It’s been three years since we successfully brought back a certain very shiny Detroit police officer back in RoboCop: Rogue City! To celebrate the anniversary with YOU - our fans, we want to share three previously untold stories from behind the scenes of our most successful game to date. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!
HEAVY WALKING SIM
For many of us RoboCop fans, one of evergreen symbols of the character are his heavy, thumping footsteps. The moment we hear them in the movies, we know that *something* is bound to happen as the badassery meter is going off-scale.
Since being faithful to the lore was one of our main goals when making Rogue City, we were 100% committed to giving our players the same feeling of “being” RoboCop. Hence, the decision to make him tanky, heavy and imposing – at the expense of his manoeuvrability, perhaps.
“- This was one of the biggest design challenges”, says our Game Director Piotr Łatocha. “- Many of our playtests were telling us that the character is too slow, but we were still certain that we want to keep it like that in the game”.
What was the key to balancing it, then? CEO Michał Tatka explains: “- RoboCop is very slow in the prologue, when we first take control. He gradually speeds up after the first checkpoint when you walk to the TV station building. And then he gets a bit faster again once the actual mission starts.”
Speeding up the character a bit had proven to be enough to keep this crucial part of RoboCop’s identity intact and make “the FPS that walks when others run”, as cited by IGN.
AIM WHERE IT HURTS
I bet we all remember *this famous scene*from the first RoboCop movie when Robo saves a woman assaulted by two thugs. When one thug threatens the lady with a knife, RoboCop finds a rather… unorthodox way to solve the problem.
Now some of you might not be aware, but this particular “trick” made its way to Rogue City not only as a gimmick or an easter egg, but an actual mechanic you can use and benefit from. Providing your aim is well calibrated.
„- It had many “fathers”, I can’t tell who originally came out with that idea” – laughs Mariusz Sajak, our Lead Producer and, of course, a RoboCop fan. “- We all wanted to have it in the game because of that movie scene”, he remembers.
So, next time you will be facing a group of mercenaries wearing heavy armours and helmets, make your life easier by aiming where it hurts for an instant Critical Hit. Obviously.
ULYSSES AND HIS ODYSSEY
While RoboCop: Rogue City is an action game at its heart, there are plenty of moments when the pace slows down and you are bound to do some everyday police work. Often accompanied by other folks from Metro West, getting their five minutes to shine.
And while we all feel for Officer Ramirez being pranked by her colleagues, eager to help Chessman unload his queue and glad that RoboCop doesn’t have a sense of smell, it’s the newbie Ulysses Washington that requires most of our support when Max Becker deliberately throws him under the bus by making him our personal overseer.
On paper this partnership is bound to fail (which is exactly what Becker wants), but it turns out the opposite when Ulysses proves to be a decent police pupil under Robo’s watchful eyes. He not only provides useful data as a dispatcher, but even gets a taste of a true Old Detroit police job by the end of the game.
A very fine and enjoyable moment, indeed.
What you might *not* know is that parts of it were actually inspired by the people at MGM, the studio behind RoboCop movies. “- They suggested that RoboCop should partner with an underdog sidekick”, remembers our Game Director, Piotr Łatocha. “- They even had a pretty ready idea for his character”, he adds. Based on that, our writers created Ulysses, giving him a proper personality and dialogues.
Another proof that all media can intertwine between each other for a mutual benefit.
We hope you enjoyed this little trip down the memory lane, as much as you keep enjoying RoboCop: Rogue City and Unfinished Business. As always, we’re thankful for all your feedback and comments, and if you’d like to keep in touch with us, please follow us on our socials.
And remember: stay out of trouble!
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