Tuesday 1 December 2015

Alpha 2.0.33 — The War on Crashes

Got another update for you; mainly bug fixes.

  • Restrict which tiles can have items dropped on them
  • Fix laser interactions with customs and safety doors
  • Fix camera weirdness when changing level
  • Fix enemies being able to kill you by moving into a grill that you are on the other side of
  • Fix lego blocks coming unstuck when conveyor belts push them round corners
  • Fix several crash bugs, including a nasty one with bullets
The crashes are the hardest to fix. They take ages! But, I'm pleased to report that crash reporting is working, so I'm not working blind & the number of crash bugs will continue to decline.

122 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. [Have you put up the update yet? ] My game is not automatically updating - I will try a fresh download and see what happens.

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    2. Fresh upload fixed it. Now, you might have to delete a bunch of my levels as they are now impossible. I will try to identify them for you.

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    3. I'm going to have the system auto-detect when levels become impossible, so don't go to any unnecessary trouble.

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    4. Yet another untitled Rob but this shows the fire tiles not killing bugs.

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  2. Two more legends have Keys, let's see what they do. I just like making stuff so, sorry I am knocking off your levels on this small level screen! After the last update, a lot of my levels don't work but, I think I can fix a few if I can edit them.

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  3. Hey guys, you can transfer levels that you are working on from one computer to another. They are located in a folder under [C;/] [users][your name][AppData][Roaming][Blackshift][Cache][Levels] If you have named it, you can view the file in notepad and the name will show up. Also, AppData is a hidden folder so you have to unhide it in control panel. It works as I just transfer one from my Win8.1 machine to my Win7 machine! :)

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    1. You can, but the game doesn't expect you to and I can't guarantee it won't cause problems.

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  4. Testing Rob, just testing. :) Haven't had any problems so far and I have added a lot to the level without a glitch.

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  5. I fixed the level on my Win7 desktop and then transferred it to my Acer Win8.1 putting it in the directory before I loaded the game. It worked. No glitches. The Map is "Change Ends" methinks. A bit of teleport magic.

    On the Acer Win8.1, I can only run the game in Ogre, not bgfx (instancing problem methinks due to crap video card). However, next update, need the game to default to bgfx so I can see if I can get my Lenovo Win7 and Win8.1 portables to work. Win7 desktop no longer automatically updates and I never touched anything - it happened before I transferred that map.

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    1. Actually, I forgot to delete a bullet at the end - makes it too easy now! ha ha ha! One day we will get to edit these things but that is not a priority.

      If you die on any level you make that is published, you might as well exit the game because, it will never record a win and you will not be able to use quit and will have to X out. If you are on full screen, you need to Ctrl Alt Del to get out in Task Manager.

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  7. Rob, the tubes are walls. Don't place walls around them. It makes for more work.

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    1. EVERYTHING MUST BE SURROUNDED BY WALLS

      NEAT AND TIDY
      TIDY AND NEAT

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  8. Welcome Emod! - thanks RGA for giving me the key for Domenic! Still trying to find Kadoffe and Domna. Werkin on it!

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  9. Wunk - Luigi - now that is funny! Ha ha ha!

    RGA - Hae ye thought about giving your game pack to Jay is Games as a heads up? Just sayin...

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    1. I haven't thought much about marketing and spreading the word yet. At this point I really just need to fix these crashes so when people do find the game it doesn't crap out on them.

      Good idea re. JIG though — seems to still be a quality site even though the legendary Jay is no longer in charge, I'll have to send them some keys once the game is a bit more presentable.

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  10. Okay, we found Kadoffe! Thanks Peter. He now has a key! Hopefully we can find the Greek goddess Domna! Anyone found Sabik on the internet?

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  11. BTW, if you click on a player's name, you can play their games that they have published so far but, beware, some don't work anymore - ha ha! Especially my slider levels!

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  12. Hi everybody,
    First I have to thank Obie and Peter that I'm here. You have a mail about Domna, Obie.
    I'm really happy about the new "Netshift" and I was playing immediately after getting the code and it was a lot of fun again. Unfortunately only for a few minutes. Than my computer crashed. After restart I tried it again... and again after a few minutes crash. The third try lasted exaclty 9 minutes and 10 seconds til the next crash. Than I gave up. OS is windows 10.

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  13. Go to options and switch to bgfx instead of Ogre. It might work.

