Hi everyone! My new game is coming out soon; (Poosh XL - Wishlist here) so I wanted to dive back into some of my other games and fix issues and make some improvements -Updated to a newer Unity Engine version -Resolved a couple reported bugs -Implemented a brand new internal leaderboards menu that shows you and the 9 nearest scores without leaving the game window. I also kept a button that links to Steam overlay full leaderboards externally. -Updated the Adamvision logo splash, no more bright white screen, this is the future. -Steam Deck Verified Yall! I hope you continue to enjoy my games, and please check out Poosh XL. Thanks for the continued support. -adamvision https://store.steampowered.com/app/2055910/Poosh_XL/

[ 2023-02-13 08:10:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

My newest arcade game Poosh XL is coming very soon! Make sure to Wishlist it if you want to be notified when it releases. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2055910/Poosh_XL/ Thanks as always for the support, I really hope you all will enjoy this one too!

[ 2023-02-09 23:30:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

-Updated the Adamvision Studios logo to the newer version -Updated the Twitter account the @theadamvision -Added ability to hold 'Start' or 'Space' for 15 seconds in the ship select menu to be given 255 coins to unlock all ships for free Thanks for all the support over the years! Adamvision Twitter || Twitch

[ 2021-10-14 06:50:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

SUPER Bit Blaster XL is here! This version of Bit Blaster is improved in almost every way. New GFX, new controls, new enemies and more. Free to all previous Bit Blaster XL owners.
I began creating Bit Blaster XL for Steam on a whim back in late 2015. I never could have imagined how its release would dramatically alter the direction of my life. These last few years in game development have provided me with so many amazing opportunities that I sometimes can't even believe them myself. I couldn't have done so much of this without the great support of a community that appeared out of nowhere to play my silly little arcade game. Considering this update is so massive, I didn't want to upset the flow of the original game that people loved so much; so all previous owners of Bit Blaster XL will get a free upgrade to the new Super Bit Blaster XL and retain their copies of the original as well. https://store.steampowered.com/app/865040/Super_Bit_Blaster_XL/ Super Bit Blaster XL is the next evolution Bit Blaster. Since it's release I have learned a lot more about Unity and C# and so I have reworked many aspects of the game. I added a new Co-Op mode, Vs Mode, improved the GFX, new translations, new Easter eggs, and various other new things. I also completely overhauled the control scheme due to feedback; while it's still not a Twin-Stick shooter, overall control is so much more responsive. I greatly appreciate your feedback and will do my best to ensure lengthy support for my games as usual. Please contact me through Twitter, My Website, Nickervision Studios Discord, or the forums if you want to discuss an issue with the game, something misleading on the store page, or you just want to say hello. -Adam Nickerson (@nickervision) [previewyoutube=F99oK81lI4U;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2020-03-16 16:23:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

A new challenge awaits you in the brand new game changing Infinite Mode! Improved graphics, better balance, and many more additions and changes. Check out Ding Dong XL V7 now!
Patch Notes: (additional leader boards + online for switch)

• New Infinite play mode added
• New Unlock-able Space Rocks skin
• Bonus Points power-up is now worth 5 Points
• Added Bit Blaster, Orbt, and Diamo songs for each of the special characters
• When you're stationary with a time slow power-up, the growth of the ball will stop completely
• Early button presses after death will not be erroneously detected
• Power-up timers correctly reset when dying and restarting they now also disappear upon death
• Pink enemy now correctly has it's trail fade in/out with the rest of the enemy
• Modified and added some little secrets here and there
• Re-balanced some late game elements to ensure there are always viable paths to take and made 250+ not dependent on power-ups
• Player can now remain idle slightly longer before exploding

I hope you enjoy the latest update, and if you do, make sure to leave a Steam review and share the game with your friends. Thanks for the continued support of my games. -Adam Nickerson (@nickervision)

Don't forget to also add Super Bit Blaster XL to your Steam Wishlist!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/865040/Super_Bit_Blaster_XL/

[ 2020-01-28 17:04:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

My latest arcade score chaser is now available on Steam. Ding Dong XL is a one button game that requires to you push the button everytime you want your character to move from top to bottom, you must time your moves to avoid enemies and collect powerups while surviving as long as possible. If you liked my other one button games you will probably get a kick out of this. If you enjoy the game, please make sure to leave a brief Steam Review. Thank you all for the continued support, it greatly helps in my development of Super Bit Blaster XL Adam Nickerson Follow Nickervision Studios on Steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/862570/

[ 2018-06-15 23:53:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V3.20

• Added support for Russian, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Simplified Chinese languages. (not perfect, but getting better thanks to our community)
• Player bomb no longer destroys power ups or pickups. It also will correctly reward you ammo for enemies it destroys.
• Resolved some issues with Vibrations, and the Vibrate button correctly working.
• Resolved some issues with the Video Resolution menu where the player would have to sometimes hit the left or right a number of times to get the next value.
• Mac Version should now always properly open in the Full screen with no Menu Bar below by default.
• Resolved some graphical glitches related to Ultra-wide monitors.
• Modified the Thanks system to display all my games on Steam as well as be more streamlined and take up less space. (thanks)
• Screen shake issues have been resolved on screens that aren't 60 HZ
• Bounce bullets have had another very minor color change as well as a pulse of green showing they are your bullets
• The pause menu now slows music down gradually, as well as when resuming there is a minor delay as the music and game play speeds back up, allowing you a moment to remember where you were.
• Reworked my saving data system to use less resources as well as hiding the frame rate hitch with a brief full screen loading transition.
• Resolved a few problems related to screen refresh rate and delta time incorrectly displaying objects as a result.
• Enemy 04 trail system fixed no longer glitching out to be really long.
• Modified some Dpad and joystick sensitivity to try and help those with bad joysticks getting the always down problem.
• Upgraded engine to Latest Unity Version
• Not really related to the game but totally related to the game, my new custom Bit Blaster XL Vans shoes arrived today, just in time to embarrass my friends and family ;)

V3.20a: -Updated to newest Unity Engine Version to hopefully resolve some game closing incorrectly errors -Developer page is now correctly linked in the thanks page -Modified text in thanks page -Resolved another video/resolution error -Fixed some leaderboards not correctly posting -Resolved issue where the custom controls were not sticking correctly -Fixed some elements not loading in english Thank you to everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family I appreciate your support immensely. If you are enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a brief Steam Review and let others know to check it out, this is massively important for us small developers. Adam Nickerson Follow Nickervision Studios on Steam

Please consider taking a look at my upcoming minimalist series of games and add them to your wishlist if you're interested

Bing Bong XL Pivot XL Righty Tighty XL http://store.steampowered.com/app/840930/Bing_Bong_XL/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/843440/Pivot_XL/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/843430/Righty_Tighty_XL/

[ 2018-04-20 21:00:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

BETA - V3.20

To try out the BETA version;

--> Right click the game in the library tab --> Click Properties --> Click the BETAS tab --> From the Drop down box select "betav320" --> Click close The beta should then automatically download. Make sure that if the BETA doesn't work for you, you use the same method to turn it off. The BETA version includes a variety of fixes for reported bugs including things to do with Input, vibration, and GFX issues. I have also added a translation system (not perfect) that contains 8 Languages. I'll leave this in BETA for a day while I make sure there is no issues, so please feel free to tell me below. Adam Nickerson Follow Nickervision Studios on Steam

Please consider taking a look at my upcoming minimalist series of games and add them to your wishlist if you're interested

Bing Bong XL Pivot XL Righty Tighty XL http://store.steampowered.com/app/840930/Bing_Bong_XL/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/843440/Pivot_XL/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/843430/Righty_Tighty_XL/

