ROTCES_C

Local multiplayer (split screen) duel shooter with MOBA elements, in space

You and your enemy fight over the ownership of an asteroid field with valuable ressources.

• If your enemy's ship is destroyed three times, you win

• Secure and defend control points to upgrade your ship

• Retreat to your defensive stations and repair your ship if you are close to being destroyed

• Destroy enemy defensive stations to reduce the hiding spots of the enemy

Two players (no AI available) and two gamepads required to play. Playing via network is not supported to date (Steam's Remote Play Together might be a workaround).

Recommended to be played in 16:9 (for other aspect ratios, GUI might be buggy). Minimum framerate is 40 – lower FPS reduces game speed.

Not quite sure about the minimum requirements yet – it runs fine with a 4.0 Ghz quadcore and a GTX 980 Ti, but can't say much about other systems.

The game is still quite fresh (and it's my first published game), feedback about bugs, performance problems and balancing are always welcome!

Controls

• Left stick – move ship

• Right stick – rotate ship

• Any shoulder button – fire plasma salvo

• Button "west" (square/X) and "east" (circle/B) – cycle selection in upgrade menu

• Button "south" (cross/A) – upgrade selection

• Start – pause and unpause game

• Select – show fps counter

Components of your ship

Engine

• Allows movement and rotation

Plasma guns

• Fires mid-range energy projectiles; high damage, but can't pierce shields

• Ships are equipped with 6 manual plasma guns (fires a salvo) and 6 auto plasma guns (auto-aims at enemy)

Torpedo launcher

• Launches long-range 4 homing torpedos with moderate damage and moderate piercing; a torpedo hit powers down the engine of a ship for a short period of time

Hangar

• Launches long-range drones (interceptors and destructors) that follow your ship and automatically attack enemies nearby.

• Destructor: slow bomber drone with extremely strong and shield-piercing but low-range beam weapon. Attacks enemy ship and station (most efficient against stations).

• Interceptor: fast fighter drones with small plasma weapon. Their mission is to eliminate enemy destructors before they reach your ship, and to eliminate enemy interceptors defending their ship.

Point defense

• Small defensive high-velocity kinetic projectiles, shot with high fire rate; shoots down enemy torpedos and offers some protection against enemy drones.

Shield and hull

• The last defense before being destroyed. Shield automatically recharges over time. 75 % of the damage the hull has taken can be repaired at the defensive repair station.

Component upgrades

Engine upgrade

• Engine power +15 %

Plasma upgrade

• Reload time -15 %

• Bullet speed +10 %

• Bullet range +10%

Torpedo upgrade

• Reload time -15 %

• Range +10%

Drones upgrade

• Launch time -15 %

• Maximum number of interceptors +2

• Maximum number of destructors +2

Shield upgrade

• Maximum shield capacity is increased by 1/3 of base value

• Instantly recharges 1/2 of base value

Maximum of 3 upgrades per component. Effects given in % are multiplicative. Effects only apply to your ship, not to defensive stations nor to drones itself.

Component upgrades cost 50 ressources each for Mk 1, 55 ressources each for Mk 2, and 60 ressources for Mk 3.

Call reinforcements

Strike

• Launches a wave of independent, long-rage destructors that attack the enemy ship and defensive stations

Costs 13 ressources per destructor, minimum of 8 destructors (104 ressources). All your currently available ressources are invested.

Tactics and tips

• Retreat to your defensive stations if you can't win a 1-on-1 fight.

• Flying straight forward is by way the fastest (your maximum speed sideways or backwards is about 30 % smaller)

• Don't rely too much on your manual plasma guns. It's damage output is smaller than that of your automated weapon systems; the game is more about tactics, good positioning and clever upgrades.

• If the enemy upgrades plasma weapons, it might be an good idea to keep them at a distance and upgrade shields.

• Torpedos slow down the enemy ship (of course this effect is useless against defensive stations), you can use them to counter an enemy with upgraded engines.

• Torpedos are easy to shot down by the enemy point defense if they are launched near the enemy, as they have no time to accelerate. Torpedos launched from a larger distance hit the target with higher velecity.

• Stations have strong plasma weapons, don't come too close (unless you have strong shields). Try attacking them from the distance. They can't run away and if you attack them with destructor drones from a distance.

• You can dodge torpedos, destructors and sometimes even plasma projectiles. It's not easy, as auto plasma-guns calculate your predicted future position while aiming; upgrading engines might help.

• It takes some time until your hanger respawns all your drones. It might be advisable to delay an attack until you can hit with full force. Keep in mind that destructors might fall back if you're moving your ship too fast.

• A drone strike is expensive, but can put considerable pressure on your enemy. However, it is a one-time effect, while the other upgrades are persistent.

• You can (slowly) move asteroids and even defensive stations by pushing them.

About me

This is my first finished game. Inspired by the lockdown and the circumstance that there were relatively few local multiplayer games that I could play with my wife.

I started developing games in October 2020 in my sparse free time (there's a family to feed...). I'm working as a physicist (with lots of 3D data, what is quite helpful), so I have some experience with coding and, well, physics.

The game started as a sandbox to try out different aspects of Unity (aiming at moving targets, homing torpedos, small ships that follow you and attack any enemy in range, particle effects, camera movement, upgrade systems, etc.). It slowly evolved into the game it is today.

Living in Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Germany.

Version history

v1.1 (2021-01-19)

• performance optimisation

• some smaller changes in UI

• minor tweaks in drone behaviour

v1.0 (2021-01-12)

• initial release