Beta Rocco and Renwick - Wacky Platformer

GarlicGuy

Member
Project started 2/13/18
Rocco and Renwick


My current 1 man project. Follows the story of a duo (Rocco the Crocco and Renwick Raven) who are trying to stop a power hungry and corrupt president.

NEW BETA DEMO!

Download link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/et2paq2j80o2gvp/RRBB2 .zip?dl=0


It's a platformer inspired by many platformers. Dialogue is inspired by Banjo Kazooie. There are elements of Donkey Kong, Ninja Gaiden (NES), Crash Bandicoot, Gex, Megaman, and others.

 
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RangerX

Member
First of all, love the style and cool that its a one man project. I think its impressive work you have there so far. Its not easy when you're a one man army!
I love platformers (making one myself afterall) I like you tackle the Banjo-Kazooie style in 2D. I don't recall someone doing that around here. I LOVE your "DKC barrels in hats" too!
I will be watching your progress. :)
 

GarlicGuy

Member
First of all, love the style and cool that its a one man project. I think its impressive work you have there so far. Its not easy when you're a one man army!
I love platformers (making one myself afterall) I like you tackle the Banjo-Kazooie style in 2D. I don't recall someone doing that around here. I LOVE your "DKC barrels in hats" too!
I will be watching your progress. :)
Thanks! I’m a sucker for platformers, there’s just so much you can do with them to make them unique, and you can even add elements from other styles of games...because platformers are just about natural physics (gravity and floors).

I’ll be sure to check out your project too!

"Holy crap, Zombies!!!" haha. This looks awesome. The bird's voice cracks me up too.
Thanks, I wanted her to sound somewhat annoying...but in a charming little sister kind of way. Her voice is a real recording of a raven caw.
 
This looks like a lot of fun, very cool.
Although, while the art looks great, I think the main character doesn't look as good as everything else does. He's animated pretty well though, very impressive.
 

GarlicGuy

Member
This looks like a lot of fun, very cool.
Although, while the art looks great, I think the main character doesn't look as good as everything else does. He's animated pretty well though, very impressive.
Thanks for the feedback!

Looks great and fun too.
Thanks!


————

As far as progress goes, I’ve gotten pretty far along in the past few weeks. I only need to finish the remaining two chapters...throw in some side missions...and the game will be “pretty much complete”.

By “pretty much complete” I mean that right now I’m doing a “Rough Pass”...essentially completing the game at it’s core... extra graphical effects, minor animations, non essential cutscenes, extra detail to the backgrounds will be added later...You can call that “polish” if you want.

This works because great ideas normally come in when a game’s is complete.
 
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poinl

Guest
Yo, this looks like a ton of fun! My only gripe is the room transitions are a bit clunky.
 

GarlicGuy

Member
Yo, this looks like a ton of fun! My only gripe is the room transitions are a bit clunky.
Thanks! The transition is supposed to be a sort of “bite away” effect that also autosaves the game. Originally there were bite sound effects...I took the sound away...I honestly forget why...but anyway the TLDR...I’ll fine tune that later on. Or I’ll just use the Super mario World transition. I appreciate your feedback!

———-

Chapter 5 progress

The Nuke town is starting to take shape...it’s a bit of a rough draft at this point.

This level is supposed to look generic, quiet, and empty. Will act as a sort of “boss arena”.


...here's the after.
 
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GarlicGuy

Member
Act 2 of chapter 5 has an airship theme. Starts off with a sky chase (inspired by sky chase zone from sonic 2). Which I’ve already started on.



I still need to add lightning, and bad guys to kill.

Then goes on to the actual airship stage which will have elements from Doomship stages of Super Mario 3 (meaning it will auto scroll, and there will be cannons) and Sky Deck elements from Sonic Adventure (meaning the ship will pick up speed forcing the player to grab on to somthing, and the ship will flip upside down/all around changing the player’s gravity direction)
 

GarlicGuy

Member
Renwick's Dino form
I think it's about time I gave Renwick more abilities, before I go too much further. I think just helping Rocco double jump is enough.

