Time for a major update, featuring cross-platform online score tables, a second plane and a new micro-mission system. RNS now includes all the additions from updates 3 & 4 listed below:
Update 4
– Added cross-platform online highscores and a local score table.
Tweaks:
– Fixed glitch where you couldn’t read the VTOL’s description without starting the game.
– Lowered blast radius of AA guns a little.
– AA gun spawning rates now a little less crazy.
– Minor graphics tweaks.
Update 3 – BETA 1
– Added a second plane, the VTOL.
– Added local highscore saving.
– Added dynamic missions where you destroy targets for bonus scores.
– Added a final ranking at the end of a run.
Tweaks:
– Added debris for turrets. .
– Zones are now longer and repeat less. Enemy spawning and zone selection alters depending on your mission.
– Increased rate of fuel drops.
– Adjusted building physics.
RNS is now available at the Google Play Store, itch.io, Game Jolt and the OUYA Discover store, all of which should be seeing the update soon. Ouya fans waiting for it to pass cert can skip the queue and sideload it from here instead.
AWESOME game! Love it. Love the gameplay, graphics and music. Two thumbs up from me.
I’m ASSuming you’ve considered having a plane or power-up that allows more than one hit. I’d really love a health meter. Is there a design reason why that’s not the case? Too easy?
Sure, crashing into something such as a building should probably always one-shot the plane, but in a video game, I’d like to take a few hits.
I’m 33 years old and grew up with Gradius and R-Type and 1942 and other shooters, but at least you had multiple lives. I also understand that in those games, the player is trying to progress to the end whereas in this game, the world is generated infinitely, so death doesn’t mean loss of progress.
However, that said, I hate losing my score by taking one shot. Just saying. I’d like a power-up or a plane that could take a few hits.
I’d also like a bigger bomb and for the gun power-up to keep getting stronger the more gun power-ups you get (maybe the same for bombs). You’ve probably considered that.
Have you considered bosses? Every 25,000 points or so would be cool. You could have a speed boat and jet that comes down out of the top of the screen, and a fast tank-like vehicle to name a few.
Oh, and I think it would be cool to have a zone that’s kinda like a cave (or techno-tunnel) where you have to fly up and down quickly and deftly to miss stalactites/mites or other crash hazards.
Anyway, just throwing all that out there. I like the game a lot as it is.
Thanks for making such a fun game!
— Sharpe
Thanks for the feedback! I’ll try to address everything I can here…
I hadn’t given serious thought to taking more than one hit, but now you mention it, that’s not a bad idea. I like the idea of a “shield” pickup that lets you take an extra hit maybe.
Gun and bomb powerups have been considered, and probably will happen in some form or another. A few in the running are cluster-bombs and heat-seeking rockets.
As for bosses, there were plans for a second water zone every x points where you had to destroy a heavily-defended enemy carrier, but it never made the cut. I might give that one some more thought.
Caves also very nearly made the last version, but were cut for time. I hope to bring that in again at some point.
Glad you’re enjoying the game, and thanks again!
/Jay
Thanks for the reply! Good to know.
— RDS (who is constantly about 11-12,000 points from the bottom rung of the leaderboard. Grr!!!).
Oh, hey, I tried to twice download the b1_hotfix from itch.io and both times it said it downloaded fully, but “the archive was damaged or corrupted.” First time worked from Game Jolt. Might want to check that out.
My comments were on the version before the b1_hotfix. I really, really like the addition of missions and such! I see you’re working hard to add new things. That’s great. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.
— Sharpe
I’ve reuploaded the verison at itch and double-checked it, it should be in order now. Thanks for letting me know
BTW, I’m glad to see more fuel, but I’d still like it tweaked just a bit higher. I like the urgency, but it’s a bit more than scary. When you hit red fuel, sometimes, there just isn’t any. I know, “L2P newb, don’t let the fuel get red,” but it is probably almost 40% of the reason I die, whether it be from actually running out, or making a suicide attack to get some.
I don’t know if other people are able to strafe low to the ground through cities, but I just fly above them. If it is possible to strafe through cities, then I just need to learn how. I could pick up a lot of fuel there.
