April And May Updates to BYOND Games

Just prior to the DDOS attack on BYOND, I was starting to update my old BYOND games for legacy continuation. This meant:

1. Ensuring the game can actually be downloaded and started
2. Adapting the game to modern day screen resolutions
3. Where possible, adding local-co op or local-multiplayer
4. Also where possible, including forms of customisation / editing
5. Controller support, where applicable

Some of my BYOND games haven't been updated in 19 years, and for some point number 1 is the first point of breakage. Some of this is version incompatibility as some of my games are pre 4.0, let alone 5.0 but also there seems to be an issue on the site with https links, which is ironically what the site generates when you upload game files. Changing this from https to http fixes the issue.

The second point is about modern compatibility of users. 15-25 years ago, annual data collection on the habits of BYOND users suggested that most people still used 800x600 resolution or smaller - a product of CRT TV's before the widespread implementation of HD standards (720, 1080 and now 2K/4K). Now its hard to find anyone using anything less than 1080 with 1440 being a common resolution too. Original tile sizes of 32x32, which is still represented in a lot of my games, look small and dinky on these modern resolutions. While BYOND allowed bigger tile sizes long ago, only a few of my games got adapted for larger tile sizes, and depending on code would require significant changes across the whole game to implement. Using anchors for window interfaces makes it a quick fix to allow people to adjust the graphic sizes to their screen sizes and resolution. My main monitor is a whopping 4K over 75 inches, meaning 32x32 tiles look absolutely tiny on the screen.

The other three points is about playability over usability. Some of these games were demos, trial programs, or me jumping on the bandwagon of current trends at the time of BYOND. Adding in controller support, though some of it is natively supported anyway is one way of ensuring at least for arcade style games that its available for both keyboard and controller users. For some games this means keying in extra options with the different buttons to ensure a largely flawless playing experience that hopefully relies on limited keyboard and mouse usage. For a lot of my games, they were designed with the BYOND online user hosted server experience - multiplayer largely dictated by the BYOND user key system. A lot of my multiplayer game updates have therefore relied on being converted over to allow local multiplayer options as that might be the main way that people play them when they go for their nostalgia hits. Finally, where possible I'm adding editors, customisation and other options that just help the experience more. 

I have the occasional development itch where I come back to BYOND to update games here and there. Obviously the site is less popular than it was, and most of its focus is through Space Station 13 which is easily still hitting 2,000 players at a time, even with the DDOS still going on. Even before the DDOS, I was considering moving games over to another platform, including Itch.io.

This post comes as I've spent the last two months updating games as their anniversaries hit. I've done a number of updates to games, three of which I have managed to update onto the site, two before the DDOS and one during a lull before it came back. The other games, minor ones haven't had their update uploaded yet on BYOND, but now find their home here for those that want to try it. So in order of anniversary dates, here we go:

Law of the Board - 18th anniversary on the 23rd of March

My chess variant simulator, allows for modification of chess rules and allows pieces from common regional variants but nothing too radical. Last updated 15 years ago in 2010, I'm not entirely sure if the old version actually had the list of updates I had already penned, such as the nature of waiting that long. However what I have done is separated the chess board onto a new window, which will increase the size if expanded. The game now also allows for proper local-multiplayer so you don't have to rely on testing games with two accounts (especially good right now with the DDOS!).

Minesweeper - 19th anniversary on the 29th of March

This was one of my many "following the trend" type games on BYOND, where I did something as a demo and never really fleshed it out. 17 years on, it got an update making it so it functions like an actual minesweeper game. Updates to BYOND in that time means that right click actually now has a function for flagging potential bombs. While I like most of my game updates, this one is definitely dragging it from "poor" to "mediocre". It now functions as it should have done from the beginning.

The game has been dragged right through 4.0 to 5.0 with an interface (!), menu, splitting the game screen so it can be enlarged, including sound effects and adding the right click as a flag option, not actually in the game before. 

Hostile Takeover - 20th anniversary on the 28th of April

Actually this game was one of my most recently updated, getting one in June 2024. It was following some of the principles above already trying to ensure that the game can be played locally or single player. This years update fixes a few bugs.

