BlastZone 2 News

A big new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.29.0.0)

The flagship feature for this update is a completely new scripted particle system. It uses a powerful scripting system for advanced effects and highly customizable animations, and incorporates all the optimizations of the existing explosion particle system, simulating up to millions of particles at once. A simple example particle script has been included in the “test_pack_1” level pack, but isn’t used yet other than that. A huge update is in the works to fully leverage this new particle system. It will flesh out the battlefield of ships around you and add new effects, such as volumetric clouds, trees, and smoking fissures, among others. More details will be announced soon, so watch for it!

Also included in this update is a new level selection screen. This changes the layout of the screen, adds descriptions of each of the levels and bosses, and shows a background preview for each of the areas. These give much better context and information before choosing a level so the player has a better idea of the style of gameplay to expect ahead of time.

A number of netcode improvements have been made including a TCP_NODELAY parameter and timing adjustments for DirectIP multiplayer communication to significantly reduce latency. The Steamworks multiplayer UDP netcode has received a number of improvements as well to reduce latency and improve handling of high object counts. It now strictly complies with packet size limits on a broader range of routers to fix reported issues. There are also a few general bug fixes for both Steamworks and DirectIP netcode, including improved particle effect precision, corrected particle effect types, and improved packet error detection. All of the above improvements and more provide a much better online multiplayer experience.

There are a number of other improvements included in this update as well. Here are the full release notes for v1.29.0.0:

• Redesigned the Level Selection screen
  -Changed the level selection menu to use a smaller font and a smaller window at the top of the screen
  -Reorganized the layout of the level and boss selections
  -Changes the background environment to match the level the cursor is pointing to
  -Added descriptions for each level and boss
  
• Added a new scriptable particle system for Mission mode
  -This is a very powerful, completely customizable, and highly optimized particle system
  -Capable of up to millions of precisely designed particle patterns at high performance
  -Can be used for numerous effects, such as volumetric clouds
  -Particles can be attached to elements of the environment to improve immersiveness
  -Uses a texture atlas to increase variation between particles while maintaining compatibility with performance optimizations
  -Designed to work with files exported from powerful particle design software, such as Houdini
  -NOTE: This new particle system is not fully leveraged yet, content is being developed for it
  
• Updated the "test_pack_1" mission level pack to include sample scriptable particles
  
• Added a terrain positioning command to the scripting system
  
• Updated enemy definitions to include an option for localized environment positioning instead of absolute positioning
  
• Improved Steamworks multiplayer UDP netcode
  -Now strictly adheres to packet size and flow control standards for most internet routers
  -The server now sends all split packets as fast as possible instead of waiting for the next update tick to reduce latency
  -Improved packet error detection
  
• Improved DirectIP(TCP) multiplayer netcode
  -Added the TCP_NODELAY parameter to reduce latency by eliminating Nagle buffering
  -Eliminated client-side wait timer to reduce latency; timing is now completely server-side controlled
  -Eliminated explicit server-side packet splitting to handle it through TCP without waiting for the next update tick
  -This improves the client side update rate when many objects are on screen
  
• Enemy bullet detail is now proportional to the "Particle Detail" setting
  -Enemy bullet detail is determined by the maximum total amount of "shadows" rendered on screen
  -Old static enemy bullet detail limit: 500
  -New scalable enemy bullet detail limits:
  -Off: 0
  -Low: 125
  -Normal: 250
  -High: 500
  -VeryHigh: 1000
  
• Changed behavior when the game loses focus
  -Disables sound and music
  -Limits the framerate to 20fps
  
• Fixed low precision client side positioning of foreground particle effects in online multiplayer
  
• Fixed incorrect client side particle effect when holding a level 1 or level 2 charge in online multiplayer
  
• Slight optimization for cloud plane rendering
  
• Increased the foreground particle limit for all detail levels by 67%
  
• Optimized rendering matrix calculations in many areas
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner of the title screen for “v1.29.0.0” or higher. Enjoy!

A huge amount of work went into update releases for BlastZone 2 over the last year and a half and beyond. This includes new gameplay content, as well as a technical and graphical overhaul. This essentially makes the current state of the game a “Remaster” of what it was at release. The game has reached a higher tier of content quality, bringing it to a new price point at $9.99.

I would like to thank everyone who supported BlastZone 2 all this time to help fund this development. In appreciation for this, we are working on another huge update to the game as a free addon. More info is coming soon about this, watch for it!

