After months of intense work, a game (almost) nobody knew about is finally out! All I'll say here is that it's a point'n'click adventure - as for the rest, just feel free to check it out ;)
Like all the RETREAM games, also this one is 100% free, but, if you like it, please offer some support to somebody who is a victim of any kind of violence.
RETREAM - retro dreams for Amiga, Commodore 64 and PC
A quick heads-up to let you know that since the last post I released a couple of little updates.
v1.3 (21.02.2023) * Fixed endless floppy drive motor spinning. * Fixed graphical glitch that could happen in the transition between the game and information screens. * Made disappearance of game area when passing to the pause screen happen in a single frame instead of two. * Added clearing of CPU caches after the loading of the data file (as that contains also a couple of machine code routines). * Changed the conditions of many If, Until and While statements and turned For ... Next loops into Repeat ... Until loops to have the AMOS Professional Compiler produce shorter and faster code. * Sharpened the top/bottom sides of the menu buttons. * Recompiled against ALS v2.3. * Optimized executable with custom tool. * Touched up manual.
v1.2 (06.08.2021) * Speed-optimized raster beam Y reading routine.
A quick heads-up to let you know that I released a couple of littles updates.
v1.4 (20.02.2023) * Changed the conditions of many If, Until and While statements and turned For ... Next loops into Repeat ... Until loops to have the AMOS Professional Compiler produce shorter and faster code. * Recompiled against ALS v2.3.
v1.3 (19.02.2023) * Fixed endless floppy drive motor spinning * Recompiled against ALS v2.2. * Optimized executable with custom tool. * Touched up manual.
* Made the game over trigger as soon as the belly meter becomes zero (before
there was a grace period of about 5 seconds, but the fact that the game
continued while the belly meter was zero looked plainly wrong).
* Changed the main color of Zampo's dark skin.
* Added 4 more baddies.
* Added a zone-complete transition.
* Made the portals sides graphics unique to each zone.
* Made many speed and memory optimizations.
* Touched up some music instruments.
* Started adding the logic to limit the zones selectable in the frontend to
those already reached.
* Fixed an off-by-one bug in the cartridge driver that caused an additional page
to be copied from ROM to RAM when the section size was an exact multiple of
256.
* Fixed an off-by-one bug in the sprites multiplexer, which caused multiplexing
to be done one line too early, thus corrupting the bottom line of sprites in
some cases.
* Fixed/optimized the collision detection of Zampo against food/drinks (a change
made just before releasing the previous preview could cause the collisions to
be missed when the objects were flickering before disappearing).
* Fixed the collision detection when Zampo is incorporeal (Zampo could collide
against food/drinks/baddies as a consequence of the system for handling
Zampo's skin introduced by the previous preview).
* Fixed the permanent flashing of Zampo when he caught a spinach can while he
was already in STEEL mode and the mode was about to expire.
* Fixed the portals graphics update and a CPU load peak in the FUN PARK zone (a
routine was missing a closing jmp, so the portals graphics update was
triggered also when it should have not been).
* Fixed the abort function (it did not work properly when Zampo was not in
normal mode and did not zero the belly meter).
* Wrote the FUN PARK and FORTRESS zones music.
* Worked on the FUN PARK zone map:
* expanded it;
* improved/extended the graphics.
* Worked on the CLIFFS zone map:
* made it 80 pixels taller (now it is 2048x928 pixels);
* extended a lot the underground part;
* added a portal connected to a new location;
* added a puzzle related to the new portal (the portal is broken and Zampo
must repair it after finding the missing piece);
* changed the design in some places;
* improved the graphics.
* Worked on the FORTRESS zone map:
* made it 32 pixels taller (now it is 2048x880 pixels);
* extended the underground part;
* touched it up in a few places.
* Worked on the frontend:
* changed logo design slightly;
* improved vertical spacing of elements.
* Worked on the documentation:
* extended/improved the manual;
* changed slightly the color scheme of quickstart guide and manual.
* Worked on the intro: fixed a couple of things in the text.
* Worked on the zone introduction screen: fixed the initial colors of the
letters (they were all black).
RETREAM - retro dreams for Amiga, Commodore 64 and PC
Lately work has been done in parallel on all the RETREAM games. It began with the objective of aligning the technically similar ones for PC so that they would handle data saving the same way, but it soon went out of control and brought uniformity and improvements to the installers, the documentation, the web pages and even to code and internal files - and, just as importantly, it brought new features as well!
After Blastaway, Huenison and KOG, BOH got updated as well.
CHANGELOG * Re-added joypad thumbsticks support, as at times Windows treats D-pads as thumbsticks. * Added internal graphics screenshot function (assigned to [F1]; the visible graphics are now captured with [F2] and themes are cycled with [F3]). * Reworked assignments of the kind *p++ = ... *p ... (as they are miscompiled by some versions of gcc). * Worked on (registration for) records submission to the online standings: fixed server side issues and added SITE.PORT configuration option for future use; improved information/instructions for the registration procedure; disabled registration procedure when SDL_net is not initialized. * Optimized static strings definitions. * Simplified data files access code. * Moved configuration and missions directory to the program's. * Replaced version string with an AmigaOS-style one. * Updated/improved user's manual, developer's manual and soundtrack booklet. * Made various other minor changes. * Made installers preserve the submission status of records, so that those that had already been submitted will not be submitted again after a re-installation/update. * Added to Windows installers code to clean up leftovers. * Added portable version for Windows. * Dropped support for Linux and MacOS (maintaining those version can no longer be afforded; moreover, MacOS dropped 32-bit applications support a long time ago; anyway, the Windows version of BOH, since the very beginning, has always been working perfectly under Wine, and now it is even easier to run BOH thanks to the portable version).
