Now that Rocketmen: It Came From Uranus is released for on both XBLA and PSN, I finally got the guys behind the madness to sit down and answer some hard hitting questions. In addition to probing them about Uranus, I also got them to give me way too much information about them you never wanted to know.
Let’s start with the typical softball question: What are your names and what do you do at Acronym?
Funky Swadling: My name is Daniel “Funky” Swadling, and I’m a producer, programmer and designer for Rocketmen, as well as one of A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.’s founders. Since we’re not a huge company, we all get to wear a bunch of different hats when working on a project.
Jesse Joudrey: I’m Jesse Joudrey, the other founder of A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. as well as technical officer for the company, and was a programmer and designer for Rocketmen.
Jeff Yu: Hey, I’m Jeff Yu, producer on Rocketmen.
How was Acronym started? Any particular reason?
JJ: A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. was started primarily because we believed that a small team of creative people could create small, fun games and have a much better time doing it compared with working on a 100+ person team.
Just when you thought we were going to run out of steam on the unstoppable Rocketmen steamroller, we’re back. I’m told that the new 2.01 patch has gone live with Sony America today, and so is currently live on both PSN and XBL.
The big change is to the demo, which has turned from something frankly lackluster into something actually fun. The old demo had you puttering around on training wheels in level 1. The new demo drops you into level 4 with some major buffs. We thought it was only fair, since “buff” is the way you’ll be playing through almost the entire game once you start spending your ducats to improve stats, weapons, armor, etc.
Protip: Another neat “is it a feature, or a bug we decided to leave in?” thing about the new demo is that if you play through it multiple times, you keep the stats and keep racking up money to unlock better and better gear. You can’t save it so don’t turn off the system in between attempts, but it’s a fun way to check out some advanced powerups from within the demo itself.
A local news team went inside Vancouver’s A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. Studio, who developed Rocketmen: Axis of Evil! You can get a quick look around the studio, see some of their appropriately pasty faces, and get a bit of background on how the studio came to be.
**Warning: this clip is stinky with Canadians. I mean like almost every person in it is a Canadian, and is speaking Canadiese. There are no subtitles.
You! Yes, you, right there. The guy who downloaded the demo of Rocketmen: Axis of Evil on XBLA and then decided not to pony up 800 MS points to make it yours forever(ish). Mebbe you decided to by 2 comic books that week. Or see a movie. Or buy a sandwich. Whatever, cheap-o, here’s your chance to score a free code for the game.
Alls ya gotta do is post your Gamertag or forum name over at Xbox 360 Achievements.org to be eligible to win one of four TOTALLY FREE codes. Get on it, already!
The tyranny of the Axis of Evil ends today as the heroic Rocketmen blast onto your console for a small contribution-to-justice of $10 on PSN or 800 Microsoft Points on XBLA. As everyone knows, fighting is tough, so grab 3 of your friends to eradicate evil together as you level and customize your Rocketmen to suit your particular style. When you’re done, compare your justice-doing skills with your fellow Rocketmen on the new Rocketmen: Axis of Evil leaderboards by clicking on the link above.
Good news, everyone! Rocketmen: Axis of Evil will finally be ready for liftoff next week. Those of you who have given Microsoft all your money can snag off of LIVE on Wednesday, March 5 for a measly 800 points, which is less that you will spend on a sandwich next week, if’n you think about it. For those of you who worship at the altar of Blu-Ray, you can get your Rocketmen on starting Thursday, March 6 for the non-robot sum of $10 American.
We’re initiating launch sequence on sending Rocketmen out into the wide world of XBLA (March 5th) and PSN (March 6th). Here’s the official line on the game:
Join Nick Sion, Alec Mink and the Alliance of Free Planets in their white-knuckled, frenzied struggle to free the Solar System from the tyrannical grip of the Legion of Terra! Rocketmen®: Axis of Evil provides non-stop multiplayer action with role-playing game elements, including customizable characters and an engaging story, all wrapped in the game’s distinctive cel-shaded art style. Play with up to four players in co-op mode and blast anything that moves.
Think multiplayer Robotron-style run+shoot, with 10x the bullets, bosses, full character customization, a crazy amount of gameplay, and an actual story. A funny one even.
If you don’t believe me, check out the Rocketmen webisodes. As encouragement, we’re running a little contest. Watch the webisodes and get into the Rocketmen universe. If you can tell me what Nick Scion is eating during the Venusian wrestling match, send in your answer to contest@capcom.com. We’ll draw a winner at random from all correct entries and get you a free copy of the game.
For more Rocketmen goodness, including screens, gameplay vids, and a producer interview, click here.
Meet Rocketmen Producer Tim Innes, captured here mid-karaoke.
CAPCOM: Hi Tim! What is your role in the Rocketmen game?
TIM INNES: As Producer I organize things, offer business & game development leadership, write many emails, juggle flaming chainsaws, herd cats, and help make things go like a Pakled space captain. Actually my job is much more complex, and often involves various game development tasks and stand up comedy.
There are a bunch of new Rocketmen videos malingering over at the new Capcom Digital site. You know the Rocketmen–chock full of zany bosses, and one *miiiiiillyon* bullets (probably a lot more than that, frankly). Anyway if you’re tired of downloadable games that just look pretty but are over in about 15 minutes, you owe it to those XBL Points burning a hole in your pocket to check this game out.
We just submitted Rocketmen: Axis of Evil to ye olde Sony and Microsoft for approval, and thought now might be a good occasion to share a heaping heap of new shots of the game.
In addition to some closer looks at the crazy character customization possibilities, you can also get a sneak peak at some of the game’s MANYbossbattles, cut-scene hilarity, and the multiplayer bullet-flying madness that will fill your Rocketmen days and nights. Stay tuned for a bunch more incoming Rocketmen details, and of course the game itself will be here soon (we’ll post up the release date as soon as we hear back).
Now that Rocketmen: It Came From Uranus is released for on both XBLA and PSN, I finally got the guys behind the madness to sit down and answer some hard hitting questions. In addition to probing them about Uranus, I also got them to give me way too much information about them you never wanted to know.
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