Below is a summary of the numerous improvements that have been made to the game since release:

• Added BlastZone 1 to the game; now totaling 6 game modes
  
• Rebalanced the entire game to use native 16:9 gameplay instead of the old 4:3 limits with widescreen viewing
  
• Added a new score multiplier system to Survival mode. This changes the way the gamemode is played by incentivising skilled play while still being accessible for new players
  
• Added a new long range bullet firing enemy type for Survival/Blitz modes
  
• Improved secondary fire controls; the Fire2 button can now be tapped to use it
  
• Numerous gameplay balance updates, including hitbox sizes, stat upgrade potency, and drop rates
  
• Created completely new ship selection menus for both local and online multiplayer
  
• Changed and rebalanced level selection so individual levels can be played in any order, and relevant stat upgrades are given for each area of the game
  
• There are now visual indications on the player ship when Hyper power is charging faster, and when each regular charge level is achieved, streamlining gameplay
  
• Added animation looping support for minibosses so they no longer leave the screen after the animation finishes
  

• Added 4k textures, greatly improving detail
  
• Added many new particle effects for charging, firing, impacts, item collection, attaining hyper mode and more
  
• Improved detail, lighting, and shadows for the home planet environment
  
• Completely redesigned the Outer Space background
  
• Redesigned the Alien Homeworld terrain, adding much more detail
  
• Improved multiple light support for enemies, bosses, and environments, including the Cave environment
  
• Added free DLC for extremely high detail terrain models
  

• Created an entirely new graphics renderer from scratch using OpenGL 3.0+
  
• Reworked the game simulation backend to be highly multithreaded, scaling up to 16 CPU cores if available, and making more efficient use of dual core and quad core CPU’s
  
• Created a new particle system, allowing for over 20x more detail at the same performance levels. Performance scales higher when more CPU cores are available
  
• Huge general optimizations, improving performance up to 300% without affecting quality
  
• Improved netcode, having better packet loss compensation, reduced latency, and added client side interpolation and prediction
  
• Created a new game startup loader, supporting new asset formats, asset swapping, and extreme quality assets. Also greatly improved multithreading support to reduce load times.
  
• Replaced numerous textures in the game with precompressed S3TC textures to improve quality and speed up loading times
  
• Greatly improved frame pacing and animation smoothness, also adding native support for high refresh rate monitors up to 240hz
  

• Complete HUD overhaul
  
• Added 9 new weapons and abilities to the game, including cluster bombs, force fields, wave shots, machine guns, close range melee attacks, and more; brings the total weapon count to 15
  
• Reworked every ship in the game to give each of them unique play styles and weapon loadouts and abilities
  
• Added 55 Steam achievements
  
• Added trading cards, emoticons, and more for Steam
  
• Added native Steamworks multiplayer support
  

A big new gameplay focused update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.28.3.0) I have recently received a few game balance suggestions from the community, so I’ve taken a lot of time to go through every game mode in the game to improve gameplay balance. The biggest part of this update makes a number of changes to Mission Mode stat upgrades. These upgrades are now 33% more potent per pickup, but to balance that out, the drop rates have been reduced, and starting stat levels are slightly lower to prevent the player from becoming overpowered. Along with this, the Mission Mode HUD has been updated to add icons to associate item pickups with each stat. Some users have been confused as to which pickup upgrades which stat, so this clears that up.

More gameplay balance changes include reducing the vertical hitboxes for player beams and projectiles. This will increase the skill needed to hit enemies, but to balance this out, enemy bullet hit boxes have been significantly reduced as well, making it easier to dodge them. This will make the recently more bullet focused Survival and Blitz modes more fun to play. Also, the number of points drops in Survival and Mission mode have been increased to improve the number of bonus multipliers in Survival Mode and Hyper power boosts in Blitz Mode. From testing, this helps Blitz Mode in particular, as strategic play rewards the player more to better maintain Hyper Mode to fight back against the more intense later waves of enemies.

A few other tweaks and bug fixes round out the update. For more details on all the balance changes and other changes included in this update, check out the full release notes below:

• Added new stat icons to the Mission mode hud to show which powerup affects which stat
  
• Rebalanced all stat upgrades in Mission mode so stat management has a greater affect on gameplay
  -Reduced the baseline power of all stats for all ships in Mission mode (doesn't affect other game modes)
  -Reduced starting stats by 5%
  -Increased the potency of all stat powerups
  -Increased stat increase potency by 33%
  -Reduced the occurrence of stat powerup drops from enemies
  -Reduced proportional powerup drops from 60% to 40%
  -Increased proportional points drops from 10% to 30%
  -Increased the stat reduction penalty for losing a life
  -Training difficulty - 2 -> 3
  -Pilot difficulty - 4 -> 5
  -Verteran difficulty - 6 -> 7
  
• Tightened up enemy bullet hit boxes to make them easier to dodge
  -Cut enemy bullet hit box size by 50%
  -This makes a bigger difference for larger enemy bullets
  
