UPDATE 2.01 - The Extreme "UP YOUR A55" Update is Live! - You can now upgrade that A55 Kicker!
In this update, which I've called the "Up Your A55" update, you can now give your little aluminum beer can & duct tape space turret the ability to move on it's own towards asteroids and enemies in its range!
The A55 Kicker was born in Rock 'N Roll way back in early October. Almost four months later, this little bad boy friendly turret finally gets an optional upgrade! He is very happy as he's been pretty envious of all your possible upgrades since he was born!
The A55 Kicker has to be crafted before you'll get an option to upgrade it.
The A55 Power-up collected A55 Kicker will also be upgraded if you craft another A55 Kicker and choose the upgrade. The cost is the same regardless.
The cost of choosing the A55 Kicker Upgrade is HALF of all resources you collect on that level (both before and after the A55 Kicker was crafted) This means that if you collect 5 Rhodiums and 7 Platinums on a given level, the cost will always be the higher of the split, so the cost would be 3 Rhodium and 4 Platinum and the same for every other resource type collected.
The A55 Kicker Upgrade takes approx 30 - 45 seconds to become available AFTER the craft the A55 Kicker. It will be tied to the same button on your keyboard or controller that you used to craft it (E on keyboard by default or the Y controller button)
The upgraded A55 Kicker moves on its own towards enemies first and asteroids secondly, but it always prioritizes smaller rocks in its range over larger asteroids.
The upgraded A55 Kicker fires approx 20% faster than the standard A55 Kicker.
The upgraded A55 Kicker is completely immune to the Kamikaze worm, the RSA shooter, and the VDS fired shots! (It can still be destroyed by lightning ball shots from an end level boss or from your placed Zaxpoleon dynamite)
Other changes in this update:
- Zaxpoleon Dynamite will now destroy any G.E.O.S. gems in the explosion range. Be careful with it!
- The A55 Kicker now helps you fight the end level boss ships as long as it survives the wave of asteroids with you. Note that only ONE A55 kicker will come to the boss battle with you if you have two of them on a level.
- End level bosses now slowly repair damage to their ship over time. Make sure to keep the pressure and damage on them!
- Vanquished End Level Boss ships now drop a good amount of resources and potentially other pickups such as dynamite, spi-rolls, or even a G.E.O.S. gem if you are fortunate! You'll have exactly 20 seconds to collect dropped boss loot before the game moves you to the end level stat screen.
Some asteroids now have a higher chance than ever of dropping asteroids, especially the smallest chunks. Keep in mind that only the asteroids that have a slight colored tint to them or the yellow bordered chunks have any chance of dropping resources. Gray colored asteroids have almost a ZERO chance of dropping resources.
# Fixed a bug that caused a fatal error when the VDS would fire a missile at you.
# Fixed an issue that caused the smallest asteroid chunks to be shattered when running into your ship while using the E.T. powerup.
The monster rocks are still being worked on. I implemented them but wasn't happy with how they worked, so they will be added to Rock 'N Roll when I am happy with them. I want to make sure I make them a lot of fun to bust up with real risk versus reward elements!
I think that's it. Hope you enjoy the "Up Your A55" update! Let me know in the comments below!
UPDATE 2.0 - Rock 'N Roll TUTORIAL is Complete & Live!
For anyone who may not have understood exactly what to do, or what, why, or how this game works, the in game tutorial is now in, complete and working! (You'll even earn a Steam achievement for completing it!)
The only other real change made in this patch was power-ups all used to appear available to pick-up for 30 seconds exactly. (This is the time they are available for you to collect before they disappear, not how long they last once you collect them).. Now they will vanish a random time that ranges from 25 to 40 seconds after first spawning on the screen. This should prevent the time from being quite so predictable and make things a little more interesting.
UPDATE 1.99A - Trial & Error on UI Changes Leads To Sticking With Tried & True + Sadness Seeing the End..
Tonight, I spent several hours working on simplifying the look of the UI, using symbols in the place of words such such as an actual G.E.O.S Gem instead of "G.E.O.S Gems" and a stop watch icon instead of the word "Timer" etc... I adjusted all the code to make everything tidy and neat. I made all the number text for the readouts a nice off white color so it all looked in unison.
