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[saimo]

A few days ago I've started developing Blastaway, a game that (hopefully) will be immediately accessible and super fun.
The target platform is Windows.
You'll discover where the game is going little by little through the updates that will be shared here.



This animgif shows the core of the engine, but please note that the engine already supports multiple sprites.

[saimo]

Before continuing with the development of the game engine, a (minimal) menu just had to be added. It's very likely that the graphics will change along the way (the music might well, stay, instead), but for the moment being the menu is 100% functional and all the options are actually implemented.
Additionally, the walls tiles have been fixed/improved.





Edit: font and color scheme already changed for better readability.

[saimo]

Controls changed/improved and shooting added.



From now on, you can try the latest build anytime by downloading the archive from https://www.retream.com/Blastaway
At the moment there isn't much to do, but you can get an initial idea of how the game will feel like.

[saimo]

CHANGELOG
* Added stage/level data loading.
* Added support for "raised" tiles to graphical engine.
* Added arch to tileset.
* Improved font.

[saimo]

Enemies have finally appeared! They aren't 100% ready yet, though - this is what there is at the moment:
 * 3 AIs (out of 5);
 * spawning logic (enemies spawn according to certain level-relative criteria; not shown in the animation);
 * acceleration logic (enemies accelerate every once in a while; not shown in the animation).

This is how the AIs behave:
 * one makes enemies wander randomly around (see wolf-like enemies in the animation);
 * one makes enemies wander randomly around, except that they will follow the soldier when he is aligned with them (see dinosaur-like enemy in the animation);
 * one makes enemies wander randomly around, except that they will follow the soldier when he is not too far away (see scorpion-like enemies in the animation).

This is what needs to be done:
 * 2 AIs (out of 5);
 * collision handling;
 * graphics.

Note that the ememies sprites in the animation are only temporary placeholders, and have been stolen from Wizard of Wor, the game Blastaway is mainly inspired to.

CHANGELOG
* Started adding enemies.
* Started adding entrance.
* Added lives.
* Touched up / extended graphics.
* Made lots of internal changes.

Current build download: https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

[saimo]

Finally Blastaway feels like a real game, rather than just an engine! It is even actually possible to play through all the currently available arenas* and complete the game... and even make it to the hiscores chart!
*There are only 10 arenas at the moment, but the final game is planned to have at least 5 stages with 10 arenas each (i.e. 50 arenas in all).





Information and latest build download: https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

[JesseL]

love it

[saimo]

Thanks, JesseL

[Beastboy]

I like how if you die the next door guard will be you, interestin litle design that stands out. Good luck

[saimo]

I like how if you die the next door guard will be you, interestin litle design that stands out. Good luck

Thanks for having noticed that To be honest, I didn't invent it: the same happened in Wizard or Wor, the game I drew most of the inspiration (and the temporary sprites) from - check this out:





But there's a twist here: if the door is open and an enemy enters it, it can kill the other men (but it's very unlikely to happen: the door closes as soon as the man controller by the player goes past it)

[saimo]

Minor update.



CHANGELOG
* Refined handling of enemies quickness (they smoothly become faster within a level and, at the beginning of a level, they are slightly faster than at the begining of the previous level).
* Touched up entrance graphics.
* Replaced Wizard of Wor sprites with custom temporary sprites.
* Fixed joypad in-game handling.

Latest build download: https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

[saimo]

Just a couple of little steps, but still two steps towards completion.





CHANGELOG
* Made the entrance close automatically upon death of soldier controlled by the player (otherwise, dying at the entrance would put the other soldiers at risk, which is likely to turn into a game over if the killer is a chasing/fast enemy).
* Redrawn main character sprites as shown below (not final yet).



Latest build download: https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

[JesseL]

keep up the great work.

[saimo]

@JesseL

Trying hard to
Thanks!


@all

Although there's still a long way to go, Blastaway feels better and better.





CHANGELOG
* Redrawn first enemy.
* Touched up soldier graphics.
* Added explosions.

The initial attempt at drawing the first enemy (corresponding to the Burwor, in Wizard of Wor) was half-hearted; plus, recently I decided to use a slanted perspective for the characters, so this is how I redesigned it:



Latest build download: https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

[saimo]

Today most of the changes affected the audio side of the game.





CHANGELOG
* Implemented a sounds playback system that ensures sounds are always played and that allows setting the volume on a per-sound basis.
* Made volume of explosions sounds depend on the distance to the soldier.
* Added entrance gate sound.
* Changed explosion sound (maybe not be final yet).
* Avoided abrupt clipping of sounds at the end of a level.
* Fixed animation of fast-moving enemies.
* Fixed handling of beam hits.
* Made various other changes.

Latest build download: https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

[saimo]

A friend reported that the latest build didn't run on his Windows machine (while performing a virus scan). Given that the previous builds worked, given that I couldn't see how any of the latest changes could cause such a problem, and given that when I read the report I was on Linux, I made an alternative test: I ran Blastaway on Linux through wine, and the result was... success!





(I must say I expected that as all my other games for Windows, which are based the same custom framework of mine, work under Linux+Wine as well )

[saimo]

Bonuses start appearing (and more will come with the next update)!





CHANGELOG
* Added time bonus.
* Added shadows to enemies.
* Assigned the menu select function also to the ALT, CONTROL, SHIFT, and TAB keys.

Latest build download: https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

[saimo]

This update brings lots of important changes (although many are hidden under the hood) and also more bonuses!





CHANGELOG
* Added bonuses:
    * life (awards a life);
    * points (awards 500 points);
    * time (resets the time);
    * weapon (increases the rate of fire a little bit).
* Reduced time bonus factor from x10 to x5.
* Made internal coordinates system 3D.
* Made many other internal improvements/optimizations/additions/bugfixes.
* Added some gameplay information to the manual.

Latest build download: https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

[saimo]

More polish, more content, more everything!





CHANGELOG
* Added enemies spawning visual effect.
* Renamed "life/lives" as "soldier/soldiers" everywhere (that reflects better the fact that there are multiple soldiers, each with a single life, rather than a single soldier with multiple lives).
* Tweaked some gameplay parameters:
   * increased maximum number of soldiers from 3 to 6;
   * reduced maximum enemies speed;
   * increased chances of soldier and weapon bonuses.
* Added 10 arenas (derived from the BOH mission "Wizard of Wor", based, in turn, on some Wizard of Wor dungeons).
* Reorganized arenas: arenas 5 and 10 of each stage are dungeon-like, whereas the others have a more open, geometrical layout.
* Made many internal improvements/extensions/bugfixes.
* Extended/improved/fixed manual.

Latest build download: https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

[saimo]

Today the game (finally) had a (minimal, LED-style) HUD added. This had the consequence of giving the final push towards putting the entrance at the center of the screen for a more balanced look. So, tomorrow, the HUD will be split in two parts, one left and one right, and the entrance will be moved in the middle.


(click to zoom)