Blastaway

Devlog

• History
  July 31, 2022 by RETREAM

  1

  v1.6 (26.7.2023) * Avoided redundant re-initializations when a video/pixel mode change requires a reinitialization of the screen/window. Note: due to technical issues, only the Windows executable has... Continue reading
• v1.4
  July 29, 2022 by RETREAM

  1

  Lately work has been done in parallel on all the RETREAM games. It began with the objective of aligning the technically similar ones for PC so that they would handle data saving the same way, but it s... Continue reading
• v1.3
  July 24, 2022 by RETREAM

  While updating Huenison I noticed that a bug in some versions of gcc could cause corrupted graphics and even memory faults. Although Blastaway didn't seem affected by that problem, I thought I'd bette... Continue reading
• v1.2
  July 18, 2022 by RETREAM

  1

  This update tries to address the issue of some joypads not being seen due to the fact that at times Windows reports D-pads as thumbsticks (see this thread here ). Moreover, it also brings some new nic... Continue reading
• v1.1
  November 12, 2019 by RETREAM

  1

  A user reported an odd bug: after making a hiscore and entering one's name, choosing a different video mode would let the player enter his name again! The bugfix consisted in simply swapping around tw... Continue reading
• Released!
  November 12, 2019 by RETREAM

  2

  Blastaway is finally out! Download it for free and have fun!... Continue reading
• Testing complete!
  November 11, 2019 by RETREAM

  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... Continue reading

  
• Final build (?)
  November 06, 2019 by RETREAM

  1

  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. Any... Continue reading
• More testing, more improvements, and a new release candidate!
  November 04, 2019 by RETREAM

  1

  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... Continue reading
• Release candidate ready!
  October 31, 2019 by RETREAM

  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 su... Continue reading
• Closer and closer to release
  October 29, 2019 by RETREAM

  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... Continue reading
• Getting ready for release!
  October 19, 2019 by RETREAM

  2

  Development is complete (even the installers are done), so now Blastaway only needs to go through the final (and heavy) playtest. Then, if everything turns out to be OK, the game will be released - an... Continue reading

  
• Video-related code improved
  October 15, 2019 by RETREAM

  1

  CHANGELOG Changed rendering of menu items. Added 6x zooming. Reworked/optimized CRT filters. Improved/fixed video initialization... Continue reading

  
• Cosmetic changes to the menu
  October 11, 2019 by RETREAM

  One of my supporters found the menu item blinking a bit stressful, so I went for the old solution shown in the video. I'm not 100% sure yet: maybe I'll have to use a darker color for the unselected it... Continue reading
• Another maintenance release
  October 10, 2019 by RETREAM

  A complete playthrough and a revision of the code revealed a few things to fix/improve. CHANGELOG Made WEAPON bonus less rare. Fixed an AI-related bug. Fixed milestone when resuming (it was restored i... Continue reading

  
• Maintenance release
  October 07, 2019 by RETREAM

  CHANGELOG Changed slightly darkening of arenas start screen background. Fixed (again) Gjawor's AI (it might get stuck due to a missing check). Fixed wor spawning delay calculation (it became negative... Continue reading
• All wors done!
  October 05, 2019 by RETREAM

  1

  CHANGELOG Added Frowor. Changed Gjawor sound. Added points missing to milestone to HUD. Reworked HUD. Fixed Gjawor's AI (it could decide to turn when not allowed). Fixed/optimized trimming of most sha... Continue reading

  
• More steps towards perfection
  September 23, 2019 by RETREAM

  2

  CHANGELOG Made Exxwor shoot. Reworked arenas start screen (darkened background, changed heading, added wors list). Touched up a few arenas. Touched up some Exxwor frames. Replaced scrolltext with cycl... Continue reading

  
• 1 wor to go!
  September 21, 2019 by RETREAM

  1

  The Exxwor, the wor that appears at THE WAREHOUSE stage, has been added, so now only one wor remains to be done! Additionally, this build comes with a major bugfix and other nice improvements. CHANGEL... Continue reading