* It was possible to start a two player game after already starting a single player game, fixed.
* It was possible to change the diagonal rule in single player, fixed by locking rule once a player has joined either mode.
* It was possible to change the tileset between set and random in single player, fixed by locking rule once a player has joined either mode.
* Text size increased for improved readability.
* Minor change to wording of the diagnoal rule text from "effected" to "affected".
* Online scoreboard now only updates if diagonal rule is set to off and the tileset is set.
* Menu items added that corrispond to the options on the HUD.
* Diagonal Rule is now set to off by default for simple single player scorekeeping.

Moving onto May we also have:

Slide-o-Snake - 18th anniversary on 17th of May

Last update was in 2011, but this was a game I regularly went back to play myself. Its one of my favourites and makes a great quick strategy game which is low-RNG. In fact, I've made a port to the Pico-8, while I never made the points system in that version, I did take advantage and made some new game modes. This new BYOND update brings those new modes, and some entirely new ones into the original version. I was able to upload a new version of the game, including entries for new online highscores during a lull in the DDOS attack, unfortunately it is not possible to load or save those scores during the DDOS attack, but hopefully the site recovers and it'll be back on.

Although its been 14 years since the last update, I had actually been working on a new version for years, implementing the Pico-8 game modes, but also including a level editor, I've been casually playing my own game for ages and just haven't updated it. Not only have I done the usual updates of increasing the graphic size for new resolutions, I've added in local co-op for the two player co op mode. I unfortunately wasn't able to get the competitive mode working in time, I think a major recode of some of that mode is needed to get that working, but the prime updates is the new game modes and the editor. General improvements all round, I am happy with this one but the desire to update again with more new features is strong!

v 1.3

* Arranged layout to cope with 1080 and 4k screens
* Added Easy mode (from Pico-8 version) with pink blocks
* Added Pillar mode (from Pico-8 version)
* Added Crater mode (new mode from BabyBloke3)
* Added Fortress mode (new mode)
* Added keyboard number macros for game modes
* Added Controller button mapping for game modes (currently based on PS controllers)
* Bugfix: Players would not be aware of this, but code was supposed to prevent holes from popping up next to
- the snake head. This was designed to prevent auto-game over for random hole selection, though
- it was always intended that falling into a game over by random design was possible but preventable
- in most cases. I have changed a line of code to fix this unintended bug. Games should flow better
- and longer without randomising into a game over.
* Editor Mode allows custom maps to be made, you can save and load games in the editor, and then play them.
- To use editor mode, select "editor mode" in the menu while on the title screen.
- Click the tiles on this screen to change tiles, currently it runs on a loop.
- You need the Snake head, 1 hole and 1 block to save
- You can currently only make up to a 3 square snake (like default) as your starting snake
- 1 Player only (for now)
- When you save, it will ask you if you want holes to move (like normal modes) or stay (like bridges, crater)
- To play a saved map, after entering the mode select (game screen) use Custom Mode to load a file.
* Co-op mode can now be played in local mode, with a single window/login key.
* WASD now moves just like arrow keys. This is mainly to implement more local 2 player options in future.
* Changed some of the output colours for the text.
* Updated help file.
* There is now a restart server option and a host button on the menu.
* Online scoreboards now include numbers for new modes.
* Game mode is now more prominently displayed throughout.

Exodus - 20th anniversary on the 19th of May

Bit late on the update, and only updated this weekend, this shooter is admittedly not one of my best works, but wanted to do it some justice by updating it anyway. While the game on the site does boot, I don't think it runs properly, so updating it to the new version has helped it to be fully playable again. Controller usable now, with some QoL updates like the usual graphic resizing, sound effects (it only had one gun sound and a laser sound for the bots), health on HUD and a few others. Not the best game or updates, but still improving it.

Version 0.20:

* Split Map and stats into different windows.
* Allowed oversized Map window to increase graphic size.
* Changed commands to not use diagonals for other controls.
* Set up controller configuration:
- Face button 1 to shoot
- L1 to cycle weapons backwards
- R1 to cycle weapons forwards
- L2 to place bomb
- R2 to open doors
* New sounds
- Shotguns
- Uzi
- Window smashing
- Bomb exploding
* Ammo on screen now updates when changing weapon.
* Maps that didn't have spawn points for bots now do.
* Basic HUD health bar, shows in multiples of 10.

