Instruments of Destruction News

[p]It's been a few months since version 1.12 and subsequent patches were released. Today, version 1.13 fixes the biggest issues caused by that update along with a few other minor tweaks/fixes. Let's get to the changelist first, then I'll go over the exit-freeze issue and the journey to fix it, and finish up with some other news.[/p][p]1.13 CHANGELIST[/p]

• [p]Rebranched code from 1.11d to prevent exit-freeze[/p]
• [p]Reintegrated all 1.12 changes into new branch[/p]
• [p]Added new cheat to unlock all missions[/p]
• [p]Fixed dropship sequence going too fast and causing issues when framerate was low[/p]
• [p]Changed a couple gamepad shortcuts a bit[/p]
• [p]Grayed out vehicle slots that have nothing when in Load Custom Vehicle menu[/p]
• [p]Removed some excessive debug.log statements[/p]
• [p]Prevent GPU from trying to release resources twice on shutdown[/p]

[p]THE EXIT-FREEZE MYSTERY[/p][p]As you can see from the the first item, the solution to the exit freeze was relatively simple in the end, though it took a very long time to figure out. And to be honest, I'm not actually sure what code caused the exit freeze, I just know roughly where the freeze came from.[/p][p]The exit-freeze was first reported in May after 1.12 (or one if it's follow-up patches) released, and I tried to find it sporadically since then, and got many player.log files from players along the way. But those files contained almost no useful info. The most consistent thing that happened was the "BlockManager" shutting down, then the file was blank. That means the BlockManager probably wasn't the issue, but other than that, having no info meant I had no idea where to start, and the freeze may have only happened on certain PCs after playing an indeterminate amount of time.[/p][p]When I discussed the game with Secret Mode during subsequent meetings, I mentioned needing help with tracking down the issue. After getting builds, they found it happened for a few people fairly consistently, but the repro steps were still unclear. Some thought it required alt-tabbing, or keeping the game open a certain amount of time before closing, but most mentioned playing a few missions.[/p][p]This summer I had my older kid doing some intern work for me, and I asked them to spend of time trying to find the freeze. They got the freeze on their PC, and eventually found pretty fast and repeatable reproduction steps a few weeks ago. I tried the same steps on my PC, but it never crashed. I had made 6 different builds with potential exit-sequence fixes, but none of them fixed the issue.[/p][p]I was still stumped what the issue was, but with a PC that got the freeze consistently, I mostly had what I needed to fix the issue. Now I just needed enough time to track it down.[/p][p]For reference, the repro steps to get the exit-freeze on a PC that gets it: Load mission 1, get dropped off, back to Island Select. Do that for missions 2 and 3, then exit the game. Happened 100% of the time if you did those steps, but if you took one mission out, or didn't get dropped off, it never happened.[/p][p]TIME MANAGEMENT[/p][p]With Rhythm Storm's launch and follow-up updates done, I had to make a decision: Rush to finish Speed Demons 2 (intended to launch at the end of August), or switch to Instruments work and try really hard to fix the exit-freeze and get the console versions for certification. Aside from having the SD2 intended launch date in a Best Indie Games video, I don't really need to launch SD2 in August, and the timeline would have been very tight. I wasn't worried about getting it done if I chose to do it, but I didn't feel good about having Instruments' work continuing to be delayed. And I wanted to enjoy working on SD2, so the choice became obvious.[/p][p]Alan suggested narrowing down the changelist where the exit-freeze happened. So after I got Unity installed on the freezing PC, and attaching the debugger revealed nothing useful after a couple hours, I did exactly that. I thought I was doing a good job of narrowing it down, except I was getting conflicting info about when it happened. I finally realized after a few hours of resyncing, rebuilding, and re-testing that the freeze happened in certain branches earlier than others.[/p][p]A CONSEQUENTIAL MERGE[/p][p]I realized that there was a merge of the Xbox/PC branches before version 1.12, so I tested a few of the Xbox versions (converted to work on PC, which took about 10 minutes each), and the freeze always happened there, but never on the PC-only branch. I got back to the first Xbox version before I realized it was the PS5 version (which the Xbox branch is based on) where the freeze originated. I tried a couple PS5 versions (converted to PC) unsuccessfully before I realized I wasn't going to fix the issue trying to narrow down the changelist.[/p][p]The issue was the merge of the Xbox/PC versions. There was no reason that needed to happen. I don't remember why I merged them earlier this year, but I had shortly after split them back off from each other. So it really made no sense in retrospect. Instead of fixing the issue, which could be anywhere in the PS5 version (lots of GPU-related changes to get it working), I needed to avoid it altogether. In other words, take the last clean PC version and integrate all the 1.12 and beyond fixes into a new branch.[/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p] Definitely one of my worst merges ever (should have cherrypicked instead)[/p][p][/p][p]So that's what I did, and after another few hours of work, the crash disappeared. I cleaned up the build, did a bunch of testing, and now 1.13 is out. It all seems "obvious" in retrospect (like most bugs do), but I'm just glad it's over.[/p][p]SPEED DEMONS 2 DELAYED[/p][p]In case you missed it above, Speed Demons 2 is no longer coming out in August. It'll hopefully be out in September instead, but Alan are I are going to get everything on Instruments of Destruction done as best we can (for both the PC and console versions), then I can work on finishing SD2. It hasn't really been promoted very well outside the initial trailer, so part of that work is making a good release date trailer and sending a near-final build to a lot more streamers/etc before the launch. Either way, a little extra dev time certainly won't hurt.[/p][p]Another ICYMI: Rhythm Storm is out (and fun if you like that sort of thing).[/p][p][/p][p]That's all for this time. \[Don't hesitate to let us know if something is broken.][/p][p]-Luke[/p][p][/p][p]PS. Don't merge unless you really mean it :)[/p]