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  14. Thank you, Obie. Now I can play 16 minutes ;-) With bgfx the game was lagging the first three - four minutes. Than it works well til the crash.

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    1. Welcome to the testing team & thanks for helping out!

      I'm working my way through the crash reports so whenever your game crashes you're helping it become more stable.

      (Assuming you're on Windows — should probably add crash reporting to the Mac version at some point. So much to do!)

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    2. I'm so sorry. I wanted to feed you with crash reports and than this: Its working absolutely fine. The game starts now in a smaller window and now I can play without lags (in the bigger version it was really hard with the controls of the ship) and my computer now works absolutely quiet. Today afternoon the computer was really heavy breathing during playing. Now its time for testing the game :-)

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  15. Level 18 has a point of no return. If you save the game at the save point at the bottom of the playground between the blue enemies than you can't get out of there caused by the bomb at the exit. What makes this particulary troublesome is the fact that if you start level 18 again you always start at this save point even if you play another level before or close and reopen blackshift again. So my game ends here and I have no chance to play higher levels.

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    1. Ctrl+R to restart ignoring save points.

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    2. Sometimes the game locks up and Ctrl+R doesn't work.

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  16. Kadoffe, go to C:\users\[your name]\AppData (this file is hidden)\Roaming\BlackShift\SaveStates and delete the file that is in there.

    As well Rob, I think those weird jpgs I sent you have something to do with the flat terrain as Wunk described. I was making a big field and it got all blurred out until I went to the ends. The middle of the screen was impossible to do anything. Then, I cut the map in half with walls and the flickering stopped.

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    1. I loaded it up in Ogre and weirdness disappeared because when I added to the above level, the flickering started up again.

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    2. Double crash (Acer Win8.1)on a game I was making (mentioned above) which I appropriately called "Unstable Mable". You will get the reports Rob. Was testing the blockers with the laser and a bouncing bullet.

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  17. Wunk - interesting level! As long as the sticky tiles are on a slider tile, they will pull the rest across from them!

    Speaking of slider tiles, you can stick movable objects on them but you can't pick them up unless you are stopped. I made a level with this but it's on my other computer.

    Also, the teleporters are acting a bit funny. I have 4 universal teleporters on the level I am making. The first one takes me where expected and brings me back as planned. The third teleporter, takes me to the second one, then to the first one and then to the last one where I need to be! I need the last one twice but instead of going to the nearest one (the 3rd), we end up back to the second, then the first. Ha ha - it's easy to figure out once you realize you are missing an important item in the end which is a portable bomb. Methinks I know what the problem is in that, if this is ladder logic, it is going to follow a pattern.

    With the Blue Teleporter and receiver, I had a similar problem in that; if I put the other receiver to the left of the last sender I placed, it went elsewhere to the right which was definitely the wrong place (I counted the squares).

    It is shaping up Rob. I definitely like the +/- menu items so I can see more of the game!

    Will post that odd level Thursday, MST in the morning after I test something. Don't want Wunk to figure out a way to cheat it! Ha ha ha!

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    1. And it didn't even take you half as long to find and beat it as it took me to make it work! Well, there might be more where that came from, I'm not giving up yet.

      @Unstable Mable: Eeyup, the red switch crashed my game.

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  18. Okay, I am going to publish Unstable Mable which made my computer (Acer Win8.1) crash 5 times both in dgfx and Ogre. It is not easy and you will die lots. I know it has all the right tools to win, it just crashes. I wonder if it is published, it will not crash!

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    1. Crashed my Desktop Win7 machine as well, right at the red button.

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  19. Some things I noticed during testing:

    1.)You told "Fix enemies being able to kill you by moving into a grill that you are on the other side of" - I still was killed on the other side of a grill.
    2.) Nevertheless I was killed during the destroing of the spider at the end, the level is done.
    3.) Sometimes after a level is done the sound plays on til I open a new game.
    4.) Sometimes although a level was done (from the level pit) there is no entry in the leaderboard and no green sign "done".

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    1. 1. Looks like this bug is surfacing again in some situations. I've put the issue back into Bugs.
      2. Yep, there's been some discussion but I'm happy with this behaviour for now.
      3. Known issue: https://trello.com/c/CQvFpBaJ/31-stop-sounds-when-level-ends-or-paused
      4. Not sure why this happens; will investigate.

