Dustin's Boulder Dash

[Dustin]

Hi guys, I intend to release Dustin's BD21 this week! I think I've double- and triple-checked everything enough now
Cave E's name has changed from "Altermaven's Jackpot" to "Underwater Riches", with special colors! Of course, I'm still going to mention in the cave's intro text that I got the basic idea from Altermaven at Krissz's site

[Dustin]

It's out on the Game Base! Have fun, and thx Arno for the quick release!

[Dustin]

Announcement: What Rockford Left Behind!
A new GDash game is finished! "What Rockford Left Behind" is a compilation of BD1-3 caves where Rockford needs all possible diamonds (or, in caves where there is no clear maximum, Rockford needs a lot more diamonds than originally)!
The game has 30 caves divided in 5 chapters with 6 caves each:
Chapter 1: Grab 'em all! Introduction with relatively simple caves (for example, BD1-J with all 16 diamonds required). If you find these caves too hard, then the rest of the game probably won't be for you!
Chapter 2: Tricky tricks!
Caves where more diamonds are possible than (probably) intended by Peter Liepa! Trickery gains Rockford diamonds which might look impossible!
Chapter 3: A good strategy!
In these caves a trick isn't enough - Rockford must plan well to get enough diamonds!
Chapter 4: The grand manner
The ultimate challenge! Maximum runs we proved possible at Krissz's site, but they are so crazy that in some cases I increased the timer to make it slightly less insane For example, Rockford will have to extract all the diamonds from a cave where one single jewel used to be enough...!
Chapter 5: BD3 Bonus Caves
The four main chapters exclusively have BD1+2 caves, while I packed all my BD3 challenges into a bonus chapter!

I also recorded solutions for every cave, so if you find some caves too hard, you can still sit back and enjoy the solutions! (Press "R" on the GDash title screen to do so.)

The game still needs a title image, but I intend to release it in the next few weeks

Info on "The New Elements 2": I'm still working on ~20% of this big >100 caves game, so it's well possible that it will be released only in the second half of this year.
Some of the "new" (=non-classical) elements the game will feature: bombs, keys and doors, dragonflies, ghosts, nuts, teleporters... expect the unexpected!

[zsom]

Good morning
Waiting for "The New Elements 2" I decided to go through the first part again.

Thank you Dustin

[Dustin]

"What Rockford Left Behind" is on the Game Base - thx 4 the release Arno and much fun to everyone!
For basic infos on the game, see my previous comment, or read the in-game story

@zsom: If you want, you can pm me your email and I can send you the first 6 zones (18 caves) of the game - as a little appertizer
This might also motivate me to start writing the game story. I have the basic ideas for the storyline in my head but I hadn't started writing so far.

[zsom]

Hi Dustin
Please give me a sample of this game
My e-mail:
zsommk@gmail.com

[Dustin]

Hi zsom,
somehow I couldn't see your post earlier, probably because of the recent problems with the forum
You'll get an email from me this weekend

[Dustin]

Hi everyone,

I know that I've announced the release of Boulder Dash - The New Elements 2 for "probably the second half of 2022 or the first half of 2023". Well, now that this time period is already over, I thought at least I'd give you the current state of development

The game is currently 90% finished, here's what's still in work:
1 zone (of 26; each zone has 3 caves plus an intermission-sized intro)
about 1/3 of the story (I have the rough course of the story in my head, though)
final testings such that everything really works as intended
intro and outro cave
title screen

You see, each of these todos is not too much work, but I still don't want to rush myself too much - this >100 caves mammoth game has been in work since more than ten years, and now I want everything to be close to perfect!

To kind of compensate for the waiting time, I can send everyone who PMs me an appertizer with the first six zones (A-F; 24 caves!)

Also, here's some trailer-teaser-ish info on the game (some of which I already gave away earlier):

Zone A: Aspiring Adventurer Zone
Story: Rockford leaves his home and starts a new journey
New elements: keys and doors, nuts

Zone B: Big Mountain Zone
Story: Rockford climbs up the Big Mountain, aiming for the top from where he wants to enter outer space
New elements: dragonflies (=the first aliens at the end of the zone)

Zone C: Cosmos Chaos Zone
Story: Rockford explores the outer space
New elements: teleporters ("wormholes" in the story), mutant rocks, alternate fireflies ("aliens")
Special effects: no gravity, slower speed

Dusty Desert Zone
Story: Rockford lands on the first foreign planet - a giant desert!
New elements: gravity switch, water, clocks
Special effects: different gravity directions

Zone E: Endless Rain Zone
Story: Rockford gets into an asteroid belt.
Special effects: Endless falling rocks via open vertical border

Zone F: Fiery Firefly Zone
Story: Rockford discovers a new planet which seems to be made of pure fire!
Special effects: 5x5 firefly explosions and what can be done with it

Curious how Rockford's adventure continues? Release soon (I really want to do it until the end of the year!)

[Dustin]

Announcement: Dustin's Boulder Dash 22!

I just got aware that DBD 21 was already a year ago! At the moment, I've got quite a few "almost finished" GDash games in store (including DBD 22, 23 and even 24, and of course "Boulder Dash - The New Elements 2"), plus some more started projects, so I decided it's high time for a release again! And DBD22 is closer to being finished than TNE2 (mainly because it has "only" 20 caves while TNE2 will have 106!). So my plan is to finish and release DBD 22 in 1-2 weeks, and then fully concentrate on TNE2, which I still want to release this year (maybe as a Christmas present)

DBD 22 will be the first game of the series with only one difficulty level (except for DBD15, the special expert remix episode). This is because I collected several caves which work way better with 1L than with 5L, and now I've packed all these caves into one 1L game. Also, I'm going to count the caves with numbers instead of letters, to give the game more of a "PLCK/CLCK caveset feeling" which fits well with the one-level design.
For fans of the five-level gameplay: don't worry, DBD23 will definitely have the usual five levels again. 22 is just an exception!

Here are the (current) cave names of DBD22 to make you curious!
Cave 01: Butterfly Palace
Cave 02: Jewel Jungle
Cave 03: Hole Plugger
Cave 04: Big Barrier
Intermission 05: Spectator
Cave 06: Exit if you can
Cave 07: Erin Limitation
Cave 08: Spider's Web Returns
Cave 09: Butterfly Burglar
Intermission 10: Burglary Bonus
Cave 11: Lucky Luke
Cave 12: Evacuation
Cave 13: Tunnel Timing
Cave 14: Reverse Enclosure
Intermission 15: Take the Opportunity!
Cave 16: Arno's Caterpillars (inspired by an Arno cave at Krissz's site!)
Cave 17: The Amoeba Rocks!
Cave 18: Fright Flight
Cave 19: My Oldest Puzzle (I designed this cave over a decade ago, and I already considered it for my very first game Rock Fort 1 in 2008!)
Intermission 20: Firefly Protector

Excited? Release soon...!