Added a new ability that is similar the "Talon Trot"...It's called the "Dino Dash". This ability allows the player to move quicker, trample very small or inatimate objects, cross areas Rocco can't, climb steep hills, and with enough land Renwick becomes an invulnerable juggernaut.
This ability is learned at some point of the game.

Next I was thinking of adding an Egg Cannon ability. Using inspiration from the Sonic Adventure 2 MECH system...basically you line up multiple targets and release a barrage of homing fire.
 

GarlicGuy

Member
EGG GUN



Another ability that the duo will learn. Can be aimed in about every direction. You can do a small jump while using EGG GUN...but you can not move left or right.

I plan to add various egg types. Scrapped the Sonic Adventure 2 mech homing idea...it made things too easy.
 

GarlicGuy

Member
I've made the game into somewhat of a Metroidvania. By "Somewhat" I mean that not all areas are connected and the world select is a break between each one....But there are separate areas in each world that you can explore...I hope that makes sense.

Waste Land 1.2 Vid - Shows the wasteland world off, Blowy the Cloud, and a hog ride stage.


Land Fill 0.2 Vid - Shows off a few changes I've made. The entrance to this area from septic springs. Going underwater changes the pass filter of the music and fades the background. The magnets I showed in gifs will appear deeper into this area.


 
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markfe

Guest
Your game looks super fun!

I like your art style because it looks kind of mixed together but still makes a good whole.
It seems you are having a lot of fun with the design and you take the freedom to put a lot of cool, crazy ideas together in a world where everything is allowed. Relaxes me in an odd way.

I love the "inside the ship" idea!

Cool that you make some areas interconnected!

Will you make something we can play? :)
 

GarlicGuy

Member
Thanks for the feedback guys! Yes, I'm having a blast making this because I've made a world with no rules! When I run out of ideas, I pull a wild card. First project where the inspiration keeps coming.

As for a new demo...I'm just not sure what stage(s) I want to show off in my next demo. It'll come to me.

I've made a new boss fight. An evil enchantress turns Rocco into a Crocodile skin bag full of an unlimited amount of eggs, so Renwick's gotta take care of business. A strong reference to Humba Wumba from Banjo Kazooie...and a little bit of Parodious just to break up the platforming for some side-scrolling shooting.

 
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ethian

Guest
The recently published boss battle and its visual style reminds of Homestuck for some reason...
 

GarlicGuy

Member
Finished a new stage! Rocco and Renwick seek the help of an ancient guardian to stop the evil enchantress seen in the boss fight (which happens after a few other events occur in the game).

This stage is the "Astral Plane". A death fall stage with animated backgrounds, spiked walls that chase you. The Guardian himself is named Cacto. He's pretty lazy and makes the Rocco backtrack just a bit to get a beer from his fridge.

I'm pretty happy with the music I composed for this stage. I was going for epic - tribal.


The recently published boss battle and its visual style reminds of Homestuck for some reason...
Wasn't familiar with that reference! Googled it...I think I see where you're coming from.
 

GarlicGuy

Member
Entering Houses in towns

I've added another layer to the exploration. house Interior art style will be Earthbound inspired.

Using an object called obj_doorway, and giving each instance a creation code with 3 very important variables: new_x, new_y (moves the player object + view x/y to a new x,y coordinate when the room starts) and room_go (the room you're going to).

Creation code for doorway object when exiting a house:

room_go = rm_hubworld2
new_x = 1300
new_y = 464

This will shift the camera and player in front of the hut they were just in...There is a cool off so the player cant enter/exit like crazy.

I can have endless doorways that can send the player to any x,y coordinate of any room in the game that I want.

 
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markfe

Guest
I played the beta. It was super fun!
The main characters and the story are cool!
The character animations are great and all the moves work super well.
I like the sprite scaling animation, it gives a smooth feeling to the characters.
Also all the side characters are amazing, and there are so many of them!
I think your game will be super successful!

Here are some small things I was noticing:
After launching, I was looking for a "full screen" option.
Not sure if I missed it?? Would be amazing to have, because there are so many details that I played with my nose touching the screen.

My controller was not immediately recognized, but when I switched it from Xinput to DirectInput, it worked well.

