Category: rockbot

Due to the removal of Rockbot from Google from Play Store, at this time, I have no interest in developing Rockbot. Please remember, this is not a company, I get no money from the game. My payment is just satisfaction from developing games on my free time.

I will still finish Rockbot2, but, won’t be doing that anytime soon, because I need to clear thing a bit and leave the dust to settle down.

That said, I am now working on a new title, with codename Project Firefly – not the final game name that is a secret until we get more later into development. Characters and graphics will be created by my wife while I, as usual, will take care of coding. More details about the project will only be revealed later, but there are a few things I can speak of right now.

1. The game will be a MetroidVania-like game. It will contain areas, with several linked maps. The idea of this is to make the game endlessly expansible. I will be able to add more areas later in the game.
2. Won’t be tottally editable as Rockbot. Makint it editable as Rockbot2 was, while a noble goal, is a nightmare and makes the game take much more time. So all cutscenes, bosses and some details will be just hardcoded. Let me give an example. There is a Boss on Shantae Half Genie Hero, that is a giant mermaid that you need to free from chains, destroing the gears that are holding her, before actually fighting her. This kind of thing was not possible in Rockbot, because I needed to make the boss simple enough the user could be able to create his behavior in the editor. Now I will be able to just create in code custom bosses with their own special characteristics.
3. Part of the code was refactored and it now uses SDL2. SDL is the library that provides graphics, threads, timer, sound and input for developing the game. Previous version was 1.2, and was picked because of portability to older platforms such as Playstation2. As the new game requirements will be far greater than Rockbot, there is no sense in using the old version. New one is better supported in Android and also is now backed by Steam/Valve.
4. Speaking of requirements, Firefly Project will run on 720p resolution and 60 fps. SDL2 helps a git to improve speed, but the truth is, if your device is slow and can’t run it, sorry, that is life. Right now, performance and Android are not part of development concerns.
5. The differential of the game will be mechanics similar to Dizzy games, that you use items in some places and get new items to use somewhere else.
6. Don’t expect a release anytime soon. I am just starting and there is a lot of work to be done.

I will make a FAQ for this project later, when I have the time. See you.

This post is for people asking me why Rockbot was removed from store. If you do not want to know about that DO NOT READ and create videos complaining about my personal page, ok AZHL?!

Again Rockbot was removed from the Google Play Store due to “impersonating” other apps.
I don’t use Mega Man or Rockman names, nor do I say I am Capcom or this is an official Megaman game.
I try to avoid to use any copyrighted material, and when I found one left from the past, I launch an update and remove. Yes, the game is suposed to LOOK like Megaman, be similar to it, but with different graphics. Even with that, some people just look at Rockbot and call it Megaman in purple and flag the game as copyright infrigement without even looking at our FAQ that states we want they to tell me if they find a problem.

People think this is just the game image. Look at the arms and legs! Similar is not the same nor a theft.

I am quite sad. Look, I make this for free, but sometimes it is just not worth the effort in the face of internet trolls. I am tired of this.
If Google don’t tell me what they found wrong, don’t want to remove the suspensional, that is it, Rockbot will be dead in the Play Store. I will keep distributing the APK and put it on Amazon app store, but not on Google anymore. And you know what? Thinking better, I will just make an special version for Google and trolls, only square colors like Atari 2600 games. No graphics at all.

The excellent work by Simone Bernacchia can be obtained from:

https://jmdamigamusic.bandcamp.com/album/rockbot-1-soundtrack

Here is a new release for Rockbot1, with lots of small touches, bug fixes and an incredible new soundtrack by Simone Bernacchia.
Some builds are still being built, so please be patient. Also, my Playstation 2 crashed a while ago, and the replacement I got, just also died, so there is no way I can test the build for this platform right now. Also, there seems to be a problem in OpenDingux with sound not playing, I will investigate when I have more time.

This should be the last update in Rockbot1, unless some really nasty bug is found. From now on, only Rockbot2 will receive any attention.

