Wiebo de Wit's thoughts about game development and more…
This page contains links to the PC games I have made through the years. You can download these for free unless stated otherwise.
ScrambleRND
Released: 07-09-2012, version: 1.0, Freeware
This is a remake of one of my favourite side scrolling shooters from the eighties.
The game plays like the old Vectrex version of Scramble (the best!), but looks like an Atari 2600 game. Also, the landscape is constructed randomly each time you play. It’s not amazingly random, but enough to spice things up 
Download ScrambleRND: here.
Trapped!
Released: 15-5-2011, version: 1.0, Freeware
Update: 23-5-2011, version 1.1, Freeware. Added Mouse/KB controls
While testing new portable portal technology, you and your Portal Device end up in another dimension.
The inhabitants of this dimension are energy based beings, and you are not wanted in their world. The entire dimension is hostile towards your ship. Just being in there will damage you and your Portal Device: the Portal Device will implode in two minutes after entering the stage.
Download Game: here.
Thrust Xtreme
Released: 05-11-2006, version: Freeware
Update: 25-12-2006: Included the editors.
Defeat the Empire, weaken their defenses, steal their Klystron pods! It’s here. If you like your thrusting then here is the game to play. This game features the old Classic levels, remade Deluxe levels and two Xtreme levels. The game engine is from Grid Assault, so expect purty colors and explosions. I’ve included the object and world editors so create some worlds and send them to me. I will add the level to this page if it is good enough.
Download Game and Edit Tools: here.
Custom levels and playlists: none so far
Grid Assault
Released: 2006, version: Freeware
My version of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved on the PC. It is written in Blitz Max and it contains all the features of the Xbox360 original. The game is no longer updated and play time is limited to six minutes. After that the game resets. Sorry.
You can find more information on my home page.
Download Game: here.
Zone Patrol
Released: 2001, version: retail
Zone Patrol is a shoot-em-up in space, mixing Asteroids, resource collection and spaceship escorting. The goal of the game is to protect your mother ship from the incoming baddies while collecting power ups and additional weapons, and fighting the odd boss monster. A level is finished by escorting the mother ship into the portal to the next zone. Staying too long in the zone after the portal has arrived will result in the collapse of the zone (taking you with it, of course)
The game was written in Blitz Basic 2D, and the graphics were rendered in Lightwave 3D. See some screen shots from the game on my home page.
You can download the game from sites like Share*It. I no longer have control over this game as I sold it to Kooldog.
Thrust Deluxe
Released: 2000, version: Freeware
My first remake made in Blitz Basic 2D. The original Thrust was an awesome budget game on a lot of platforms, but I only played the C64 version. My remake contains all the classic levels and adds more levels and features later on, including:
You can download the game from my home page.
Look up on this page to download Thrust Xtreme, an all new version of the game using the Grid Assault vector engine!
Great site Uncle….
Good to see that youre still being productive
Added this log to my bookmarks….ofcourse ill be tracking ya…
Greetz Keap
Hey, nice work on Thrust Xtreme. Trapped! has an interesting name, looking forward to it.
Bill
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Looking good wiebo.
Look forward to the completed version of the new Thrust remake.
Steve (Fash)
Err, Fash – it is completed. Isn’t it?
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Hi Wiebo,
being a huuuge Thrust fan myself, I just played your version. The graphics are absolutely impressive! The fuel pickup effect is especially nice. And the segmented tow bar adds a new variation (physic calculation must get pretty complicated there).
I noticed that you slightly changed a few planet layouts and then added some two planets. And I noticed some (intentional?) differences to the original which change the gameplay pretty much:
1. The overall difficulty seem much lower than the C64 original, due to:
1a. The tow bar seems shorter, making the games easier (see 1.)
1b. There is a lot of damping which also makes the game much easier
1c. The limpet guns shoot very slow, so now there is plenty of time to activate the shield
1d. you have much more fuel
2. You need way more shots at the power plant. It also seems to recover completely so that you have to start shooting at it from scratch again. In the original, the plant takes a limited ammount of shots (~15) before it becomes critical.
Maybe you could add some options to setup the gameplay as close as possible to the original?
Have fun!
Thomas
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for your comments. Most of the changes you mention are implemented because most of the testers found the game too hard. Sissies. Me, I had no problem with the old style game play. I’ll keep it in mind when (or if) I do an update, but for now that’s not planned.
Pity. Don’t listen do the “sissies”.