  
• Stage-relative checkpoints added!
  September 19, 2019 by RETREAM

  When a new stage is reached, the whole game state gets saved so that it will be possible to resume the game anytime from the same state by means of a menu option. Side note: I had considered giving th... Continue reading

  
• THE MACHINE ROOMS stage is complete!
  September 16, 2019 by RETREAM

  1

  A major step towards the completion of the whole game has just been made. Plus a few other little improvements. Also, the final decision has been made: the full game will be free ! CHANGELOG Added THE... Continue reading
• 1 tile to go!
  September 14, 2019 by RETREAM

  Only the explosive object tile of THE MACHINE ROOMS stage remains to be drawn - and since all the other stages are done, tile-wise the game is 1 tile away from being complete!... Continue reading

  
• THE MACHINE ROOMS stage is WIP
  September 13, 2019 by RETREAM

  The picture shows THE MACHINE ROOMS stage in its current state. Only a few tiles and sounds are missing, and when they are in place, all the game stages will be complete!... Continue reading

  
• Dmewor's graphics improved
  September 08, 2019 by RETREAM

  CHANGELOG Improved Dmewor's graphics. Given Dmewor its own shadows... Continue reading

  
• Dmewor is done!
  September 07, 2019 by RETREAM

  The wor specific to THE OUTER WALLS stage is done (so now only two remain to be done). CHANGELOG Added Dmewor graphics and sound. Changed behavioural parameters of Czywor and Dmewor. Added temporary A... Continue reading

  
• Stage-specific wors!
  September 06, 2019 by RETREAM

  This feature remained in the queue for a long time, but it finally made it to the game! At the moment, code aside, there is only one new wor (shown in the animation) that makes use of it, but three mo... Continue reading

  
• Lots of new content ready!
  September 02, 2019 by RETREAM

  1

  THE CONTROLS ROOM (formerly THE LABS) stage is finished, and so are all the 50 arenas! CHANGELOG Fixed some shadows of stage CAVES tiles. Added 31st color and improved graphics with it. Added THE CONT... Continue reading

  
• LABS stage graphics finished!
  August 31, 2019 by RETREAM

  Apart from minor changes that might be done in future, also this tileset is done!... Continue reading

  
• Work on LABS stage tiles continues...
  August 30, 2019 by RETREAM

  Keeping on pushing pixels for the LABS stage tiles... Continue reading

  
• LABS stage graphics WIP
  August 29, 2019 by RETREAM

  The LABS stage graphics are currently being pixelled... Continue reading

  
• New features added and a few bugs squashed!
  August 23, 2019 by RETREAM

  1

  This releases puts together a few new nice features and some bugfixes. CHANGELOG Added M.I.A. bonus - clearing an arena without losing a soldier awards 1000 points. Increased milestone step to 30000 p... Continue reading
• Higher scores!
  August 21, 2019 by RETREAM

  1

  Wizard of Wor , the game Blastaway inspires to, has a DOUBLE SCORE bonus: if the player manages to kill the Worluk before it flees, the next dungeon will award a double score. Blastaway just had to ha... Continue reading

  
• Gameplay improvements
  August 19, 2019 by RETREAM

  This update improves some key gameplay aspects and, in particular, fixes the bug that made beams pass through fast-moving wors without killing them (the so-called "tunneling bug"). CHANGELOG Fixed tun... Continue reading
• A small but key change
  August 17, 2019 by RETREAM

  The soldier weapon is now centered relatively to his body, so it is easier to hit wors especially when the soldier is pointing west/east. Also, the HUD should be less intrusive and more readable now... Continue reading

