Seeing as to how my posts in the Rocket Jockey thread were ignored, I think most people don't care for RJ, so I'm posting about Sprocket Junkie in a separate thread. It is, after all more than just a remake of Rocket Jockey.

Anyway, you probably came in here wondering what this is all about, and why you've never heard of this game. Essentially, it is a remake of the 1995 racing game Rocket Jockey, where you ride a rocket and use your grappling hooks to swing around strategically-placed poles, snag enemies off their rockets, or use their rockets as weapons. In RJ, there are a wide variety of game modes, including Rocketball, where you grab a ball from the field and try to drag it to the enemy goal.

All that's about RJ. Info regarding Sprocket Junkie is sparse, so I can only tell you what I know: it definitely feels like Rocket Jockey, but the arenas are prettier.

I love Rocket Jockey, so I'm really excited for this project. An image speaks a thousand words, so a trailer will probably relate hundreds of thousands of words. You can see for yourself here:

Sprocket Junkie Trailer
Sprocket Junkie: how to humilia-- I mean beat the competition

Their website can be found here: http://www.sprocketjunkie.com/

In fact, you can play the alpha already, via this link. The password to download it is alpha1. Have fun!

*looks at 0 replies*
Oh for the love of ... come on guys!

For some reason the forum didn't bump the thread at that post, so...bump!

[punches thread]

[nuclear-bombs thread]

I would have gone as high up as a care bear hug, but an A-bomb is fine too.

I remember Rocket Jockey (the description reminded me of what game that was), so I may keep an eye on Sprocket Junkie. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Brah, I'd kiss you right now, but I'm straight :P The game's really obscure. I wrote in to RPS to ask them to feature it. Hopefully they will. It's like, the developers really aren't making any effort to market this game at all. Even on Facebook, they don't reply to their fans.

Oh wow, I LOVED Rocket Jockey and this looks pretty much the same.. but prettier.
Although I think I preferred the original art style, but that's probably mostly nostalgia talking.
Is it the same guys? It looks extremely similar, too much to be a coincidence.
If it gets good online multiplayer and a better selection of characters and arena's, it's definitely a game I would consider purchasing.

Hello there, I'm sorry you feel like the developers aren't replying to their fans, and I hope this post helps make up for that a little. My names Aaron Kurowsky, and I'm presently working as a gameplay programmer at Six Shooter Games, on the project Sprocket Junkie. As for us not trying to market the game, I cannot speak on that regard seeing as I'm just a programmer, but I can say the game is only in an early alpha form, and that is probably why you haven't seen much marketing for the game. As for some of the other questions I saw on the thread, No we are not the same guys who made Rocket Jockey, we are just big fans of the game.

Hey, Steven and I am lead designer here at Six Shooter Games and I was curious as to which post was not replied to? I am on Sprocket Junkie's facebook most of the day responding to any post or question. If we don't respond to our fans then what are we doing.


Also from your location I can see you are one of our survey takers. I'm very happy to answer your feedback questions based on the survey. What your problems with Sprocket Junkie boiled down to are
1) The speed felt faster on our rockets.
2) The rope acted differently than Rocket Jockeys when grabbing poles and firing.
3) Grabbing Bombs was not fun because of the springy-ness of the rope.
4) The camera was too far back.

Before I respond to this feedback, I want to reassure you that this is an EARLY ALPHA build. I cannot stress that enough. We are still working through this game. We want to deliver the best experience possible. Saying that, let's continue.
1) Our rocket Speed is slightly faster. I tested our rocket vs Rocket Jockey's on a simliar styled map. Our rocket spanned the field in 7 secs. Rocket Jockey's rocket did it in 8.
Our on foot speed was matched exactly at taking 20 secs to get across the field.
We appreciate the feedback and are taking it into consideration for the newest build.
2)The rope is constantly under work. As of right now we are altering it to fit more into Rocket Jockey's way. We dislike the springy feel and are doing our best to create a more solid rope. The rope is the most important thing about the game and it is always being fixed. Since we are not the people who made Rocket Jockey, we have no code source to follow when it comes to building this rope. In short, Yes the rope is not the best, but it is being fixed.
3)The bomb grabbing is the same problem with the rope. We are looking into multiple solutions for this issue.
4)The camera needed feedback. We have had many different camera settings and this is why we had an Alpha. Now that we know that you feel the camera is too far back, we will look into shortening the distance.
The camera in rocket jockey was constantly changing. When you grabbed a player your camera immediately moved further from the rocket in order for you to see what you were dragging. We wanted to get some sort of middle ground, hence the decision for the camera being farther away.

I wanted to personally thank you for your feedback and cannot wait to give our fans a new build sometime next week.

Steven and Aaron: Thanks guys. The part about not replying was in reference to the Rocket Jockey fanpage. There were some comments in one of the threads that were not replied to at all, and the overall (initial) impression I got was that the developers seemed a bit cold. I hadn't really checked out the wall on the Sprocket Junkie Alpha page at that time. You guys are definitely more active there.

Anyway I'm glad you guys are posting here. Funnily and coincidentally, we actually started threads concerning other indie titles like Project Zomboid, and the developers did come in to chip in a comment or two too. I guess the next time we want to shout out to developers, we should start a thread on the GOG forums :P

It's also great to see you guys responding, because ultimately, as indie devs, you are targeting a niche group, and so your fanbase wants to hear something from you. Nobody in there likes to be left out of the loop. And, as a huge fan of RJ, I really hope to see this project succeed. You know what the main problem with RJ is? Multiplayer only works on LAN. Sprocket Junkie has the potential to be the modern remake of RJ, and everyone's just biting their fingernails in anticipation of the final product.

Best of luck to you guys, and I can't wait to see what the next build brings. In the meantime, I'm probably going to send out a few more emails to other indie blogs and see if we can pull more attention towards the game. Rocket Jockey is a majorly underrated game; hopefully Sprocket Junkie can fill in the gap on the podium that RJ was supposed to be on.

They have a beta build up now:
http://www.sprocketjunkie.com/beta/

Again, I want to apologize to the devs for the somewhat accusatory remark, as they've even been actively playtesting the game with fans. Hopefully as the game nears a more stable build, gaming sites and communities will start to pick up on it.

Looks like a good game.

The latest beta has changed a lot, and it's still free to download. It's really very fun, because even though they haven't got working AI yet, you can see that it's shaping up very nicely.

I'm sad that this never made it to commercial release!

Since it was built in UDK, that should make it pretty easy to add VR support as well...