Blastaway, a new game for AmigaOS 4 (?) - Page 3

saimo · 29 October 2019, 22:49

Closer and closer to release.
Work could not proceed at full steam lately, but still intensive testing revealed a few things to improve/fix (that subsequently were improved/fixed, of course). Further testing will tell whether the game can be released.

CHANGELOG
* Improved last arena.
* Made a little optimization in shadows rendering.
* Fixed collision detection bug (beams were handled incorrectly).
* Fixed a recently-introduced bug in wors handling.
* Fixed a newly-introduced bug in transparent tiles handling.
* Fixed graphical quirk between soldier corpses and keys.

Demo download: https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

saimo · 31 October 2019, 23:00

Release candidate ready!
Some more heavy testing revealed only a little bug. While fixing it, the related graphic tiles were improved as well. Everything else was OK, so Blastaway is basically ready for release. Just to be sure, it will be played again from start to finish on two different machines before it's released. Stay tuned.

CHANGELOG
* Touched up blast mark tiles of THE MACHINE ROOMS stage.
* Optimized a little bit the graphics of some blast mark tiles.
* Fixed corrupted rendering of blast marks (a line of code consisting of just "do" had disappeared).

https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

saimo · 04 November 2019, 13:19

More testing, more improvements, and a new release candidate!
Further testing suggested a few new little ideas that I found irresistible: it's definitely late for new features, but still I just had to implement them. Of course, I'll repeat the testing thoroughly to ensure that nothing got broken in the process. Also, adding one of those features revealed a little bug (that was subsequently fixed, of course).
Overall, testing went very well, so I believe that the current release candidate is the one that will get released. More testing will tell.

CHANGELOG
* Added little screen flash effect while Hodwork and Ikuwor are active.
* Made SOLDIER bonus award points when the maximum number of soldiers is already available.
* Added MILESTONE bonus points to post-arena report when awarded thanks to the other bonuses.
* Added randomization of menu background scrolling.
* Doubled speed of menu background scrolling.
* Fixed handling of dead soldiers sprites (they got erroneously re-linked to a list).
* Fixed/improved manual.

https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

saimo · 06 November 2019, 23:08

Final build (?)
In the last days, Blastaway was played from start to finish many times. Technically, everything was perfect. A few little ideas came to mind, though, and again I couldn't resist implementing them. Anyway, I'm confident that the current build is the final one. Of course, before releasing, it must be tested thoroughly to ensure that the latest little changes didn't break anything.

CHANGELOG
* Added ALIVE SOLDIERS bonus: awards 1000 points multiplied by the number of alive soldiers when the game is completed.
* Added sound effects specific to MILESTONE bonus.
* Lowered points awarded by the SOLDIER and MILESTONE bonuses to 5000.
* Updated manual.

https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

saimo · 08 November 2019, 16:23

On Patreon I've been asked to add "scanlines or other filters": well, the good news is that Blastaway has had a (simple) CRT filter since day 1

Check out the picture below (click and zoom it 1:1 to see how the graphics actually look).

saimo · 11 November 2019, 17:10

Blastaway passed countless hours of testing, so now it's officially ready for release!
If you've been eagerly awaiting for it to be out, then you'll be pleased to hear that it should take less than a day...

(click to enlarge)

https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

malko · 11 November 2019, 22:47

Well done saimo

!
Several weeks ago, I have tested the win32 build of Blastaway and it's a cool game.

saimo · 11 November 2019, 23:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by malko

Well done saimo

!
Several weeks ago, I have tested the win32 build of Blastaway and it's a cool game.

Thank you!

saimo · 12 November 2019, 10:08

Finished - I'm so happy to say it: the development of Blastaway is finished, and the game is out!

Get it from the game page... it's free!

[ Show youtube player ]

This took 6 months. I wasn't able to work on it at full speed and, actually, at times I had to force myself to concentrate and make one more sluggish step. Still, I'm glad that I managed to finish it, and in a reasonable time even, especially considering that this game wasn't in my already overly busy plans.
This old school game has been made the old school way: the code is entirely C (written in a plain text editor and compiled via shell, of course), graphics have been drawn manually pixel-by-pixel, each of the 32 colors of the palette have been hand-picked and tweaked repeatedly over time, music has been composed on guitar, but then actually written in a tracker using just 4 channels. That's the only way to achieve a true retro feeling - and the way I love to work.

