Friday 4 November 2016

Beta 2.1.0 Released

I finally did some wall graphics
Thanks to all Alpha Testers. We're finally in Beta.

The choice of when to declare beta is pretty arbitrary, but really it just means I feel Blackshift is stable and polished enough to start showing it to a wider audience. If you wanted to help me out — and you don't have to, I mean you already bought the game — but if you wanted to, you could spread the word on Twitter, Facebook and so forth. If you have a Youtube channel it would be great to see some Blackshift videos. Post 'em here if you make any.

For my part, I'll be working on getting a second trailer together, and just generally adding polish and fixing bugs.

Edit: I just noticed I posted this exactly a year after the post announcing the start of Alpha. I did not plan that!

Changes

  • Many graphical and performance improvements
  • UI changes
  • Option to mute sound
  • Proper error message when a level pit level is too new
  • 50 levels, and many changes to existing levels
  • Removed non-portable round mirrors
    • Nothing else has been removed, but some things are now SECRET.
  • New item selector in the editor
  • You can now search for level pit levels by name
  • Added warning if your computer doesn't support hardware instancing. I'm planning to drop support for such old hardware soon.
  • More keyboard navigation in the menus
    • You can't do everything with the keyboard but you can do quite a bit
  • Bugs fixed
    • Using a copier to copy an object onto a laser no longer breaks the laser
    • Switching on grills no longer destroys lasers above those grills
    • Blackshift no longer does gamma correction incorrectly. The game's contrast and lighting should look better now.
    • Explosions no longer drawn on top of the menus
  • Game logic changed
    • You can no longer turn when on a conveyor belt (you used to be able to turn to face the direction of motion if you weren't already facing that way)

15 comments:

  1. Done and done! BTW, it crashed when it loaded but now came back - I'll get back to you! Can't remember the post but it was sent to you!

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  2. Gotta work on the search engine! More variables!

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    1. BTW, love the new graphics - will make some new stuff this weekend! Tube walls are missing!!!? Liked the way they curved around. Palette is awesome! Excited about Beta dude! Will get back to ya!

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    2. I will shut up for a bit - ha ha ha - found some stuff like the tube walls - ha ha! Turning on conveyor belts was sometimes a strategy when you needed to make a moving shot but whatever - some of my old levels are gonna look weird to the newbies. Will get back to you on the search engine.

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    3. "First on Beta" just published!

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  3. Awesome! Good job getting so far so fast.

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  4. zxin, put up some levels dude! Mills, click on obie, and go thru 18 pages of levels but first, make a level! That is your poipuss as a beta tester - buahahahah! You might even make it on the Ladder Snake because that is how the rest got there. Rob, expand the awards to 10. All is good, working on another diabolical Beta level.

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    1. I'd rather try and fit in another 3 awards on the bottom row, I think.

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  5. Rob, too lazy to look for a link so I can put it on flakebook and titter! Post it

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  6. Cool!
    I've just seen the new trailer on Youtube, guess it's time for me to restart playing!
    I had less spare time lately, but now I'm back on track.
    I'll try to spread the word as much as I can.

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  7. In level 30, when you step on the left side of the duplicator and get moved to the right, it deletes any item you're holding.

    Great work by the way, gameplay feels more polished than the original version (which I spent many hours on years ago!) and the levels are a lot of fun. What's your preferred channel for reporting bugs?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Tom, Thanks for the bug report. Cloning yourself is pretty janky in general — there's a few weird behaviours there. I'm thinking of changing it entirely and having it produce an evil twin that tries to kill you or something. More interesting!

      This comments section is just fine for bug reports and suggestions. I haven't set up a proper tracker yet. Or you can email me at r@foon.uk.

      I add new bugs to Trello so you can track their progress: https://trello.com/b/sRSH07N1/blackshift-roadmap

      Thanks for writing — enjoy Blackshift!

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