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[CastlePixel]

Releasing August 5th on Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/288020/




Hi all!

We've decided to start a devlog to share our progress and receive feedback from our fellow devs on a game that we've been working on for the past year. Rex Rocket is a retro metroidvania-style game with a heavy influence from classic 2D platformers like Megaman and Metroid, as well as Cave Story. To bring people up to speed, I linked a lot of content below. Enjoy!

Keep checking back as we'll be consistently posting awesome new stuff that we'd love for you all to check out. Thanks and please vote for us on Greenlight if you like what you see!

Cheers
Team Castle Pixel


Website
http://www.castlepixel.com

Greenlight
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=139942364

Kickstarter [Successfully funded]
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1441844041/rex-rocket


























This is a video clip from the starting section.

[CastlePixel]

Added a new enemy today, the Cactus bot.

Very similar to the cactus enemies from mario, you can either blast this guys in the head segment for the kill.



or if you can destroy the body segments till only the head is left, the head will bounce around and try to hit you.




Beginning work on the cutter bot.  This is an old enemy design that I never got around to breaking out.   The arms are extendable and only take on damage when shot in the head area.

[OniWorld]

Looks pretty sweet, just one question though - what's it programmed in?

You're targeting alot of platforms, just wondering if you're using a pre-existing solution such as Unity to publish to these platforms or if you're writing it from scratch?

[CastlePixel]

Looks pretty sweet, just one question though - what's it programmed in?

You're targeting alot of platforms, just wondering if you're using a pre-existing solution such as Unity to publish to these platforms or if you're writing it from scratch?

We're using XNA and Monogame to reach most of the platforms I mentioned.   For Wii U we will be porting over our code though.

Very nice, I'll probably get it together with WiiU in a month or so.

The only thing I didn't like is that sometimes the text lines get too long （too many characters per line), makes it hard to read。 For example 1:20 in the Kickstarter video. Not a deal breaker though.

Thanks for the feedback! 


Some new stuff I did last night

Directional platforms will move in their designated direction once a player touches them.  When they collide with a wall or enemy, they fall to the ground and explode.   

[Udderdude]

I see an expanded NES palette .. :O

[CastlePixel]

I see an expanded NES palette .. :O

You see correctly :D


Tonight I broke out the hydraulic press.  The middle segments can tile so the widths can vary in size.  When adding them to levels, we can set properties for width, the speed at which they extend, and the distance that they extend to.   Also, we can set if the press should automatically extend / contract or if the they should be triggered when the player is under/over them.


Council Gaurd bunkers have also been added.

[CastlePixel]

Tanks are finished.  These guys will be introduced a few rooms before the player gets grenades.   Without grenades, the tanks will be pretty difficult to kill.  They will require multiple shots from the blaster (20-30) before they blow up.   After they are destroyed by the blaster, the Council Guard inside will still be alive and you will have to kill him as well.   A single grenade, however, will kill both tank and driver.

[rocket5tim]

Hello CastlePixel! Really glad to see you doing a devlog here, I played an early version of Rex Rocket at Bit Bazaar a few months ago and it was really fun! Looking forward to following the rest of the development! -Tim

[Rosstin]

I dig the new color scheme of the Barracks. Very cool, very Mega Man.

[MrPhil]

The art is great, top notch!

Question, when you launched your Kickstarter did you already have a fan base?

[Retro-Rob]

No we didn't. Have a fan base.

[MrPhil]

Thanks for answering.  That's what I'm working on Good luck!

[mhughson]

Backed you on Kickstarter and looking forward to seeing some behind the scenes stuff! You should consider posting this on a Kickstarter update; I imagine there are others like me that would like to read it!

[CastlePixel]

Backed you on Kickstarter and looking forward to seeing some behind the scenes stuff! You should consider posting this on a Kickstarter update; I imagine there are others like me that would like to read it!

Thanks for the pledge!  We are planning on linking to this thread in our next update.  Should be at the end of this week.

Thanks for answering.  That's what I'm working on Good luck!

I answered from my phone in the last post. We had no following when we launched our kickstarter and just put a lot of work into contacting press websites to get the word out.  One of the great things that we took away from kickstarter (funding aside) was the great fan base. 

[CastlePixel]

Completed the drone-bot and we added in the ceiling traps.  A panel wiggles loose from the ceiling and different enemies can then fall out.  This shows Council Guards parachuting in.  We'll also have Helper bots and oozlings and other various enemies use these to get a jump on the player. 




This is a new enemy that I broke out today.

The body will avoid the player and releases small clones of itself that home in on the player.   

Claw bot was also added in today -



Some various animations that were completed
Power Up animation. 


Tank from yesterday

[CastlePixel]

Added some new blaster muzzle animations.  Finally landed on this one.    We spent a good bit of time today chalking up what still needs to be done for the barracks. We're planning on releasing a a playtest to our kickstarter backers in mid November.

[CastlePixel]

Hello CastlePixel! Really glad to see you doing a devlog here, I played an early version of Rex Rocket at Bit Bazaar a few months ago and it was really fun! Looking forward to following the rest of the development! -Tim

Sorry, I totally missed your comment.   Thanks though Tim!  We had a blast a bitbizaar, it was an awesome experience. I just read through the phantom p.i. dev log, I'm glad to see it's coming along really nicely :D

We've been hard at work for the past week on the barracks zone for the past week.  Setup this cutscene for it today.



You run into this scene shortly after the Electro-bot boss.   LAUREN and the Commando-bot threaten Zanas life unless Tyler gives up the self destruct codes.  Fearing for Zana's safety, Tyler gives the codes up.

[CastlePixel]

New charge shot animation added


http://www.castlepixel.com/screenshots/chargeshot.swf


We've also done some tweaking to the Zappy Buddy Bots



I just figured out how to make animated gifs.  I'll post more tomorrow.

[moi]

looks real cool in game

[CastlePixel]

looks real cool in game

Thanks!


bullet reflectors


Bot platforms