XX Blast

Hey!  How are you?  I hope you are keeping well!  This is my first ever released game.  I hope you like it!

Back Story

So like most of the world, life is very strange right now.  For the last 4 months we have been locked down with not much to do.  To keep myself busy I figured I would re-build my old MAME arcade cabinet and upgrade the hardware.  Well that took a couple of days and now I'm bored again!

Well, being a 40ish old nerd who has a big soft-spot for older arcade games I thought it would be fun to have a unique game on my machine that looked and felt like it was from the 80s.  Being a fan of games such as Galaga, 1942, Twin Cobra and other vertical shooters I thought it would be interesting to see if I could make one!  This is the result.

Initially, the plan was to not release the game and have it as a very unique game on my machine so I knew it had something that others didn't.  But I'm very proud of the game and figured it would be fun to release it and hopefully give some nostalgic feels to others.  

I have some coding experience but I've never made a complete game before.  I had some things I really wanted like arcade style bezels, scanlines and authentic sound effects.  I've worked hard to keep within the era as much as possible with one exeption - High Score Saving.  Traditionally you would lose your high scores on power off.  Not with XX Blast.  Your high scores are saved.  Additionally, if you happen to make a donation, I can send you a version that also shares your scores with an online server so you can see how you fair against everyone else!

So without further ado, I present......

** XX Blast **

You pilot a lone star-fighter defending Earth from the evil hordes attacking your home.  Along the way, you must destroy wave after wave of enemy ships while avoid asteroids.

In the tradition of the original games you battle with your wits and skill.  You have a few upgrades that can help you but mostly your skills will be what saves the day. 

The game is primarily designed to run on arcade cabinets but will run fine on computers.  The controller mapping can be configured and saved.  To start a game you must "insert a coin" and then press 1p start.  Just as you would in MAME.

Constructive feedback and feature suggestions are always welcomed.

I have tried very hard but THERE WILL BE BUGS!

System Requirements

The game has been built and tested on Windows 10.  My system is Intel i5-6600, 16GB, RX480.  It should run on any windows 10.

** If there's demand, I could build a RetroPie or Linux version but don't currently have spare hardware to test on those platforms.  

Installation

Download and extract the rar file to wherever you want to store.  Run the XX Blast.exe to run.

Updating

If you're updating a previous version,  simply copy the files in the archive over your existing folder.  This will keep your settings and high scores intact.