Austrian student Anton Klinger joined the fifth annual GBJAM in October 2016. He had developed games under the name Accidently Awesome for a few years prior, mainly using Flash, and joining community efforts like game jams was one way to improve his programming. However, he didn't realize this project would take him several-year journey to complete the game Roto Force.
At GBJAM, Klinger and hundreds of others built a Game Boy-themed game in just 10 days. Restrictions were simple; participants had to create every asset of the game during the jam, it needed to have the original Game Boy screen resolution of 160 pixels by 144 pixels, and it had to use only four colors. With these rules in mind, Klinger had a clear vision, but he wanted to add one additional challenge: It needed to play like a Game Boy game, too. The Best War Games spoke to Klinger about Accidently Awesome and the inspirations behind Roto Force for its game jam origins and beyond.
Roto Force is Part Game Boy, Part Mega Drive
As entries in the GBJAM were created to be played on different platforms, their control schemes would vary. Klinger wanted his game to be as close to a Game Boy title as possible, and thus decided to include just four directional buttons and two action buttons. Usually, this would mean movement in four directions, one action button for shooting and another one for jumping, but Accidently Awesome didn't want to play things too traditionally. Jumping had to make room for something faster-paced: dashing.
"Since it's a shoot 'em up, certainly one needs to shoot, and the second one [button] would usually jump, but I decided jumps are lame and dash is much better. So it became shooting and dashing."
One game from Klinger's past that sparked the addition of dashing was Alien Soldier - a sidescrolling platformer originally released for Sega Mega Drive. It followed in the footsteps of games like Contra to deliver fast-paced run-and-gun action where the player controls a super-human killing machine through various stages. However, the game relies heavily on challenging boss fights and other features over standard movement. Klinger's enjoyment came from being able to quickly dash, even damaging enemies when dashing through them, and being able to walk on walls and ceilings in select arenas.
The building blocks of Klinger's jam game had been decided: It would be a Game Boy-themed game with the appropriate control scheme, and it needed an interesting dash and gun gameplay. After a week of building, and just two hours before the deadline, Klinger used his love of Alien Soldier to steer toward the title Pixel Soldier, which combined the pixelated graphics of a classic Game Boy title with his favored gameplay mechanics.
Rotating Pixels Brought About Roto Force
Pixel Soldier placed 12th on Overall Gameplay in a field of nearly 400 entries, which ensured that Klinger was going to continue working on improving it after the jam. Accidently Awesome would build the game for years as a hobby project, and eventually it had become a different beast. While Klinger still considered it a run-and-gun game, the Pixel Soldier name wouldn't cut it anymore. A new visual and gameplay style, where the world rotates around the player-controller character, had been introduced, and this distinct gimmick forced Klinger to rethink the name. After a few iterations, Roto Force was born.
"Rotation of the entire screen came later in the development, but is now one of the hooks of the game. It made it easier for people to associate the gameplay with the game. It was just a better name."
During the years of hobby development with his friend Florian Kager, who produced most of Roto Force's music and SFX, Klinger made various additions including a range of weapons, a multipurpose dash, a myriad of bosses with varying attacks, and even a bit of narrative - something Klinger didn't think he'd ever do. There's still a lot to work on, Klinger assured, but after finishing school earlier this year to go full-time in game development, he finally has a more confident release window for the game.
Roto Force is schedule to release for Mobile and PC in 2022.