Fasteroids

Fasteroids - 2.40 - February 3, 2025

General Notes

After 2 years this is a minor update to fix some issues. I am working on fixing issues in a number of games on itch.io. I've been slowly getting back into game development - working 1/2 day Fridays at my regular work. And although it's busier than ever at work, I'm finding working on games helps me relax, so expect more fixes in the near future.

Windows

I fixed the end game crashing due to the fog implementation.

I also switched the game to start in windowed mode, rather than full screen. Switch between modes in game using the F11 function key.

Ubuntu/Linux Users

This update changes the Linux/Ubuntu .deb package to an AppImage, so it can be run on Linux systems that support AppImages. You may have to set the execute bit on the downloaded AppImage.

chmod ugo+x Fasteroids.AppImage

HTML Addition

I finally added an HTML version to the itch.io website, though it does not appear to show high scores like the offline version.

Fasteroids - 2.39 - July 7, 2023

More cleanup from the resolution shift. The game over fly-by has been fixed so the jet now flies under the title text. Font sizes have been adjusted for some titles, and centered a bit better. The credits page now shows all the credits again properly, and the text is centered. Clean-up changes have been made to the credits, how to play, and the main menu. The Q key is no longer the Quit key. Use ESC instead.

I didn't mention in the past post but in almost all the previous versions of Fasteroids, both on Linux and Windows, a GameMaker VM runner was used. This has been changed and code is compiled natively for each target. This means the game should theoretically have better performance.

Fasteroids-2.38 - July 5, 2023

Fasteroids is getting a remake. I've removed a bunch of the screens and adjusted things to fit a resolution of 640x360. Previous to this things were set at 1024x768. The adjustment comes so things can be scaled to larger displays. For the moment I'm focusing on shifting the game to look better at 640x360, but I will be improving the game so it will be playable at larger 16:9 resolutions in the future.

Things have changed Linux-wise as well. Rather than a compiled binary, Fasteroids is now an AppImage. This means it should be playable across a larger range of Linux distributions, not just *buntu.

I'm keeping 2.37 available since it uses the old 1024x768 resolution. I've also disabled autofire. Autofire made Fasteroids way too easy.

ATTENTION (Ubuntu/Linux Mint users) :

Use the Fasteroids.AppImage for Ubuntu 22.04. 

Ubuntu 20.04 should use the downloadable zip file. You'll also need the libraries noted below.  Fasteroids.AppImage is the newest version of Fasteroids. I haven't even made a Windows version yet.

You need to have libcurl4 and libopenal1 installed. Install them by opening a terminal and typing:

sudo apt install libcurl4 libopenal1

Fasteroids-2.37 is the most current version. - November 13, 2020.

Fasteroids began as a very simple black and white clone of Asteroids and has been evolving into the space shooter it is now. Avoid and shoot asteroids of various sizes. After wave 4 smaller asteroids appear when medium-sized asteroids are shot, the smaller the asteroid the more points.

For even more points shoot the UFO's that appear. UFO's enter from either side of the screen and at various speeds - some are slow, some are very fast. Each 5 waves you're awarded a bonus ship. When you're on your last ship it flashes in the left corner of the screen.

Fasteroids is under continuous development with a number of other features coming soon. The downloadable is an executable, just download and run/no installing. At this point Fasteroids is available only for Windows.

Thanks to ThinMatrix (gamedev inspiration), Shaun Spalding (first intro to GameMaker), and all the GameMaker Youtubers for their excellent tutorials and inspiring videos. Without them this game wouldn't have been possible.

System Requirements:

Windows or Linux with a minimum resolution of 1024 x 768.