[p]Just a quick update this time, about a different Radiangames title: [/p][p]Rhythm Storm is finally available on Steam! What started as a side project in 2022 has finally matured into a full-fledged roguelike swarm-survival game. [/p][p]Here's the game's Steam page.[/p][p]Here's the trailer if you prefer video over words:[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]RADIANGAMES DESTRUCTIVE FUTURE [/p][p]I've mentioned Rhythm Storm in Instruments' updates before, but this is likely the last time I'll do so. I have one more PC release in 2025 (Speed Demons 2), which will be sooner than later. I'll post here when that launches too, but they are very different games from Instruments. Beyond RS and SD2, I'll be starting a new series of PC-centric games. [/p][p][/p][p]The second of those new games, and every game after it, will feature a new destruction system. \[I mean they'll all use the same system, not a new one for each game.] The goal is to make destruction a key part of most (if not all) 2026-and-beyond Radiangames' projects.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]INSTRUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION UPDATES[/p][p]Work is continuing on the Instruments of Destruction console versions, and we're still planning to update the PC version of the game in the coming months.[/p][p][/p][p]That's all for now. -Luke[/p]

[p]Hey folks,[/p][p][/p][p]I'm pleased to share some exciting news today on the future of Instruments of Destruction, including the latest on our planned console release.[/p][p]For a while now I’ve been promising that Instruments of Destruction would be coming to consoles, and initially that was set to be earlier this year, but I've always been open and honest about the delay and how I’ve been looking to get some help with finishing the Xbox and PlayStation versions. Well, that day has finally come!

I’m happy to announce that as of today, Instruments of Destruction has a new publisher - none other than the award-winning team behind games such as Still Wakes the Deep and Make Way - Secret Mode.
[/p][p]
The Secret Mode team will be helping to polish and promote the console versions ready for release later this year, as well as continuing to fix and improve the PC version, and supporting the community going forward. We’ve shared an updated version of the game’s most recent trailer, confirming that console versions are set for later in 2025. Check it out below:[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]It feels good to have a team of people helping to promote and support the game. This does mean I’ll be stepping away from Instruments to focus on my many other projects with Radiangames, which I look forward to sharing more about when the time is right. Thank you for the support you’ve shown to myself and the game over these past few years.[/p][p]
With that, I hand the wheel here over to Secret Mode and their team, to provide you with all future news and updates on Instruments of Destruction!

- Luke[/p]

Reverted the vehicle save/load to older instantaneous (vs. async) system.
This fixes multiple issues with newer save system.
This might fix issues with exiting the game locking up some PCs.

Back in May of 2010, Radiangames released its first title, a twin-stick shooter called JoyJoy, on the Xbox Live Indie Games service. It was the start of a small series of games, with 7 small games releasing over the next 11 months. In the 15 years since JoyJoy, Radiangames has released over 20 games on a number of platforms. It was also nearly a year ago that Instruments of Destruction version 1.0 launched on Steam.

To celebrate the 15-year anniversary of Radiangames, Instruments of Destruction is being featured by Steam in its first Daily Deal with its biggest discount yet, and there was a minor update yesterday to fix a few mission-related issues. Radiangames’ classic title Inferno 2 is also on sale. And Fireball 2--sequel to the 4th game Radiangames released on XBLIG in 2010--is launching today on Steam, Xbox Series X|S, and Playstation 5.

A Year of Radiangames Releases

Fireball 2 marks the first of many launches for Radiangames in 2025. Rhythm Storm is getting a new demo next week. That demo and the Speed Demons 2’s demo will be in the June Steam Next Fest. Those 2 games will be coming to Steam, Xbox, and Playstation later this summer. Rhythm Storm will come to Steam in July, while the timing of the ports and Speed Demons 2 are still to be determined.

The Instruments of Destruction ports are still in the works, and there will be an exciting announcement about that soon. While the majority of the porting work is done for Instruments of Destruction, the console certification process is a lot more complex and labyrinthine than I expected. Fireball 2 was a much simpler port in technical terms, but it took multiple months to get it through all the hurdles needed to actually release the game, and I’ve barely managed to do any promotion for it.

Radiangames’ Destructive Future

Though 2025 has gone relatively well so far, the experiences of the last couple years and a shift in Alan’s plans has made me reevaluate what to work on after the current games and their ports release. I want to cut back and focus on 1-2 projects at a time, rather than 3 or more, and have those projects be related to each other, so I’m not reinventing so many wheels with each new game, and it’s easier to share code between them.

Even Rhythm Storm and Fireball 2, two games that look like they share a lot, only have drawing code and a basic game structure in common. Meanwhile Speed Demons 2 looks similar to Instruments of Destruction in a few ways, but has almost nothing in common with it. It even uses a totally different rendering and particle pipeline.

The solution to all this reinventing: Start over one more time (using small bits from previous games). BUT with a plan for multiple games that build on each other, step by step. There will be some new tech for each game, but that tech adds to a framework that is needed for the future titles.

One key part of that tech will be a new destruction system, one that’s more flexible than Instruments of Destruction’s. That tech is planned for the 2nd game in the sequence, and destruction will be part of nearly every game Radiangames makes beyond 2025.

The other “change” for future titles is simple: No more multi-platform titles after 2025. Everything will be designed for PC/Steam. If a game would work well as a console port, I’ll hand it off to someone else after the PC version is done.

I have 4 foundational games planned out in my tech progression, with 2 slightly larger games after the first 4. Beyond those 6, I have at least 10 other ideas that could use a good portion of the tech. There will likely be tweaks to the plan along the way, with new ideas or sequels that I need to work on, but the goal is to keep using this foundation for every future Radiangames title. If all goes well, Radiangames will be making games for another 15 or even 30 years.