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  20. Kadoffe - on the grille issue, I think it may have been solved and even in the old Blackshift game, if you died and killed the enemy at the same time, you still won the game. Your points 3 and 4 are valid. If you die once in the level and hit replay, there will be no score even if you win. I have a couple of maps that I have beaten but no score.

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  21. @Obie - I knew the problem with the restart key, therefore I didn't use it during playing a level from the level pit but these problems from point 3 and 4 are still there.

    @all - I think we shall overthink the qualities of the levels in general. I know that it is a lot of fun to create levels which are very difficult to solve but I think we have to do a lot of simple levels, too. In my opinion there have to be minimum 10-20 levels like a tutorial as a introduction for the handling of the ship, for the enemies, for the things you can use and so on. If a newbie plays a level for example from Obie he tries a few times and says "nope, thats too hard for me" and gives up and soon we have the same situation as in netshift. There are only a few people who plays it and, whats more important, who creates new levels. This game is so good that it should not only be played by a few people because the others are frustrated from too difficult levels.

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    1. I agree with this. This isn't just about players making easier levels either (we do have a fair few easy ones in the Pit already) — I need to make the Pit interface pick out easy levels and suggest them. Judging easiness is possible in a few ways, the simplest being something like (number of wins) / (number of plays). The new version (2.0.34) adds win/play count to levels, which is a step in this direction. Next step would be displaying the calculated difficulty level on a scale of 1-10 or maybe just using words like: trivial/easy/medium/hard/insane/Obie



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  22. Ha ha, I agree Kadoffe but this is Alpha and half my levels don't work now as Rob has fixed stuff. Now, I just made a small simple level and, tried to name it. Quit, and it disappeared! However, I know it is still there. Just gotta try to figure it out how to get it back!

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  23. Hey Rob, "Unstable Mable" has crashed two of my computers and Wunk's computer. Delete it or fix it. Nobody will ever get past the red button. As soon as the bullet hits the button, the "Sorry Assed Game" tag shows up. I also lost a game I spend an hour building, I know it is still in my level pit somewhere, just can't find it. Will move it to my other computer to see if I can awaken it again!

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  24. BTW, I gave Domna a key today so, you might seen the Greek Goddess in action. Still waiting for Rob to figure out why Antz She can't get her Mac working with the program. I got one more spare key and Wunk has the other.

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  25. There, One Eyed Monster is pretty simple!

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    1. Maybe in comparison to other obie levels - still took me a while to figure it out. You're right, this is alpha and we're all quite experienced, so harder levels shouldn't be that big a problem. But Kadoffe has a point, too. I tend to focus too much on challenge. Thinking back, my simple and silly levels (like "want my money back") were the most popular. I really should try for more balance between simple, fun levels for new players and spicy stuff for you experts ;-) (beside testing stuff and looking for bugs, of course)

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  26. "One Eyed Monster" shows pretty good the nasty double clicking at the beginning of a level. Must it be that at the first press of a key all monsters are starting and only at the second press the ship is starting?

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    1. I didn't like that double clicking either until I got used to it (that is why I moved the one eyed monster back a few spaces). You can press any key to get the game started. I think all the other Netshift/Blackshift games were the same.

      I think the latest level, "Instruction Included" is interesting and try to beat it without the eggs because you can kill them easily! You need everything methinks to solve it. Take care of the top part first, grab your materials after finishing the job and go to the bottom to finish. No "Save" tile! If you die once, leave the game, do something else and go back. It will lock out if you die and your score will not be recorded even if you win!

      The thing about it was I seemed be getting an interaction with the "one step" tile and the Lasers with a flickering screen while building. This should be investigated. On all levels I have built with lasers involved, stuff happens like that. If it happens to you, post it here! Good luck! I have beaten it 4 times so far but only one score on the screen! And, I have to X out to get out of the game!

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    2. As I think of it, a bunch of levels I have built with Lasers have given me nothing but trouble! This is the first time that the "one step" tiles have shown this problem.

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    3. True, that bothers me, too. I haven't mentioned it before because it didn't seem that important, but in some situations it is.
      Another minor point: The E-key to pick something up and the R-key to restart the level being right next to each other. More than a few times I've hit the wrong key and had to do the level all over again. Maybe it's just me.

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    4. You must be left handed! Ha ha ha, I have done that often!

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    5. https://trello.com/b/sRSH07N1/blackshift-roadmap

      It appears that Rob hasn't posted anything on this thread since Dec 1 so, keep testing. Methinks we are getting progress and as he said, crashes are the hardest to solve so, keep posting but think about why they crashed in your opinion. He actually has a real job BTW!

