Dustin's Boulder Dash

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Sat Oct 02, 2021 11:08 pm

Meanwhile I've named all the caves and ints. Actually I have 18+4 caves at the moment, which I all like very much! Most probably the two extra caves will be in DBD20

Here are the names as a teaser:
A - One-Hit Wonder
B - The Dig Boulder
C - Gender Seperation
D - Cage Extension
Int1 - Vortex Blockade
E - Gallic Helmet
F - Darkstoorm's Abbreviation
G - Gender Mix
H - Amoeba Box
Int2 - Four-eyed Face
I - Azkaban
J - Extraction
K - Diamond Chambers
L - Bathtubs
Int3 - Too Much Beer
M - Thunderstorm
N - Demon's Face
O - Qualification Exam
P - Airfields
Int4 - Loopholes

Also, I had a creative day and built a little story around the caves! Release soon

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Wed Oct 13, 2021 8:26 pm

Dustin's BD 19 is on the Game Base! Thanks Arno

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Tue Nov 30, 2021 6:23 pm

I just noted that in Dustin's BD16 (No1 Remix), the first int has very little time (at least on the lower levels). I think this happened because one of my final changes before the release was to lower the intermission speed, and I probably didn't re-test them because I did not change anything with the layout. I must've forgotten that the slower speed means that Rockford has technically less time... I'll probably fix this together with my next release

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Fri Jan 14, 2022 7:51 pm

Dustin's BD 20 is finished! In fact it was already finished two months ago, but I wanted to put some time between 19 and 20. Now three months have past since 19 was released, so I think it's time for the announcement

Some of the caves are based on BD1-3 caves again (I love to make remixes of those!

), and some are based on ideas I've seen at Krissz's site. However, of course there are also completely new caves which are based on nothing but my brain

Here are the current cave names as a teaser (some names might still change if I get some good ideas):
A: Intro of Intros
B: Butterfly Tree
C: Impermeable
D: Cells
E: Yet Another Apocalypse
F: Crazy Dogs
G: G-Maze
H: Aliens
I: Mixed Triangles
J: Double X
K:Zig Zag Zoo
L: Smoke Cage
M: Thoughtful Transformations
N: Ten Million Fireflies
O: Advanced Cocoons
P: Pushing Puzzles
The intermissions don't have names (yet?)

There's no intro cave and story yet, so it may still take some time until the release. Perhaps there will be no story this time - let's see if I have an inventive day or not

There's another game I have mentioned several times already: Boulder Dash - The New Elements 2 aka Stage Game 2. A >100 caves game with the specific GDash elements! I wanted to release it last year, but there was a problem: my old laptop crushed and the game with it (unfortunately, I made no external back-ups...) I had some hope to save the game but now I decided to just recreate it from my head! So far I've recreated 20 caves and it's far more fun than I thought because I have some fresh ideas and I like those 20 caves already better than they were in original!

So the game will come, perhaps even this year (but no promise)!

Note that I 'm going to introduce the new elements slowly and one by one, so that the game should be fun also for Boulder Dashers who have never seen non-standard elements and effects before!

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Tue Jan 25, 2022 9:11 pm

Today I discovered another cave where the same GDash bug occurs that already made the update of Dustin's BD3 cave H necessary.

Dustin's BD8 (Arno Remix), cave J ("Balderdash") is supposed to have random butterflies, fireflies, boulders, diamonds, space, amoeba, magic wall and brick wall. However, due to the bug, the last four elements of this list don't occur in the cave. (It would be great if someone could please check this out and confirm it!) In this case, the cave is still solvable, but still, it's supposed to be a lot more chaotic! So I'll release a bugfix version of this cave as well (luckily, I think I found out what triggers the bug exactly and if you know it, it's easy to avoid!)

According to my tests, the bug is as follows: If the object "random fill" (symbolized with a dice) is used and if all four densities are non-zero, then it's not possible to change the "replace only this element" to anything other than "no element". More precisely, if you try to do it, it first seems to work, but if you save the file and reload it, then "replace only this element" is again set to "no element".

Arno, I apologize in advance for sending you a big email in the near future with Dustin's BD20, the DBD8 cave J bugfix, the DBD16 int 1 bugfix and, last but not least, a test version of "The New Elements 2" with the first 24 caves so you can check if you like it and want to see more of it!

CWS · Post by **CWS** » Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:25 pm

Do you mean a bug in your game or in the GDash app?

If it’s a bug in GDash please report it to cirix!

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Tue Feb 01, 2022 8:23 pm

Dustin's BD20 is out on the Game Base - thanks Arno!

Also, the updates on Dustin's BD8 and 16 are available now.

@CWS: Alright, thanks for the reminder!

CWS · Post by **CWS** » Thu Feb 03, 2022 7:01 pm

Somehow it would be not so bad if it’s a bug in GDash - an update is overdue…

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Thu Mar 10, 2022 11:43 pm

@CWS I agree that a GDash update would be great! On the other hand, if cirix says he has no time for it (after all, he would probably have to re-familiarize himself with the whole programming issue first before even starting to fix the bugs), I think we just have to accept it. After all, GDash is very well playable as it is, and the bugs are rather specific and shouldn't occur too often. Yes, the bug I was talking about is a GDash bug (and a very specific one too).

