BlastZone 2 News

A big new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.34.0.0) This update adds public lobby support for Steamworks multiplayer games via Steam Matchmaking. Now, anyone can create a lobby and any player can join it. Lobbies are restricted to 2 players each, and players must be within the same region. This was all built using the Steam backbone and server infrastructure, so it is pretty robust. This has been a hotly requested feature, so I hope everyone enjoys it! Inviting players through the Steam friends list is still available for those to wish to use it.

Also, this update migrates to the new SteamNetworking API for Steamworks online multiplayer games. The previously used Steam Networking communication is deprecated, so migrating to the new version ensures no interruption in Steamworks multiplayer game access. There are also upgrades with the new network communication API that improves responsiveness and consistency of gameplay.

There are a few Steam Friends bug fixes as well. Here are the full release notes for v1.34.0.0:

• Added support for public Steamworks Lobbies for online multiplayer
  -This opens up online multiplayer and discovery between all players on Steam
  -This uses the Steam Matchmaking system
  -Steamworks multiplayer games used to only be available by inviting players from the friends list
  --This is still available for those who want to use it
  -Anyone can now create a lobby for other players to join
  -Added a lobby browser to search for games to join
  --This browser will find lobbies in your region
  --Displays the user name and game options for each lobby
  -Lobbies are limited to 2 players each
  
• Replaced all Steam Networking code with a new Steam API for online multiplayer
  -The previous Steam Networking API used by BlastZone 2 was deprecated some time ago
  -The new API may improve responsiveness and consistency of Steamworks multiplayer games
  -Using the new API ensures there will be no online multiplayer service interruptions if the old API is removed
  
• Fixed incorrect Steam friends list display while fading in the menu for it
  
• Added Steam name displays for the client and server for all Steamworks multiplayer games
  
• Sending online multiplayer chat messages now always uses each player's Steam username if they are connected to Steam
  -When not connected to Steam, it falls back to using each player's current world leaderboard name
  
• Improved realtime feedback of Steam friend invitations
  -Will show a consistent "connecting..." display until the connection times out or succeeds
  
• Fixed Steam friend invitations occasionally not being sent after a connection timeout
  
• Fixed an issue that a Steam friend invitation isn't always received by the client
  
• Users running a Direct UDP or Direct TCP multiplayer game can no longer accept Steam friend invites
  -This was done to prevent bugs that would occur in these circumstances
  
• Fixed a bug that caused a broken menu state when creating a UDP Direct IP server, closing it, then accepting a Steam friend invitation
  
• Renamed the "Online (Steam)" multiplayer type option to "Steam Friends"
  
• Added a new multiplayer type option "Steam Lobbies" to access the new lobby system
  
• Renamed "Online (UDP)" and "Online (TCP)" multiplayer type options to "Direct UDP" and "Direct TCP" respectively
  
• Added localization for all Steam multiplayer connectivity messages
  
• Adjusted the blending of ship stat bars during menu transitions for all ship selection screens
  
• Fixed several elements of the online multiplayer server selection screen not fading during menu transitions
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.34.0.0” or higher. Enjoy!

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.33.3.1) This update focuses on bug fixing for the Steam Deck, which is now a supported platform for the game. All known bugs for the Deck being fixed as of the release of this update, but any bug reports will be greatly appreciated. The list of bug fixes include muted sound, frame hitching, and graphic corruption.

With this update, BlastZone 2 works very well on the Deck at max detail. However, the game has yet to be officially verified by Valve, and submissions are not open to all Steam games yet. This game will probably be reviewed by Valve eventually, but unfortunately the timeframe for that is unknown. Until then, feel free to play the game on Deck and have fun!

Some of the bugs fixed may apply to other systems as well, as some of these issues have been reported in the past, but were never reproduced internally until having a Deck on hand to test with.

This update also fixes an occasional hang issue for background explosions, and updates the design of Mission Area 2 and 6. There are a few other smaller changes and tweaks for this release as well. Here are the full release notes for v1.33.3.1:

• Made a few Mission level design changes
  -Slowed down the 2 dueling enemies near the end of the first section of Area 2 by 50%
  -Made a few changes to a section about 1 minute in to Area 6
  --This is the section when enemies come from the front, then quickly swing behind the player to shoot
  --Lengthened this section to be about 3x as long as it used to be
  --Spread out enemy movement here to give the player more space to move
  
• Fixed muted sound issue for the Steam Deck
  -This has also been fixed for some systems that also had this issue
  
• Fixed frame pacing issues for the Steam Deck
  -This has also been fixed for some systems that also had this issue
  
• Removed 2x and 4x Antialiasing settings for the Steam Deck
  -Using these settings would introduce graphic glitches
  --Fixing bugs with these settings would reduce performance, so removing them is preferable for the best experience
  -It is recommended to use 8x Antialiasing for the Steam Deck anyway, and this setting doesn't have graphic glitches
  
• Changed the default "pause" gamepad bind from the "Y" button to the "Start" button
  -Changed this as the in-game default, and for the external config program
  
• Fixed an occasional game hang related to background explosions
  
• Removed sound muting when switching focus to another program
  
• Removed 60fps cap when switching focus to another program
  
• Removed the 16x Antialiasing option for all systems
  -No consumer grade hardware support this anyway
  -The external configuration program was also updated to remove this option
  
• Fixed a blank default "Monitor" value in the external config program
  -Now properly defaults to "Primary"
  
• Fixed sounds not playing for the online multiplayer client if the server has sound volume set to 0
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.33.3.1” or higher. Enjoy!

