- v1.38.6.0 - ParticleDetail/ParticleDensity options; many fixes, improvements - 19 September 2026
Another update is here for BlastZone 2! (v.1.38.6.0) This update adds New ParticleDetail/ParticleDensity detail options, along with other technical improvements to the underlying engine. Full details are below:Converted the existing "Particle Detail" setting to "Particle Density"The setting controls the same particle behavior, just under a new nameAdded a new "Particle Detail" settingThis controls the rendering detail for individual particles, instead of the number of particles spawned for each effectControls how many particle effects use a 2-pass rendering approach, improving color quality of particlesMost particle effects not using the 2-pass approach use additive blending insteadMakes them appear washed out in some circumstances, but has better performanceThe "Low" setting eliminates all 2-pass particle renders, maximizing performanceThe "Normal" setting only uses 2-pass particle ren…
- v1.38.5.0 - Improved multithreading, online multiplayer bug fixes - 7 July 2026
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v.1.38.5.0) This update improves multithreading performance and thread prioritization. It also fixes a few online multiplayer bugs. Full details are below:Improved thread parallelism in many areas of the gameImproves performance for processing all enemies, item drops, player bullets, and enemy bulletsAlso improves performance when processing all objects on the client side in an online multiplayer gameReduces processing times of affected areas by up to 25% when there are many enemies/bullets on screenImproved thread prioritization in several areasIncreased Render thread prioritization to further improve frame pacingIncreased the main Particle System thread priority to event prioritization with other systemsGenerally places threads in P-Cores and E-Cores more appropriately for CPUs that don't have a symmetric core layoutFixed lingering enem…
- v1.38.4.0 - Greatly improved motion fluidity, new sound system cycle rate option - 3 July 2026
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v.1.38.4.0) This update greatly improves motion fluidity by improving internal thread timing, and improved frame time consistency. This update also adds a new “MT Sound Cycle Rate” option that allows for selecting between several cycle rates for the sound system. Higher cycle rates reduce sound effect latency, but at a slight cost to CPU power. Full details are below: Converted the "Sound Multithreading" advanced option to "MT Sound Cycle Rate"Allows for setting the sound system cycle rate to 60hz, 120hz, 240hz, or syncedHigher sound cycle rates use more CPU power, but reduce sound latencyThe "synced" value is equivalent to "off" from previous versionsThe new "MT Sound Cycle Rate" option no longer requires a game restart to take effectUpdated the external configuration program to utilize the new "MT Sound Cycle Rate" option and work with…
- v1.38.3.0 - Improved cave environment shaders, kb/mouse latency, texture loading - 11 May 2026
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v.1.38.3.0) This update improves the cave environment shaders, keyboard and mouse latency, and compressed texture memory consumption and loading times on game startup. Full details are below:Big improvements to all the cave environment shadersImproves lighting quality of the cave backgroundsImproves shader performance of the cave environment by about 30%Improved keyboard and mouse player control latency and rapid action handling when using update rates higher than the frame rateGamepad input already takes advantage of this and didn't need to be updatedOptimized the compressed texture loading processUses 33% less system memory per texture during the loading processImproves compressed texture loading timesTexture VRAM usage during gameplay is unchangedRenamed the "auxiliary threads" advanced option to "boost threads"Updated localization in…
- v1.38.2.0 Hotfix update - 6 April 2026
A hotfix update has been released for v1.38.2.0 of BlastZone 2.Improved how data is managed between game threads, also improving multithreading efficiencyUpdated many shaders for the OpenGL 3.0 and 4.6 renderers to fix potential graphics driver compatibility issues
- v1.38.2.0 - Gamepad handling, config file improvements, fixed demo exploder shot - 19 March 2026
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v.1.38.2.0) This update improves gamepad handling, fixes the exploder shot animation for the demo version, makes a few improvements to config file parsing using a new format, and updates a few libraries. Full details are below:Reworked much of the gamepad input handling codeImproved data locality to slightly improve performanceImproved general code design to prevent potential bugsFixed missing expanding sphere for the exploder shot for the demo versionUpgraded config file data parsingThere are now discrete field names for all config parametersConfig parameters can now appear in any order in the config fileConfig parameters can now be individually deleted from the config file to reset individual options to defaultsConfig file parsing is much more robust now and less prone to errors if elements of data are malformedThe new format is easier…
- v1.38.1.1 - Improvements to muzzle flashes, particles, and loading bars - 18 December 2025
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v.1.38.1.1) This update makes improvements to muzzle flashes, particles, loading bars, and optimizes a few systems. Full details are below:Added gradient effects to the startup loading bar and the leaderboard score submission progress barAdded muzzle light flares for Normal Bolt and Flurry Shot player weaponsOptimized all particle vertex generation, reducing CPU usage for particle system updatesOptimized charge particle creation for all player charging effects, and wave intermission booster charging effectFixed command console misalignment when running a resolution taller than 16:9Refactored how coloring is calculated for all particles across all effectsAs usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.38.1.1” or higher. Enjoy!