[ 2018-04-19 20:06:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Diamo XL is now available on Steam for PC, Mac, Linux. Survive the constant onslaught of obstacles by moving your character to all five zones within the Diamond. Collect points before the enemies smash them and keep moving to keep your multiplier high. Fill in the four triangles to complete the Diamond and get bonus points. This is an 'XL' version of my unreleased mobile game 'Diamo'. I have added/changed a variety of things to make it more suitable for the Steam platform. I have been learning to make games in my free time and love making small-yet-solid arcade games with simple mechanics. Please expect 'Diamo XL' to be a small, re-playable, arcade score-chaser game where the only basic goals are to constantly beat your previous score and unlock a handful of alternate player characters. Thanks to the unexpected success of my previous Steam games Bit Blaster XL and Orbt XL I have been able to spend a lot more time learning more about game development and intend to release more bite sized arcade games like this as I also start to develop bigger and better projects. I really appreciate all the feedback and support the community has given me. Thank you to everyone for the support of my small games, it has been life changing. Also PLEASE if you enjoyed Diamo XL make sure to leave a brief Steam review for it if you can, as I have found it to be one of the most important tools for getting others to notice my games. Thanks for the support! Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios Follow me on Twitter http://store.steampowered.com/app/715010/Diamo_XL/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/433950/Bit_Blaster_XL/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/615610/Orbt_XL/

[ 2017-10-13 16:04:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Diamo XL is now available on Steam for PC, Mac, Linux. Survive the constant onslaught of obstacles by moving your character to all five zones within the Diamond. Collect points before the enemies smash them and keep moving to keep your multiplier high. Fill in the four triangles to complete the Diamond and get bonus points. This is an 'XL' version of my unreleased mobile game 'Diamo'. I have added/changed a variety of things to make it more suitable for the Steam platform. I have been learning to make games in my free time and love making small-yet-solid arcade games with simple mechanics. Please expect 'Diamo XL' to be a small, re-playable, arcade score-chaser game where the only basic goals are to constantly beat your previous score and unlock a handful of alternate player characters. Thanks to the unexpected success of my previous Steam games Bit Blaster XL and Orbt XL I have been able to spend a lot more time learning more about game development and intend to release more bite sized arcade games like this as I also start to develop bigger and better projects. I really appreciate all the feedback and support the community has given me. Thank you to everyone for the support of my small games, it has been life changing. Also PLEASE if you enjoyed Diamo XL make sure to leave a brief Steam review for it if you can, as I have found it to be one of the most important tools for getting others to notice my games. Thanks for the support! Adam Nickerson Follow Nickervision Studios on Steam http://store.steampowered.com/app/715010/Diamo_XL/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/433950/Bit_Blaster_XL/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/615610/Orbt_XL/

[ 2017-10-13 16:04:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V3.12

• Added Steam Cloud support to save progress of Unlocked ships, best scores, and coins.
• Added a new total score counter to the ship select menu.
• Doubled the lifetime of Trail bullets making the power up a lot more useful.
• Added new updated GFX and upcoming game Diamo XL to thanks menu.
• Finally added and fixed default D pad support! :)
• Improved Game pad vibration support throughout.
• Resolved Linux Full screen Input problems
• Resolved issues where some achievements can get stuck
• Upgraded engine to Latest Unity Version

Thank you to everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family I appreciate your support immensely. If you are enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a brief Steam Review and let others know to check it out. The reviews are extremely important for helping new players find my games. Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios Please check out my newest XL arcade series game Diamo XL - coming Oct 13th 9am PST. http://store.steampowered.com/app/715010/Diamo_XL/

[ 2017-10-09 16:41:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V3.12

• Added Steam Cloud support to save progress of Unlocked ships, best scores, and coins.
• Added a new total score counter to the ship select menu.
• Doubled the lifetime of Trail bullets making the power up a lot more useful.
• Added new updated GFX and upcoming game Diamo XL to thanks menu.
• Finally added and fixed default D pad support! :)
• Improved Game pad vibration support throughout.
• Resolved Linux Full screen Input problems
• Resolved issues where some achievements can get stuck
• Upgraded engine to Latest Unity Version

Thank you to everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family I appreciate your support immensely. If you are enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a brief Steam Review and let others know to check it out. The reviews are extremely important for helping new players find my games. Adam Nickerson Follow Nickervision Studios on Steam Please check out my newest XL arcade series game Diamo XL - coming Oct 13th 9am PST. http://store.steampowered.com/app/715010/Diamo_XL/

[ 2017-10-09 16:41:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V3.12 BETA

To try out the BETA version;

--> Right click the game in the library tab --> Click Properties --> Click the BETAS tab --> From the Drop down box select "beta_v3.12" --> Click close The beta should then automatically download. Make sure that if the BETA doesn't work for you, you use the same method to turn it off. The BETA version includes some upcoming fixes, changes and additions such as; --> Added steam cloud support to save progress of unlocked ships, scores and coins (finally, I know). --> Various small bug fixes, improvements and Linux input freeze fix It's important you run the game once on the computer with your main save file, as it is going to back that up to the Steam Cloud first! Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios Also make sure to check out my upcoming game Diamo XL if you like this type of small arcade score chaser :)
http://store.steampowered.com/app/715010/

[ 2017-09-26 17:38:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V3.12 BETA

To try out the BETA version;

--> Right click the game in the library tab --> Click Properties --> Click the BETAS tab --> From the Drop down box select "beta_v3.12" --> Click close The beta should then automatically download. Make sure that if the BETA doesn't work for you, you use the same method to turn it off. The BETA version includes some upcoming fixes, changes and additions such as; --> Added steam cloud support to save progress of unlocked ships, scores and coins (finally, I know). --> Various small bug fixes, improvements and Linux input freeze fix It's important you run the game once on the computer with your main save file, as it is going to back that up to the Steam Cloud first! Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios Also make sure to check out my upcoming game Diamo XL if you like this type of small arcade score chaser :) http://store.steampowered.com/app/715010/

[ 2017-09-26 17:22:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

orbt xl is now available on Steam for PC, Mac, Linux. orbt xl is my newest game I have adapted for the Steam platform, it is another score chasing, bite sized, arcade style game. The goal is to orbit around the blackhole while not colliding with an ever-increasing number of obstacles. There are a variety of skins to unlock for your planet and some good leaderboard fun to be had. I think if you enjoyed Bit Blaster XL you may enjoy orbt xl. Stay in orbit while avoiding obstacles or being sucked into a black hole. Survive as long as you can while dodging and weaving between the various obstacles, the closer you orbit to the center; the faster you achieve points. The longer you last, the harder it gets. The simple one button controls either increases or decreases your orbit as you press it or don’t. Thanks to all of you for the great support of Bit Blaster XL I have managed to free myself a lot more time to make a lot of cool games this upcoming year. So, I hope you’ll give orbt xl a shot and if you like it, please leave a brief Steam review and share with friends/family as it will really help for the launch success of this game and allow me to keep progressing towards bigger and better things. As always, please leave any feedback or suggestions you may have, it is with the communities help that Bit Blaster XL become such a solid experience and I want to ensure that happens with orbt xl as well. Thanks for the support! Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios Follow me on Twitter http://store.steampowered.com/app/615610

[ 2017-04-21 16:05:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

orbt xl is now available on Steam for PC, Mac, Linux. orbt xl is my newest game I have adapted for the Steam platform, it is another score chasing, bite sized, arcade style game. The goal is to orbit around the blackhole while not colliding with an ever-increasing number of obstacles. There are a variety of skins to unlock for your planet and some good leaderboard fun to be had. I think if you enjoyed Bit Blaster XL you may enjoy orbt xl. Stay in orbit while avoiding obstacles or being sucked into a black hole. Survive as long as you can while dodging and weaving between the various obstacles, the closer you orbit to the center; the faster you achieve points. The longer you last, the harder it gets. The simple one button controls either increases or decreases your orbit as you press it or don’t. Thanks to all of you for the great support of Bit Blaster XL I have managed to free myself a lot more time to make a lot of cool games this upcoming year. So, I hope you’ll give orbt xl a shot and if you like it, please leave a brief Steam review and share with friends/family as it will really help for the launch success of this game and allow me to keep progressing towards bigger and better things. As always, please leave any feedback or suggestions you may have, it is with the communities help that Bit Blaster XL become such a solid experience and I want to ensure that happens with orbt xl as well. Thanks for the support! Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios Follow me on Twitter http://store.steampowered.com/app/615610

[ 2017-04-21 16:05:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V3.11

• Fixed bug that some players encountered that resulted in no sound or music after update to V3.10
• Figured out how to make all buttons respond correctly to mouse over and now they will properly highlight and if no mouse movement is detected it will revert to Gamepad or Keyboard detection. (look at me, I'm learning)
• Optimized all textures using some new methods I read about, making the game require less overhead.
• Upgraded engine to Unity 5.6
• Options menu music link now leads to the Free DLC on Steam
• Modified exit menu to have link to twitter, other projects, and website. As well reworked my phrasing in the thanks dialog to be more in line with Steam policies.
• Modified words slightly in tweet score function.