Funny thing is, most people STILL think it’s too hard… I’ll won’t be persuaded when developing my next game, promise
Couldn’t you just change some parameters and bring the gameplay closer to the orignal? And then release it as an extra version?
BTW: Why did do change the reactor behavior?
I could change the parameters but then I would have to adjust several later levels as well. I would like to focus on my new game first, instead of keep coming back to tweak a released game. Accept it for what it is, please.
Ok.
Though I will still hope for Thrust DeLuxe Xtreme Platinum.
Man, you can’t please people, can you?
A really nice game that should be commended and accepted on the rights of what it is, versus trying to form it into some exact copy of a 20-year old game. I never liked Thrust, because it was too damn’d hard. This game is much better and much more playable.
Don’t make games too hard, unless you just want to appeal to dozens of people, instead of tens of thousands and Keep up the good work!
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Wiebo!
You have made my day! One of the few games on the C16 worth spending the time to load off cassette was ‘Thrust’!
You have done a fantastic job on a fantastic game.
Now I’ll never get any work done at my PC:)
Are you still developing trapped? I’m very curious as to what that will be.
Loving your work.
Best,
Bry
Hi Bry,
Glad you liked it! Yes, Trapped is still being developed but at a slow pace (read: haven’t looked at the code since I bought Wow: Burning Crusade)
Absolutely brilliant!!!! A classic game made that bit nicer! Well done!!!
Its not harder if anything its easier than the original!
Thrust Xtreme: very good remake, congratulations.
I have one thing tho which is driving me to distraction!
How did you do the ‘bloom’ effect on certain lines?
Did you draw another primitive with an alpha texture, as I know that multitexturing with an alpha texture can cause odd effects with some cards?
I’m desperate to know!
Hi Dazza. I used Blitz Max to program the game and the glow is from a module created by another Max user. It basically stretches an image along a line, creating the glow effect.
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Congratulations on a very highly scoring review of Thrust Xtreme in the latest issue (#39) of RetroGamer matey. Well deserved.
nice games ! thanks !
hey, i loved this game on the c64.. I couldn’t believe what i saw when i played this.. it looks gorgeous and still plays absolutely great!
well done! and a level editor .. xxxx
Hi,
I too love this game.you have done a excellent job on excellent game!
Top PC Games
Great game ! I love thrust, I loved your thrust deluxe and this one is even better.
There is 1 thing though that is not as good as before and worth mentioning I think.
The angle of the ship is almost not quantified now, it’s almost continuous, making it really hard to position yourself straight. The original had an angle going in steps of pi/16 I think. Unfortunately I know you don’t plan on tweaking it.
Maybe if you release the source code ?
I’d be happy to tweak it.
Hi Wiebo,
I love the original “Thrust” game, and have much enjoyed you remake “Thrust Deluxe.” The ship and globe seems to have more mass, which changes the control. You need to be much smoother, as errors can’t be corrected so easily, but you can slowly control the ship and orb better through tight gaps. The fact that you can fire with your shields on is also different, but I am not sure whether or not this is an improvement. Rescueing the astronauts is a great addition however.
On the version I have been playing, there seems to be a glitche which I am sure you would want to sort out :-
In reverse gravity, if you crash in the wrong place in some of the new levels, your ship materializes within the reactor (or occasionally I think, within a wall), causing you to immediately crash again. Rather annoying if you have been playing for a while, and had 14 lives!
Next, a point which may improve game play. In reverse gravity, it is extremely difficult to control the ship and globe immediately after the pick up. However, this does not matter that much as you ship and globe materialise already controlled for you after the crash, which makes you feel as though you have almost cheated. It would be better in my opinion if following a crash like this, the player were forced to pick up the globe again and control it. It may be necessary to enlarge some of the caverns, to make this more possible!
Just a quick query. I got onto invisible landscapes yesterday, and unlike the original, using shield fails to reveal the walls, and so I could only complete the first three levels. Is this deliberate? Are you supposed to leave the odd fuel/mine to guide you?
Finally, I am having trouble running “Thrust Xtreme.” I can download it OK, and unzip it, but when I try to run the executable, the computer thinks for a bit, then nothing happens. I would appreciate your help.
Thanks for creating such a great remake, and enabling me to reilve my youth.
Hope to hear back soon,
Rob Robinson.
Hey Rob. Thrust Deluxe has indeed some bugs that I am aware of but I do not update it anymore. Xtreme was my way of updating it. Invisible levels are visible in that version when you use your shield
Why Xtreme does not start for you is strange but it might have something to do with video modes. Check the .ini file and modify the screen res and refresh settings to something you KNOW should work… Good luck!
