A big new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.29.2.0) The biggest part of this update is to add a new ship unlock progression system. New players will now start with the A2, A3, and B1 ships, with the rest of the ships being locked out. Players upgrading from a previous version will have additional ships unlocked if they have Mission Veteran mode or Blitz mode unlocked. To unlock a new ship, the player needs to surpass Wave/Area 8 in Mission, Survival, or Blitz mode, and this can be done multiple times until all the ships are unlocked. Also, unlocking a ship in one game mode will unlock it for all game modes. This way, the player can focus on their most proficient game mode to unlock ships to help out with other game modes. The goal of this update is to make the content progression more gradual by making the player earn the more powerful ships through proficient play. This also helps newer players focus on the more basic ships to start with to build up gameplay skills.
This update includes a new enemy type for Classic A and Classic B modes that moves up and down. This new enemy is introduced a few waves in to the game and gradually increases spawn frequency as the game progresses. This mixes up gameplay by having to track enemies in more ways than the old horizontal linear movement.
This update also includes emissive lighting improvements for the OpenGL 3.0 renderer. Item drops now have the same emission animation as the OpenGL 1.5 renderer, as this capability was previously missing from the GL3.0 renderer. The new emission maps for enemies and bosses are now animated as well, improving visual fidelity. Each item drop, enemy, and boss now have their own unique emission material that can work independently of each other.
This update also includes many other improvements, bug fixes, and tweaks. Here are the full release notes:
- Added a ship unlock progression system -The game now starts with only the A2, A3, and B1 ships available; the rest are locked out -Surpassing Area/Wave 8 of Mission, Survival, or Blitz modes unlocks new ships -Unlocking a ship in one mode will make it available for all modes -Anyone upgrading from a previous version will start with additional ships unlocked based on other progress -Having Mission Veteran difficulty unlocked will unlock an additional ship -Having Blitz mode unlocked will unlock an additional ship -If one of the above conditions are met, the B2 ship will be unlocked -If both of the above conditions are met, the B2 and A1 ships will be unlocked
- Integrated all unlock text displays into the general messaging system
- Added new unlock text displays for each ship unlock event
- Added a new EnemyB type to Classic A and Classic B modes that also moves up and down -Gradually introduces this new enemy type in later waves
- Added per-object material emissive lighting support to the OpenGL 3.0 renderer -Light emission now works correctly for item drop models, just like how the OpenGL 1.5 renderer behaves -The amount of light emission can now be different for each enemy model -Light emission is now animated for enemy and boss models
- Disabled the "kills left" display during the outro screen for Survival/Blitz/Classic modes
- Optimized matrix operations for several object types, such as particles, bullets, and enemies
- Improved packet loss tolerance in a few areas, including ship selection, ship size, current health, and boss/player state
- Reduced multiplayer item drops by 25% overall and by 50% when one player runs out of lives
- Fixed a bug allowing ship changes after selection in the local multiplayer ship selection screen
- Fixed a broken lighting bug when switching from the OpenGL 3.0 renderer to the OpenGL 1.5 renderer
- Fixed screen shakes not affecting the player booster
- Fixed screen shakes affecting the wave splash screen and dialog box when it is not supposed to
- Fixed a wave progression bug for online multiplayer games
- Fixed incorrect player 2 animations for some wave splash screens
As usual, to make sure you have the latest version, launch the game and check the lower left corner of the title screen for “v1.29.2.0” or higher. Another update is in the works that greatly improves the netcode and improves the Classic game modes. This will be released within the next week or so. Enjoy!