How to play

Installing it, playing on your own, and playing with other people - as a player joining a match, or as whoever runs the server.

Install

Download it from itch.io. There is no installer and no launcher. The game is a single executable, and it writes nothing outside your own user profile.

Windows

1. Download boom-and-block-windows.zip.
2. Right-click, Extract All, into a folder you can find again.
3. Run boom-and-block-windows.exe.

SmartScreen will likely warn you the first time. The build is not signed with a paid code-signing certificate, which is what that warning is really about. More info, then Run anyway.

Linux

unzip boom-and-block-linux.zip
chmod +x boom-and-block-linux.x86_64
./boom-and-block-linux.x86_64

64-bit x86. The zip already carries the executable bit; the chmod is for the case where your extractor dropped it, which some do.

Where it keeps your things

Settings, campaign progress, your bomber and any levels you built. Deleting that folder resets the game and removes all of it. Uninstalling is deleting the executable.

Your first run

The first thing the game asks is how you want to play: sign in, make an account, or play without one. Playing without one is a real option, not a nag - the campaign, the editor and your bomber all work offline forever. You can sign in later from the menu without losing anything.

Then you build a bomber and name it. If you are signed in, the name is your account name, claimed and yours. Offline, it is just what you call yourself on this machine.

Campaign opens the map of Phoenix. Sector 01 is the only one lit; the rest unlock as you clear them. The wiki has what the blocks, bonuses and scoring do.

Join a match

Multiplayer in the main menu. You need an account for this, because a match needs to know who you are - that is the one thing an offline bomber cannot do.

The browser lists matches that are open, with their map size and how many players are in. Press Join. How many bombers a board takes depends on its size: two on the smallest, up to eight on the largest, because four on a small board is a scrum.

Joining a friend's match

Under the list there is a box that takes a join key - a short code like QBFA-7M22 that whoever is hosting will have been given when they started the server. Type it and press Join. Case does not matter and the hyphen is optional.

The same box also takes a plain address, their-address or their-address:port, if you would rather have that. Matches run by people rather than by us never appear in the public list, so this box is how you reach them either way.

A join key stops working when the match ends, so a code that went round a group chat does not keep pointing at someone's machine afterwards. If a key is refused, the match has most likely finished.

Host a match

The same executable is the server. It needs no display and no GPU, so it is happy on a spare box or a small VPS.

Linux

./boom-and-block-linux.x86_64 --headless res://scenes/Server.tscn -- \
    --port=8910 --map=21x17 --name="FRIDAY NIGHT"

Windows

boom-and-block-windows.exe --headless res://scenes/Server.tscn -- ^
    --port=8910 --map=21x17 --name="FRIDAY NIGHT"

The join key

When the server starts it prints something like this:

[server] ============================================
[server]   JOIN KEY:  QBFA-7M22
[server]   Share that. It stops working when the match ends.
[server] ============================================

That is what you give people. It is built from characters that survive being read down a phone - no letter O or I, no digit 0 or 1 - and it is far easier to pass around than an IP address. It expires on its own after six hours, and closes when the match ends.

A key is minted only if the server knows what address to point at, so pass --advertise= with the host name or IP others can actually reach you on. Without it the server still runs and players can still connect by address; there is just no code to share.

./boom-and-block-linux.x86_64 --headless res://scenes/Server.tscn -- \
    --advertise=your-address --port=8910 --name="FRIDAY NIGHT"

A join key is a convenience, not a secret. Anyone you give it to learns the address, because their game has to connect to it. It keeps your address out of a chat log and lets you revoke it; it is not a way to hide where you are.

If something is wrong

My join key is refused

Keys stop working when the match ends, and expire six hours after they are minted. If the host is still up, ask them to restart the server for a fresh one, or just use the address instead.

It says no match answered

The server is not reachable at that address and port. Check the host is still running, that the port is open for UDP, and that you typed the address the server is reachable at from where you are - not the one it sees itself as.

The frame rate is poor

Press F3 for a readout. In Settings, turn vsync off or set a frame rate cap, and try a smaller window: the cost of presenting a frame scales with the number of pixels, so on a weak or virtualised graphics stack the window size matters far more than what is being drawn.

My keys are wrong

Settings, then Controls. Click a binding, press the key you want. A key already used by another action is taken from it, so you cannot end up with two actions on one key.

I forgot my password

Reset it here. The game itself does not have a reset form; it sends you to the same place.