Rockjack

Released: Nov 19, 2020
Platforms
Last updated: 16 Sep 2026, 09:49 GMT

Updates & announcements

20 posts

20 Jul 2023Developer post
Switching to Free Pricing
After a couple of years in which I haven't been able to devote any time to this project, I've made the difficult decision to give ROCKJACK away for free. I never expected to make any money with this game, but I've come to the conclusion that charging for it has only impeded the g
06 Oct 2021Developer post
Hotfix for v0.4.3
I didn't like the way the new shield was behaving, so I fixed it.
05 Oct 2021Developer post
Rockjack v0.4.3 is now Live!
With this version, I've updated the Unity version I'm building on, and switched to the new Universal Rendering Pipeline. This entailed rewriting a bunch of code that relied upon renderer features no longer supported, so it took me a while, but in return I believe the game looks b
With this version, I've updated the Unity version I'm building on, and switched to the new Universal Rendering Pipeline. This entailed rewriting a bunch of code that relied upon renderer features no longer supported, so it took me a while, but in return I believe the game looks better than ever! In addition, I am better insulated against Unity updates breaking the game in the near future.

Added new sound for when plasma armor takes a hit.
Added a new debris type.
Added new asteroids texture for much improved appearance.
Make more important items easier to see in the minimap.
Increase rate of neutron armor regeneration.
When mines or time bombs collide with mines or time bombs, they explode now.
Seeker Missile improvements: smaller seek window, will not seek powerups.
Upgraded to Unity 2021.1.7f1 and switched to the Universal Rendering Pipeline for improved graphics.
Fixed buggy options dropdowns.
Reduced frequency of Inertial Damper powerup.
Created new missile bloom/halo effect in URP.
Created new powerup announcer to work in URP.
Made asteroid recolor based on resource type work in URP.
Improved bump mapping on asteroids.
Improved currency symbol management so that the player can change currency symbol at any time.
Created new seeker mine and time bomb ping effect in URP.
Created new exotic asteroid effect in URP.
Created new plasma armor effect in URP.
Created new shield effect in URP.
Fixed a bug: when allocating shield and neutron armor powerups, the player wouldn't get them unless their shield or armor were already depleted.
Original post
02 Sep 2021Developer post
Development Update
Greetings, Rockjacks! I have been busy upgrading the game to a newer version of Unity and a new rendering pipeline, and, as often happens with these things, I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is, the new rendering pipeline is incompatible with a lot of the visu
Greetings, Rockjacks! I have been busy upgrading the game to a newer version of Unity and a new rendering pipeline, and, as often happens with these things, I have some bad news and some good news.
The bad news is, the new rendering pipeline is incompatible with a lot of the visual effects in the game; they have either disappeared or they look lousy, so I'm going to have to do some work to rebuild them. For example, I lost the green glow of the exotic asteroids.
The good news is, the game looks absolutely stunning in the new rendering pipeline, and the effects that still work, really pop! So you're going to be in for a treat when I finally do finish the port to the new pipeline! I can't wait to share it with you!
In the meantime, I've got a bunch of new gameplay updates incoming shortly. The roadmap currently looks like this:

v0.4.3 update - gameplay upgrades and quality of life improvements
v0.5? - new rendering pipeline
v0.6? - improved controller support
As always, thank you for your patience and support. If you have any suggestions for how you'd like to see the game evolve, please let me know!
Original post
10 Jul 2021Developer post
Rockjack v0.4.2 Is Now Live!
Although I'm calling this a minor version, I'm actually really excited about this one, because I've been painstakingly tuning the game lately, and I feel that this update improves playability so much that it deserves its own major release number. However, I'm keeping those for bi
Although I'm calling this a minor version, I'm actually really excited about this one, because I've been painstakingly tuning the game lately, and I feel that this update improves playability so much that it deserves its own major release number. However, I'm keeping those for big features, so I hope you'll forgive me and just enjoy the game!
Please let me know what you think in the comments!
Player-visible changes

Missiles will no longer explode upon colliding with explosions. This eliminates the problem of chain explosions, which I liked in the abstract, but in practice it just made the game feel more random than it really needs to be.
Added some entropy to the powerup allocation process, and spread out the available powerups across a wider range of rounds. This made the powerup process feel more natural and challenging.
Reduced the frequency of the Extra Ship Powerup. I felt this one was getting out of control.
Increased the supercooler cooldown time from 0.1s to 0.11s.
Defer the start of multiple saucers.
Fixed a bug in the shield meter.
Original post
04 Jul 2021Developer post
Rockjack v0.4.1 is now live!
A minor release with a lot of feature polish. Player-visible changes Powerup spawn logic was overhauled so that the player will see fewer powerups which they can't immediately use. Added the PowerShot powerup. This will give your shots additional momentum, which will allow you to
A minor release with a lot of feature polish.
Player-visible changes

