BlastZone2 FAQ Q: What kind of game is BlastZone2? A: It is a fast paced side-scrolling shooter that uses 2D controls, but interacts with full 3D space to enhance gameplay. Q: Why start with BlastZone2? What happened to the first game? A: BlastZone1 was originally developed in 1999 as a freeware game written by Matt Edzenga for the TI85/86 calculators. A remake of the game was developed for Windows PC, but upon completion it was decided to be more worthwhile to have it included with the sequel to the game that started development immediately after. The reason for this was because BZ1 and BZ2 share the same engine, and any improvements made to it for BZ2 would in effect improve the BZ1 remake as well. Also, including it with BZ2 would provide more value to the overall package. If you’d like to play the original BlastZone, an updated and enhanced version of it exists in the “Classic Survival” gamemode included with the demo and full version of BlastZone2. Q: When did development of BlastZone2 begin? A: Development of BlastZone2 started on February 9^th, 2006. Q: When will the game be released? A: The Demo version of the game has already been released and is currently available on the downloads page. The full version of the game is expected to be completed during the first half of 2008 Q: How much will the game cost? A: The current estimate is $14.95, but this price is subject to change. Q: What engine is being used for the game? A: An entirely new game engine was built from scratch for BlastZone2. The focus of the engine is to provide impressive visuals while keeping the span of supported hardware as wide as possible. Features of the engine include realtime lighting, large scale terrain and a fully featured scripting system for both level designs and cutscenes. The engine has also been optimized to handle very high polygon counts to display hundreds of enemies and bullets onscreen at once. Q: What are the minimum and recommended system specs? A: Recommended system specs for running the game at high detail: CPU: 1.8ghz Pentium4 or Athlon 1800+ Graphics Card: Radeon9700 or GeforceFX5900 with 128mb video ram System Ram: 512mb Minimum supported system specs: CPU: 700mhz Pentium3-class CPU Video Card: Radeon8500 or Geforce4Ti with 64mb video ram System Ram: 128mb However, much lower specs than this can run the game, as far down as a P2-class CPU and a TNT2-class graphics card at the absolute lowest graphics settings, but is not officially supported.