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[hutty]

Welcome to the Rocket Theater 1.1 Balance Event! With new maps, new characters, new graphics and plenty of new tricks to preform, this is the biggest update for Rocket Theater yet!

Download: https://aloe-vertex.itch.io/rocket-theater-rehearsal

But why is it called the Balance Event you ask? Well, to balance out the characters of course. Seeing as each character has a wildly different set of abilities, us developers need insight from the players to see how the characters hold up in both low and high level play. We would also like to see if any surprises emerge when the characters are put under a fresh set of eyes.



To aid in this we added a pocket leader-board that sits on the main menu, so you can, at a glance, see which character has the highest score and who was the player that achieved it.
( the scores above are from an earlier dev build and do not reflect the current balance of the characters) 


NEW FEATURES:

Firstly, new character models.

Bill and Chrono have been refreshed to look more refined as well as two new characters, Shader and Grapple.


A new FX stack. Each map now has its own color correction settings as well as better bloom rendering. Additionally, important characters and objects now have outlines as well as the explosions.


Journal Menu, this isn't complete yet, but it is functional. This menu details every trick in the game and gives you a descrition of how to do it, as well as listing how many times you performed the trick as we


New Map! Datapoint. This map was made to stress test characters in small locations. The map has a small layout with only two ammo packs. Unlike the other maps on Datapoint, playing as Bill is more challenging than the other characters.


NEW CHARACTERS:


SHADER
Shader is a fast paced character who relies on cloning them-self to reset a constantly counting down timer. Gameplay focuses around spawning tons of clones and then shooting them with rockets to release energy, which you use to make even more clones. This character was in the previous build in a very basic form, now it has a new model, new fx and is fleshed out for better gameplay.

-



GRAPPLE
Grapple is a slower paced character where you need to eat fish to survive. You only get 4 "rockets" for ammo so most of your movement will be based around good use of your grapple hooks.


Download:
https://aloe-vertex.itch.io/rocket-theater-rehearsal

Developers :
Ian Feldschneider (chromewing) http://www.ianfeldschneider.com/
- Lead game designer
- Programmer

Lawrence Granroth (hutty) http://lawrencegranroth.net/portfolio.html
- Artist
- Media/Promotions/Marketing

[hutty]

Hello, while we are behind schedule, Rocket Theater is turning into something beautiful.

Skycast Mines
In response to feedback we have been receiving saying that the game is too visually chaotic, we have made some changes. We have adjusted the art style of our game to be more readable when things are moving quickly.



Skycast Mines has been in development for a while, but this is the first version with detailing that is "playable". The map follows a strict color pallet, browns-greys are walls the player collides with, while light oranges-blues are things in the background they do not need to worry about. This makes the map very readable when zooming around at a fast pace.



The detailing in the map is mostly done with height-mapped geometry and  procedural textures. These textures are baked in at the same time as the ambient shadows using blender. This allows me to create large detailed levels rather quickly. And of course, procedural textures never repeat.

User Interface

To further improve readability, we have redesigned the user interface quite a bit. Ammo indicators have been relocated away from the center of the screen and the trick-tracker has been redesigned completely. The new trick-tracker starts as a list, but turns into a stack of icons once the list gets far enough down the screen. When the stack reaches a corner, it turns the corner and keeps going. The trick-tracker will wrap all the way around the screen if you get a combo that is large enough.

Particle Effects


Another thing we have improved are the particle effects. Rockets and explosions are now clearly visible. The particles are created with 3D solids and provide a very volume-metric feel to the smoke.





We are working to get a demo out later this month. Thanks for the feedback so-far we appreciate it.
- Rocket Theater team.

[hutty]

Howdy, Rocket theater now has another new map! Well, technically its the same map from the gif at the top post, but it has tripled in size and been re detailed aesthetically.

I present the new Techno Tundra.






Here is an itty bitty gif of the map in action.


At the moment its just the base layout with a basic level of detailing. The map specific  gimmicks still need to be programmed.

We have more coming soon.

-- Rocket Theater Development Team

[foofter]

I really like the feeling of tiny-ness in a huge world. Nice touch!

[Indiana-Jonas]

that movement looks really fluid, environment looks neat too! cool cool

[hutty]

The first demo for Rocket Theater is now available!
you can grab it here for free. https://aloe-vertex.itch.io/rocket-theater-rehearsal (270Mb download)

We released this early alpha build so that we can get some quality feedback before launching the kickstarter phase of development. The game has functioning online leader-boards so go ahead and compete for the number one spot.

Player feedback would be appreciated, if you have anything to say about the game, you can reply to this thread, the itch.io forum, or hit up the official subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/RocketTheater/

Have Fun!
- Rocket Theater Team

[hutty]

Update! : Our first weekly update to Rocket Theater is now LIVE.
You can download it from here! (its free) https://aloe-vertex.itch.io/rocket-theater-rehearsal

Rocket Theater Alpha 1.0.2 includes a couple new features.



Firstly, the main menu has been overhauled to be as sexy as feasibly possible. The background has been blurred to prevent the screen from becoming too noisy. We also reorganized the buttons into a vertical list and flattened the logo. Overall, its much cleaner that it was previously.





Secondly, we got a great deal of feedback (mostly from play-testers on reddit) in regards to the tutorial and how it was terrible. We took that feedback from heart and rebuild the tutorial from the ground up. It now is briefer, prettier, and includes little animated screens that demonstrate the moves. Overall we hope this will provide a much improved experience for new players and the percentage of players who quit on the tutorial won't be so embarrassingly high.



Thirdly, for any previous players here, the Techno Tundra map has been revamped. The layout has been modified significantly providing a better flow. Although currently it is a little sparse on the detailing, we plan to work on that in the next update.



Lastly we added some visual effects to the audience tracker so you can better see how what your are doing lines up with the audience members you are attracting.

We will continue to publish updates to Rocket Theater with maps, characters, and content during the alpha stages of development. All alpha updates are free and we release every Thursday.

https://aloe-vertex.itch.io/rocket-theater-rehearsal

Stay tuned and have fun.
- Rocket Theater Team

[hutty]

Update! : Version 1.0.3 is now live
This update is a little smaller than last weeks but it has some key changes.

Noteably, controller support. Rocket Theater now supports gamepads and controllers.


We are also working on a new aesthetic for the tundra zone of the game.
This new aesthetic utilizes modular pieces to make up the map instead of 100% custom geometry, so we will be able to roll out maps quicker in the future.


As usual you can grab a copy for yourself from here https://aloe-vertex.itch.io/rocket-theater-rehearsal

[Pixelologist]

I don't understand how "theater" has any place in the title. Maybe I missed something going over your game too quickly?

[hutty]

The context of the game is preforming in front of an audience. As you do tricks, you will start seeing audience members taking seats and watching. We disabled the audience for the first few missions so it wouldn't intrude on introducing other game mechanics so if you only played those I could see how you missed it.

As we update the game (and the hud) it will be clearer, sorry for the confusion.

[hutty]

Update 1.1 is up!

Loads of changes, new leaderboards, new characters, and such.
Scroll up to the top post for more details.

You can grab it here, https://aloe-vertex.itch.io/rocket-theater-rehearsal, as usual.