Rock Blaster tips: splitting rocks and saucers
Rock Blaster in Games by Zaweba: spin, thrust and shoot through drifting space rocks that split as you hit them, dodge saucers and gamble on hyperspace.
Space rocks drift across the screen in Rock Blaster, and your little ship has to spin, thrust and shoot its way through them while saucers prowl about. It's drawn in a vector style, in the manner of an 8-bit 64K home computer, on the Retro arcade shelf of Games by Zaweba, and it's one of the purest arcade games in the collection.
Turning, thrust and fire
Left and Right turn the ship, Up thrusts, and Space or Z fires. Down or Shift sends you into hyperspace. Turning and thrusting together is how you move: point the way you want to go and thrust, then turn to face your targets.
Thrust is something to use sparingly. A ship that's always moving is harder to control, and much of the game can be played from a fairly still position, turning to face rocks as they come.
Big rocks, middling rocks, small rocks
Shoot the rocks. Big ones split into two middling ones, and those split into two small ones. That means one big rock becomes several targets before it's gone, and the screen gets busier as you shoot.
That's the main thing to manage. Breaking every big rock at once fills the screen with smaller ones. Working through one rock at a time, finishing its pieces before starting on another, keeps the screen calmer and easier to read.
Saucers
Saucers shoot back, and the small ones aim. A big saucer is a nuisance; a small one is a real threat, because its shots come at you. When a small saucer appears, dealing with it quickly is often the safest thing to do.
Hyperspace as a last resort
Hyperspace whisks you away from where you are, but it's a gamble. You don't choose where you land. It's a way out of a situation that's already hopeless, not a regular move. Using it when you could have turned and shot your way out tends to cost more ships than it saves.
Waves and extra ships
Clear the screen to start the next wave, and each one is busier than the last. An extra ship comes every 10,000 points, so a long game builds up spares as it goes.
Since each new wave is busier, it's worth getting into good habits early: steady shooting, careful thrust and a quick response to small saucers. The game rewards those more and more as the waves build.
Watching the whole screen
Esc pauses, F11 fills the screen, which gives you more warning of rocks drifting in, and the title card and F1 cover the controls. Games by Zaweba keeps your best score and plays on your PC, and shows your best alongside your score when the game ends.
If you like the vector style, Moon Lander on the same shelf shares the look with a calmer pace. Both are drawn and made in code, with no download and no adverts. In Rock Blaster, finish off one rock's pieces before starting the next, take small saucers seriously, and keep hyperspace for when nothing else will do.