..And after all my hours of trial and error, I hated it! I just didn't like it as much myself, so I put it all back, lol. That's the great thing about developing software, you are in complete control of these details in the end, but please take a look below to get an idea of what I tried to do and tell me your thoughts below! :-)
But one thing I did change was I made all the asteroids and enemies and your player ship wrap around from the bottom edge of the UI to the bottom of the screen. This makes it look a lot cleaner I think and prevents asteroids and you from being hidden or jumbled in with the UI words and numbers.
I also made your player trail when thrusting more vibrant and stand out more, as well as enhancing the look of your fired shots with a little more color. Your shots are easier to see now and hey.. it's not much, but it's something.
Anyhow, the monster rocks and tutorial mode is all coming. I'll likely make the tutorial next and then work on the what I have planned for the Monster rocks coming! If you didn't see the "hype pic", it's right here...
I think the players are going to love the monster rocks when I get what I have planned added and coded in.
One thing I am beginning to see however is that I've just about done all I can with Rock 'N Roll. I mean as far as adding new stuff and making it more and more complex. I realized this when I started working on my tutorial mode yesterday and the first part of the tutorial will have a player be invulnerable to the rocks to begin. And this made me wonder why I didn't have an "invisibility" power-up in my game yet. And so my 14th power-up which I call "E.T." for Evanescent Tranquility was born and added to this game yesterday.
But before I simply made "E.T" just another power-up, I brainstormed all the possibilities on how E.T. could be so much more than just another power-up. I toyed with the idea of making it a whole new "risk vs reward" aspect of the game. I almost started programming E.T. as a whole new function tired to the L2 button on the controller or SHIFT by default on the keyboard. It would players to simply use E.T. anytime they wanted to or got in a dangerous predicament in the game. Ghosting to avoid damage. Anytime. But I had a catch in mind with a cost for using it being 100 score points for using it, and that cost doubling each additional second you used it on each level. If you ever had too low of a score to pay the cost for using it and panicked or tried to use it anyhow, it would result in a chance of exploding. Risk VS Reward.
Another button for players to learn. Another function of the game to further complicate my game. I pictured new players buying my game and loving being able to use ET at first passing through asteroids unharmed until they blew themselves up and rage quit my game just moments later in anger. I imaged negative feedback and posts about how complex my old school retro game was and questions as to why I didn't just keep my game simple. I laughed at myself and decided then and there to just make it the 14th power-up and work just like most of the other power-ups already in like Rapid Fire and Cannon Ball, a cool little power-up to use from time to time expiring when the power-up timer ran out.
Looking back now, I truly am shocked at how far my first game here has come. Rock 'N Roll started with just a few power-ups and the main idea of the Spi-Roll attack to get out of harms way, my twist on the old school arcade games hyperspace that teleported you to a random location on the screen.
I never had any idea that in the coming weeks and months, I'd come up with everything I've already added.
Resources and collecting them to sell for game cash or score points and upgrades in an upgrade space station.
I never dreamed then that I'd soon come up with earning G.E.O.S. gems (Galactic Emeralds of Sacrifice) to save the earth or M.E.S.A. (Mass Energy Shield Augmentation) to shield you from death.
And I certainly wouldn't have bet that I'd come up with the idea of a duct taped aluminum beer can as a little turret buddy to help you out that I'd end up naming the "A55 Kicker"
Other ideas that spawned and were added to the game were the "Mother Sucker" power-up to allow you to suck up resources as you blast asteroids and the recently added "Zaxpoleon Dynamite" to allow you to place sticks of dynamite suspended in space to blow things all to hell, including yourself if you're not careful!
..And just yesterday, I added "E.T." to my game (Evanescent Tranquility). And soon, I will add those insanely ridiculous-in-size "monster rocks" and I know people are going to love them because combined with the Zaxpoleon Dynamite, OMG.. it's gonna be a ton of fun. Oh yeah!