RETREAM
RETREAM on itch.io
RETREAM on Twitter
RETREAM on Patreon

wanderer · 12 November 2019, 11:06

Congratulations saimo! Will try it very soon.

saimo · 13 November 2019, 00:10

@wanderer

Thank you!

@all

The user's verdict so far has been very satisfying: I've received lots of cool compliments and even a few generous donations

However, the reason I'm writing here is that I failed: the game wasn't perfect! In fact, a user reported an odd bug (details at https://retream.itch.io/blastaway/de...0/quick-bugfix) :/ I made the fixed version available immediately, given that the game is going to be downloaded massively during the next few days. You can download it and install it over the previous copy anytime.
I must admit that this little incident bothered me quite much (I aim for perfection, although it's a utopia), but there's also a (sort of) funny side to this story: having recompiled the game today meant that the day in the build date is now... my birthday!

malko · 13 November 2019, 00:57

BUON COMPLEANNO saimo !

klx300r · 13 November 2019, 05:15

@saimo

thanks for the quick update & Happy Birthday Simone !

saimo · 13 November 2019, 10:15

Thank you!

quantum8 · 13 November 2019, 11:39

This looks great, thanks for the hard work!

saimo · 13 November 2019, 16:15

Thanks

funK · 13 November 2019, 16:47

This looks very interesting: any chance you'll look into adapting the game to make it work in classic Amigas?
I've seen your comments that a low-end Amiga port would require a massive rewrite, but what about a high-end Amiga port only targeting RTG/68060?

saimo · 13 November 2019, 16:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by funK

This looks very interesting:

Thanks.

Quote:

any chance you'll look into adapting the game to make it work in classic Amigas?
I've seen your comments that a low-end Amiga port would require a massive rewrite, but what about a high-end Amiga port only targeting RTG/68060?

No, sorry, because of what said about ports in the opening post.
I have several other projects for classic Amigas, and I hope life will give me a chance to work on them.

funK · 13 November 2019, 17:17

Bummer! Thanks for your reply anyway, here's hoping I'll eventually find some time to set an AmigaOS4 environment up and give Blastaway a go, then.

saimo · 13 November 2019, 17:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by funK

here's hoping I'll eventually find some time to set an AmigaOS4 environment up and give Blastaway a go, then.

I hope this doesn't sound like heresy, but if you want to try it out quickly, you might resort to the Windows version (which also runs fine under Wine).
If/when you do it, have fun!

13 November 2019, 00:10	#51
saimo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Italy Posts: 787	@wanderer Thank you! @all The user's verdict so far has been very satisfying: I've received lots of cool compliments and even a few generous donations However, the reason I'm writing here is that I failed: the game wasn't perfect! In fact, a user reported an odd bug (details at https://retream.itch.io/blastaway/de...0/quick-bugfix) :/ I made the fixed version available immediately, given that the game is going to be downloaded massively during the next few days. You can download it and install it over the previous copy anytime. I must admit that this little incident bothered me quite much (I aim for perfection, although it's a utopia), but there's also a (sort of) funny side to this story: having recompiled the game today meant that the day in the build date is now... my birthday! Last edited by saimo; 13 November 2019 at 00:15.

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29 October 2019, 22:49	#41
saimo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Italy Posts: 787	Closer and closer to release. Work could not proceed at full steam lately, but still intensive testing revealed a few things to improve/fix (that subsequently were improved/fixed, of course). Further testing will tell whether the game can be released. CHANGELOG * Improved last arena. * Made a little optimization in shadows rendering. * Fixed collision detection bug (beams were handled incorrectly). * Fixed a recently-introduced bug in wors handling. * Fixed a newly-introduced bug in transparent tiles handling. * Fixed graphical quirk between soldier corpses and keys. Demo download: https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

31 October 2019, 23:00	#42
saimo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Italy Posts: 787	Release candidate ready! Some more heavy testing revealed only a little bug. While fixing it, the related graphic tiles were improved as well. Everything else was OK, so Blastaway is basically ready for release. Just to be sure, it will be played again from start to finish on two different machines before it's released. Stay tuned. CHANGELOG * Touched up blast mark tiles of THE MACHINE ROOMS stage. * Optimized a little bit the graphics of some blast mark tiles. * Fixed corrupted rendering of blast marks (a line of code consisting of just "do" had disappeared). https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

