Blastaway, a new game for AmigaOS 4 (?)

@Joeled

I couldn't remember anything about Speedball, but it sounded very strange because I never planned to make Speedball 3 - in fact, I don't even like the original games! So, I searched our past emails and something surfaced from... 10 years ago! ->

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Maybe I was talking precisely of the sports game I said to have on paper.

Thanks in advance for your support on Patreon! :)

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).

I may be being stupid, but can't see a way to download the demo (at least using Odyssey).

@ChrisH

Since the release is very close, I've decided to remove the demos:
* keeping them updated would have spoiled the fun;
* keeping the outdated versions would not have done justice to the game.

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

Congrats on the release! I made a small donation as promised, looking forward to playing it on the weekend.

@BSzili

So far I have received two donations, and both are very generous :o Thank you so much!!!

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!

Gameplay video

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

@saimo

BRAVO Simone! A new game for us amigans to play in 2019 is just awesome and knowing all the time and care you took to make this game a reality for FREE is mind blowing!

I'm proud to support you on your Patreon page and I urge all Amiga users/fans to donate to Retream (Simone) if you enjoy Blastaway and to encourage our developers to continue making new games for our favourite OS!

@328gts

Your support and enthusiasm is unbelievable. Thanks!!!

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/devlog/109650/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!

@saimo

thanks for the quick update & Happy Birthday Simone !

@328gts

You're welcome, and thanks!

Just downloaded ... and donated some dollars. Very nice game, thanks!

@cha05e90

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The last donations are very generous, so it must be yours - thank you so much!

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I'm happy to hear this :)
Enjoy!

I've been asked by email, on itch.io, and on various forums to port Blastaway to other platforms, and I've also read some misinformation somewhere, so I thought I'd better give a complete and clear answer everywhere.

I'm not going to port Blastaway to any other platform.

In general, other platforms won't be considered because:
* I can't take the burden of adapting the game and then of offering (future) support (two platforms are already demanding, and with BOH I've learned that increasing the number of supported systems beyond two is insane);
* porting is boring;
* help offers aren't of any help (terrible pun intended) because also collaborating, for several reasons, takes time and energies;
* I don't own all the machines I'm being / I will be asked to port the game to, and for money and logistical reasons I can't get more;
* I have many other projects (for classic Amiga and Commodore 64) wating to be resumed, and time and energies are limited.

In particular, a classic Amiga version won't happen because:
* it couldn't be identical;
* it would require a huge development effort, as no direct port is possible: the code would have to be written from scratch and the data would have to be adapted;
* it would require an additional effort for testing, given the variety of hardware configurations;
* it would require again a big effort in case of updates (if any).

@saimo

Nice retro style game!
Working great on my X1000 so far.
Donated. Keep up the great work!

@ktadd

I'm happy you're enjoying the game :)
And thanks a lot for your generous donation!

Donated. Will try it asap when i get home.

@Joeled

You've been very generous, too! Thanks, and enjoy!