Release notes are as follows:

• New soundtrack by Simone Bernacchia!
• Enemy projectile not moving if he is not on-screen
• Bring back classic stage selection
• Bring back castle stages intro
• Dash shadow effect
• AI: fly+dash to player
• ANDROID: fix crash in boss credits
• Font outline for better reading
• New door object for middle-stage bosses
• New graphic for stage-boss teleporter
• Show commands (< > ENTER, etc) on manual’ bottom
• Separate manual parts between game-specific and general
• Got weapon music playing two times, should not play on colors celebration

As usual, you can grab it from our Downloads page.

First and foremost, I want you to please notice, Upperland Studios is not an actual company, nor we gain any money from the game right now. Rockbot is a homebrew game, literally; and I have a daily job because making free games does not pay any bills. Check the FAQ for further details.

Now about the recent development of Rockbot 1 and 2, sadly I need to inform there is none being done currently.

This year is by far one of the most complicated in all my life. In short, I was fired from a job I loved, the new job is good, but I’m still learning about the system I’m developing for, so it takes a lot of energy from my person. There were other family problems, and during this very complex time my older brother passed away. A lot more happened after that, so I had no mindset to work on Rockbot anymore.

I am still recovering from the series of unfortunate events and, meanwhile, I am focusing in renovating my apartment. With the help of my dear wife, I painted the room that we use as an office for our computers and games because I got new furniture to hold all my game consoles, DVDs and some toys I do collect. I will now paint the bedroom, that will receive new furniture to store bed linen and other stuff, so my house becomes more organized, as I also organize my emotions and toughs.

I hope you please understand that, this is why Rockbot’s development is not a priority on my life right now. Once I again feel the passion for developing games, I will resume work, rest assured. But for now, I will take a break.

Iuri Fiedoruk.

• make lighting effect transparent with alpha
• make enemies projectiles appear above them
• fall and up/down platforms must not stop on spikes
• more items and checkpoints for easy difficulty
• #105: reset jump when starting or restarting stage
• #70: remove 3rd level showing on celebration
• #95: reset charging sound and reset button state when changing weapons
• #100: check direction for second projectiles
• #106: do not call update screen when showing BG in boss_presentation
• #108 implement crash report system for errors generated by the game-engine itself
• #102: update save-slot selection images
• #104: add RLE optimization in set_surface_alpha

Don’t forget to inform bugs, errors or problems to bugs@upperland.net.

• new animation for coil and jet teleport
• #54: Infoway: pop-up enemies on stairs are displaced
• #74: Change metools to attack on player direction
• #77: Hero displacement at checkpoint restart
• #80: Power-ups disappear when going into inventory
• #83: Correct variable names in fly-to-ran(x/y/point)
• #84: Dark Mine: secret area blocks are badly synced, no way to get back
• #85, #86: Ground turrets displaced
• #87: fading blocks get hero stuck
• #88: When stage starts, horizontal ray shows cut
• #89: When stage starts, vertical ray won’t show animation
• #96: Fixes for gamepad controller
• #93: New projectile types: missile rain and double shot
• useSDL_gfx rotate in target_exact missiles, fixes #76, #71 and #55
• adjust proguard mapaing location in android’s build script, fixes #98
• reset timer to zero for disappearing blocks, fix #64, fix #44
• add debug tools, fix #23
• remove projectiles and npc_freeze_effect when player changes weapon, fix #79
• remove old and deprecated get_hitbox from npc class, use the one from character instead, fix #99
• missing game_save on parameter, fixes #46
• set saved_point on first AI* execution
• implement solution for #70, improve celebration
• move player to above platform to prevent him getting stuck, fixes #87
• new projectile type, rain of bombs
• create large-beam (like a kamehameha) projectile-type
• fix object transition on stairs
• fixes for projectile spawning children
• fixes for physical joystick config
• new graphics from Boberatu for Dr. Destrin, Giant Toxic Hat and more
• make freeze effect stop objects, fixes #69
• missing adjust_y in some object types show method. fixes #68

So, lots of people believes Upperland as a great game development studio, with professionals goind forth and back. Sorry, but the game only can’t be called a garage one, because I live into an apartment, so I have no garage at all, nor a car.

But, to satisfy people’s curiosity, I’ll show a few pictures of the environment where I code and develop Rockbot.