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.33.3.0) This update completely reworks how enemy bullets are rendered, greatly improving performance. The most impact will be noticed for the final boss of mission mode, which has the most enemy bullets by far. The amount of performance gained has a wide range, based on CPU speed. The most performance is gained by very slow CPUs, such as dual core netbook-class CPUs, which can be up to 50% or higher for the final boss scene. Moderate to lower end quad core CPUs gain less performance, but still quite substantial, at about 20% or so. The least performance is gained by modern, higher end CPUs with more than 4 cores, which can be around 2-3%.

From these performance gains, enemy bullet trails are now always rendered at full quality, even when numerous bullets are on screen. Previous versions would significantly reduce bullet trail quality for the final mission boss.



This update also adds weapon icons for all ship selection screens, including the single player, local multiplayer, and online lobby screens. These screens have also been rearranged to make use of them better. This makes it much easier to see the kind of weapon loadouts and hyper loadouts each ship has at a glance as you scroll through.



Here are the full release notes for v1.33.3.0:

• Greatly optimized enemy bullets
  -Bullets render over 10x faster now
  -Improves overall performance by up to 50% for specific scenes and PC hardware
  --Highest gain is for the final mission boss
  --Highest gains are for very low end dual-core CPUs (~50%)
  --Good gains for moderate to low end quad-core CPUs (~20%)
  --Small gains for modern or higher core count CPUs (~2-3%)
  
• Enemy bullets now always render at full detail, even when many are on screen
  
• All ship selection screens have been improved
  -Rearranged the layouts
  -Added weapon icons for every loadout
  
• Optimized the player ship booster
  -Improves performance by up to 2-3%
  
• Fixed rendering errors with the OpenGL 1.5 renderer for clouds, water, and some text
  -These issues were introduced in the previous v1.33.2.0 update
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.33.3.0” or higher. Enjoy!

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.33.2.0) The primary improvement in this update makes the Training Mission mode more accessible for new players by slowing down the gameplay by 25%. This includes enemy spawn timing, movement, firing rates, bullet speed, bosses, and the environment camera. Player ship movement remains the same though. Player testing has been done and this was identified as a key area to help newer players get up to speed on the game. This also helps align the experience with Training mode of other game modes, as they already have a slower gameplay speed.

This update also contains numerous small optimizations around the whole game that amount to roughly a ~1% performance boost. In addition, a lot of work has been done under the hood in the rendering system of the game engine, upgrading how it operates. This allows for the possibility of big new features to be developed in the future, but they will be announced at a later date. The updates done so far will have no noticeable impact when playing the game.

Here are the full release notes for v1.33.2.0:

• Reduced the speed of Training Mission mode by 25%
  -This includes all aspects of mission mode, except for the player ship
  -This affects enemy spawn timing, enemy movement, firing rates, bullet speed, bosses, and the environment camera
  -This was designed to help onboard newer players into the game better
  -Helps newer players get ready for the more advanced difficulty levels
  
• Optimized general performance by up to 1%
  -Implemented a generalized texture batching solution that affects nearly all objects in the game
  -Optimized menu background box rendering
  -General shader setup optimizations
  -Optimizations for background particles
  
• Improved leaderboard score submission security
  
• Overhauled code organization for the game engine rendering system
  -This lays the groundwork for potential big updates in the future
  -This is purely a game engine design upgrade, and doesn't change functionality for the end user yet
  
• Fixed the connection error message for TCP multiplayer, so it now displays correctly when attempting to join a server
  
• More time is now taken when attempting to join a TCP multiplayer serve
  -More reliably determines if a successful connection can be made
  -Retries the connection multiple times before giving up
  
• Improved robustness when starting and stopping a TCP multiplayer game to prevent potential bugs
  
• Fixed a small memory leak when applying new video settings
  
• Fixed a rare crash issue when applying new video settings soon after starting the game
  
• Renamed the "useParticleHelperThreads" config file option to "useParticleAuxThreads"
  -This will reset this option to "Enabled" when first starting the game after updating
  -If it is desired to disable this option, it can be disabled the normal way after updating
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.33.2.0” or higher. Enjoy!

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.33.1.0) This update adds new mouse cursor lock functionality to the A1 ship. This means if mouse controls are used for this ship, it will always be in the precise position the mouse cursor is. In the hands of a skilled player, this allows for a degree of precise movement around bullets and hazards that otherwise was not possible. The reason why only the A1 ship received this upgrade is because of difficulty balancing. The A1 ship has the weakest armor and weapons, but the fastest speed in the game, so it fits this play style. Giving any other ship this capability would break the game. All other ships will continue using their original mouse behavior, which follows the mouse cursor at the highest speed each ship is capable of moving. A new display has been added to the ship selection screen to show which ships support mouse cursor lock or not, but is only shown when mouse controls are enabled.

This update also includes a few rare crash fixes, mouse button fixes, and particle alpha value clamping fixes. Also, there is a general performance uplift of about 1%. More details are listed below in the full change log:

• Added the ability to lock the player ship to the mouse cursor
  -This is currently only enabled for the A1 ship
  -This eliminates the "trailing behind" effect for the ship when quickly moving the mouse cursor around
  
• Added a new text display in the ship selection screen to show which ship uses cursor lock or not
  
• Fixed a few mouse button bugs that would erroneously have buttons stuck in the "down" state in menus
  
• Fixed a rare crash bug related to player bullet deletion
  
• Fixed a rare crash bug when attempting to parse truncated packets in online multiplayer
  
• Fixed occasional particle alpha value clamping issues
  
• Fixed incorrect world leaderboard display in some cases
  
• Optimized general performance by up to 1%
  -Optimized areas that affect most objects in the game, providing a consistent uplift
  

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.33.1.0” or higher. Enjoy!