I saw your game Thrust Xtreme in the Uk mag Retro Gamer, (i think it listed another author, either one of you is plagurizing, or I read incorrectly). In any case, I love your game, and support the indie game movement.
Great titles and implementation, as an industry qualified artist I would love to co-op on a project with you.
Hai..
Grid Assault games description is very nice… It will be better if timing for this game is long (atleast 10 min) then only its very interesting to play.. Anyway welldone job
really nice game
Keep up the good work!
Hey,
I want to know if there is a way i can remove the six minute time limit on grid assult.
BTW, grid assult is the best clone, i have played, i have almost 20 clones and urs is the BEST!
So is there away to remove the time limit, or will it stuff it up? Or atleast extend the time limit?
Hazza
Hey,
Found a bug in grid assault, have it keyboard/mouse, and start a new game, then don’t move, then start shooting and move the shooting aimer right onto of the character, and move it slightly and if you get it directly in the middle, when you shoot no bullets will appear, and everything on the map dies, you can do this till you move, or till a red circle moves your character with it’s pull.
P.s this dose not work if you move your character, you wont be able to get it to do this again. Till a new game.
Hazza
Hey,
Sorry for all the posts, i just have more to say then, i cant edit it, would it be possible to make a grid assault deluxe, with higher resolution/quality, and time limit extended to 10min?
Or just make num 2 and make pickups….
Hazza
Hi Harrison,
I’m afraid that development of Grid Assault has stopped after I released it. There are no attack waves defined after the 10 minute time limit and I do not intend to add more. Enjoy what you have!
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Hi, have you (or has anyone) had any luck running Thrust Xtreme on Vista, even in compatibility mode? I’ve got a new PC and it looks like I’m going to have to do without one of my favourite games otherwise
Hey, just wanted to great remale:) Keep up the great work
Hi there,
I’v just re-downloaded (the amazing) Thrust Extreme on my new laptop and I’ve noticed there’s no widescreen resolution option – any chance you could add one or two, just so it doesn’t look squashed?
Thanks,
Dave
Hi Dave
As you may or may not have read on this blog, I lost a lot of source code and Thrust Xtreme was one of the victims. I understand your problem with the aspect ratio, but I cannot help you with it atm. Trapped with be wide-screen compatible though!
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Hi Wiebo,
A quick note to introduce myself and thank you for your blog post about using Assembla.
My name is David Powers and I just joined Assembla to drive the marketing team and saw your post in researching folks in the development community who know and use Assembla.
If you ever have any questions or comments about Assembla, please feel free to drop me a note.
Again, thank you for your comments and for using Assembla in your business.
Very best regards,
David Powers
Vice President of Marketing
Assembla.com
Thrust Extreme is super-mega-excellent!
Have you ever thought about redoing Trans Am the same way, but with space ships instead of cars:)
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Wow – what can I say. Superb job. Big fan of Thrust, and as said above it was a great game on the Commodore 16 and I still play it on emulation (plus the speccy and c64 versions) but no need to bother now. Thrust Extreme is just perfect. Sorry for the gushing praise but I cant help it! I loved this game back in the day and this is the perfect update (the graphics are just the dogs dangly’s and it captures the game play to a tee). Well done.
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i like thrust extreme well done on that mate
Hiya.
Just started playing Thrust Xtreme again after a long break.
Did you ever get any new levels sent to you, and are you still looking out for some?
Great work, by the way – I love playing it
–
Mike
Hi Mike.
Thanks, I played it as well some time ago and it still is great, yes =]
I never got a level through the mail, which is interesting, considering the game is still downloaded 5-10 times a week. Yes, since 2006.
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Hi,
I’m not sure. Did you make H.E.R.O Editor for Amiga or something for Amiga computer ?
I ask because I’m looking for source code of H.E.R.O editor for Amiga. Thank you.
Regards
Adam
Hi there.
Yes, together with some friends I made the HERO game on the Amiga in AMOS. The source is long gone though, so I cannot help you with that.
Hi,
Thank you for answer. Cheers
Regards
Adam
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Thanks For This Game You are great.
I played thrust back on the Acorn Electron. Thrust xtreme is a fantastic retro remake of this old classic. Thanks for making this. Can you do Starship command? :p
Thank you
I played the c64 version, but the Acorn version was great as well. Glad you like the game. I never played Star Command, so I’ll let that one pass 
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where is the demo of zone patrol?
kooldog is gone
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