2022 - June - Blastaway Competition - Ended

I really enjoyed competition and playing Blastaway and as an added bonus we had a developer on board as well, how often something like that happen? Thanks to AmigaOldSkooler who organized all of this and congrats to all participants!

@all

I have received reports about the fact that Blastaway wouldn't see joypads on Windows. This is a general issue that I had noticed even before making Blastaway: at some point, at least here, Windows started to see/report D-pads as thumbsticks. For example, I have here a cheap SNES joypad replica which Windows (10) sees as an analogue controller that can even be calibrated. Searching around the net, I found that the issue is broader: some people report D-pads and thumbsticks swapped around or not working together, etc.
My AmigaOS 4 / Windows games query (through SDL) the OS for joypads with D-pads, so joypads do not get seen when Windows reports them incorrectly. I have now produced a test executable of Blastaway that accepts also joypads which are reported to have only a thumbstick. It is based on what the tests with the aforementioned joypad showed - more precisely, SDL reports these signed 16 bit values:
* UP/LEFT: 0x8000
* DOWN/RIGHT: 0x7fff
Curiously, the center position is said to be 0xffff (-1) instead of 0, so I'm not relying on that.
My impression is that Windows tries to unify D-pads and thumbsticks handling, so it treats the former as analogue controls that output only the maximum values. If that's the case, then the current code is good enough already. If not, then I'll have to add a calibration option.
Could you test the new executable and let me know, please? You can download it from https://www.retream.com/_temporary/Blastaway.zip - just unpack it in your game folder.

@saimo

I never had any issues with USB gamepads on Windows with Blastaway but my issue is my Bluetooth gamepad which is not seen by Blastaway. Tried this new exe but same issue with Bluetooth gamepad not being seen.

@328gts

Quote:
In this case, evidently there's a disconnect between Windows and SDL. Unfortunately, that's nothing I can help with :/

EDIT
On second thought, there's one more thing I could try: not checking the presence of D-pads/thumbsticks (hats/axes in SDL terminology) at all and simply accepting any joypad that has at least 1 button - basically, accepting all joypads. Then, if for some reason SDL manages to read the joypad output (be it digital or analog), the joypad will work. Can you download the latest executable (same link) and let me know, please?


@all

I remembered that I had already done a little investigation about this and found the relevant thread. Basically, other users report the same behaviour I noticed here, so I'm confident the executable solves the issue.

I would not know about windows, fortunately I do not have it installed, but the same issue I had on X5000 and AOS 4.1 where my joystick was not recognized. The solution for this was to map keyboard keys from the game into the AmigaInputAnywhere, and similar solution was offered in the thread on itch.io. Some other games (on AOS 4.1) which use SDL for joystick do not recognize joystick and I had to map keyboard controls there too. If I remember correctly, this was only issue with the Mayflesh Arcade Fightstick F300 (and Comp Pro USB), Logitech F710 and F310 are working as expected. I can test this (on AOS 4.1) and report back if you need these details.

@levellord

Thanks for the feedback! It would be interesting to know if the test executable helps (if not, then it must be an OS/SDL issue).

@saimo

Sorry, I was probably not clear when I said "I can test this". I meant test the joysticks/pads in the AOS 4.1 Blastaway game and confirm back which ones are working properly within the game. I can not test the new executable, I do not have windows installed on my machines. Please let me know.

Thanks!

@levellord

Naaah, it was just me not thinking straight!
Anyway, you can forget about the test executable: I have just uploaded a whole new package which also brings some nice additional features (including the points bonus upon game completion mentioned earlier in this thread) ;)

CHANGELOG
* Added support for thumbsticks, as at times Windows treats D-pads as thumbsticks (this is just to support as many joypads as possible: using real thumbsticks is not a good idea anyway).
* Added journey map (at the beginning of each stage, a screen shows the previous stages, the current stage and, darkened, the next stages).
* Added FULL GAME bonus (completing the game starting it from the first arena of the first stage awards 50000 extra points).
* Added final score in game completion screen.
* Touched up instruments volumes and effects in tunes.
* Removed the "commercials" showing the other RETREAM games between stages.
* Removed donation message from title screen.
* Fixed handling of joypad presses and releases (under some circumstances outside of the game, a release could be handled as a consequence of a previous, unrelated press).
* Improved/extended manual.

Of course, available from https://retream.itch.io/blastaway

@saimo

awesome stuff! Thanks for this update Simone

@328gts

Glad to make you happy, my friend!


@all

I have just released yet another update, which features the following changes.

CHANGELOG
* Worked on MILESTONE bonus: made notification more prominent by displaying the number of soldiers and/or the points awarded, both in-game and in the arena report screen; fixed handling of multiple milestones reached at the same time (the points awarded were considered by the very same check that decides whether to award those kind of points, thus potentially awarding too many points).
* Moved the ALIVE SOLDIERS bonus notification from the last arena end screen to the game end screen.
* Changed the design of the DOUBLE and TRIPLE bonuses marks from "x2" and "x3" to "2x" and "3x".
* Added glowing to Czywor's eyes.
* Simplified data files access code.
* Set savedata directory to the game's own data directory also for the Windows installed version (which now is thus identical to the portable version).
* Moved configuration file to the program directory.
* Renamed savedata file (safe.raw -> safe.dat).
* Added to installers code to import previous savedata and clean up leftovers.
* Improved/extended manual.

Now, while preparing the update, I realized that I provided two wrong pieces of information in this thread, while the competition was running!
First one: I said that the time bonus gets multiplied by the DOUBLE and TRIPLE SCORE bonuses - well, that's false! Those bonuses multiply only the points scored during play, not the points awarded after clearing an arena.
Second one: there was no prize for completing the game - that's false as well, as the ALIVE SOLDIERS bonus (which was already there), upon game completion awards 1000 points multiplied by the number of alive soldiers! It's just that it was reported in the end screen of the last arena, so it passed unnoticed (now it's changed - see above).

@saimo

wow thanks again for all the updates!

@saimo

Looks like you fixed joystick handling on AmigaOS4.1,
did not need to use AmigaInputAnywhere, this time.

@328gts

My pleasure :)


@LiveForIt

Thanks for reporting! Glad to hear that.

To be precise, I didn't fix anything: I just added a workaround to the fact that sometimes SDL reports D-pads as thumbsticks (the workaround being the addition of support for thumbsticks, which are treated as if they were digital).
On Windows, the issue is often (maybe always?) Window's own fault: I have here a cheap SNES controller replica that Windows keeps on seeing as an analog device. On AmigaOS... well, I don't know.