The independent game developer, Accidently Awesome, built its first commercial game over years of intermittent development.Roto Forcestarted as a game jam entry in 2016 and grew gradually to become Anton Klinger’s first-ever full-fledged game title. However, the development brought along troubles that the then-student couldn’t have foreseen.
The game’s origin as a ten-day stint to enter a game jam competition affected the entire years-long production thereafter. This also meant thatRoto Forcewouldn’t outgrow its roots, for better or for worse. It started as aGame Boyjam entry and was awarded 12th place for Overall Gameplay under its initial name,Pixel Soldier. The game evolved drastically after the competition but had its ups and downs. Game Rant talked to Klinger aboutRoto Force’s genre-combining gameplay and issues in development.
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Programming Roto Force and Platform Issues
Klinger went through a change of programming platforms before starting the development of his first commercial game. The choice to createPixel Soldierwith Java sprung from familiarity with the programming language and new tools. The tools, including game library libGDX, helped him achieve goals faster. After all, the initial product had to be finished in just over a week.
This made Accidently Awesome’s one-man coding team more effective but resulted in other issues later in the development. Many of them weren’t considered when entering a community competition with a tight deadline. While Java was a very versatile language and supported by many platforms, Klinger realized game consoles do not have Java runtime. This meant that the game couldn’t be released for consoles unless ported to adifferent language asMinecrafthas done.
Currently, the plan is to finish the game, then talk to a porting company, and get it to consoles. So consoles are not going to be part of the initial release, but it’s going to happen a little later.
This, and some other issues, became evident to Klinger during the later stages of the development. He couldn’t release aGame Boy-themedgame on any console, at least not yet. After finishingRoto Forceand releasing it, plans include getting a third party to port it for consoles. When asked about the release window, Klinger revealed thatRoto Forcewould be available later this year.
Building Roto Force From the Ground Up
Roto Forceis a genre-combining game with Game Boy-like controls and visuals, and exciting fast-paced gameplay. Klinger considers it everything from a bullet hell game to a run-and-gun or a twin-stick shooter. He hasdrawn inspiration from Game Boy games and old-school platformerslikeAlien Soldierand has even been influenced by the classic arcade hall gameTempest. However, Klinger says the game was never and will never be an arcade game.
The mastermind behindRoto Forcedoesn’t hate or even dislike arcade games. It was merely a decision that was made early on in the development, which had to be followed through.Pixel SoldierorRoto Forcenever had apoint system or leaderboards. Klinger recognizes that he could add combo multipliers and other things to create a point structure, but that is not the game he wanted to make. According to him, a point structure needs to be built into the game from the very first moment.
The thing is, it’s not really an arcade game, even though people say it should be. Initially, it wasn’t thought of as an arcade game so adding points after the fact isn’t a good idea, in my opinion.
Roto Forcestill has some completion tracking mechanics, so the player isn’t left without things to improve upon. Every stage ends with a closing screen showing time spent and lives lost. This makes it possible to havespeedrunsand no death runs. He’s also added other features to create more replay value. After completingRoto Force, the player can choose a one-life Ironman mode, “no movement, only dashing” mode, or even a combination of modifiers.
Roto Force 2 or Arcade Spinoff?
Accidently Awesome is soon ready to releaseRoto Force, after which Klinger enters the post-release stage where he has to decide what to do next. He has plenty of ambitions and wants to make the most out of becoming a full-time independent game developer. Some ideas include freepuzzle gamesfor smartphones that would act as advertising for the commercial titles developed by Accidently Awesome. However, he has also considered sequels forRoto Force.
I already have so many ideas for sequels to Roto Force… I don’t think I’m going to make a direct Roto Force sequel immediately, but maybe an arcade spinoff.
After developingRoto Forceoff and on for nearly six years, he’s had a lot of ideas that were not fit for his first game. According to him, it’s not likely thatRoto Force 2would be the next big thing, but there might be room for a different take onRoto Force. He mentions that a lot of people have wantedRoto Forceto be an arcade game, and while that would never be the case, Klinger is considering it as a spin-off. It would be an arcade spin-off that would be built from the ground up with a point system in mind, but that is still very far on the horizon. Currently, Klinger is focusing on delivering his first commercial game to the public.
Roto Forcewill be available for Mobile and PC in 2022.