Thank you everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family. Thanks so much for the support. If you are enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a brief Steam Review and let others know to check it out. The reviews are so very important. -Adam Nickerson Also make sure to check out my new XL arcade series game orbt xl - coming very soon.

[ 2017-04-14 04:52:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V3.11

• Fixed bug that some players encountered that resulted in no sound or music after update to V3.10
• Figured out how to make all buttons respond correctly to mouse over and now they will properly highlight and if no mouse movement is detected it will revert to Gamepad or Keyboard detection. (look at me, I'm learning)
• Optimized all textures using some new methods I read about, making the game require less overhead.
• Upgraded engine to Unity 5.6
• Options menu music link now leads to the Free DLC on Steam
• Modified exit menu to have link to twitter, other projects, and website. As well reworked my phrasing in the thanks dialog to be more in line with Steam policies.
• Modified words slightly in tweet score function.

Thank you everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family. Thanks so much for the support. If you are enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a brief Steam Review and let others know to check it out. The reviews are so very important. -Adam Nickerson Also make sure to check out my new XL arcade series game orbt xl - coming April 21st 9am PST. http://store.steampowered.com/app/615610/

[ 2017-04-14 04:51:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V3.10

• Added Music and Audio Sliders to the menus for keyboard, gamepad and mouse. (rewrote a number of things to allow for this to work instead of toggles. So please let me know if you find any issues) After this patch they will start at volume defaults Music 7, SFX 10.
• Added the ability to customize the controls in the options menu. These controls will stick in between plays and can be reverted to default controls in the same menu. This is not a perfect implementation but it should suffice for most players that needed it. These controls will not modify the menu navigation buttons.
• NEW Enemy07 - This enemy is a Blackhole, there is a small advance indicator where the black hole will spawn. Then once spawned, the black hole will continue to grow until it explodes. It can be shot five times to destroy. The Blackhole will suck in everything it comes into contact with and will destroy the player on contact. The Blackhole can appear later in the game and will appear with more frequency the higher your score becomes.
• Controls will now be shown to all players a couple times each new version there are changes. Previously controls only showed for the first three starts and a couple times after changing autofire to manual fire, leading some players to be confused when I added the new Bomb and it wasn’t showing for them. (whoops)
• Controls should now also be shown for when players have Customized their controls.
• Fixed Bug where when you toggle the vibrate button really fast sometimes it stays on forever and ever and EVER AND EVER!!!! (no more!)
• Modified the pause menu powerups legend slightly and added +Ammo
• Modified Enemy05 Shoot patterns, slightly decreasing the amount of bullets on the first stop and increasing firepower with each stop.
• Fixed Bug where you could still activate bomb during pause screen (or while alt-tabbing, sorry)

Thank you everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family. Bit Blaster now has over 250,000 players, which just boggles my mind. Thanks so much for the support. If you are really enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a brief Steam Review and let others know to check it out. -Adam Nickerson

[ 2017-02-28 00:55:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V3.10

• Added Music and Audio Sliders to the menus for keyboard, gamepad and mouse. (rewrote a number of things to allow for this to work instead of toggles. So please let me know if you find any issues) After this patch they will start at volume defaults Music 7, SFX 10.
• Added the ability to customize the controls in the options menu. These controls will stick in between plays and can be reverted to default controls in the same menu. This is not a perfect implementation but it should suffice for most players that needed it. These controls will not modify the menu navigation buttons.
• NEW Enemy07 - This enemy is a Blackhole, there is a small advance indicator where the black hole will spawn. Then once spawned, the black hole will continue to grow until it explodes. It can be shot five times to destroy. The Blackhole will suck in everything it comes into contact with and will destroy the player on contact. The Blackhole can appear later in the game and will appear with more frequency the higher your score becomes.
• Controls will now be shown to all players a couple times each new version there are changes. Previously controls only showed for the first three starts and a couple times after changing autofire to manual fire, leading some players to be confused when I added the new Bomb and it wasn’t showing for them. (whoops)
• Controls should now also be shown for when players have Customized their controls.
• Fixed Bug where when you toggle the vibrate button really fast sometimes it stays on forever and ever and EVER AND EVER!!!! (no more!)
• Modified the pause menu powerups legend slightly and added +Ammo
• Modified Enemy05 Shoot patterns, slightly decreasing the amount of bullets on the first stop and increasing firepower with each stop.
• Fixed Bug where you could still activate bomb during pause screen (or while alt-tabbing, sorry)

Thank you everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family. Bit Blaster now has over 250,000 players, which just boggles my mind. Thanks so much for the support. If you are really enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a brief Steam Review and let others know to check it out. -Adam Nickerson

[ 2017-02-28 00:55:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V3.10 BETA

To try out the BETA version;

--> Right click the game in the library tab --> Click Properties --> Click the BETAS tab --> From the Drop down box select "v3.10_beta" --> Click close The beta should then automatically download. Make sure that if the BETA doesn't work for you, you use the same method to turn it off. The BETA version includes some upcoming fixes, changes and additions such as; --> New Enemy07 - The BlackHole --> New SFX and Music sliders from 1 to 10 instead of toggle --> In game rebind-able controls (experimental) --> Some other small changes, fixes and improvements to be detailed later. Thank you to everyone for supporting Bit Blaster XL and leaving great reviews. Please continue to share Bit Blaster XL with friends and family, I greatly appreciate it as the game has soared to a strong user base of over 150,000 players! Please let me know if you encounter issues or errors in the BETA and I will make sure to address them before the wide release. Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios

[ 2017-01-17 01:53:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V3.10 BETA

To try out the BETA version;

--> Right click the game in the library tab --> Click Properties --> Click the BETAS tab --> From the Drop down box select "v3.10_beta" --> Click close The beta should then automatically download. Make sure that if the BETA doesn't work for you, you use the same method to turn it off. The BETA version includes some upcoming fixes, changes and additions such as; --> New Enemy07 - The BlackHole --> New SFX and Music sliders from 1 to 10 instead of toggle --> In game rebind-able controls (experimental) --> Some other small changes, fixes and improvements to be detailed later. Thank you to everyone for supporting Bit Blaster XL and leaving great reviews. Please continue to share Bit Blaster XL with friends and family, I greatly appreciate it as the game has soared to a strong user base of over 150,000 players! Please let me know if you encounter issues or errors in the BETA and I will make sure to address them before the wide release. Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios

**IMPORTANT NOTE**

I have pushed through another version of the V3.1 Patch to anyone that is in the Beta. This should resolve the problem where the brake / boost isn't refreshing and working correctly. It also makes a change to the projectiles involving the new blackhole enemy. As well as fixes a couple small bugs found with the volume sliders. I have tried many many times to replicate the error where the walls close in for some players and have yet to figure out what causes it. Please let me know if you encounter this and if you know the actions you did to reproduce it.

