I've been a fan of the original roketz for a very long time and I'm thrilled about this new development.

I have a few questions:

Will there be bindable keys? While I'll probably have to learn to fly with a controller or similar I really think this game should be played with just a keyboard as we always played it on the PC back in the days and the default keyboard buttons are horrible.

Will there be a progression and cash system like the original? The original was of course somewhat broken because if one player got ahead he would continue to do so but perhaps there could be some type of "catch-up" mechanic? Or one round only bonuses or similar.

Will the different ships get different stats?

The "enemy-ship-hit" sound needs to be far more distinct. I used to play very long range with bouncy guns and hearing the hits is an excellent way to determine the location of enemies off screen.

Also I want my spinny grenades of death and the flare is far far too weak. The flare used to be an excellent area denial weapon but now it's just an easily avoidable fountain of small bullets. It needs a lot longer duration and a lot more bounce.

The controls and the game seem a bit stuttery which is sad as this game depends heavily on tight controls. Hopefully it's just because of early access and stuff.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm absolutely ecstatic that someone is trying to remake this and I hope I can bring more paying customers your way.

Hey,

Thanks for checking it out, yea I really enjoyed the original game years ago and thought it was a cool side project to make a new version.

On adding more stuff; I will add (or at least finish) some features from this point - there's some bugs and such that need fixing and some bits of art that need sorting out here and there, and some easy-ish wins to be had in terms of improving the AI and multiplayer features. Beyond that it depends on the combination of how much interest there is (so far you're one of only 3 people to download the game and the only person to pay for it lol) and how much free time I find myself with. But with that said;

>>Will there be bindable keys?

Yea I plan to add this at some point, it's not a massive job. I designed the feel using gamepad primarily as I think that works better for the game, but I imagine a good number of people like keyboards.

>>Will there be a progression and cash system like the original?

I did intend on putting in a single player progression mode of some sort, though likely not cash based. I imagined more that there would be further weapons and equipment/abilities/ship colours that could be unlocked by playing through tournaments. I'd have to make sure everything was quite balanced as I like the idea of the difficulty in the game being about learning to pilot the ships rather than in acquiring more powerful weapons/faster ships etc.

>>Will the different ships get different stats?

Probably not - I always disliked different ships having different capabilities, I like to think of the ships as a visual character and then your play style is selected by what equipment you choose to put on it.

>>The "enemy-ship-hit" sound

I always liked the one from the DOS version of the game - that metal clank sound - but I had some trouble ripping it from the original game. It's not in the source drop I got from the original devs and I haven't figured out how to isolate it yet. I'll look into that further when I get some time, as it was one of the most strangely memorable parts of the original game.

>>Grenades/flares

I need to spend some time refining weapons, there's a lot with weapons/equipment that needs improving/balancing. The flare in particular is tricky because it can be abused so easily.

>>The controls and the game seem a bit stuttery

On keyboard or gamepad or both? It's quite smooth here but I rarely use the keyboard for testing, I'll spend some time in the coming days looking at it closer.

Feel free to give whatever comments/suggestions you have, happy to listen!

regarding progression:

Perhaps something like cs where you get kind of a fixed amount every round but if you performed well you get slightly more and the points you spend are lost. I just remember the early gameplay when all you had was weenie ships the best.

Flare:

The flare was powerful but avoidable. We mostly used it to block pursuit and to lock off spawning points which was useful against spawn campers.

Lastly I miss the teddy bear and that satisfying ship hit clank.

OK I'll look into that!