But with that, I am starting to see that I've about run Rock 'N Roll as far as it should really be taken with new stuff. Sure, I'll patch it and tweak and balance things for as long as it's a product available for purchase on Steam. Rock 'N Roll is my baby. My first published game. It might not be Call of Duty or PubG but it's still my first born child of code and I'm happy to say that I did it. For someone that has never taken a course or even read a book about coding, I'm proud of this game and what I've accomplished.
I owe a huge "thank you" the the developers and company behind Game Maker Studio as without that excellent engine, it wouldn't have been nearly so possible for me. I highly recommend the Game Maker Studio to anyone out there looking to make their game they've dreamed of making for years a reality. (and Game Maker Studio 2 looks amazing as well, I'll likely get my hands on it in the near future)
I've got new ideas for new games but it's hard to leave and stop trying to make your first born mess of code better and better and better. But it's almost time to move on and just keep on eye on this first child of code, tweaking and fixing it when it needs a little developer love.
My only hope is that just a few people try my game and enjoy playing it even half was much as I enjoyed developing it. That's not to say that it hasn't made me want to pull my hair out a few times, but the reward has definitely been worth the trouble.
Have fun out there. Enjoy your gaming.. or whatever it is that you do.
UPDATE 1.98ET - "E.T." Comes To Rock 'N Roll!
In this update, I've added the 14th different power-up to collect while blasting asteroids and it is called "E.T."! Don't get too excited though, it's not the cute little alien creature from the movies, but this is a really powerful new addition to the game!
E.T. in Rock 'N Roll is short for Evanescent Tranquility and you if you don't know what those words mean, it basically means your ship turns into a cloaked ghost of its regular self allowing you to pass right through enemies and asteroids unharmed!
E.T. is just another reason to consider putting funds into upgrading that powerup time at the Galactic Upgrade Station you'll visit between levels! :-)
I hope you enjoy acquiring and using the new "E.T." powerup in Rock 'N Roll! Have fun out there!
Monster Rock! OMG! Take A Quick Peek At What Is Coming Soon...
If you thought the previous asteroids crumbled into insane numbers...
If you thought asteroids were a "big" danger previously...
You haven't seen anything yet...
Introducing "Monster Rocks". Coming Soon!
Bigger. Badder. Rock. 'N Roll.
UPDATE 1.98 - Customizable Keyboard Settings is Live!
This update should make a few of you Rock 'N Rollers out there really happy.
You can now completely set your own custom keys on the keyboard to whatever keys you desire, and these keys are saved on your local computer for you and retrieved every time you launch the game!
Resetting the keys to the default settings is also easily done by simply clicking the "reset to default" area in the Controls menu item.
All game modes should now tell you what button to press to continue or re-spawn or place bombs or whatever the message is for. Previously the game gave messages such as "Press A on Controller or ENTER to Continue" and the code has now been changed to give messages based on the most current method of control used. For example, you might start playing a game with the keyboard and see messages such as "Press Space to continue" and in mid-game start using a controller and the game should start giving you messages that apply to controller keys used.
A few other changes in this patch are dynamite nerfs to both the end level bosses and the VDS. The dynamite was simply way too strong and way stronger than I intended when creating the Zaxpoleon Dynamite. Neither the VDS or enemy bosses should be able to be completely destroyed by a single dynamite, it should take several or additional attacks from a different source to take these enemies out.
The thrust sound of your ship was also reduced to be much quieter than before, and a few other sound effects were adjusted as well (usually lower).
As always, please let me know in the comments below or in the forums for this game what your thoughts are, or if you come across any bugs or issues with this new patch.
Have a great weekend!
UPDATE 1.97 - Custom Audio Settings and Resolution Options Are In!
This update brings the first real audio and resolution settings to Rock 'N Roll. From the "Settings" screen which can be selected from the main menu, you can now set your preference on Master volume, Music volume, Effects volume, and Voice volume levels as well as choose a resolution that best suits your needs from seven different options.
Once selected, all of these options are saved for you so that next time you boot up Rock 'N Roll (from the same computer or device), your last used settings will be loaded automatically.
This is my first time ever working with saving and changing audio levels with-in a game, so there might be some tweaks needed. Please let me know if you have any problems or suggestions with this update.