  
• A new stage and ten new arenas to enjoy!
  August 13, 2019 by RETREAM

  This build represents a major step as it adds lots of content and brings quite a number of additional improvements. CHANGELOG Added stage THE WAREHOUSE (previously THE CELLARS/JAILS). Added 8 arenas... Continue reading
• THE JAILS stage under construction
  August 10, 2019 by RETREAM

  The creation of THE JAILS (formerly THE CELLARS) stage is well underway. The image shows the WIP tileset (bottom) and a test arena (top)... Continue reading

  
• A brand-new stage and tons of other improvements!
  August 06, 2019 by RETREAM

  Finally Blastaway has more than one stage (i.e. setting), which means more graphics to enjoy, greater sense of progression (as the stages change every 10 arenas), and more arenas to play (20 in all no... Continue reading
• THE CAVES stage is complete!
  August 05, 2019 by RETREAM

  THE CAVES stage has been finished (but it might still be improved in future, of course)! (Public release coming up shortly; for the moment being only Patrons have access to it.)... Continue reading

  
• New stage (THE CAVES) almost complete!
  August 04, 2019 by RETREAM

  THE CAVES stage is nearing completion: only the alternative wall tiles (32 in all) and the corresponding shadows are missing. Also, lots of other changes have been done. As soon as the stage is comple... Continue reading

  
• Improved looks
  July 30, 2019 by RETREAM

  This update mostly brings cool enhancements to the graphics. CHANGELOG Redrawn wor kill animation (and changed associated sound effect accordingly). Improved graphics of tiles, destroyable objects exp... Continue reading
• More noise!
  July 28, 2019 by RETREAM

  Arenas feature now some blocks that can be destroyed by shooting at them: at first, that might seem useful to wander around more easily, but, on second thought, that also makes life easier to wors! In... Continue reading
• A less traumatic start.
  July 23, 2019 by RETREAM

  Previously, the entrance was such that the player had to enter the arena very carefully, a enemies might hide behind the arch, and only their shadows could be seen behind the entrance bars. I decided... Continue reading
• Blastaway lands on AmigaOS 4!
  July 20, 2019 by RETREAM

  This minor maintenance release comes with a big news item: Blastaway has been ported to AmigaOS 4 ! CHANGELOG Improved "game completed" music. Assigned all the joypad buttons the "select" function. Ch... Continue reading
• Treats for eyes and ears!
  July 18, 2019 by RETREAM

  One of Blastaway's key features is that sprites can be partially hidden behind walls and doors, so the player has to be careful when moving around. At times, though, now he can find help in the brand-... Continue reading
• Enemies 99% done!
  July 16, 2019 by RETREAM

  Enemies 99% done! Now also Exxwor (the equivalent of the Wizard in Wizard of Wor) has a face... oh, well, the appropriate black space inside the hood. (For the record, enemies will be 100% done when B... Continue reading
• Dmewor is done!
  July 15, 2019 by RETREAM

  If you hear a menaceful buzz, Dmewor s deadly close. CHANGELOG Given Dmewor its own sprites and sound. Added an arena. Added a note to the manual... Continue reading
• Czywor has an identity now!
  July 13, 2019 by RETREAM

  Finally, also Czywor has its own voice and sprites. (Dmewor and Exxwor are still waiting to undergo the same treatment, but it's likely that Baqwor will be completely redesigned, first.) CHANGELOG Ext... Continue reading
• Maintenance release
  July 09, 2019 by RETREAM

  Nothing spectacular, but this contains an important bugfix. CHANGELOG Restored old input assignments for pause ([ESC] = pause/abort; any key/button = unpause). Touched up some graphics a little bit. F... Continue reading

  
• Keys and doors!
  July 05, 2019 by RETREAM

  From now on, wandering around the Blastaway arenas requires the player to collect keys and open doors with them - a little puzzle element that spices up the gameplay further ;) CHANGELOG Added keys an... Continue reading

