BreakHack cover
BreakHack screenshot
Steam
Genre: Role-playing (RPG), Strategy, Adventure, Indie

BreakHack

Patch notes 2.0.4
This patch fixes an issue caused due to an API change included in the Windows 10 1809 update.

For anyone affected by this change (game wouldn't start) I offer my sincerest apologies. It was an issue that never affected me.

Patch notes 2.0.3
Just submitted a minor gameplay fix.

Now, when playing as a rogue and phasing through enemies in crumbling rooms will correctly make them fall down with the room tile.

Loot will still spawn in the pits after monsters have fallen down. You can collect it by using phase. I considered removing loot drops in pits but I think that would upset the gold collection rate as a rogue and I don't want to encourage players to avoid that mechanic because it's a fun way to play. Thoughts on this are welcome.

Br,
Linus

Version 2.0
So, based on comments from players and partly based on my own ideas version 2 of the game is finally out. What follows is a list of what is new in this release.


  • Added the playable class "Rogue"
  • Added an achievement for the rogue
  • Added separate high score lists based on class (one for warrior and one for rogue)
  • Added gameplay controller support with help icons for both PS and XB controllers
  • Added a new room modifier type "Crumbling room"
  • Added a new game type "Quickplay", essentially the same as regular but with only 12 levels and more frequent boss encounters.
  • Added a high score list for the quickplay game type
  • Added a new game type "Arcade", only one level with ~40 rooms. You start at player level 22 and dungeon level 19
  • Added a high score list for the arcade game type
  • Added sounds for cloaking and burst attack enemies
  • Fixed various minor issues


I hope you enjoy the new play options. Feel free to get back to me with any suggestions. Keep in mind that some of the things I added in this release came straight from players. So there's definitely a chance that your idea can be included if it sounds cool.

Br,
Linus

Buggfix release 1.1.5
I just released a minor fix to BreakHack 1.1 (1.1.5). It's nothing major but I learnt that a certain subsystem in SDL2 (the framework that BreakHack is built with) was active by default. The system in question (TextInput) was treating key presses as text input that could make the game seem "jittery" at times.

Considering how low the graphics demands are on BreakHack I'm not going to idly stand by and watch it lag. So some of you might notice a slight difference, others may not. I felt it's better to explain patches rather than releasing "mystery" patches leaving people wondering.

As a teaser, BreakHack 2.0 is just around the corner.

// Linus

Version 2.0 so far...
Ok, first things first. One of you "nerds" beat my high score in the game. For a brief yet humbling moment, I was actually the best in the world at a game on Steam. But one of you ruined it!

Well, to be honest, I'm thrilled that some people get enough entertainment out of the game to actually hammer my best score into the dirt. I'll get back to trying to reclaim my spot once I've pushed out version two of the game.

Now, speaking of version two, things have actually progressed faster then I anticipated and I've been getting a lot less sleep lately and my desk is a mess.



This is what you can expect for version 2.0 of BreakHack:

Partial controller support


I've gotten around to implementing full controller support for the gameplay parts of the game. That means that you can start the game, navigate the menus, move around, kill stuff, get loot, beat my score (please don't) and use all the skills. At the moment you won't be able to toggle sound, music and fullscreen without consulting a keyboard.



The Rogue class


All the skills for the rogue have been hammered down. It's hard to say if they will work nicely, make things too easy or too hard as of yet. Most likely somebody who's optimised their gameplay more might be able to find some balance issues with the class that I don't spot during testing.



Room type updates


If everything goes to plan, I'll also introduce a new "room type". Currently, you can stumble into windy rooms and hot rooms, the next addition should leave you more considerate of how you move through the room. Also, I think hot rooms might start showing up a bit earlier into your dungeon dive.

Opt-in Beta access


Since I'm better at coding rather than testing the game I'm thinking that I will release an opt-in beta release for version 2.0. This will be completely optional and come at 0 cost. (I'll describe how to try it out once I do set up a beta branch in Steam). But in order for an endeavour like that to feel useful, it would be nice if those that would like to try out the beta release a week or two before the actual version 2.0 release left a comment on this post so I don't just release it and no one plays it.

Also, don't forget that the games source code is available on GitHub. If you are so inclined you can take a peek on the progress and compile the game early.

Until next time!
// Linus

Architecture misconfiguration
So, I made a mistake. Apparently BreakHack was flagged as a 64-bit only game. That's not true and I guess I misunderstood one of the settings in the app admin page. Sorry.

For Windows both 32bit and 64bit should work.

For Linux you will need a 64bit distribution. Since 32bit distributions are pretty rare for Linux these days don't expect this to change.

The game is live! Breaktime!
So, I released the game this morning. I'm guessing this is more exciting to me then anyone else.

Either way I hope you guys who do play the game enjoy it and that it offers you the occasional 10 minutes of entertainment as it has for me when I've been making it (and playing it during my work breaks).

To keep things alive on the community page I thought I'd drop some information about what's in the pipeline for the next version.

The next class will be "The Rogue", a character that is faster and more oriented around "keeping a distance" and using the environment (eg. pushing enemies into traps and pits). I only have one skill left to implement but I haven't decided what it should be or how it should work yet. If you have a suggestion then leave a comment. I'm open to letting people influence my decision on this.

Controller support?
Steam recently sent me an email regarding controller usage on their platform, you can read it here. In my mind, BreakHack should work nicely with a controller, the big hurdle is finding a way to change the information and helptexts to show what button to press rather then what key. I'll work on it and see how it goes (short: Implementing controller support is easy, displaying button bindings and info is trickier).

Both these things will be implemented but I can't guarantee what order it will arrive or when. I'll be brave and say that at least one of them will arrive before christmas.

Thanks for playing,
Linus

Release date set
Just a heads up, I've changed the release date from October to the more specific 26th of September. The reason being that I'm mostly just waiting at this point.

Since I'm not a giant AAA producer I figure I can set my own rules and change my own release date.

Version 1.1
Based on some curator feedback I made some minor modifications to the games map generation and monster pool.

What's new in v1.1:

  • Maps are a lot more 'messy' (non-linear)
  • Level 1 is shorter (~5 rooms decreased from ~10)
  • Level 1 has more enemies including some aggressive enemies
  • Windy rooms appear after level 2 (previously 3)
  • Introduced a 'hold turn' option, press space to do nothing this turn
  • Bumped Bash cooldown to 3 turns (previously 2)


these changes are intended to give you more action from the get-go.

I'm aware that the game isn't readily available at the moment due to a mandatory waiting period. But I still prefer making these posts to keep the page alive and get a rough history log.

// Linus

Now available on Linux
I got back to fiddling with the packaging of the game. Since I wrote it almost entirely on Linux (in vim) it felt silly that it wasn't released on Linux at the same time as the Windows release.

Turns out packaging was easier for Linux then windows since there are a lot of native packages included as dependencies for the Steam installation. I ended up just statically linking the additional dependencies to get around all other dependencies that aren't included in Steam.

Hopefully, it will work on the major Linux distributions without any hiccups. Otherwise, I'll have to deal with the complaints I guess.
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