--- Key things to note or look for ---

1) Does this happen ONLY when someone uses the Experimental custom controls? 2) Does this occur more than once if it happens? Or do the walls fix themselves after losing a round? Or after rebooting the game? 3) Are you using keyboard or gamepad? If gamepad, which gamepad? Thank you so much to those able to help, I would really like to find this bug before I push this out to the public channel as I don't want new players to encounter it. -Adam

[ 2017-01-17 01:53:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

• The Bit Blaster XL Soundtrack by Spifftune is now available for FREE as DLC (includes one new track) Get it here!
• Reworked ALL in game menus to be more consistent and ‘professional’ across all menus. Can use either a keyboard, a mouse or a gamepad. I understand that the menus are only now in line with what videogames should all have at the most basic, but was a big deal for me to learn and code it to work this way. (please let me know if there are bugs) Looks less like it was designed by an amatuer in his garage studio. *cough*
• There is a new Bomb weapon in the game. Pressing ‘Y’ on the gamepad or ‘ALT’ on the Keyboard should activate it. Each ship has different amounts of bombs to start and they can be found randomly floating in space. There is also a bit of UI changes to show the new bomb setup in both the ship select screen and the gameplay UI.
• The Laser power up is now nearly twice as long and far more effective, as well it has had at total overhaul to make it look cooler.
• The Magnet power up is now more powerful at pulling objects and costs less ammo while working and has had a slight GFX modification
• The Trail power up has been modified to make all singular trail bullets also move within their own small circles, really increasing the effectiveness of this power up
• The Heatseeking power up has been entirely rewritten and should now correctly reduce ammo as well as not double up or just disappear. It also now has a new look and a slight explosion upon collision that can take out multiple objects like the explode shot.
• Grow Shot has been modified to have Increased size of break-off bullets
• Through Shot has been modified to look more like a rail shot bullet, to hopefully better indicate that it goes through objects until it hits a wall
• Bounce Shot now has a slight green flash to it to set it apart from enemy bullets a little bit more while still remaining difficult enough to be balanced.
• Explode shot has had its rate of fire reduced slightly as well as has been shrunk slightly.
• Split shots rate of fire reduced slightly
• Bomb, Boost, and Shield pickups now look more impressive and should stand out better when things get a little crazy.
• Now fully supporting ultrawide displays and all sorts of bizarre resolutions.
• Should now properly allow uncommon resolutions to be detected in video menu.
• Braking now uses half the resources as boost, allowing for much better control
• There are now increased Invincibility frames after losing a shield! The player will receive 1.5 seconds of immunity as well as a flashing ship to showcase it.
• The screen will now shake when you use a bomb, lose a shield, die, or crash into a wall. (a small changed but makes a huge impact)
• Resolved various spawning issues for Ultrawide displays, including but not limited to ammo spawning, enemy spawning, power up spawning and various GUI elements.
• Updated pause legend to have black background and new +Bomb pickup
• Updated all Text/Font in game and increased its clarity
• Optimized all textures to be better looking for all resolutions
• Modified powerups so they don’t spawn to close to walls
• Removed some unnecessary debug logs from here and there just to be cleaner
• The instructions for both auto and manual fire modes have been updated to reflect any changes.
• Bit Blaster XL is now using the latest version of Unity engine I spent some time and cleaned up the Unity launcher binding labels to make it more easy to understand naming conventions (hopefully helping those who rebind controls)
• Enemy00’s Speed now increases as the round goes longer
• Enemy01a (small meteor bits) will now shrink, pop, and then despawn if they’ve spent too long floating on the screen instead of just disappearing.
• Enemy04 Now chases the player at an increasing speed as the game goes on, as well as taking shorter breaks each time it stops.
• Enemy05 Now stops and shoots bursts multiple times as it crosses the screen, with bigger bursts depending on how long its survived. Also has new effect showing charging up shot.
• Modified some mid-later round (20000+) balancing with enemy spawning and points allocation, to make the franticness a more balanced of a variety of enemies as well as more reasonable to allow average players to get higher achievements and expert players to get even further.
• Later in game rounds (35000+ points) will spawn more effective powerups for crowds far more often than the less powerful or utility power ups
• There is now slightly more time in between powerup spawns so multiple don’t wind up on the screen at the same time
• Ammo intro + tutorial enemy now spawn in a different location for better visibility
• Bit Blaster XL will now correctly run in the background when its window is not the focus
• Pause Menu Overhaul with new style menus
• Sound when ammo runs outs. Also blink red ammo
• Cleaned up nickervision support page and made buttons bigger and clearer
• Cleaned up garbage collection and resolved minor lag spikes
• Tidied up entire project behind the scenes. Removed redundancies, unused textures, out of date files and renamed many assets, making flow smoother.
• Upgraded to latest available Steamworks SDK and Steamworks.Net implementation
• Fixed alignment of some swapping GFX in instructions
• Bombs destroy powerups, but ammo stays.
• **New Leaderboard for V3.0 forward. The old V2.1 Scores are still saved, and you can still access V2.1 through the BETA tab in Steam if you prefer.**

Thank you everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family. Bit Blaster XL now has over 125,000 players, I am BLOWN away!. If you are really enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a brief Steam Review and let others know to check it out. -Adam Nickerson

[ 2016-12-05 18:53:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V3.00

• The Bit Blaster XL Soundtrack by Spifftune is now available for FREE as DLC (includes one new track) Get it here!
• Reworked ALL in game menus to be more consistent and ‘professional’ across all menus. Can use either a keyboard, a mouse or a gamepad. I understand that the menus are only now in line with what videogames should all have at the most basic, but was a big deal for me to learn and code it to work this way. (please let me know if there are bugs) Looks less like it was designed by an amatuer in his garage studio. *cough*
• There is a new Bomb weapon in the game. Pressing ‘Y’ on the gamepad or ‘ALT’ on the Keyboard should activate it. Each ship has different amounts of bombs to start and they can be found randomly floating in space. There is also a bit of UI changes to show the new bomb setup in both the ship select screen and the gameplay UI.
• The Laser power up is now nearly twice as long and far more effective, as well it has had at total overhaul to make it look cooler.
• The Magnet power up is now more powerful at pulling objects and costs less ammo while working and has had a slight GFX modification
• The Trail power up has been modified to make all singular trail bullets also move within their own small circles, really increasing the effectiveness of this power up
• The Heatseeking power up has been entirely rewritten and should now correctly reduce ammo as well as not double up or just disappear. It also now has a new look and a slight explosion upon collision that can take out multiple objects like the explode shot.
• Grow Shot has been modified to have Increased size of break-off bullets
• Through Shot has been modified to look more like a rail shot bullet, to hopefully better indicate that it goes through objects until it hits a wall
• Bounce Shot now has a slight green flash to it to set it apart from enemy bullets a little bit more while still remaining difficult enough to be balanced.
• Explode shot has had its rate of fire reduced slightly as well as has been shrunk slightly.
• Split shots rate of fire reduced slightly
• Bomb, Boost, and Shield pickups now look more impressive and should stand out better when things get a little crazy.
• Now fully supporting ultrawide displays and all sorts of bizarre resolutions.
• Should now properly allow uncommon resolutions to be detected in video menu.
• Braking now uses half the resources as boost, allowing for much better control
• There are now increased Invincibility frames after losing a shield! The player will receive 1.5 seconds of immunity as well as a flashing ship to showcase it.
• The screen will now shake when you use a bomb, lose a shield, die, or crash into a wall. (a small changed but makes a huge impact)
• Resolved various spawning issues for Ultrawide displays, including but not limited to ammo spawning, enemy spawning, power up spawning and various GUI elements.
• Updated pause legend to have black background and new +Bomb pickup
• Updated all Text/Font in game and increased its clarity
• Optimized all textures to be better looking for all resolutions
• Modified powerups so they don’t spawn to close to walls
• Removed some unnecessary debug logs from here and there just to be cleaner
• The instructions for both auto and manual fire modes have been updated to reflect any changes.
• Bit Blaster XL is now using the latest version of Unity engine I spent some time and cleaned up the Unity launcher binding labels to make it more easy to understand naming conventions (hopefully helping those who rebind controls)
• Enemy00’s Speed now increases as the round goes longer
• Enemy01a (small meteor bits) will now shrink, pop, and then despawn if they’ve spent too long floating on the screen instead of just disappearing.
• Enemy04 Now chases the player at an increasing speed as the game goes on, as well as taking shorter breaks each time it stops.
• Enemy05 Now stops and shoots bursts multiple times as it crosses the screen, with bigger bursts depending on how long its survived. Also has new effect showing charging up shot.
• Modified some mid-later round (20000+) balancing with enemy spawning and points allocation, to make the franticness a more balanced of a variety of enemies as well as more reasonable to allow average players to get higher achievements and expert players to get even further.
• Later in game rounds (35000+ points) will spawn more effective powerups for crowds far more often than the less powerful or utility power ups
• There is now slightly more time in between powerup spawns so multiple don’t wind up on the screen at the same time
• Ammo intro + tutorial enemy now spawn in a different location for better visibility
• Bit Blaster XL will now correctly run in the background when its window is not the focus
• Pause Menu Overhaul with new style menus
• Sound when ammo runs outs. Also blink red ammo
• Cleaned up nickervision support page and made buttons bigger and clearer
• Cleaned up garbage collection and resolved minor lag spikes
• Tidied up entire project behind the scenes. Removed redundancies, unused textures, out of date files and renamed many assets, making flow smoother.
• Upgraded to latest available Steamworks SDK and Steamworks.Net implementation
• Fixed alignment of some swapping GFX in instructions
• Bombs destroy powerups, but ammo stays.
• **New Leaderboard for V3.0 forward. The old V2.1 Scores are still saved, and you can still access V2.1 through the BETA tab in Steam if you prefer.**