Fools Gold - 17th anniversary on the 23rd of May

Not much to say about this one, this was my first BYOND 4.0 test. Click a button between 1 and 6 and see if the random number generator agrees. In the original version, the winnings was the number you bet if you matched, I have now doubled this (so you win 12 instead of 6 if you picked number 6 and the generator came up with 6). The cost is still the same (if you lose, you lose the number you selected). Was never intended to be a full game, I've made the window larger to cope with larger resolutions but other than that, there is no changes.

Pixel It - 19th anniversary on the 30th of May

Another BYOND fad, chat rooms with some sort of additional gameplay was a thing back in 2006. The intention of this game was a Pictionary style game, I even had a word list coded but never used. It only had black and white, and by the time I had thought up the concept and had a working copy of a colour picker I stopped. A few years later I apparently updated it again, perhaps to keep it working, and now its been a further 17 years since then. Usual interface changes, increased the canvas size and added colours that was in the code, just never implemented. Still completely useless, but a bit more interesting now.

2025 update:

Sized for 1080 screen, but does resize for window.
Split colour picking to separate window (movable by dragging).
Simple say command for talking in servers.
Added four colours to the black and white.
Increased canvas size to 59x31, suitable for 1080 resolution.

Space Commander - 19th anniversary on the 30th of May

Another short demo, this is a side scrolling shooter that never got further developed. In fact, I switched out to the 2.5D style isometric style but never uploaded that version either. This QoL update ensures greater gameplay, though still has no ending or level progression other than new enemies at point threshold. Controller support (though think it worked previously anyway), sound, interface enlargement like the other games and some graphic changes. Now you explode before the game resets.

2025 update:

Default window size now twice as big.
Resizes graphics for window size.
Reduced points needed for new enemies and features.
Changed some enemy missile colours to make it clearer.
Added sound effects.
Score now reduces by the amount of hp an enemy has left when it leaves the left side (includes missiles).
Both enemies and player explode on death.

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The one game I haven't updated that is due one based on this "anniversary update" logic is Wargames 2, again I've improved it with making graphic size changes - set by the player and allowing a larger view grid akin to Wargames 1 where you can fill the screen with the entire map. Definitely better zoomed in for larger resolutions, the text in the windows is also adjustable and is saved in a configuration file. The issue preventing an immediate upload? My fog of war code, it obviously doesn't like the fact that my 19x19 tile grid can now be much larger - so I need to change that before I can upload. Like anything Wargames related, I want to update 20 other things before I upload, so might be waiting for this update for awhile.

Games for June to update:

Moving Mountains - A game idea that I never developed, I think it was meant to be an abstract styled world building game.
Zetris 2 - My 2 player competitive tetris style game, I'm actually having a go at porting this to the Channel F too.
Trench Wars - Wargames themed tower defence, hopefully I can make a fun update.
Reaction - Another "following the BYOND trend" game from 2005, will see if I can find the code and update this too.
Geekdash - While Geekdash 3 offers the most versatility I still find this idea fun concept, so I'll try updating this with some QoL updates.
Communism 2 - Colour matching game (collapse) 

Moving Mountains, Zetris 2 and Reaction are currently failing to download even when the site is live, so those need an update to keep going, the other three are downloadable and playable, but an update certainly wouldn't hurt them.

July is a bit quieter with Spod (a chat program...), SurviveThis! The zombie horror game and Dreamland Universe (which is a project I have restarted a few times...) due updates as well.

You can play March, April and May updated games here on Itch.io while we wait for the BYOND site to survive the DDOS, BYOND client required to play.

https://mikebloke.itch.io/hostile-takeover-byond
https://mikebloke.itch.io/law-of-the-board-byond
https://mikebloke.itch.io/slide-o-snake
Everything else is found here: https://mikebloke.itch.io/other-byond-games (Fools Gold, Minesweeper, Exodus, Pixel It and Space Commander)