Would love to see some 200,000-point runs on Youtube. To see how others are getting there. I get to about 140,000 before “oops.” My high score is 166,000. I’d recomend the last/current score remain on the screen after death so the player knows what they got that run before death (it doesn’t always stay in the upper-right). Also, sometimes the current challenge isn’t displayed all the time, so I may not even remember what it was. This may be a glitch because I think they are always to be on-screen.
More than a few times, I’ve died because my mouse pointer wasn’t on the screen. It would be very nice to be able to set the controls to keyboard. it wouldn’t be an advantage over touch screen because you’re never going to accidentally miss tapping like you can with the mouse. Plus, the pointer is slightly annoying. I’d use the up arrow for thrust, left or right arrow for bombs.
A secondary super weapon would be awesome too!
Just some little suggestions.
Thanks again!
— RDS
Yay! I’m finally on the (bottom rung of the) leader board with 192,000! 😀
Fuel was cause of death. Just saying.
Congrats!
I’ll have to look into the fuel thing, it’s a tricky one to balance. It’s coded to appear more often the lower your fuel gets, so once you get under 50% it’s a good idea to start looking for it. It’s also got a chance to spawn randomly on supply boats. I was thinking about spawning a fuel pickup from the last thing you destroy when completing a mission to make things a little more tactical, but thought it might be a little too odd. I’m still considering that one. The main advice I can give there for the moment is to never pass up fuel on a boat, even when you’re doing okay. It’s been the difference between life and death for me more than once :p
Strafing through cities is semi-possible with rockets, but you need to be very fast and very lucky. I almost never get pickups from there. You’d probably have the best chance with the VTOL as it can climb much faster.
I’m not top of the scoreboard by any means (indeed, you probably knocked me right off it with that last highscore, if I hadn’t been knocked off already), but I’ll try to offer a few tips. The main ones for me would be:
1) Don’t get yourself stuck at the top of the screen. If you over-thrust it can take a long time to come back down, and over cities in particular it’s a death trap.
2) Use your guns as much as you can, use bombs to mop up what’s left. Even if you don’t destroy something, every hit is earning points. The increased firepower on the VTOL can take out almost anything with its front guns if you’re gutsy enough with ’em. Outside of cities, you can take out anti-aircraft with your guns before they’re a threat. Get used to swooping low to strafe ground targets, bombing as you hit the thrusters.
3) Rockets will let you wipe out most of a screen before it even gets to you, so go out of your way to get them.
4) Go over or under choppers, not head-on. They fire rockets with a fixed delay, so if you’re under them, use the space between shots to peek up and take a shot.
Yay! Another reply! Thanks!
I’ve since made it to #6 on the leaderboard ( https://www.dropbox.com/s/hr7jc9fq8ta9xhp/Rubble%20N%20Strafe.png ), but I saw I dropped back down toward the bottom today. I’ve not given it a serious effort in a couple days, but my five top scores are 206,612 to 183,799. I almost always score above 100,000 when I play now.
It sounds like we play a lot alike.
Your #1 tip is very good. When I realized I was burning fuel like crazy holding down on the left mouse button while bombing cities, it helped me a lot. Also, like you say, the plane drops lazily from the top of the screen.
The presence of so many resources in the cities made me think that maybe there was a way to get them reliably, but after some experimentation, I don’t really think there is. It really sucks to hit the red on gas when entering a city, because it’s almost a death sentence.
* Suggestion: in cities, put pick-ups on platforms (like the watchtowers) and/or on top of the buildings. Still dangerous, but not practically impossible to get.
I noticed that fuel is coded to appear more often the lower your fuel gets. It appears pretty well at low fuel, but still is just a might too scarce, in my opinion. I suggest tweaking it up just a hair more overall (both at low and full levels).
Mainly, I like the boat areas because I’ confident I’m going to be able to re-fuel there. I’m basically praying for water almost constantly.
Here are some more suggestions:
* Points for crashing into enemies of any sort, but especially helicopter and boats.
* Kill infantry for more points by running into them.
* You know how Mario gets progressively more points for jumping on multiple enemies? That, but with crashes into helicopters/boats/enemies. 😉
* A forcefield power-up. Takes one hit. Can NOT be stacked. Doesn’t work against crashes except maybe with helicopters, which it would destroy at the same time as bursting.