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  27. @ Obie: A small note to your level "Random stuff". You don't need the laser and only one bullet to get this level done.

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    1. You are correct. I was just testing the laser as it was causing some level interference that I can't figure out on this computer. And, as well, to show Rob that the explosive floors do not kill everyone as they should as long as they are moving and it appears it has something to do with movement and proximity to walls. I can survive the explosive floor on level 16 by the same method as the explosion goes right thru me. This type of detail I pointed out on one level with the fixed square reflectors as I noted that the bullet does not deflect on the edge but on the center. I don't think this is a flaw but rather an advantage we can take advantage of for experienced players.

      I have another level you can try where, the blue bug can go right through you without killing you with teleporters. I will find it and give you the method. We are Alpha testers and the best at his programming methods so, if things do not seem to work right, we report it here or, take a screen shot and email Rob.

      To gain access to my older levels, just click on Obie and you will see them. Many do not work anymore because Rob has fixed the flaws. If you try Unstable Mable, you can only get to the red button and your game will fail.

      We are alpha testers, the BEST to give him feedback!

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    2. Explosive floors: It's nothing to do with walls, it's just because the explosions don't overlap so if you "time it right" (although it's so fast I doubt you can do it on purpose, so it's effectively luck) you go straight through between two adjacent explosions. Need to fix it though.

      Deflectors being weird: If it looks weird, 99% it's a bug that'll be fixed rather than something I'll leave for experienced players to exploit.

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  28. About the "restarts breaks your score" issue - it's not just that. I've beaten the latest "instruction included" at least three times, at least once without hitting R once, and my score or "done" still wont show up.

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  29. @Obie: How do you change the keys?

    @Peter: Same here

    @all: I miss the switch for the grill and the permanent fire.

    BTW: A little description of the stuff in the construction area would be nice, specially for new creators or stupids like me. Today I will try the stuff which is absolutely unknown for me, there are a few new items I will test and maybe there will soon be there a first level from me.

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    1. @Kadoffe, I don't know what you mean about changing the keys. The grille switch and others will be added later because he is testing basic stuff now. If you go to the Blackshift site and click on the Blog, you will get the whole thread on this subject and it will give you basic instructions on how to use the editor. It is too bad that I cannot post jpg's on here so I can give you a map of basic editing techniques. The tab key gives you the menu to click on whatever element you need.

      @Stechus - if you die once, you have to exit the game completely or the score will not count. It has to be a clean success without fail. This a fault in the level pit. That is probably why another of my levels appears to have not been beaten. It is a bit hard, I have seen that it has been beaten but no replay option. And, if I exit the game, it is then unbeaten????? Oh well, let's see what else needs testing. I am sure Rob is getting his fill from you experts in the game! :)

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    2. Oh, I see, you didn't change the "e" key in "j"key, it is a second option in the game. Thanks for the hint with the older blog sites.

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  30. So, here a few more questions:

    What does a blue bullet do? You have a object next to the ship in the inventory (a circle with blue and orange triangles). If you shoot over this item the bullet turns blue.

    At the end of the sixth row you have some items I don't know what to do with them. First you have a brown circle with orange arrows. If you shoot at this a window "Too many bullets" appears and blackshift crashes.

    Next to this you have two squares, a light blue one and an orange one. There is a nice sound when you drive over them but what does these things do else?

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    1. Don't use the "Too many Bullets" item. Future fix but in the old Blackshift, it fired multiple bullets randomly that you had to dodge to get to your destination and these bullets bounced off walls and stuff and was awesome! The orange and blue squares don't work right now - future stuff. They were meant to change your ship to a different colour so you could fire different bullets. When he gets them working, I will explain it in more detail.

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    2. Those were in the old blackshift, too. The blue bullets worked like obie already explained down there; the circle with arrows which generates the error message used to generate a massive load of bullets going in various directions (diagonally), bouncing off walls and stuff.
      The orange and blue squares changed your colour - which is pointless by itself, but there also were "+" tiles of these colours you could only pass with the right colour.

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    3. Well, obie was faster once again. Right, it was also about shooting blue bullets, I wasn't sure about that anymore.

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  31. I'ver forgotten something:

    How can I change the direction of the rolling barrels? They only can move vertical?

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    1. "If you shoot over this item the bullet turns blue."