More changes are coming including custom key options that will also be automatically saved for you once you set them up. I also plan on getting to work on producing a full featured Tutorial mode as I originally planned with update 1.50 that brought the temporary empty screen you see now.
Until the next update, Have Fun out there and... Rock on!
In this update, the following things have been changed in game..
* All resources have been given unique but much flashier glows to help them stand out from the asteroids. Some resources seem to pulsate a single color now, while others flash multiple colors.
* End level boss fired balls of lightning at you now give you a full second of time from the time you hear the warning fire "chug" sound until the shot is fired. Also changed is that now these boss shots are much more likely to shoot at where your ship position was when the "chug" warning sound is heard instead of the current position of your ship at the time the boss shot occurs. This means that if you move out of harms way when you hear the warning "chug" sound, you'll be much less likely to get hit by the ball of lightning fired at you!
* When restarting a new game from the end game stats screen on the main game mode, the game will now send you directly to the main menu screen rather than sending you back to the game introduction screen.
* Dynamite explosions used against the end level boss ships now explode correctly. The damage hasn't changed, but the explosion effect looks cooler now!
* The font used for the word "Zaxpoleon" in Zaxpoleon Dynamite on the UI for the main game mode now matches the font used in all other UI status indicators.
* End level boss ships now gain slightly more health as you progress through the levels, as well as get more accurate on their fired shots at you.
* A new crafting sound has been added when you craft an A55 Kicker (no sound was heard for this event previously)
More changes are coming. Please feel free to make suggestions or leave feedback on your thoughts and opinions of this game as user feedback is invaluable information to me as a new game developer here on Steam.
Thanks for reading and have fun out there!
NEW! - Play Rock 'N Roll From the 3rd Day of Development (February 2017)
Here is a screenshot of Rock 'N Roll back when I first started development on it back in early February of 2017, almost a full year ago now!
Also, you can take a look at my original Steam Greenlight trailer for Rock 'N Roll right HERE:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=858834361
Now, you can play this very early build of Rock 'N Roll yourself for free when you own the game! This version has no resources, no ship upgrades, no bosses, and only 3 or maybe 4 power-ups. There is Spi-Rolls as they were one of the original concepts behind my game, however there is no controller support, no achievements, and no Steam high scores. This is only for "fun" if you choose to give it a try. It does get harder the more you play.
A couple of interesting tidbits is that the first power-up ever put into this game was "Tri-shot" which was an idea of a moderator on my Youtube channel. The second power-up was Rapid Fire and to this date has NOT changed since it was initially created. The rate of fire and the range have stayed exactly as initially coded and this is a rarity in my game as most aspects of the game have changed quite a lot since that early build.
HERE'S HOW TO ACCESS IT:
The first step is to go to Steam and open up your LIBRARY at the top, find Rock 'N Roll in your list of games, and RIGHT CLICK on it and choose PROPERTIES at the bottom.
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Next, on the Rock 'N Roll Properties window that pops up, click on the BETAS tab at the top right.
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Here, you'll need to enter the beta access code to unlock the July 2017 launch build. Enter "oldrocknrollmusic" with no spaces and all lower-case letters in the blank provided and click the CHECK CODE button to the right.
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And finally, just above you'll now have the "RnR at 3rd day of development Feb 2017" build available to download and play from the drop down options here. (click the down arrow to open up the list of options)
Once selected, Steam should automatically download this old 27 mb early alpha of Rock 'N Roll and it will show in your games list as such:
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Make sure that if you want to go back and play the most current build of Rock 'N Roll that you go back to this BETA tab on the properties window and select "NONE- Opt out of all beta programs" from the drop down list.
Have fun with it! Please let me know what you think of this early development build of Rock 'N Roll if you give it a try in the comments below!
12 New Steam Achievements Added. Bringing the Total Now To 102 Steam Achievements!
12 New Steam achievements have just been added to Rock 'N Roll, giving you guys 102 total achievements to try and collect now!
Stay safe out there with that dynamite! ..Don't blow yourselves up eh? ;-)