Thank you everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family. Bit Blaster XL now has over 125,000 players, I am BLOWN away!. If you are really enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a brief Steam Review and let others know to check it out. -Adam Nickerson

[ 2016-12-05 18:53:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V3.00 BETA

To try out the BETA version;

--> Right click the game in the library tab --> Click Properties --> Click the BETAS tab --> From the Drop down box select "v3.00_beta" --> Click close The beta should then automatically download. Make sure that if the BETA doesn't work for you, you use the same method to turn it off. The BETA version includes some upcoming fixes, changes and additions such as; --> Significant balancing improvements and visual changes --> Full support for Ultrawide and 4K displays (I think) --> New screen clearing Bomb that is available as secondary weapon. --> As well as many more changes, additions, and improvements that will be detailed further in the patch notes when V3.0 is released on Monday December 5th along with the free DLC download of the Soundtrack by Spiff Tune. Thank you to everyone for supporting Bit Blaster XL and leaving great reviews. Please continue to share Bit Blaster XL with friends and family, I greatly appreciate it as the game has soared to a strong user base of over 125,000 players! Please let me know if you encounter issues or errors in the BETA and I will make sure to address them before the wide release. Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios

[ 2016-12-01 00:54:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

If you love Bit Blaster XL, please nominate it during the first ever Steam Awards. All it takes it a couple clicks on the Bit Blaster XL Store Page to nominate Bit Blaster XL for the "I Thought This Game Was Cool Before It Won An Award" award. I know it's a long shot but since there are over 100,000 of you out there playing the game, I figured i'd ask for your help in trying to get there or at least make some sort of ranking :) Also don't hesitate to nominate other awesome games for Steam Awards. Eg. Stardew Valley for the "Just 5 more Minutes" award Thanks Everyone -Adam Nickerson

[ 2016-11-26 00:24:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

I just wanted to provide a quick announcement to let all you Bit Blasters know that thanks to your support, reviews, and sharing the game with your friends, Bit Blaster XL has sold over 100,000 units on Steam. I am absolutely blown away by the love and support it's received. With it's overwhelmingly positive reviews and its incredibly helpful player community, it continues to reach more players every day. Thanks to all of your feedback and suggestions I have added, changed, fixed and polished Bit Blaster XL into an even better game over the last ten months with the many successful patches and content releases. I have a new patch coming December 5th. I have tagged it as V3.0. It Includes a variety of fixes and changes that hopefully everyone will be pleased with. Some of those changes includes; a new secondary bomb power up that can do some good old fashioned screen clearing explosions, some re-balanced endgame and point values to give a better median experience to all players and allowing experts to climb even higher, and a totally redesigned menu system that hopefully improves upon the currently terrible menus that feel like they were designed by some amateur in his garage studio *cough*. I should have a version in the BETA branch in the coming days so people can take a look and give me some feedback. (oh also, the soundtrack will be released as FREE DLC) I really appreciate all the support and positivity. This experience with Bit Blaster XL on Steam has afforded me all sorts of amazing opportunities like attending E3 2016, Steam DevDays 2016, a visit to the Microsoft campus and much more. I can't thank you all enough for this experience and hope that I can share more great experiences with you into the future. Adam Nickerson Follow me on Twitter

[ 2016-11-23 07:09:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V2.10 Patch Notes:

★ New TrailShot power up that leaves a deadly trail of bullets for your enemies to run into and explode. Includes a small ticking sound to indicate dropping bullets ★ New FlameShot power up that blasts a ton of small bullets that last only a brief time but can be very handy close range. Includes a flamethrower-ish sound?! I tried to make it not too overbearing, so hopefully it sounds good. :) ★ New power up that allows ship to regain protective shields. This will appear at certain score intervals to help on the journey to your highest score ever ★ New occasional power up that refills your boost meter to full instantly ★ Improved the BulletShield power up thanks to feedback. Now there are five bullets surrounding your ship at a slightly further distance and they move faster by default. Using this in conjunction with boost and brake makes the BulletShield spin incredibly fast or slow, cutting through enemies. Also added transitions for when you pick up or lose the power up ★ Reworked entire shield system under the hood (again) to be more accurate and allow further functionality ★ Tidied up the options and video menus. Vsync now in video options. And changed the button layouts slightly. ★ Background filler should now properly scale to literally any screen size imaginable (hopefully) ★ New bursting blue indicator showing that boost / brake meter is full ★ Made more minor improvements to tighten up keyboard / gamepad controls ★ Bounce shot now accurately bounces based on angle of incidence and will correctly last three bounces (I learned some new things YAY) ★ Updated pause menu graphics to show four new power ups ★ Modified rate at which large golden meteors appear, to be more balanced based on score ★ Fixed Laser / Bulletshield / Magnet sound and replaced with the proper loopable sound ★ Bulletshield sound now properly adjusts based on Boosting or Breaking ★ Applied balances to ammo usage for Manual fire, to allow autofire and manual fire to be more closely balanced for competition ★ Modified various particles for when shields get destroyed, added new shield pickup particle and boost pickup particle. And modified old and created new particles for each unique power up pickup ★ Added sound for when GiantShot splits into multiple parts ★ Added several double checks in hopes of clearing some of the cheaters from the scoreboard automatically (more to come) Thank you everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family. If you are really enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a brief Steam Review and let others know to check it out. -Adam Nickerson

[ 2016-07-26 18:04:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V2.10 BETA

To try out the BETA version;

--> Right click the game in the library tab --> Click Properties --> Click the BETAS tab --> From the Drop down box select the available beta --> There is no password --> Click close The beta should then automatically download. Make sure that if the BETA doesn't work for you, you use the same method to turn it off. The BETA version includes some fixes, changes and additions such as; --> Four new power ups that the player can collect --> Reshuffling of some menu items --> A variety of GFX improvements, additions and upgrades --> Various other balance changes, gameplay improvements and bug fixes, full patch notes upon release. Thank you to everyone for playing and offering feedback and leaving great reviews. Please continue to share Bit Blaster XL with friends and family, I greatly appreciate it. Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios

[ 2016-07-26 01:33:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V2.06 Patch Notes:

--> New Video options menu. Allowing in game changing of resolution and Windowed mode. Located in the options menu.(experimental, should recognize your monitors compatible resolution, fingers crossed) --> Coins now reward triple the score once all ships have been Unlocked --> Adjusted the bullet spawn slightly on all ships, so that it is slightly forward from where it was before, should make no difference to gameplay but does make a slight visual difference and showcase the little muzzle effect that was mostly unseen before. --> The borders of the game now correctly adjust based on resolution changes and this should now correctly adjust to bigger or weird size monitors --> Added new indicator at the end of a round showing how many coins you currently have (if you haven’t unlocked all ships) --> Tuned the Joystick control on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One gamepad to allow even more sensitive turning with an analog stick (make sure to let me know if this cause over sensitivity on anyone's less generic gamepads (constant turning etc.) and I will address ASAP) Thank you everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family. If you are really enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a brief Steam Review and let others know to check it out. -Adam Nickerson

[ 2016-07-03 17:23:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V2.06 BETA

To try out the BETA version;

--> Right click the game in the library tab --> Click Properties --> Click the BETAS tab --> From the Drop down box select the beta --> There is no password --> Click close The beta should then automatically download. Make sure that if the BETA doesn't work for you, you use the same method to turn it off. The BETA version includes some fixes and changes such as; --> New video menu allowing changing of resolutions / windowed mode in game with mouse or controller. --> Some minor joystick control improvements --> Slight changes to points systems and further prep for a future gameplay change. --> Various other GFX improvments / Bug fixes, full patch notes upon release. Thank you to everyone for playing and offering feedback and leaving great reviews. Please continue to share Bit Blaster XL with friends and family, I greatly appreciate it. Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios

[ 2016-07-03 02:09:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL - V2.05 Patch Notes:

--> Brand new BRAKE system now added. This piggy backs on the BOOST system and by pressing the ‘B’ button on the gamepad or ‘down’ on the keyboard it will slow you ships speed allowing more responsiveness overall and allowing some pretty sweet dodges. This is a big change and despite seeming small and while not taking away from how the game currently plays, it will ADD a whole new level of gameplay so it's important that people give me feedback on this one :) (also, "s" on keyboard) --> When paused, the games music will slow but not shut off completely, and then speed up back to normal when unpaused. Sounds a lot cooler :) --> When paused, pressing “A” on the gamepad or clicking the button with the mouse, or “a” on the keyboard will now also resume gameplay --> When paused, pressing “B” on the gamepad or clicking the button with the mouse, or pressing “b” on the keyboard. Will now self destruct to start a new round or exit --> Added a brief power up guide to the pause screen --> Revamped instructions to include new options --> New unique explosion GFX for each enemy, makes everything look a little more flashy Thank you everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family. If you are really enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a brief Steam Review and let others know to check it out. -Adam Nickerson ...more to come. :)

[ 2016-06-26 17:54:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

I have just uploaded a BETA branch for V2.05. I would love to hear some feedback on it. Some of the changes are detailed below, as well as how to use the BETA branch through Steam.

Bit Blaster XL - V2.05 BETA

To try out the BETA version;

--> Right click the game in the library tab --> Click Properties --> Click the BETAS tab --> From the Drop down box select the beta --> Click close The beta should then automatically download. Make sure that if the BETA doesn't work for you, you use the same method to turn it off. The BETA version includes some fixes and changes such as; --> New brake system that piggy backs on the boost system, allowing for even more precise control. The brake can be used by pressing "b" on the gamepad or down on the keyboard. It will slow the players ship instead of speed up. Thanks to all that suggested this, I think it's going to work out great. --> Various improvements / changes to the new pause menu. --> Revamped various explosions and other minor GFX details Thank you to everyone for playing and offering feedback and leaving great reviews. Please continue to share Bit Blaster XL with friends and family, I greatly appreciate it. Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios

[ 2016-06-26 00:36:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

V2.03 Patch Notes:

--> *HIGHLY REQUESTED* Players are now able to Pause gameplay while playing by pressing either the "Start" button on their gamepad or the “p” button on the keyboard. I even added a little music slow down / speed up effect to make it seem fancier :) --> Up arrow on the keyboard now will activate boost (updated tutorial GFX to reflect this) --> Centered the Bullet shield power up to correctly appear on all ships no matter the sizes :) --> Vastly improved turning acceleration on Keyboard controls. Allowing very minor keypresses resulting in miniscule turns and faster full speed turns when holding down the key. --> Improved all turning / acceleration ratios on all ships to allow more responsive control on both Keyboard / Gamepads --> New exploding score visual showing how many points you receive for each item destroyed or coin picked up. (will be handy for a future system) --> Leaderboards combined due to bug (/lack of understanding), allowing tracking of both Manual and Auto Fire scores, while I work out a possible anti-cheat system. Thank you everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family. If you are really enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a brief Steam Review and let others know to check it out. -Adam Nickerson

[ 2016-06-23 02:47:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Note From Developer

Hello again everyone. Just a quick bit of BETA testing before the next patch goes live. Full patch notes will be listed with the actual patch. I have changed my game plan a little in the last week. A week ago I attended my first ever E3 in Los Angeles and it was amazing. I met a lot of really cool people that I had only ever read about and seen online (or in magazines when I was young). Also, somehow managing to get myself into the IGN after party was pretty damn amazing as well. Here's a couple of pictures of my time there for those interested:)

While the trip was a really great life experience, it was a wonderful business experience as well. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things. Through discussions with many other developers, big and indie alike, I discovered that I am actually doing very well for my first time dipping my toes in (for which I am very proud and thankful to you all). I also learned a lot about time management during/on development. Whether it was through the wisdom passed to me by others by their past experiences, or seeing current projects that had all sorts of problematic elements. It made me very aware that I needed to shift my focus. I had been working on a bigger feature that had been giving me a lot of trouble, it was Co-op. Since the game wasn't initially built with this in mind I had a lot of trouble getting it working smoothly. So I have now rolled back all the work I did on that (I took great notes for the future though). That's not to say Co-op won't ever happen, but I wanted to make sure I was getting tangible patches into players hands ASAP. Especially since there were some outstanding features and fixes I had been wanting to resolve for a variety of reports/requests. Making you the players wait for a bigger patch seems pointless. I got caught up in the Vanity of large and feature ritch patch notes, when in actuality, what seems to be minor improvements like a pause feature and more responsive controls are huge to the players right now. I don't even know if I needed to write all this out or if it really matters in any way, but i'd rather have the game working its best and in players hands ASAP and it really helps to just write out my thoughts about it for those that have any interest. So I am putting a patch up in the BETA branch, which will probably go live in the public branch once myself and others have done a few hours of testing. Thanks for sticking with me on my learning experience. Adam Nickerson

V2.03 BETA

To try out the BETA version;

--> Right click the game in the library tab --> Click Properties --> Click the BETAS tab --> From the Drop down box select the beta --> Click close The beta should then automatically download. Make sure that if the BETA doesn't work for you, you use the same method to turn it off. The BETA version includes some fixes and changes such as; --> New pause system (press "p" on keyboard or "start" on gamepad to pause game. --> Fixes to turning ratios resulting in tighter and more responsive turning. --> Various other small additions and bug fixes. Thank you to everyone for playing and offering feedback and leaving great reviews. Please continue to share Bit Blaster XL with friends and family, I greatly appreciate it. Nickervision Studios

[ 2016-06-23 00:28:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

To my fellow Bit Blasters!

First of all, I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone that has played, shared, supported and rated Bit Blaster XL since its release on Steam in January. It really means a lot to me as a solo, still learning developer that so many people are enjoying my game. Thank you so so much! I just wanted to put a couple bullet points out there to express some amazing (or at least I think so) facts and milestones in Bit Blaster XL's journey over its first five months on Steam.

