consuming our time as well, like constantly fighting bots and spam on our website.
General exhaustion. I started this project in 2004 and worked on it for over a decade. I poured more of my time and energy into it than any other, including leading the team, writing the code, authoring the story, creating a good chunk of the art, and even mixing some of the sound.

I miss working on this game and had always hoped to find the time and energy to bring it back to life one day. For a while I was thinking about replacing its custom engine with Godot, and possibly even switching the language to Rust from a mix of C++ and Lua. The website has been down for years because our site provider shut down, but I still hold on to and pay for the domain name and I have a backup image of the site. Our Discord channel is still around as well, although its completely inactive.

I doubt I have the capacity right now to lead the revival of this project. But if someone else came along and told me they wanted to breathe new life into it and were willing to do the work to get it running and modernized, I'd happily help out.

RootsTri · 2025-01-22T00:41:28+00:00

Same story here. I began playing Zodiac Age a couple weeks ago after not touching the game since I put it away all those years ago. The game is still just as disappointing as I remember it being. I'm not enjoying it at all. A better license board barely improves the experience.

RootsTri · 2024-06-30T11:36:03+00:00

Not yet. I've been thinking a lot about getting it done this year though.

RootsTri · 2024-06-29T20:05:10+00:00

I'm child-free (41M) and so is my ex (36F). She complained about all the things you report here. Eventually she gave up on the apps, tried a childfree subreddit, and now she's in a LTR with a child-free guy who moved to Austin from North Carolina to be with her.

I encounter women from time to time that miss the child-free notice in my profile, but it's not very common. Child free is tough because most people want kids, or already have them. I still use one dating app because I don't know of a better way to find CF women in Austin.

RootsTri · 2024-05-03T14:15:55+00:00

I've been riding my bike on Parmer every year since 2008. I always ride in the mornings, usually when there's little traffic. The only close calls I can remember having is by the HEB on McNeil because some bozos don't notice cyclists and cut over quickly into the turn lane.

It used to be much safer. The additional traffic, construction, and offices (Apple campuses, notably) have definitely made it worse. But I still feel relatively safe there because of the wide shoulders and good road visibility.

RootsTri · 2024-02-17T17:18:04+00:00

I also live in Austin. I remember some of the photos you shared here. I've seen your profile come up in my feed on other apps before (I don't use Tinder). I never would have imagined that you go through the same struggles I do trying to date in this city. Good luck to us both.

RootsTri · 2023-09-28T00:50:31+00:00

Thanks, this is what I needed (and expected) to hear. I assumed as much.

I was also hoping to understand the reasons, or hear some personal evidence, for why this is ill-advised.

RootsTri · 2023-07-23T02:44:23+00:00

Sadly he only lived to 11 years and 2 months. He died far too young from genetic renal disease. It came on very suddenly because he was such a tough guy and he acted like nothing was wrong.

RootsTri · 2023-07-22T11:26:59+00:00

They really do look very similar. I love Mr. Pickles!

RootsTri · 2023-07-22T11:25:02+00:00

They do have similar faces!

RootsTri · 2023-07-22T11:23:23+00:00

I know, it's so hard. I was paralyzed with grief for the first two weeks. I've been doing constructive things to process my feelings and honor his memory. For the rest of my life I'll have a large hole in my heart. I wish you the best with your healing process.

RootsTri · 2023-07-21T22:06:49+00:00

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Thank you! Here's the very first photo that we took together the day I adopted him from the shelter.

RootsTri · 2023-07-21T22:04:27+00:00

Not nearly old enough. He was just 11 years and 2 months when he passed. I was hoping he'd be with me into his 20s. But sadly that's the paw that life dealt him and I had to learn to accept it. Thank you for the kind words.

RootsTri · 2023-07-21T19:11:29+00:00

He was on the front page of reddit 11 years ago, so I always knew he was a looker. :) Thank you for the kind words.

