v1.38.2.0 - Gamepad handling, config file improvements, fixed demo exploder shot

A new update has been released for BlastZone 2! (v.1.38.2.0) This update improves gamepad handling, fixes the exploder shot animation for the demo version, makes a few improvements to config file parsing using a new format, and updates a few libraries. Full details are below:

• Reworked much of the gamepad input handling code
• Improved data locality to slightly improve performance
• Improved general code design to prevent potential bugs

• Fixed missing expanding sphere for the exploder shot for the demo version
• Upgraded config file data parsing
• There are now discrete field names for all config parameters
• Config parameters can now appear in any order in the config file
• Config parameters can now be individually deleted from the config file to reset individual options to defaults
• Config file parsing is much more robust now and less prone to errors if elements of data are malformed
• The new format is easier to extend now without risking migration issues when upgrading to newer versions of the game
• *NOTE: Upgrading to the new config file format will reset gamepad and keyboard controls to defaults, but this is a one time issue and won't occur again in the future

Upgraded the configuration program to work with the new configFile format and support all the same features as the main game

• Supports config parameters in any order, missing parameters, and extra parameters

Fixed a few crash issues for the configuration program when parsing malformed data

Did a refinement pass through much of the codebase, doing small optimizations in many areas, and made the code generally more robust, reducing the possibility of potential bugs

• Upgraded FreeType library to v2.14.1

• Upgraded LibPng16 library to v1.6.55

As usual, to make sure you have the latest update, launch the game and check the lower left corner for “v1.38.2.0” or higher. Enjoy!