- New game announcement - Axial Rift - Wishlist now! - 22 October 2025
Announcing my new game project, Axial Rift! This game uses the groundbreaking voxel rifting mechanic to combine isometric adventure with side scrolling platforming in the same game world! Slice the world at any point, in any direction into sidescrolling sections; creating entirely new ways to solve puzzles, discover secrets, engage in agile melee combat and platforming, and outsmart bosses!The Steam page is up, wishlist now!
- v1.38.1.0 - Improved player weapon firing rate consistency across all framerates - 29 September 2025
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v.1.38.1.0) This update improves player weapon firing rates across all frame rates. Previously, low frame rates would have slow or irregular player weapon firing rates. The issue was most noticeable around 20-30 fps, but also had a subtle effect for the 30-59fps range. Now, all frame rates have precisely the same, consistent player weapon firing rate.Here are the full release notes for v1.38.1.0:Greatly improved player weapon firing rate consistency across all frame ratesPreviously, running at a low frame rate (20-30fps) would fire player weapons at a slower, irregular rateThis would make some weapons less effective, unintentionally increasing the game difficultyNow, all frame rates (20-240+ fps) fire player weapons at the exact same rate, and at an even rate without irregularityThis improvement is most noticeable for high firing rate wea…
- v1.38.0.0 - Improved responsiveness, motion smoothing, fixed time distortion - 28 June 2025
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v.1.38.0.0) This update improves motion fluidity for all objects in the game, including the player, enemies, bosses, projectiles, terrain, and more! This also makes the game feel more snappy and responsive while the frame rate is fluctuating.The purpose of motion smoothing is to even out position deltas of objects between frames, because when a frame hitch occurs, the larger gap in object positions after the hitch is more noticeable than the frame hitch itself. Now, the drawbacks of doing this are completely gone!The time distortion issue of motion smoothing calculations has been fixed, using much tighter timings than before. This would manifest in slight speedups and slowdowns in object movement during fluctuating frame rates. Refinements have been made so all object motion is integral-correct as well, improving the accuracy of object ve…
- v1.37.2.1 - Fixed external key installs, discrete gfx prioritization, crash fix - 7 June 2025
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.37.2.1) This update fixes a potential crash bug for CPUs that support the FMA3 optimized code path, as well as an optimization for that code path that results in a ~1% gain in overall performance. This update also prioritizes high performance discrete graphics hardware for laptops using a hybrid graphics setup. Previously, some laptops would erroneously use the slower iGPU, which would greatly reduce game performance. A broken install issue has been resolved for some users who purchased Steam keys from outside Steam. The 64bit binaries are now part of the primary Steam repo, so all users will have them by default, unless 32 bit binaries are needed instead. Previously, both the 64bit and 32bit binaries existed in secondary repos, and some users who purchased Steam keys outside of steam wouldn't have access to those repos, making the gam…
- v1.37.2.0 - Improved vertex transfer performance in many areas - 2 May 2025
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.37.2.0) This significantly improves vertex transfer performance for several areas of the game. This includes all particles, bullets, HUD elements, menus, text, clouds, water, beams, and more. This results in better overall performance, and reduced hitching, especially on older or slower hardware.Here are the full release notes for v1.37.2.0:Improved the performance of vertex data streamingReduces hitching and slightly improves overall performanceHas a more noticeable effect on older, slower systemsAffects several systems and effects, including:CloudsEnemy bulletsTextHUDMeter barsParticlesBeam weapon animationsWater animationTitle screen animationSlightly optimized gamepad input handlingSlightly optimized spatial audio positioning calculationsImproved the cleanup process for game threads when shutting down the gameAs usual, to make sure…
- v1.37.1.0 - Upgraded particle system and improved explosion particle effects - 13 December 2024
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.37.1.0) This upgrades the particle system to support a 2-pass approach to particle rendering. What this means is, most particle effects now share a unified alpha channel, and separate the alpha render pass from the color render pass. This allows most particle effects, such as enemy explosions, to maintain their ‘melding together’ effect of adjacent particles, while also being more prominent from the background. The previous additive-only particles would sometimes get blown out or lost in bright backgrounds, or colors closely matching the color of the particles. This new approach leverages multicore CPUs to neutralize much of the increased workload, resulting in only a minor net increase in particle processing time. The rendering side does have an increased load, but is still low enough overall that virtually all systems won’t see a slo…
- v1.37.0.0 - 3D positional sounds, buffed exploder shots, and many improvements! - 19 June 2024
