Ready to be Downloaded

Ok, I just fixed a mouse bug where the game skips straight from the game over screen to level 1 without showing the startup screen again. Do I think this warrants a version increase? Yes I do.

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I Know It's Been A While

...but I finally have a user (non-developer) playable build ready. If you saw the first one, it's not much different. The only changes are that it is playable multiple times, and that it runs on Beta 2.

EDIT: It looks like no one can run it, so I've set up a new build that actually includes the application manifest (imagine that). Hopefully it works now. Oh yea, I also forgot to mention that it's also smaller now at a mere 1.38 MB zipped. It would be smaller, but the runtime takes up a bit of space. Either way, you can download it in about 10 seconds (assuming you have broadband, idk about dial-up).

EDIT: It still looks like no one can run it, so I got some help on MSDN and it definitely works now (Thanks Leaf). The only steps before running are to install the XNA runtime and run the DirectX Web Installer. Both are included in the zip.

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Beta 2 and Pretty Additive Colors

With the onslaught of Beta 2, I figured I should probably convert Araknoid, and I did. There were a few hassles here and there, but they ended up being very easy to fix. Araknoid is completely up to date with the Beta 2 version of the XNA Framework. The makers of the Mercury Particle Engine have also been making progress and have released their v1.0 beta. One big change is that the colors no longer make use of SpriteBlendMode.AlphaBlend, but SpriteBlendMode.Additive. This turns out to give the particles an entirely new look, one which I like a lot. Screenshots will be available when I make some more levels.