I have Have been busy fixing bugs and tweaking settings in retro Blaster. The most significant change I have made was suggested by my old pal, Ian Legler. He suggested that I add a user selectable setting to adjust the quality of the graphics. I have added this option now (shoe-horned into the main menu). It mainly affects the size and quality of the explosions and defaults to a lower setting than the original version (Medium). Thanks for the idea, Ian.
On that note, our garden variety PCs are now capable enough to import, edit and optimize some of the movies Steve, Ian, and Brandon Crist, and I made (with a whole slew of other various helpers) back in the late 80’s. When I get time, I plan to introduce the world to a little gem we made called The Ballad Of Buffalo Love Machine. The story of the movie is a little like SLC Punk, but not nearly as good. Both movies end with the same song, and a major character dying of an overdose, and some other general themes are shared in common too. Steve created animations and titles using an Atari ST computer hooked up to a TV. I think the software he used was called Cyber Paint. It was one of the first NON Mac key frame animation tools, and certainly it was one of the first to be under $100.
Also, while fixing Retro Blaster bugs, I have started work on a brand new game. It is called Pixel War II. It has nothing to do with the original Pixel War (in the Work in Progress Section of this site). It it closer to Phase Shifter (also in the WIP section). It will be a combo of Galaga and Demon Attack. I’ll have a WIP version up in a few weeks to test out.