The dialogs were a bit fast for me, but only on long sentences. Could be me, because english is not my native language.

I stopped playing in the clouds/ice level and when I restarted the game, I had to rescue the doll again. Could not find a save option, and assumed it was autosaved...?

I found the movement on the ladders just a little bit to slow. But that is my personal preference.

At one point I got this error:
############################################################################################
FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Step EventobjLadder
for object obj_player:

Variable obj_player.key_up(100285, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_obj_player_Collision_272
############################################################################################
It seemed to have happened randomly. Sorry, no hint on that one.

Thats all. I think the biggest thing for me is the full screen. With that, it is already an awesome game!
Thanks again for the demo! :)
 

GarlicGuy

Member
@Yrbiax - Thanks so much for playing! Ok, I will turn the blowing power of that cloud down. As for those lines, it looks like one of my draw_background events went little nuts...Seems like part of the desert floor is in the sky...never seen that, but I'll look into fixing it.

@markfe - Thanks a lot for playing! There are a ton more side characters throughout the game.

YES, the game autosaves, it does after you get all four thieves, but does not when you get the doll.
I'll add a way to manually save in addition to the auto save.... I'll make the ladder speed a hair faster. I should add a "dialog speed" option, the system I put in place can easily allow it.


Looks like controls and game feel aren't an issue! Those are the most important things. Seems 'Blowy Cloud' gave you guys trouble, I was worried about that, I'll nerf him a bit.

Edit : Oh and no there is no full-screen option. I'll do something about that.
 
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GarlicGuy

Member
STAGE MISSIONS

I don't want to make a simple "Go Right You Win" platformer...YES...There are missions where progressing to the GOAL is all you do...But I want to give each stage a handful of unique missions! Like the thief catching mission in the trailer park stage (Playable in Demo).

I've made a new mission in the Wasteland stage. Once you make it through the wasteland once, a 'Cactus Nurse' appears in the village...She asks for your help with saving her brothers outside the village. You basically distract the gang members while she heals the passed out Cactus guys...Occasionally grabbing medical supplies she "drops".

 
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Pfap

Member
Just downloaded and played your beta! I thought it was too difficult, but I love the feel of the game. I was getting frustrated during the first sewer level; there's that pizza on the platform, where the flying chickens come at you and I could not get to it. I also tried playing it with an xbox controller on windows and that didn't work either... not sure about xinput or directinput so I just used the keyboard. I'm not sure if I was missing some of the controls? It took me quite awhile to figure out that I needed to hit the A key to start the game. Also, since no one else has mentioned it yet... is Thanos by any chance the inspiration for the green guy that makes you bring him a beer?
 

GarlicGuy

Member
Just downloaded and played your beta! I thought it was too difficult, but I love the feel of the game. I was getting frustrated during the first sewer level; there's that pizza on the platform, where the flying chickens come at you and I could not get to it. I also tried playing it with an xbox controller on windows and that didn't work either... not sure about xinput or directinput so I just used the keyboard. I'm not sure if I was missing some of the controls? It took me quite awhile to figure out that I needed to hit the A key to start the game. Also, since no one else has mentioned it yet... is Thanos by any chance the inspiration for the green guy that makes you bring him a beer?
Thanks for playing! I haven't tested the game with the Xbox controller. Sounds like I've got some work to do.

No Thanos wasn't my inspiration for the cactus god, but now that you mention it...I can't unsee it. :p

------

I changed the ants to Spartans. I wanted to give them more character. Also starting to add foes that can only be attacked from certain angles or with certain attacks.
 

GarlicGuy

Member
I had designed then removed a fast food kitchen stage. I decided to resurrect it. There is a HOT section and COLD section. The music changes depending on which you are in.

Added a New NPC named Elmer the fry cook. New Button Blocks that vanishes after a short time.
New Door-and-Key system.



 

GarlicGuy

Member
World Plots

I've been working on the stories within each world. I don't want any second to feel like filler.

The wasteland is a war zone between the once peaceful cactus people...And a desert gang. You help the cactus people progress further and further to the gangs camp...Earning respect from the cactus people, and putting fear in the desert gang. The tone is this world is serious at times, but there is still humor.

 
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