      Holy crap, he has got the transformer working! Rob needs to add some other stuff to make that work! I will test it today. The blue bullet goes thru the orange deflectors! Holy crap, if he does that and adds blue deflectors, I can recreate one of my old Blackshift levels - a bit tricky but awesom!

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    2. As far as I know, yes. I recall that, in the old blackshift, obie somehow managed to make the vertical enemies move horizontal, but I never found out how (and I doubt that's still possible). On that matter, I don't even know how to place an eyefish in the old blackshift editor - tried every key I could think of but can't seem to find them. Wont be necessary either once Rob gets the new game running correctly.

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    3. That was a gag which was easy to do with treadmills. But in netshift there were in the "toolbox" two kind of barrels (we called it brownies in netshift) - horizontal and vertical moving.

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  32. The only way now to change the rolling barrels is with the arrow key. It is a future addition to the game.

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  33. @ Obie: "Instruction Included" has one bullet too much ;-)

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  34. I liked your solution to my "Instructions Included" Kadoffe! If I had thought of that, I would have provided only one gun for the ship! Nice work! I did leave the door open for a master's innovation! Ha ha ha!

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  35. @Obie: I've done your "Change ends Fixed" the fourth time but I didn't get it to the leaderboard, therefore I only can tell you here that there is no bullet too much :-)

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    1. Okay, that was a rogue level I was experimenting with. Rob warned me about it but, I published it anyways. I took a level I was working on my desktop win7 and moved it to another computer. It is a duplicate of Change Ends with a different ending. Funny thing, "Change Ends" the original, has only been beaten by me. You can find older levels by others by clicking on their name.

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    2. Same as in the fixed version. Without loosing a ship done but not seen in the leaderboard... But here you know that there is a bullet too much.

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  36. Oh well, that is a minor glitch that Rob can fix about the leader board. Good thing is that Domna is back!

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  37. Ha ha ha, Wunk just destroyed my level without the bugs! Very creative solution!

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  38. Welcome schnipfl! Post your comments here! Seems we have a bunch of insane Germans in alpha test mode. By the way, I have the DOK level from the old game in jpg form. It needs a few changes from RGA to make it work.

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  39. I've found a small mistake in the level editor: If you want to move your layout with the right arrow key than you get automatically the eyefish in the draw selection. Moving with the other keys doesn't change the chosen item.

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  40. Actually, you can press a number of keyboard keys and other elements will show up like "T" gives you a tree.

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    1. True, but when you're using the arrow keys to pan you most likely don't want to draw eyefish suddenly (though I've already mentioned this). Maybe these keys should be excluded from shortcuts.

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  41. I'm a little bit upset.

    I created a level to test the performance of a really big level with much items. Not hard but much to drive. After 4 hours work I had to do something others and, thats a problem which I wanted to notice long before but I've forgotten this, have to close blackshift. If I minimize the game the computer gets really loud - as loud as I had the problems with total chrashes.
    After restarting blackshift I wanted to work further at my game ...aaand it was gone. 4 hours of work was fucked up.
    My mistake was that I pressed again "create a new level" but there MUST be a button to save a level under constuction.
    Why?
    Because first to avoid such a mistake of the user and second there must be a chance to open a new construction area for testing some parts of the main constuction. It is bothersome to test some functions in the main game and have to redraw many parts here again and again.

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  42. Kadoffe, I had the same problem but there might be a solution. On your newly created level, build something and publish it. Your old level may come back. It appears that Rob will not allow two unpublished levels at once in your level pit but the old one has just been superseded by the new one. A level that I have been using as a test bed always shows up when I publish the newer one.

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  43. Wow, Obie, thank you very much. All my work is there again. You made my evening.
    And @ all: Sorry for the ridiculous 2 levels.

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  44. Hm, where is the combination from bullet and landmine? Its not in the inventory anymore.

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  45. Look around, the menu sometimes gets mixed up!

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  46. ...and why are my levels all called "untitled" when in my levels they all have names?

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  47. @Kadoffe, this is a slight bug in the program. You name them, hit enter. Then either quit or edit the level. If you exit the level editor and the name has not changed, change it again. Only publish the level when it is named in your level pit

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  48. Nice level, Obie. I took everything and did it without dying, even after new starting blackshift and didn't get it into the leaderboard.