  
• Let them spit fire!
  June 29, 2019 by RETREAM

  Enemies aren't that dangerous if they can't shoot, are they? Well, now Akrwor, Baqwor, and Czywor will happily shoot at the soldier - they do it in different ways, but the result is the same: deadly... Continue reading
• Enter Baqwor!
  June 27, 2019 by RETREAM

  1

  Blastaway , like Wizard of Wor , features 5 different types of enemies (called wors ). And, again like Wizard of Wor , it assigns them some weird names: Arkwor , Baqwor , Czywor , Dmewor , Exxwor (fro... Continue reading
• Beam me up!
  June 24, 2019 by RETREAM

  New gameplay feature: teleporters ! Wizard of Wor had two connected gates at the sides of the screen that allowed the player to go from one to another, from the left side of the screen to the right on... Continue reading
• Lots of cool additions
  June 21, 2019 by RETREAM

  This update brings lots of little things that make the game more polished... and way cooler! CHANGELOG Added bouncing arrow that indicates the active soldier in the entrance area. Made "I'm ready" wal... Continue reading
• Let the music play!
  June 19, 2019 by RETREAM

  Work on the musical side of Blastaway has started. Given the Amiga -inspired style of the game, music just had to be composed as 4 channel tracker modules! For the moment being, all the tunes feature... Continue reading
• Many tweaks
  June 17, 2019 by RETREAM

  Second update today! Lots of tweaks here and there that make the game more and more polished. CHANGELOG Added bonus-specific sound effects. Implemented caching of stage data. Tweaked static screens, t... Continue reading

  
• 90s vibes!
  June 17, 2019 by RETREAM

  Blastaway is stylistically a 16 bit game, so the temporary graphics have finally been replaced to give the appropriate 90s vibes! CHANGELOG Reworked interface graphics (logo, fonts, background). Added... Continue reading
• The first wails of enemies
  June 15, 2019 by RETREAM

  Enemies start talking! Some growl when they sense you're close, some continuously utter ominous noises, some do even worse... and more is to come ;) Also, the first proper HUD makes its debut (althoug... Continue reading

  
• Heads-Up Display
  June 14, 2019 by RETREAM

  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,... Continue reading

  
• More polish, more content, more everything!
  June 13, 2019 by RETREAM

  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 t... Continue reading
• More bonuses!
  June 12, 2019 by RETREAM

  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... Continue reading
• Bonuses start appearing!
  June 08, 2019 by RETREAM

  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... Continue reading

  
• Test on Linux+Wine: success!
  June 06, 2019 by RETREAM

  Like all the other RETREAM games for Windows , also Blastaway runs perfectly on Linux thanks to Wine ... Continue reading
• The audio side needed some love, too.
  June 06, 2019 by RETREAM

  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 ba... Continue reading
• Explosions!
  June 05, 2019 by RETREAM

  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... Continue reading

  
• Main character redesigned
  June 03, 2019 by RETREAM

  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... Continue reading

  
• Quick fix
  June 02, 2019 by RETREAM

  This version simply fixes an issue with joypads (pressing a button in the static screens didn't simply exit the screen but produced other side effects due to a function that had not been updated)... Continue reading
• Minor update
  June 01, 2019 by RETREAM

  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). Touc... Continue reading
• It feels like a game now!
  May 31, 2019 by RETREAM

  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... Continue reading
• Let there be enemies!
  May 28, 2019 by RETREAM

  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; n... Continue reading

  
• Graphical engine improved (and more)
  May 24, 2019 by RETREAM

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

  
• Shooting added - and you can try it yourself!
  May 22, 2019 by RETREAM

  Controls changed/improved and shooting added. From now on, you can try the latest build anytime by downloading the archive from the main page ;)... Continue reading

  
• Menu added
  May 20, 2019 by RETREAM

  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), bu... Continue reading

  
• Project started!
  May 18, 2019 by RETREAM

  2

  The development of Blastaway started a few days ago. You'll discover where the game is going little by little through the information and the devlog updates that will be shared here. (The attached ani... Continue reading