• 40,000+ players worldwide (that's crazy to me)
• 99% Overwhelmingly Positive review status on Steam, sometimes even topping out as the highest on average reviewed title available on the Steam platform (this is thanks to everyone's constant kind words and awesome reviews)
• Many patches and hot fixes since release, including everything from bug fixes, new modes (manual fire), leader boards, more achievements, new ships to unlock, new power ups, new enemies, new music, rewritten movement system, and many other significant graphical and game play improvements
• An incredibly helpful and active community helping me track down every last bug and issue in the game as well as suggest great new features and improvements to add
• A huge amount of wicked posts, comments and articles on many press sites, Reddit and Twitter

Over the last month or so I have been focusing mostly on my day job (I am a self employed IT guy) while keeping an eye on Bit Blaster XL forums to ensure anyone having a problem could get some help. I recently bought my first Condo with my GF and moved/set up my office at my new home. Here is a little preview of my modest space...
I still have yet to hang my last few posters (waiting for my HL2 one to finish being framed). I also needed to make some time to play some new games, Stardew Valley (basically my dream game when I was growing up), Uncharted 4 (was a stellar conclusion), and even toying around with my new HTC Vive and a variety of the software that comes with that (check out Job Simulator, The Lab, and Space Pirate Trainer) Now that I am settled in at my new place (mostly) I am ready to get back to working on the next significant patch for Bit Blaster XL. I wanted to keep everyone in the loop so that you all know I am still around and reading your ideas and suggestions and taking notes all while doing the best I can to provide customer support to anyone having issues. I don't yet have a date for when I will be releasing the next patch, as I intend to take my time and look harder into some things that have really confounded me in the past. I can offer no guarantees for what will or won't make it into the patch, but I am certainly looking hard at things suggested to me by the community including;

• Pause system
• Static backgrounds to liven up the environment, without impacting the play
• Steam cloud for saves
• In-game resolution and windowed mode options

Please keep in mind, I am just learning as I go, so I cannot promise these will ever actually make it in, just know that I am going to do my damndest to look into implementing them if I can. On top of those things above, I have my own list of changes / additions I will be making (ones I know for sure I can code) These changes include things like; an entirely new mode, additional underlying systems of game play to add more strategy to the experience (while still being able to play exactly how you do now too if you want), along with some great small fixes, graphical additions and game play enhancements. I just want to say thank you again for all the support so far. Hopefully Bit Blaster XL can continue to make an impact with players looking for a fun retro arcade game experience. I hope that this eventually turns into me being able to work on games as my day job instead of it just a hobby. I can only imagine the things I could learn and create with the extra time, especially with an awesome community like you all offering feedback along the way. Oh also, Bit Blaster XL will be on the week long sale on Steam starting next Monday for 50% off, that's as low as $0.49 cents in many markets, so selling the trading cards will literally(probably) pay you back. Please don't hesitate to share Bit Blaster XL with your friends and family, your favorite press sites and Youtubers, or leave a brief review on Steam if you have yet to do so, letting others know what you like about it. It all really helps me to continue to make games and make them the best I can. Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios Follow me On Twitter

[ 2016-05-26 17:37:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

V2.02 Patch Notes: (fixes and small changes)

--> Resolved crash on startup due to leaderboard queries --> Default resolution issues; modified to open by default in borderless window, as well as support more resolutions. --> Resolved Achievement for ship08 not always activating correctly. --> Added a version number to main menu for better bug reporting/detection in the future --> Magnet and Bulletshield sounds should now correctly respond to audio settings. --> Changed splash screen transitions to not be so sudden --> Moved ‘more games by nickervision’ to thank you/exit screen and changed note. --> sharpened all GFX assets to a slightly higher resolution --> Fixed issue where going back to main menu from end game screen you could occasionally see enemies glitch. --> spacebar can now play another round from gameover screen. --> Either CTRL, ALT, or X keyboard keys can be used to shoot in manual mode. (as well as controller X) --> added correct menu sound effects for vsync, autofire, and vibrate toggles.

V2.00 Patch Notes: (more songs, powerups, manual fire, OH MY!)

--> New songs added by Spiff Tune; now there are unique songs for each ship. --> New mode; Autofire mode can be enabled/disabled at the ship select screen. Will allow the player to hold “CTRL” or “X” on gamepad to shoot. The shooting is still tied to the ship’s and active power up’s rate of fire, but allows the player more control over their ammo usage if they so choose. Manual shooting mode will track separate local high scores for each ship as well. --> New Passive Power up #1 - Magnet; shoots normal bullets but attracts all ammo and coins at more than three times the speed. --> New Passive Power up #2 - BulletShield; has four round bullets floating around your ship protecting you from close calls and spins faster while boosting. --> New Player Ship 08; Max stats of four shields, four speed, and four rate of fire. Also has hidden passive ability to gain double ammo with each pickup. --> New Steam Achievement for unlocking Ship 08. --> New Steam Leaderboard for players using Manual Fire. --> New enemy 06; A big enemy that breaks apart in the same fashion as enemy 01, but has four bullet shields floating around it that absorb most shots, once the core enemy gets destroyed, the enemy breaks apart and the bullet shields fly at the player. --> Modified explode shot slightly to have a bigger blast radius and slightly longer fuse. --> Re-Balanced some enemy spawning and appearances below 20,000 points. --> Modified the power up pickups GFX to look a little more obviously power up-ish --> Re-Balanced the cost for ships slightly and added new ship to menu. Now (5,10,20,30,40,50,100). --> Upon purchasing all ships, the coin collection indicator will disappear from ship selection screen but will still track coin collection in the background in case more coin purchases are added in the future. --> Correctly updating the highscores list directly after earning a new highscore. Thank you everyone for playing and sharing the game with your friends and family. If you are really enjoying Bit Blaster, make sure to leave a Steam Review and let others know. -Adam Nickerson

[ 2016-04-01 16:26:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes: (more songs, powerups, manual fire, OH MY!)

--> New songs added by Spiff Tune; now there are unique songs for each ship. --> New mode; Autofire mode can be enabled/disabled at the ship select screen. Will allow the player to hold “CTRL” or “X” on gamepad to shoot. The shooting is still tied to the ship’s and active power up’s rate of fire, but allows the player more control over their ammo usage if they so choose. Manual shooting mode will track separate local high scores for each ship as well. --> New Passive Power up #1 - Magnet; shoots normal bullets but attracts all ammo and coins at more than three times the speed. --> New Passive Power up #2 - BulletShield; has four round bullets floating around your ship protecting you from close calls and spins faster while boosting. --> New Player Ship 08; Max stats of four shields, four speed, and four rate of fire. Also has hidden passive ability to gain double ammo with each pickup. --> New Steam Achievement for unlocking Ship 08. --> New Steam Leaderboard for players using Manual Fire. --> New enemy 06; A big enemy that breaks apart in the same fashion as enemy 01, but has four bullet shields floating around it that absorb most shots, once the core enemy gets destroyed, the enemy breaks apart and the bullet shields fly at the player. --> Modified explode shot slightly to have a bigger blast radius and slightly longer fuse. --> Re-Balanced some enemy spawning and appearances below 20,000 points. --> Modified the power up pickups GFX to look a little more obviously power up-ish --> Re-Balanced the cost for ships slightly and added new ship to menu. Now (5,10,20,30,40,50,100). --> Upon purchasing all ships, the coin collection indicator will disappear from ship selection screen but will still track coin collection in the background in case more coin purchases are added in the future. --> Correctly updating the highscores list directly after earning a new highscore. Thank you to everyone for playing and offering feedback and leaving great reviews. Please continue to share Bit Blaster XL with friends and family I greatly appreciate it. Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios

[ 2016-03-28 17:04:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all, I just wanted to provide a quick announcement that I will be releasing the public build of Bit Blaster XL v2.0 this upcoming monday, March 28th around 10am. The new update will be available to test out in the BETA branch at some point today or tomorrow. The new version contains a number of fixes, balancing, and new content like new powerups, enemy, player ship, music, and a manual game mode. These features and changes will be more detailed in the patch notes when it's released. I just want to say a big thank you to everyone that has helped make this game a success for me. Over 20,000 people have bought Bit Blaster XL and with a customer rating of 96% positive, I am just overjoyed. I hope you will all enjoy the new update, as always don't hesitate to send me any feedback or issues and I will do my best to make sure its a solid game for everyone. Have a good weekend, hope to see you playing come monday :) Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios

[ 2016-03-25 20:52:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes:

--> V-sync button added in options menu for those that want even smoother gameplay (or for those with micro-stuttering issues) --> Steam controller support now defaults to generic gamepad and bindings can be customized through steam. --> Implemented vibrate on ship explode, shield loss, & while boosting for supported controllers --> Adjusted GiantShot Collider to be more effective and changed visuals slightly --> Adjusted BounceShot Collider to be more effective --> Adjusted BlastShot visuals and effectiveness slightly --> Balanced enemy 02 shooting to be at a more reasonable pace throughout --> Balanced enemy 05 shooting to be at a more reasonable pace at endgame --> Added new achievement for 75,000 points --> Added new achievements for 500,000 & 1,500,000 total points earned --> Added button to turn off/on vibrate ...more still to come. Thank you to everyone for playing and offering feedback and leaving great reviews. Please continue to share Bit Blaster XL with friends and family I greatly appreciate it. Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios

[ 2016-03-01 21:33:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

I would greatly appreciate if a variety of players could test it out and leave feedback in a comment below on whether or not it worked for them.