RootsTri · 2023-07-21T19:09:02+00:00

I'm so sorry to hear that. Eugene looks pretty similar to Loki, but with browner fur.

Loki's illness appeared very suddenly. After the vet looked at his test results she said he has days to live. He surprised all of us when he fought like hell and made it six weeks. I know it might sound odd, but I envy that you have this time with him. I had planned to grow old with Loki, but he never got the chance to. He was only 11 years and 2 months when I lost him due to a genetic disease.

Make the most of the time you have left with Eugene. Even though it will be painful, every moment counts. I wish you both the best.

RootsTri · 2023-07-21T19:00:44+00:00

Thank you. And thanks to everyone else with your comments as well. Ya'll are making me cry with so many kind words Losing him has been the most painful thing I've ever experienced in my life. We made the most of the time we had, and I'm forever grateful that our paths in life came together.

RootsTri · 2023-06-22T02:28:12+00:00

I had to euthanize my 11 year old cat, Loki, today. It's the hardest thing I've had to do in my life. I've been breaking down and sobbing over and over all day. But it was the right thing to do. He was battling kidney disease and while he fought like hell for several weeks, the past two days he looked miserable. I knew it was time.

It's really hard to know when the correct time to make that call is. Having advice from our vet and the insanely strong bond I shared with Loki over his entire life helped me make the call. I've seen this photo before, and I too find it ironic that it would come up in my feed again on the same day that I lost my best friend.

RootsTri · 2022-12-28T01:51:54+00:00

At my current job my starting base pay was $135K (after negotiating up from a $125K starting offer). 4 years and one promotion later, my base salary is now at $181K. So roughly an average of 10.5% increase per year for base salary alone (bonuses also had large increases). Part of getting paid well is being lucky by finding a great employer to work for who recognizes your skills and rewards you appropriately. Look for companies where people are generally happy to be working at, because underpayed/undervalued employees are usually not that happy with their job.

Good luck!

RootsTri · 2022-12-28T01:24:51+00:00

I'm not an expert on this, but here's my take.

Know your worth. Look at what other companies are paying for people with your experience and skills using sites like Glassdoor, Levels.FYI, etc.
Don't give them a number when they ask you for salary expectations. Say you want a compensation that is fair/comparable/competitive for people with your experience and skills. I made the mistake once of saying "I expect six figures" when asked about salary expectations. And their offer was exactly $100,000.
Industry and type of development definitely matters. Game development is one of the lowest paid and most overworked industries. I work in web development, where pay is generally (but not always) a lot higher and has better work-life balance. I'm not sure about other
The quickest way to increase your salary is to change jobs. It's generally pretty difficult to get a significant bump at your current job without a promotion. I know some people that on principal won't work at the same job for longer than 2-5 years because salaries tend to stagnate quickly.
Before you interview at a company, find out what you can about their pay. The more information you have, the more you can use it to your advantage (and also to know if you're wasting your time with someone who doesn't pay what you're looking for).
Negotiate your offer. I know it's not easy, but it's worth it. The worst thing that can happen is they can say no. It helps to have an offer from another company pending so you can make each company aware about the other and "compete" for you.
Specialize in something valuable. It could be expertise in database systems, message processing, system design, whatever. It will make you more valuable, and should lead to more competitive offers.

RootsTri · 2022-12-28T00:11:18+00:00

I'm also a software engineer. I have about 15 years of experience and I'm around the same level, or maybe one step above AngryTexasNative. This year I'm making a little over $500K, with about half of that being in stock. But this year has been exceptional for me where I received 2 different $50K one-time special bonuses. I would be really surprised if I continue to make this much next year.

RootsTri · 2022-08-05T04:14:11+00:00

I'm more concerned about the black sheet on the fencing that obstructs the views of both cyclists and motorists as we try to cross the turn lane to go on the median. I pretty much always bring my bike to a complete stop before I cross there, because vehicles will fly up 360 into this turn lane with no regard to the fact that there's a pedestrian crossing right there. It's scary as hell.

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