* A health bar that is lowered when struck by infantry (10%?) and helicopter shots (40%?) and AA guns (80%?). Crash is still instant-kill.
* A plane with a higher health bar, but it drops/dives quicker. I would like a plane that dives quicker anyway. I really think the VTOL should dive much quicker and the auto cannon should have normal rate of fire (while still doing additional damage).
* A “wingman”—probably a small helicopter—that almost constantly shoots weak shots down at a 45-degree angle. Can crash/be shot down. Sticks really close to player.
* A leveled bomb power-up upgrade, requiring some redesign of the bomb meter. The bigger bombs in the bomb meter use the current larger bomb symbols while regular ones use the second to smallest symbol (get rid of the exclamation points). If the regular bomb power-up is gained, regular bombs are added to the max. The bomb upgrade power-up only upgrades bombs by one level; it does NOT add more bombs. Note: when I first played, I thought the bigger bombs in the center would do more damage, so this is logical, in my opinion. I do NOT think multiple bomb types (napalm/nuke/cluster/etc.) are necessary for this game. Just regular and bigger.
* Achievements that are worth bonus points. Achievements would be gained for overall play, not per-session/life. They can only be earned once. They would be saved locally like the high scores.
— One for taking out multiple boats/helicopters during a crash; “Kamikaze!”
— A leveled achievement for not using ANY bombs by score. So, one for getting 25K, a higher one for getting 50K, 75K, 100K, etc. It could be called “Strafer!”
— The same, but for not using guns; it could be called”Bomber!” It would be worth more bonus points than “Strafer!”
— Another leveled achievement for amount of points gained in a crash landing.
— Another leveled one for getting so many points *per plane*. So, one for getting 50K/100K/150K/200K/etc. with the VTOL, one for getting 50K-200K+ with B.66.
— One for getting fuel after running out of fuel completely (which I would have).
— Another leveled achievement for so many kills (including trees!) of a certain type, such as infantry. Maybe every 500 or 1,000 or so.
— The same, but for power-ups.
* Again, make certain the last score has a prominent display on death (it only remains in the upper-right if you gain points after death) and the current mission is *always* displayed (sometimes it disappears and I forget what it is). PC version.
Just some suggestions.
Thanks again for making this great game! I love it!
— RDS (high score: 206,612)
Yay! Got a new high score: 215,856.
Ran out of fuel, which has become my leading cause of death, even above dumb “oops” mistakes. I strafe really, really low all through the game using my guns almost entirely until I get to a city, then I just barely try to stay at the top while dropping bombs.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hr7jc9fq8ta9xhp/Rubble%20N%20Strafe.png
You’ll note there is no high score in the upper-right corner. Sometimes there is, sometimes there isn’t.
You know the grass plains areas, with just low hills and trees and sheep? Please, consider adding some fuel there. That’s the place it could used buffing just a tad. Not a whole lot, just a minor bump up, please.
— RDS
Just spent some time in the VTOL’s cockpit. Hadn’t given it a fair shake.
I withdraw my suggestion to increase the VTOL’s rate of fire. It’s fine how it is, though I still would like to see it drop/dive just a hair quicker.
—RDS
Yeah, it’s safe to say I like the VTOL.
Only played with it four or five times tonight in a row right before bed, and I got my new high score: 219,681! 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hr7jc9fq8ta9xhp/Rubble%20N%20Strafe.png
That puts me on the leaderboard twice, to my surprise.
— RDS
Thank you for making this great game! Reminds me of good old time, when games still were games instead of todays overkill commercialized c®@p. 😉
So far I’ve been playing Rubble ‘n Strafe on the OUYA only. Is there any chance we could enjoy this beautiful game on Linux? Since Valve has been pushing their Steam platform on Linux recently, I am sure the guys at Valve will be very willing to help you in anyway they can to make a formidable Linux release.
Thank you and good luck for further development!
Hi, glad you’re enjoying it! Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, seems like I’m not getting notified on new comments for some reason.
I’m not sure of a timeframe, but I’ll definitely look into a linux port. It’ll probably mean a bit of monkeying around with my code, but it’s definitely a possibility. I’ll let you know on here if it comes together.
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