    Three things I noticed:
    - the combination of bullet and landmine doesn't exist anymore (yes, I looked around)
    - it's not possible anymore to put an item under a moveable rock (yes, I tried)
    - the enemies drive underneath the items (you can see it good at Obie's last level (you have time enough for), the purple monster drives under the key and the mirror)

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  49. @Kadoffe, I did that as well including your last level. There are something on those levels that don't like to be saved but that is a minor error. Not sure what you mean by the bullet and landmine combination??? You certainly cannot put a bullet under a landmine. Rob fixed the placement of items under things after one of my levels. That was a neat feature in Netshift when you could hide stuff.

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  50. Bullet-landmine combination was this thing which is a mine and when a enemy or a rock destroys this then there is a normal bullet there. This thing which I could use at the beginning of my long level but now its not more in the inventory.

    I don't think that it is a minor error if I have to do one level ten times to have it finally done in the list.

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  51. Okay, I think you may be mistaken. I first used this on one of my levels but Rob corrected it after. I think it was called Test For Rob where I experimented putting stuff under rocks. About the only thing you can put under rocks now including the clear one is the flickering death tile!

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  52. I am re-building some levels that Rob "fixed" so they don't work anymore. Don't try my old level "Sliders and Stickies" - you can't win it. I am building it over with a few twists. You can get to other levels by other people by clicking on their name. Half of mine don't work anymore!

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  53. If there ever was a combination, I never noticed. I always thought it was 2 seperate items, just placed in the same spot. Like you could put a / mirror on a \ mirror and make the bullet randomly choose a direction.
    But hiding stuff under boxes sure was a nice feature. On that matter, placing a box without changing the floor to neutral would also come in handy.

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  54. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. "Like you could put a / mirror on a \ mirror and make the bullet randomly choose a direction."

      Not anymore! About the only tool you can put under a box is the little flame tile. And that would not destroy the box unless you push it with another box!

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    2. I know, that't what I was trying to say; I thought the bullet-on-a-mine was the same thing. But I guess Rob is busy enough with the crashes for the time being.

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  55. I dunno!!!?? I have beaten "The Lion's Den" clean from start to finish and it registered as Done! Now it doesn't and no scores. I have beaten Kadoffe's awesome extravaganza twice but usually was zapped many times! RGA appears to be in limbo as he has not posted Trello since Dec 1 (maybe he has a day job) but, he helped me the other day to get my Lenovo working with Blackshift as it would not do Ogre! Had to delete some hidden files and add another one (Preferences). Still working on another level that I had to fix because he won't let some things on certain tiles.

    Now, I agree with Stechus - the "one eyed follower" needs to be removed from the right arrow key as a short-cut because it then does not help the panning capabilities of the arrow keys. Secondly, we should be able to place anything we want under the "visible block" including keys, weapons, deflectors. The one time "grille tile" should be able to be placed under any movable block. There are other suggestions yet including my plead for horizontal sausages or evil worms instead of the vertical ones! I got more but gotta call the GF! ha ha ha

    BTW, any message to Rob should be addressed as RGA because that is his handle on this thread. Domna - you out there?

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    1. > the "one eyed follower" needs to be removed from the right arrow key

      Agreed. It's a bug anyway, shortcut should be ' (single quote)

      > Secondly, we should be able to place anything we want under the "visible block" including keys, weapons, deflectors

      Yeah, that seems harmless enough.

      > The one time "grille tile" should be able to be placed under any movable block

      Not sure what tile you mean here.

      > horizontal sausages

      Not focusing on adding new stuff at the mo but yeah, horizontal enemies are needed.

      > BTW, any message to Rob should be addressed as RGA because that is his handle on this thread

      Nah, it emails me about every comment regardless.

      Delete
  56. Thanks Rob - Sliders & Stickys II - Had to finish it in Ogre because of the flicker on the screen on the Acer Win8.1 Portable. Seems to happen more often that naught when I use lasers.

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    1. Nah, has nothing to do with Lasers. I'll figure it out! It seems the bigger the playing field, the worse it gets.

      Delete
  57. >Not sure what tile you mean here.

    Look at "Stingers U/Bombs" and you will see what I mean - have two loaded. Beware of "too many bullets" on the first scene. ;)

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  58. Rob, check out my latest, "Lasers by the Numbers". Poke your nose to the hidden wall that the laser is behind! It's kewl! It can be used in game building.

    As well, I think that the visible movable block with a deflector embedded would be awesome so that we can make better use of the lasers as you can push it into place without dying.