Powerup spawn logic was overhauled so that the player will see fewer powerups which they can't immediately use.
Added the PowerShot powerup. This will give your shots additional momentum, which will allow you to push back some of those tougher enemies more easily.
Reduced the damage multipliers per skill level.
Enemy sounds are more clearly doppler-shifted, so if you listen carefully you can tell whether they are moving toward you or away from you.
Side-swipe collisions will now be less damaging to the player.
Picking up a cow gives the player a $1000 bonus.
Overhauled the asteroid allocation logic to stretch the late game.
Reduced the multipliers for the thrust augmenter and the fast reaction wheel.
Added Recovered Resources View on the main screen.
Added currency symbol selection to the Options screen.
Improved visibility of diamond asteroids.
Fix some meter display bugs.
Animate the HUD display of shield strength.
Original post
02 May 2021Developer post
Rockjack Version 0.4.0 is Now Live!
I'm very excited to announce this new version of Rockjack! I've swapped out (most of) the old text-based UI that marked the early development of the game, and added a more attractive, colorful, easier-to-read and altogether more professional graphical UI. In addition, I've added
27 Apr 2021Developer post
Teasing the Next Release
I've been working on the UI for ROCKJACK lately, and I wanted to share my progress with you in anticipation of the upcoming release. I'm sorry that I inflicted my MVP ("minimally-viable product") text-based UI on you for so long, and I've finally gotten the chance to make somethi
22 Mar 2021Developer post
Rockjack 50% Off This Week!
I feel the game has progressed to the point where more people should give it a try and let me know where they would like the game to go. Therefore, I'm offering a weeklong discount on Rockjack to help bring new Jacks into the fold. Check it out!
22 Mar 2021Developer post
Rockjack v0.3.3 is now Live
Player-visible changes Fix bonus bug. Change minimum time warp factor to 0.5. Changed the way debris is created, and added the following types: L Ring Bolt Rebalanced the powerup tree: Postponed shield availability until round 10. Postponed magnetic field (dependency on shield) a
Player-visible changes

Fix bonus bug.
Change minimum time warp factor to 0.5.
Changed the way debris is created, and added the following types:

L
Ring
Bolt

Rebalanced the powerup tree:

Postponed shield availability until round 10.
Postponed magnetic field (dependency on shield) availability until round 15.
Postponed Shield Regeneration (dependency on shield) availability until round 20.
Postponed Shield Augmenter (dependency on shield regen) availability until round 25.

Added ships bell when the player buys or picks up a new ship.
Changed powerup announcement position to help the player see.
Large Saucer will now die in a Huge Explosion.
Added Credits.
Added Cow.
Increase saucer aggressiveness and improve Giant Saucer accuracy.
Removed penalty upon picking up Sensor Scrambler.
Use less vulgar language in ratings.
Tweak the filter for Geiger counter sounds.
Time bombs are slightly smaller and slightly tougher.
Auto-fire is now the default.
Add TLDR text to tutorial and cleaned up the tutorial a bit.
Original post
07 Feb 2021Developer post
Rockjack Version 0.3.2 Update
ROCKJACK RELEASE NOTES version 0.3.2 - 2021-02-07 Sun This is a minor update with a few quality of life fixes and a minor new feature which I liked implementing. Player-visible changes Added tabs to the Options screen. The options screen was getting pretty crowded, so I broke it
ROCKJACK RELEASE NOTES
version 0.3.2 - 2021-02-07 Sun
This is a minor update with a few quality of life fixes and a minor new feature which I liked implementing.
Player-visible changes

Added tabs to the Options screen. The options screen was getting pretty crowded, so I broke it into tabs with a selector up top.
Added a Geiger counter to the game. Your ship is now equipped with a Geiger counter which will click near radioactive or exotic asteroids. There is no impact on gameplay, but I think it's cool and adds some atmosphere to the game.
Added jump-to-section buttons to the tutorial. Their behavior is still pretty rough and I will need to spend some time improving that, but they work pretty well already.
Added a reminder to the player that if you have the reverse time powerup, and you pick up another reverse time powerup, the powerup is cancelled (because two negatives make a positive!)
Made some performance improvements. I'll need to do yet another performance pass soon to hunt for places which aren't well-optimized.
Original post
01 Feb 2021Developer post
Hotfix Update to v0.3.1
This is a hotfix for a bug identified during testing of v0.3.0. There are also a small amount of performance fixes. Happy Rock Hunting!
30 Jan 2021Developer post
Rockjack Update v0.3.0
I'm very excited to share the v0.3.0 update! I've added a full tutorial , so new players can get up to speed quickly with the game, and I've added a new enemy, the Time Bomb ! I hope you enjoy the new changes! Full Release Notes version 0.3.0 - 2021-01-29 Fri Player-visible chang
I'm very excited to share the v0.3.0 update! I've added a full tutorial, so new players can get up to speed quickly with the game, and I've added a new enemy, the Time Bomb!
I hope you enjoy the new changes!
Full Release Notes
version 0.3.0 - 2021-01-29 Fri
Player-visible changes