To try out the BETA version;

--> Right click the game in the library tab --> Click Properties --> Click the BETAS tab --> From the Drop down box select the Testing beta --> Click close The beta should then automatically download. Make sure that if the BETA doesn't work for you, you use the same method to turn it off.

Some of the fixes include:

--> Added a V-sync button in the options menu --> A couple new achievements --> Various GFX and colliders modifications on weapons, making them feel better and more effective. --> Several more changes to be detailed in patch notes when live. Thank you to everyone for playing and offering feedback and leaving great reviews. Please continue to share Bit Blaster XL with friends and family, I greatly appreciate it. Adam Nickerson Nickervision Studios

[ 2016-02-22 04:30:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes:

--> Added a new weapon "Giant" shot that is a large bullet that will split into four small bullets upon impact. --> The last heatseeker bug was found and fixed (even though this one was very rare) --> Explode shot is now correctly untied from frame rate so effect should be more visible and useful --> Exploding enemy ship now has a warning blink that makes more sense on more resolutions. --> Menu system has been correctly slowed down and balanced on all builds, no more "a" button restarts and having the menu in your face while playing. --> Bounce bullet has had minor modifications in its color and size and ability. --> More implementation of fixes for various frame rates and hardware. Should now run more balanced and smoother on more machines (hopefully all at the same speed) So a slower machine will no longer get weirdly varying speeds of ships. --> And a variety of other small GFX changes and tweaks. Thank you to everyone for playing and offering feedback and leaving great reviews. I really appreciate it. Please continue to share Bit Blaster XL with friends and family. -Adam Nickerson

[ 2016-02-05 17:55:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

I would greatly appreciate if a variety of players could test it out and leave feedback in a comment below on whether or not it worked for them.

To try out the BETA version;

--> Right click the game in the library tab --> Click Properties --> Click the BETAS tab --> From the Drop down box select the Testing beta --> Click close The beta should then automatically download. Make sure that if the BETA doesn't work for you, you use the same method to turn it off.

Some of the fixes include:

+Added a new weapon "Giant" shot *More implementation of fixes for various framerates and hardware. Should now run more balanced and smoother on more machines (hopefully all at the same speed) *The last heatseeker bug was found and fixed (even though this one was very rare) *Modified various little things like shields, GFX, and fixed a shield bug. *And a variety of other small changes. Thank you to everyone that has been playing so far, left great reviews, and shared Bit Blaster XL with their friends and family. I really appreciate it. -Adam Nickerson

[ 2016-02-05 05:40:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes:

-> Rewrote the shield system, should now work as intended, flashed the GFX up a notch, and added an indicator showing how many shields remain, may play into more features in the future. ;) -> Mouse cursor will now disappear during the active round of gameplay and reappear for menus. -> I am pretty sure I resolved the heat seeking problem. So now it shouldn’t crap out, and just never come back.... please let me know if it craps out and never comes back. -> Fix in place so that slower systems don’t have an advantage by the enemies moving slower. Modified a bunch of things to try to balance out this problem. (initially the problems was just caused by an amateur coding move by myself) So may still be kinks to work out. -> Fix so systems with 120 hz+ monitors run correctly. -> Added a little sparkle effect to the boosterbar at the bottom. -> Enemy bullets are now top priority in layers and will always be at the top. -> Slightly adjusted red of bounce bullet. -> Add image to configuration launcher. Hold (on win)“ALT” or (on osx)“OPTION” then click play to see configuration options. -> And i'm sure some little tiny fixes I forgot to document. Whoops. Thanks for playing everyone. This week has far exceeded my expectations, I greatly appreciate all the awesome reviews, sharing it with your friends, and helping me find bugs and issues. More to come :) Adam Nickerson

[ 2016-01-29 18:46:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Everyone, I just wanted to send through an announcement of the V1.1 BETA patch now being available in the BETA branch for Win32, Win64, Linux32, Linux64, OSX. It features a variety of fixes and improvements. I would love if some players could test it out and let me know that it works. If you do test it, please leave feedback in a comment below (good or bad) with whatever important/unique details you can provide about your machine (Operating system, 32 or 64 bits, 60hz, 120hz, etc) To try out the BETA version of Bit Blaster XL V1.1, just right click the game in the library tab. --> Click Properties --> Click the BETAS tab --> from the Drop down box select the Testing beta. It should then automatically download. Make sure that if the BETA doesn't work for you, you use the same method to turn it off. Some of the fixes include: -All Objects should now move at the same speed regardless of framerate -Super fast gameplay and super slow gameplay should now be resolved -Heatseeker should work great now -Fully rewritten shield system, should be far more stable and allow for a couple upcoming features -Mouse cursor should now disappear correctly during a round of play and reappear in menus. -Slightly adjusted colors here and there, and modified various GUI details ever so slightly. -And a variety of other small changes. Of course I don't want to push this until I have a good handful of people from a variety of machines telling me its working great. Many people have shared videos with me too and that's always very helpful as well, send them to info(at)nickervision(dot)com And lastly, thank you to everyone that has been playing so far, left great reviews, and share Bit Blaster XL with their friends and family. This launch week has far exceeded my expectations and it feels great to be embraced by such an awesome community. Thanks so so much. -Adam Nickerson

[ 2016-01-29 07:03:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Patch Notes:

-> Bit Blaster V7 Achievement should now correctly activate. (including retroactively to anyone that had already earned it. -> The skybox and other various details should now appropriately scale to the outrageously sized 21:9 monitors :) -> Dead zone on gamepad issues should now be resolved. (dpad is not in use currently due to my own programming limitations, will hopefully be back in the future) -> The Orange "H" powerup will now correctly find targets, if the target is destroyed, it will find a new target, if no targets available it will disappear. Should also no longer get jammed and need a game restart to work again. -> I have discovered how to manage the questionable leaderboard scores and will do my best to remove all the ones that are completely outrageous. -> I added a slight acceleration to keyboard left and right controls allowing the player a little tighter control. -> When dying while boosting, the booster would auto be on next life, this has now been fixed. -> I have correctly added both the Windows 32 bit builds and Linux 32 bit builds so that people having trouble booting the game should now be able to play. -> Please make sure to check the discussions board for a stickied post where I will do my best to track all issues. Thank you everyone for the feedback; this has been a wonderful experience and a super intense 36 hours to start the launch. I will do my best to fix any issues you encounter and post in the discussion thread or email me info(at)nickervision.com. I want to thank everyone for the AWESOME reviews you've been leaving. As well as all you that are sharing the game with friends and family. You're all very kind and it makes me feel absolutely amazing that you are enjoying a goofy little game I made. :) -Adam Nickerson

[ 2016-01-24 04:18:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bit Blaster XL is a throwback to the classic quarter-eating arcade games of the 80's. It's a retro styled, addictive, and fast paced arcade shoot 'em up! (shmup). It is now available on Steam / iOS / Android. This is my first solo effort on Steam so please let me know if you encounter any problems and I will do my best to clean them right up ASAP. info@nickervision.com Thank you everyone for the support. Adam Nickerson

[ 2016-01-22 16:59:04 CET ] [ Original post ]