    Bugs:

    1. If you die in a game, you can still win it but, your score will not be shown and, sometimes, you have to X out as quit doesn't work.

    2. Note to others. Name the game, hit enter, hit done and go back to your levels. If it is not renamed in your levels, repeat the first part until it shows up in your level pit with the name attached. As well, if you build a game and die will building it. Exit the game completely, go back and THEN publish it. Otherwise, no score will show even if you beat it.

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    1. Level 1 - Ghost Blks - that is how you manipulate the invisible wall bug and don't eliminate this awesome tool! My thinking is that the program is not fast enough to change the wall from invisible to solid and let's a laser blast thru! Ha ha - kewl!

      Delete
    2. LOL, I'm sorry to disappoint you but I am definitely going to eliminate that laser thing. It's a bug that makes no logical sense.

      I'm all for creativity in the level pit but if players can die in ways that don't make sense according to the rules of the game they'll just give up.

      Delete
  59. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Keyboard short-cuts to accommodate the Rht Arrow Key flaw.

      N=Neutral Tile
      I=Up yellow gun
      J=Left yellow gun
      K=Dwn yellow gun
      L=Rht yellow gun
      Z=Normal wall
      T=Tree
      Y=Slider Tile
      4=Portable Bomb
      O=Ship (Let's vote on a name for this guy! :D )
      U=Kill goal
      X=Walk on Kill Goal
      C=Lock
      1=Key
      B&Q=Bomb

      I've done a few more but, these are all I need right now - "N" is the more important one as it quickly gets rid of the one-eyed bug!

      Delete
  60. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  61. Is the distribution of keys still restricted? I found the blog a couple of years ago when I went looking for the old Netshift again and couldn't find it, so I'm really excited to get back into this game.

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    1. Yeah, but if you drop me an email at r@foon.uk I can probably spare one :)

      Delete
  62. Hint Joseph - log on with your old Netshift name! Glad to have you aboard. There are a few glitches in Alpha but, it's the same game only better!

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  63. Couple of things. If you put a directional arrow right in front of a stinger, the bug will kill you. In fact all enemies will kill you as demonstrated in "One-Eyed Bug Bug" so you should move!

    Second one is that picking up objects going counterclockwise causes the ship to stall and you need to double press to get him going again which is a pain in the butt when enemies are chasing you! If you go clockwise, it is a smooth transition.

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  64. "5 Ways to Win" shows a few bugs. The key is the down arrow plus the stingers and/or the grille and, the right enemy.

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  65. "Merry Christmas" was going to be a self destruct level but, I thought I might throw in some drama on a bug defect which I think is kinda kewl so leave it in the game!

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  66. So many comments... Jesus. O .o

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  67. Just reporting bugs Zxin, and waiting for you to put up something kewl!

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  68. Wunk - I like your last one (you saw how I escaped from the floors) but, couldn't figure out the previous one that I had no idea what was happening in the background. If we can't see it, it is hit or miss. Now, Kadoffe's level which has been beaten but not recorded, must have a one-eyed bug following the ship - awesome, genious!

    Either way, I agree with Rob on some things - but, if you die by committing suicide, you lose points! ha ha ha! Workin' on another one in Orlando - may call it Dizzy World! Ha ha

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    1. Heh, I knew it would be too slow, so you could sneak back without reversing the laser succession. Not anymore! (I messed up again with the mirrors, so you basically can ignore that part, but that's not important anyway)

      About "Keep the laser up":
      There isn't really happening anything you can't see:
      The red button is "don't touch", you can tell because the red doors shield you from the proximity mines.
      The 3 lasers are alternating, there's always only 1 of them firing. That becomes clear when you redirect them.
      When you hit the orange switch, rollers will flood out of the teleporter and press the evil red button - if you don't laser them first.
      The "out of view" stuff does nothing but that: make the lasers alternate and produce the roller flood. No secret switches or anything.

      Delete
  69. It would be nice to be able to expand the field with the +/- while you are playing. I think we could see more in the old Blackshift game to give you more of a perspective on what to expect.

    Still working on your latest Wunk! Ha ha - don't need an expanded field on that one, just trying to figure out the combination to sneak back from the bratwurst enemy! Ha ha ha

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  70. Damn - website is down! Can't get in!

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    1. My hosting provider is having some technical difficulties & are working on it — not much we can do except wait.

      Delete
  71. Happy New Years guys - I see there are newbies in the flock! Ha ha ha!

    Website back up again!

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