04 November 2019, 13:19	#43
saimo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Italy Posts: 787	More testing, more improvements, and a new release candidate! Further testing suggested a few new little ideas that I found irresistible: it's definitely late for new features, but still I just had to implement them. Of course, I'll repeat the testing thoroughly to ensure that nothing got broken in the process. Also, adding one of those features revealed a little bug (that was subsequently fixed, of course). Overall, testing went very well, so I believe that the current release candidate is the one that will get released. More testing will tell. CHANGELOG * Added little screen flash effect while Hodwork and Ikuwor are active. * Made SOLDIER bonus award points when the maximum number of soldiers is already available. * Added MILESTONE bonus points to post-arena report when awarded thanks to the other bonuses. * Added randomization of menu background scrolling. * Doubled speed of menu background scrolling. * Fixed handling of dead soldiers sprites (they got erroneously re-linked to a list). * Fixed/improved manual. https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

06 November 2019, 23:08	#44
saimo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Italy Posts: 787	Final build (?) In the last days, Blastaway was played from start to finish many times. Technically, everything was perfect. A few little ideas came to mind, though, and again I couldn't resist implementing them. Anyway, I'm confident that the current build is the final one. Of course, before releasing, it must be tested thoroughly to ensure that the latest little changes didn't break anything. CHANGELOG * Added ALIVE SOLDIERS bonus: awards 1000 points multiplied by the number of alive soldiers when the game is completed. * Added sound effects specific to MILESTONE bonus. * Lowered points awarded by the SOLDIER and MILESTONE bonuses to 5000. * Updated manual. https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

08 November 2019, 16:23	#45
saimo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Italy Posts: 787	On Patreon I've been asked to add "scanlines or other filters": well, the good news is that Blastaway has had a (simple) CRT filter since day 1 Check out the picture below (click and zoom it 1:1 to see how the graphics actually look).

11 November 2019, 17:10	#46
saimo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Italy Posts: 787	Blastaway passed countless hours of testing, so now it's officially ready for release! If you've been eagerly awaiting for it to be out, then you'll be pleased to hear that it should take less than a day... (click to enlarge) https://www.retream.com/Blastaway

11 November 2019, 22:47	#47
malko Ex nihilo nihil Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: CH Posts: 4,856	Well done saimo ! Several weeks ago, I have tested the win32 build of Blastaway and it's a cool game.

12 November 2019, 10:08	#49
saimo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Italy Posts: 787	Finished - I'm so happy to say it: the development of Blastaway is finished, and the game is out! Get it from the game page... it's free! [ Show youtube player ] This took 6 months. I wasn't able to work on it at full speed and, actually, at times I had to force myself to concentrate and make one more sluggish step. Still, I'm glad that I managed to finish it, and in a reasonable time even, especially considering that this game wasn't in my already overly busy plans. This old school game has been made the old school way: the code is entirely C (written in a plain text editor and compiled via shell, of course), graphics have been drawn manually pixel-by-pixel, each of the 32 colors of the palette have been hand-picked and tweaked repeatedly over time, music has been composed on guitar, but then actually written in a tracker using just 4 channels. That's the only way to achieve a true retro feeling - and the way I love to work. RETREAM RETREAM on itch.io RETREAM on Twitter RETREAM on Patreon

12 November 2019, 11:06	#50
wanderer I want an A1000 Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Pac-Land Posts: 738	Congratulations saimo! Will try it very soon.

13 November 2019, 00:57	#52
malko Ex nihilo nihil Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: CH Posts: 4,856	BUON COMPLEANNO saimo !

13 November 2019, 05:15	#53
klx300r Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 1,593	@saimo thanks for the quick update & Happy Birthday Simone !

13 November 2019, 10:15	#54
saimo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Italy Posts: 787	Thank you!

13 November 2019, 11:39	#55
quantum8 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: BNE AU Posts: 216	This looks great, thanks for the hard work!

13 November 2019, 16:15	#56
saimo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Italy Posts: 787	Thanks

13 November 2019, 16:47	#57
funK Registered User Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: ItAlien Posts: 170	This looks very interesting: any chance you'll look into adapting the game to make it work in classic Amigas? I've seen your comments that a low-end Amiga port would require a massive rewrite, but what about a high-end Amiga port only targeting RTG/68060?

13 November 2019, 17:17	#59
funK Registered User Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: ItAlien Posts: 170	Bummer! Thanks for your reply anyway, here's hoping I'll eventually find some time to set an AmigaOS4 environment up and give Blastaway a go, then.

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