@all: As I've already teased my game-in-work BD - The New Elements 2 so often in this thread, I wanted to give you another little teaser and here it is

As already mentioned, the game will feature a lot of the GDash-specific BD elements and effects.I intend to introduce the non-standard elements/effects one by one and gradually so the players can have fun exploring each of them!

There will be 26 "zones" (one for each letter) with usually one small intro cave and 3 standard-sized caves each. This makes more than 100 caves in total! The 3+1 caves of a zone are connected by one or two common themes.

Current state of development: ~40% finished.

probable release: 2nd half of 2022 or 1st half of 2023

And here are a few names of zones which are already finished:
C: Cosmos Chaos Zone
E: Endless Rain Zone
H: Hidden Passage Zone
K: King of Chess Zone
Perhaps you can already guess what themes these zones have?

Other games I'm currently working at:
Dustin's BD 21
Expert Remix 2 - What Rockford Left Behind
Boulder Dash Alphabet
Boulder Dash 3 Extended Bugfix (a proper five-level version of BD3. Logic DeLuxe's bugfix already fixes the strictly unsolvable caves A/5, I/4 and I/5. However, there are still a few solvable but insane higher-level caves which I also want to fix. Also, the diamond requirements for each cave are identic on all levels, which I'm gonna change too.However, I'm slightly worried about the copyrights here - would such a release be problematic? Does anyone know?)

LogicDeLuxe · Post by **LogicDeLuxe** » Fri Mar 11, 2022 10:23 am

Dustin wrote:Logic DeLuxe's bugfix already fixes the strictly unsolvable caves A/5, I/4 and I/5. However, there are still a few solvable but insane higher-level caves which I also want to fix.

The patch was updated years ago which also includes tweaks for K/4, N/2 and P/3.
http://www.boulder-dash.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3388

Dustin wrote:I'm slightly worried about the copyrights here - would such a release be problematic? Does anyone know?)

That's why I released mine as a patch. The previous right-holder forced many sites to take down anything with the original caves and games using the trademark names.

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Fri Mar 11, 2022 2:02 pm

Thanks for the reply Logic! I hadn't actually noticed your patch until now - great! With your patch already existing and with the trademark problems in mind, I think I'll abandon my "BD3 extended bugfix" project.

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Sat Apr 16, 2022 10:11 pm

Update concerning the development of Boulder Dash - The New Elements 2 (I actually had a lot of ideas and motivation for this big project recently!):

The game is about 2/3 finished (although the remaining 1/3 might take a little more time because I finished the caves where I had clear ideas in mind first).

A few more zone names to make you curious

D: Dusty Desert Zone
F: Fiery Firefly (Fiona) Zone
I: Ice Illusion Zone
M: Manic Mansion Zone (one of my favourites because it's so crazy!

)

For a good replay value, the game will have two difficulty levels (normal mode and expert mode). Furthermore, there are specially marked bonus diamonds in some caves. Getting those is usually a lot harder than the rest of the cave!

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Fri May 20, 2022 5:58 pm

Announcement: Boulder Dash Alphabet!
Hi guys, this will be my next release on GDash soon!
The game has 26 classic-style caves, one for each letter of the alphabet. Each cave is themed around one or two typical Boulder Dash words/terms starting with the current letter (in English language). For example, the first cave's name is "A for Amoeba" and the cave is a classic-style amoeba cave!

I already made a very similar project on Krissz's site and those who already played the caves there will probably recognize most of them. However, there are still a few new things to discover - I changed one letter completely and I adapted another few caves which now look different from the versions at Krissz's site!

The overall difficulty of the game should be slightly easier than the newer Dustin's BD games. Both are classic-style, but in Dustin's BD, I usually try to find and implement new ideas, while in "BD Alphabet", the focus lies more on a journey through Rockford's very beginnings!
Hope you're all curious now!

Also close to being finished is Dustin's BD 21, while my work on the >100 caves mega game The New Elements 2 is about 75% finished (probable release, as already mentioned earlier, in the second half of 2022 or the first half of 2023!)

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Tue Jun 21, 2022 11:07 pm

"Boulder Dash Alphabet" is available on the Game Base! Thanks Arno!

Dustin · Post by **Dustin** » Fri Aug 19, 2022 6:45 pm

Dustin's BD 21 is finished! I'll probably still wait a bit until the release because my last game "BD Alphabet" was just two months ago. Anyway, here are again the cave names which might make you curious!

A - Voodoo Ouverture (yes, the first voodoo in Dustin's BD! It's still the only voodoo in the game, though.)
B - Summiteer
C - Stony Cocoons (not at all a BD2-O remake despite the name!)
D - Ninepins
Q - Cellar Vault
E - Altermaven's Jackpot (highly inspired by an Altermaven cave at Krissz's site!)
F - Deluge
G - Haunted Castle
H - The One And Only
R - Uwe Drichel's Chain
I - Dustin's Balderdash
J - Jungle Jinx (the name's inspired by a Donkey Kong Country 3 level from the 1990s! Or perhaps it was DKC 2...

)
K - Membrane
L - Underground Gang
S - Geometry Art
M - Gridlock Diversion
N - Mystic Ruins
O - Boulder Blaster
P - Through The Roof
T - Golden Gap

Some names might still change if I have good ideas, but the actual ones describe the caves well enough

As usual in the series, the game features 5 classical difficulty levels, where level 1 introduces the player into the main idea(s) behind each cave, while level 5 tries to find the balance between "very challenging for me" and "not completely insane"