• Reduced the vertical hitbox size for player bullets and beams
  -The wide beam hitbox size has been reduced by 28%
  -The omega cannon hitbox size has been reduced by 19%
  -Bullet projectiles hitbox size has been reduced by 25%
  
• Adjusted the proportional drop rates in Survival and Blitz modes for more points drops and fewer health drops
  -Increased proportional points drops from 50% to 60%
  -Reduced proportional health drops from 50% to 40%
  
• Enemy bullets now stay the gameplay color for longer when passing through the gameplay plane in Z space
  
• Enemy tracking bullets outside the gameplay plane now have an adjusted color to differentiate them better
  
• Fixed shaking player ship bug during the wave outro animation
  
• Updated the mission mode help screen
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner of the title screen for “v1.28.3.0” or higher. Enjoy the new gameplay improvements!

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2. The biggest change in this update is adding new burst fire shots to long range enemy types for Survival and Blitz modes. This adds to the variation of obstacle types to dodge, making the gameplay more interesting. Also, all burst fire shots are fired directly at the player, so it gives a unique audio and visual signature to predict that behavior for dodging.

This update also makes a few changes to the help screens to be more informative of how to play each game mode. This includes better controls displays and updated descriptions on each of the pages. Updated logos have been created for the game as well, making use of the recent graphics improvements to the game.

The Demo version has been updated to the latest version as well. This brings over a huge amount of updates and improvements that have been added to the full version over the last few months. Now, Demo players can enjoy improvements to widescreen support, gameplay, graphics, performance, and the new renderer.

Here are the full release notes for v1.28.2.1:

• Added burst fire shots to long range enemies in Survival/Blitz mode
  -Player targeted bullets are now fired in groups of 3
  -Gives a distinct visual and sound signal for bullets fired directly at the player
  -Changes the way the bullet patterns need to be dodged
  
• Scaled down the number of player targeted bullets fired by long range enemies in the Pilot and Training difficulty levels
  
• Updated a few of the help screens
  
• Brightened the game title image
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner of the title screen for “v1.28.2.1” or higher. Enjoy the new update!

A gameplay improvement update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.28.2.0) This update puts more emphasis on bullet patterns by making improvements to long range enemy types for Survival and Blitz modes. Now, long range enemy types move around the right side of the screen for a while and fires rapidly at the player. This brings more variation to gameplay by giving the player a broader scope of enemy behaviors to account for to survive.

An update has been made to enemy bullets to make them easier to track in 3D space. When enemy bullets are outside the gameplay plane, they use a more washed out color, then change to the standard color as they pass through the gameplay plane and can hit the player.

There are also a few performance improvements for the new OpenGL 3.0 renderer. Shaders are now dynamically swapped out for objects based on the current lighting situation to improve graphics performance. Dynamic batching of shader properties has also been implemented to reduce shader management CPU overhead. The new 3d matrix calculation system created a few updates back has been improved as well to better balance multithreading workloads between the rendering and main update threads, improving overall CPU performance. A rare multithreading crash bug was also fixed in this update.

Here are the full release notes for v1.28.2.0:

• The long range enemy type now moves around the right side of the screen for a while, firing at the player
  -This only applies to the Survival and Blitz game modes
  -Increases the emphasis on bullet dodging in these modes, as there was previously too much emphasis on dodging enemy ships
  -These enemies eventually move toward the player to prevent too many from piling up on the right side of the screen
  
• Clearing a wave in Survival or Blitz mode now clears all bullets from the screen to prevent dying between levels
  
• Enemy bullets that are outside the gameplay plane are now colored differently to make it easier to track bullets in 3D space
  
• All player ships are now always in memory, slightly reducing load times between scenes
  
• Updated the custom enemy scripting system to allow for using any player ship model
  -Previously only allowed for using the current Player 1 ship
  
• Updated Class #1 enemy scripting to add the following parameters
  -Stop X position
  -Stop Time
  -Enable AutoFire
  
• Updated the Stress Test level packs to make it easier to test performance
  -Removed AutoFire from enemies
  -Starting stats are now maxed out
  -Increased starting lives for all difficulties to 5
  
• Improved performance when the player is not using Hyper Mode or beam weapons in the OpenGL 3.0 renderer
  -Eliminates extra lighting calculations when only a single light is active
  
• General shader management optimizations for the OpenGL 3.0 renderer
  
• Improved render matrix management performance and parallelism in a few areas
  -Includes enemy ships, enemy bullets, player bullets, and player booster
  -These improvements affect both the OpenGL 1.5 and 3.0 renderers
  
• Fixed a rare multithreading crash bug at the end of the final player death animation
  
• Tweaked screen wipe transitions
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner of the title screen for “v1.28.2.0” or higher. I hope everyone enjoys this gameplay update!