Ballistyx

Ballistyx is back.

Originally written in the 1990s while I was learning DirectX, Ballistyx went on to exceed 1,000,000 downloads, develop a loyal following and appear on commercial game compilation discs.

More than 25 years later, I dug out the original C++ source code to see if Ballistyx could be brought back to life.

Rather remarkably… it could.

This isn’t an emulated version or a modern recreation. This is the original Windows Ballistyx codebase, updated, rebuilt and running natively on modern Windows 11.

Simple idea. Increasingly unpleasant consequences.

Guide your player around the blue boundary, venture into open space and draw lines to capture territory.

Capture enough of the playfield to complete the level — while avoiding bouncing balls and enemies travelling along the tracks trying to catch you.

Ballistyx is easy to understand, increasingly difficult to master and, apparently, still rather addictive after all these years.

What’s new in V1.10?

The original game has been carefully updated while keeping its 90s character:

• Native modern Windows support
• 32-bit x86, x64 and ARM64 builds
• Keyboard and configurable controller support
• Windowed and full-screen play
• Music and sound
• Adjustable player, ball and enemy speeds
• Difficulty-based score multipliers
• Attract/demo mode
• Built-in and user-created levels
• Compatibility rendering mode for older graphics hardware and Wine

And perhaps the biggest addition…

Build your own Ballistyx levels

V1.10 includes a completely new graphical Level Editor.

Design the playfield, draw tracks and obstacles, position balls, enemies and the player, validate your creation and jump straight into the game to test it — without even saving first.

Levels can also be imported and exported as PNG images, allowing designs to be created using external graphics software.

A little piece of freeware history

Ballistyx was subsequently completely rewritten for macOS and iOS with new professional artwork and music.

This release is different.

It’s about preserving the original Windows game and bringing the code I wrote more than a quarter of a century ago forward onto today’s computers.

Seeing it running again — particularly natively on Windows 11 ARM64 — has been slightly surreal.

If you played Ballistyx back in the 90s or early 2000s, I’d love to hear where you originally discovered it.

And if this is your first encounter with it…

Welcome to Ballistyx. Apparently it wasn’t quite ready to retire.

A note about the Windows installer

The current installers are not Authenticode signed, so Windows or Microsoft Defender SmartScreen may display an Unknown Publisher or reputation warning.

Please don’t blindly bypass security warnings.

Every release includes published SHA-256 checksums so you can verify that your downloaded installer matches the official Ballistyx release. Full verification instructions are included with the game.

Ballistyx V1.10 Created by Jason Brooks