Added a tutorial so players can quickly learn everything they need to know to get into the game.
Added a new enemy to the game - Time Bombs! These are larger than seeker mines, but they also seek the player, and will explode on contact OR when their timer runs out, with a very powerful explosion!
Added a "power-up!" sound when the player picks up a powerup.
Made some behavior of unstable asteroids independent of time warp.
Added HUD scale option to Options Screen.
Harmonized a bunch of icons so that the same symbol appears on the powerup object as on the scanner.
Improved the operation of the Advanced Stabilizer so it becomes much more useful and valuable.
Added an indicator to the HUD for when the player is using the Targeting computer.
Added an indicator to the HUD to show the time warp factor and the direction of time flow.
Original post
17 Jan 2021Developer post
Update to v0.2.12
... you all know the rest. Changes this time: Improve the appearance of the ship when it has a lot of damage Fix bug: could not pause between death of one ship and spawn of the next. Add menu to paused state. Player can go to the Options menu from the paused state. Change shield
13 Jan 2021Developer post
Update to v0.2.11
Bug fix for when shields and plasma armor active, player ship disappears. Added lights to saucers Improved blink logic for Powerup announcer
10 Jan 2021Developer post
Update to v0.2.10
Improved Powerup Announcement shows the icon for the powerup just retrieved and a graphical status indicator for permanent acquisition. Improved the power of the Shield Augmenter. Minor efficiency improvements. Added graphics quality to Options menu. Removed Time Warp Precursor.
09 Jan 2021Developer post
Update to v0.2.9
Responding to User Feedback, I have added some UI goodness to the game and I have continued to implement new powerups. I think you're gonna like this update! Some folks wanted a way to better visualize the motion of the ship, as it seemed disorienting to them to have the ship not
Responding to User Feedback, I have added some UI goodness to the game and I have continued to implement new powerups. I think you're gonna like this update!

Some folks wanted a way to better visualize the motion of the ship, as it seemed disorienting to them to have the ship not appear to move when they used their thrusters. In response to this need, I have added a light green grid to the game, which indicates the motion of the player against a fixed coordinate system. Some people will like this, others will hate it, which is why you can go into the Options menu and turn it on or off as you choose.
The size of the scanner view in the game can also now be tweaked from the options menu.
I have added a new powerup called DOUBLE SHOTS. It's just what it says: it gives your ship two shots where you previously only had one. Unlike its cousin TRIPLE SHOTS, this one will not be time-limited, and if you stack 4 of these on a single ship, then all your subsequent ships will have this powerup.
Finally, I'm very excited about another new powerup, called TIME WARP. When you pick this one up, you can change the rate at which time passes based on your speed relative to the point at which you picked up the powerup. You can't stop time altogether, though, and if you speed up fast enough, you can make time move faster than it normally does! - I don't think a lot of you will want to do that. Be careful about collisions, they do have a habit of imparting some impulse to your ship...
Original post
07 Jan 2021Developer post
Minor update to v0.2.8
I had hoped to make 0.2.8 a more major update, but 0.2.7 introduced a performance issue and I felt compelled to address it. This issue should now be fixed and the game should run as smoothly as ever. If your experience differs, please let me know!
06 Jan 2021Developer post
Update to v0.2.7
Added new intro music (credit: Theo Griffin) Player ship will morph its texture to indicate the level of damage the hull has received. This is a nice-looking effect which may help the player realized how much trouble they're in before it's too late! Added better-looking plasma ar
29 Dec 2020Developer post
Update to v0.2.6
Added Powerup Helper powerup, which doubles the amount of time which certain time-based powerups are active, e.g. Plasma Armor duration is doubled from 30 seconds to 60. The total number of powerups is now 23. Many more are in various stages of completion. Added Targeting Compute

Updates & announcements

Player-visible changes

A minor release with a lot of feature polish.

Player-visible changes

ROCKJACK RELEASE NOTES

version 0.4.0 - 2021-05-01 Sat

Player-visible changes

Player-visible changes

ROCKJACK RELEASE NOTES

version 0.3.2 - 2021-02-07 Sun

Player-visible changes

Full Release Notes

version 0.3.0 - 2021-01-29 Fri

Player-visible changes