Wednesday, March 27, 2013

WazHack 1.1

After 6 months of development and an intense beta, WazHack 1.1 is now available for Windows, MacOSX and Android. The new content is a free update to the 1.0 version.

New to WazHack? It's the game where time freezes while you don't move. When you move, enemies move... or perhaps you will use time to quaff a potion, zap a wand, or cast a spell. This time freezing mechanics is reminiscent of Dragon Age or even Braid, but in fact it derives from the original Rogue turn based mechanic.

WazHack is a roguelike in the same tradition as NetHack or DCSS, but with a whole new 3D visual presentation like none other. You still get "turn based" action, but now a "turn" is a fraction of a second. By removing player reaction time as a concern, you're free to contemplate the vast array of possible items you have in your inventory when faced with a difficult situation, while still being free to hack and slash through a band of weakling kobolds and watch their ragdoll-physics reptilian corpses crumple to the ground.

There are now over 300 different items in the game, and the new items go quite well with some of the new dungeon features. For example, you may find a small room with a closed door... before you knock on the door it might be a good idea to drop some of your gems and see if they are actually gas bombs, so you can weaken the horde of monsters as they come out of the room.

The new dungeon branch plays homage to NetHack's "Gnomish Mines". In WazHack, the mine has gnomes, but it also has a mine shaft with an elevator, and some other more deadly industrial advances await you. A pick-axe may come in handy too.

That's enough spoilers! Get playing and discover it for yourself! http://www.wazhack.com

Monday, March 11, 2013

WazHack 1.1 - Android beta

A new build of WazHack 1.1 beta3 is online, and this time it includes the Android APK!

Thanks to all the great feedback I got on the Web version, I expect this will only need a very short beta period, unless problems show up on specific Android devices. I now have 3 wildly different devices that I test on, and all 3 look great. With all the performance improvements in this release, I've been able to add support for MSAA (anti-aliasing) on Android - looks are works great on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

If you haven't played the 1.1 beta yet, now is the time to get on board. Just be more careful about it that Blacklight here...