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.37.0.0) Substantial upgrades have been made to the OpenAL sound system for this update. This includes 3D positional sound sources, tracking object movement for attached sounds, and remastered sound assets that are compatible with the new system. Also, surround sound speaker support has been added, but all the action is in front of the camera. Sound source velocity and doppler effect support has been added to the sound system as well, but are not utilized yet. This update also dramatically cuts down on disk space usage, bringing the maximum install size from 1.4GB down to about 530MB. The greatest disk space savings is for when all high detail terrain DLC is installed. This was accomplished by taking full advantage of custom built asset compression formats for the game engine, and maintains identical quality for all assets in the game.…
- v1.36.3.0 - Added high frequency update support, improving responsiveness! - 8 March 2024
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2. (v1.36.3.0) This update adds high frequency update support! This means, even if the game is running at 60fps, the game input and simulation could be running at up to 200hz. This allows for the responsiveness of a high refresh rate display without the need for one. This is similar to other low latency technologies, such as Reflex or Anti-Lag, but this is a single solution effective across all graphics vendors. Other game engines require synchronizing input and simulation updates with the render frame rate, but the BlastZone 2 game engine has been architected in a unique way. It allows for the rendering and input/simulation systems to run completely asynchronously from each other, making high frequency updates possible. This is an exciting new technology, and I can’t wait to hear about everyone’s experience with it! This update also includes…
- v1.36.2.0 - Improvements to multithreading and performance - 20 December 2023
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.36.2.0) This update focuses on multithreading improvements, and a few performance improvements. This includes reduced frame hitches, up to 10-25% particle system performance gains from improved memory bandwidth efficiency, and a general 10% performance gain from adding support for SIMD FMA cpu instructions. Here are the full release notes for v.1.36.2.0: Most of the advanced multithreading options can now be applied without restarting the game -This includes the following options: --Game Update Multithreading --Particle Multithreading --Auxiliary Particle Threads -Core elements of multithreading management were updated to make this possible -The "Sound Multithreading" option still requires a game restart at this time Improved thread management of the particle system -More of the startup loading process is done asynchronously, slightly…
- Small maintenance release - 17 September 2023
This is a small update that makes the following changes: -Cleaned up a few unused data files -Added particle aux thread runtime readouts for the ingame debug display
- v1.36.1.1 - Several improvements to the 2nd person shooter Mission sequence - 4 August 2023
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.36.1.1) This update makes several improvements to the 2nd person shooter sequence in Mission Mode Area 5, including fixing enemy bullet bugs, and fixed effect alignment and timing. This gives an overall more polished sequence as you dodge from enemy fire, while you’re in their sights! Here are the full release notes for v.1.36.1.1: Improved enemy bullet firing behavior for the 2nd person enemy in Mission Mode Area 5 -Fixed alignment issue between the "charge up" animations and fired bullets from the enemy -Slightly reduced the enemy bullet speed in this sequence -Improved timing for charging/firing bullet events, improving animation smoothness Improved enemy tracking bullet behavior for varying framerates Fixed incorrect Z tracking behavior for tracking enemy bullets -This is most noticeable for the 2nd person sequence in Mission Area…
- v1.36.1.0 - Improved physics, smoother frame rates, optimizations - 13 July 2023
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.36.1.0) This update adds several technical improvements to the engine. This includes improved, more accurate and consistent physics across any frame rate. There are also a few improvements to frame time consistency, reducing frame hitching that existed in specific situations for some systems, and an improved frame limiter, for a smoother overall experience. This update also includes particle system optimizations, using an additional CPU thread for spawning particles, and reducing frame hitches when many particles are on screen. Here are the full release notes for v1.36.1.0: Improved physics in a few areas of the game -More accurate movement calculations when accelerating objects -Fixes slightly different movement behavior for different frame rates -Affects these areas of the game: --Player throwbacks when firing big weapons or getting…
- v1.36.0.0 - Mission+ Mode Released! - 2 June 2023
A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v1.36.0.0) This update adds another new game mode, Mission+ Mode! This works similar to “New Game+” in other games, as it starts Mission Mode from the beginning, but with all weapons and abilities unlocked, and all stat upgrades at level 3. To keep the difficulty balanced, this mode is always played at Veteran difficulty, and with fewer lives to start. This mode can only be unlocked once Pilot Mission Mode is completed. Here are the full release notes for v1.36.0.0: Added the Mission+ game mode -Starts the Mission campaign with all weapons and abilities unlocked, and level 3 stat upgrades -Always uses "Veteran" difficulty and fewer starting lives, to offset the more powerful starting loadout -This serves as a new way for advanced players to play the game -Requires completion of Pilot Mission mode to unlock this mode Added new local highsc…