RETREAM - retro dreams for Amiga, Commodore 64 and PC
Lately work has been done in parallel on all the RETREAM games. It began with the objective of aligning the technically similar ones for PC so that they would handle data saving the same way, but it soon went out of control and brought uniformity and improvements to the installers, the documentation, the web pages and even to code and internal files - and, just as importantly, it brought new features as well!
CHANGELOG * Added field dark columns: the background is darkened, in an alternate columns fashion, by 50% in the first set of levels, by 25% in the second set of levels, by 0% in the third set of levels and by 75% in the last level (given that the columns match the virtual columns bricks descend along, they make for a precious visual aid to aim at the bricks). * Added 20 points bonus for when CRUSH brick lands on the ground. * Added function to use the RESTORE bonus to joypad (it had been forgotten!). * Added internal graphics screenshot function (assigned to [F1]; the visible graphics are now captured with [F2]). * Changed string requester so that entering an empty string means also "abort"/"reject" (depending on the context). * Considered also D-pad input for "press any key/button" requests. * Worked on online hiscores: improved/updated information texts; added possibility to retry up to 10 times if sending fails (in particular, when the email address registration has just been done, this makes it much easier to send the hiscores immediately thereafter). * Slightly changed level names. * Simplified data files access code. * Made a few little optimizations. * Replaced version string with an AmigaOS-style one. * Added to Windows installer code to import previous savedata and clean up leftovers. * Added Windows portable version. * Updated manual.
RETREAM - retro dreams for Amiga, Commodore 64 and PC
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.
RETREAM - retro dreams for Amiga, Commodore 64 and PC
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).
RETREAM - retro dreams for Amiga, Commodore 64 and PC
Lately work has been done in parallel on all the RETREAM games. It began with the objective of aligning the technically similar ones for PC so that they would handle data saving the same way, but it soon went out of control and brought uniformity and improvements to the installers, the documentation, the web pages and even to code and internal files -and, just as importantly, it brought new features as well!
CHANGELOG * Added screenshots of internal graphics (now [F1] grab a screenshot of the internal graphics and [F2] of the visible graphics). * Added [ALT]+[F4] quit option. * 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. * Added to installers code to import previous savedata and clean up leftovers. * Improved/extended manual.
RETREAM - retro dreams for Amiga, Commodore 64 and PC
Lately work has been done in parallel on all the RETREAM games. It began with the objective of aligning the technically similar ones for PC so that they would handle data saving the same way, but it soon went out of control and brought uniformity and improvements to the installers, the documentation, the web pages and even to code and internal files -and, just as importantly, it brought new features as well!
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.
RETREAM - retro dreams for Amiga, Commodore 64 and PC
While updating Huenison I noticed that a bug in some versions of gcc could cause corrupted graphics and even memory faults. Although KOG didn't seem affected by that problem, I thought I'd better make sure - and, while at it, I also made a few more little changes.
CHANGELOG * Reworked assignments of the kind *p++ = ... *p ... (as they are miscompiled by some versions of gcc). * Removed assignment of function "back" to joypad first button (as that was confusing). * Added Windows portable version. * Worked on Windows installer: removed unused data directory; added logo to graphics.
Downloaded and installed. Thank you on your work and on update!
My pleasure!
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* Added FULL GAME bonus (completing the game starting it from the first arena of the first stage awards 50000 extra points).
..to late if you ask me I needed it previous month ;)
I know, I know, I added this feature precisely because of what you reported during the competition ;)
@AmigaOldskooler
Quote:
Thanks for the update! Nice work! Shared the news on my blog.
Cool, thanks!
Quote:
I think we should have another Blastaway competition this year now that an update has been released.
How about Huenison or KOG, instead? They're crazy score-oriented games - and Huenison even has an online chart that it automatically sends the scores to!
@all
While updating Huenison I noticed that a bug in some versions of gcc could cause corrupted graphics and even memory faults. Although Blastaway didn't seem affected by that problem, I thought I'd better make sure.
CHANGELOG * Reworked assignments of the kind *p++ = ... *p ... (as they are miscompiled by some versions of gcc). * Embedded AmigaOS version string in executable.
By coincidence, shortly after the release of the previous update, I received a test report from the Steam team, who had found of that Huenison didn't open automatically the virtual keyboard on their Steam Deck - of course it didn't: I didn't even know that the Steam Deck existed! While trying to address that issue, I also found out and fixed a few other ones.
CHANGELOG * Added experimental code to have the Steam on-screen keyboard open automatically when text entering is requested (totally untested due to lack of a Steam Deck; chances are it will not work, as the game is completely software-rendered; feedback welcome). * Reworked assignments of the kind *p++ = ... *p ... (as they are miscompiled by some versions of gcc). * Fixed (server side) registration for hiscores / hiscores receiving and added SITE.PORT configuration option for future use. * Improved/updated manual.
One more little update released: this one tries to address the issue of some joypads not being seen due to the fact that at times Windows reports D-pads as thumbsticks.
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). * Touched up manual.
RETREAM - retro dreams for Amiga, Commodore 64 and PC
One more little update released: this one tries to address the issue of some joypads not being seen due to the fact that at times Windows reports D-pads as thumbsticks.
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). * Fixed/improved manual.
RETREAM - retro dreams for Amiga, Commodore 64 and PC
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.
RETREAM - retro dreams for Amiga, Commodore 64 and PC
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.