Bliz Studio - Trixel Rocket Devlog 01

My introduction to what I am working on for Trixel Rocket the mobile game that I am building.

This is the first dev vlog for Tricks or Rocket, a one-finger mobile game built in Buildbox. Rather than a step-by-step tutorial, it's a look at where the project came from, what's been built in the past three weeks, and the production approach behind the level art — which turns out to be the most transferable idea in the whole update.

Where the project started Tricks or Rocket began as a quick prototype about a year and a half ago — one level, built fast, then shelved. That's a familiar shape for a side project, and the useful detail is what happened next: it got picked back up this summer with three weeks of concentrated work, and the old prototype levels became the foundation rather than something to throw away. Returning to an abandoned prototype with fresh scope is often faster than starting over.

Building out the levels The bulk of the recent work has been expanding a handful of thin early levels into a real progression, plus adding new ones. The lineup so far includes comet levels, planet levels, asteroid levels with streaking debris, boulder fields, black hole levels where the hazards pull you in if you don't avoid them, and three sun levels where the player threads through solar flares crossing the screen. Those sun levels are deliberately the hardest thing in the game.

Pacing intense levels against easy ones Not every level is meant to be punishing. Alongside the intense ones there's a space junk level that's mostly about weaving through scattered debris, and a coin level that exists purely as a points reward and a breather. The stated goal is a wide range of difficulty so the game has room for different players — and just as importantly, so the hard levels land harder by contrast. A coin level dropped in occasionally also feeds the economy, since coins accumulate toward unlockable ships.

The modular art pipeline The most practical takeaway here is how the level art is produced. Everything is modeled in Marmoset Hexels, taken into Photoshop for light adjustment (or brought straight across untouched), then imported into Buildbox as a set of small individual graphic parts. Levels are then assembled by scattering, looping, and layering those same parts. The space junk level is literally a handful of pieces distributed through the scene with fire bits, flashing lights, and elements moving at different speeds to create parallax. The industrial level reuses that same kit with rotating machinery to read as a mining operation the player flies over. Same parts, different arrangement, entirely different level.

Progression and monetization plans The plan is multiple unlockable ships purchased with in-game currency, with roughly 100 coins awarded every third to fifth playthrough. In-app purchases are on the table as an alternative path. The ships haven't been built yet, but the intended method is the same modular one used for the levels: build a set of small ship graphic parts and recombine them into a large variety of ships rather than modeling each one from scratch.

UI and onboarding Two other threads are in progress. First, a new look and feel for the interface, plus the layout work to make it hold up across iPhone 5 through iPhone X sizes, iPads, and the spread of Android devices — a real design constraint on any mobile release. Second, teaching the controls without a tutorial wall, which matters because the entire input scheme is one finger moving left and right to dodge.

What's next The next stretch continues level production, but with a shift in method: recombining parts already used in existing levels into new ones, then applying that same approach to ship creation. Dev vlogs are planned weekly from here.