Running Robot Man is a roguelike dungeon crawler and exploration game. Play as a robot training for an explorer license at the "Establishment," armed with a parasol, laser, and many acrobatic abilities. Explore a dozen dungeons (solo or in co-op with friends), and unlock access to new abilities and areas in the overworld.
Game loop
Explore procedural dungeons.
Glide with your parasol.
Go with friends.
Find treasure.
Upgrade your gear.
Story
"The Establishment" manufactures robots and injects them with human consciousness to explore dangerous environments/dungeons. Dungeons exist in indeterminate quantum states until they are temporarily stabilized by Establishment technology into different configurations every time. Robots who pass the lower dungeons successfully move up the rank and gain access to more dungeons, weapons, and secret confidential areas and information in the overworld HQ (hub world.) Our story follows a robot working up the ranks to face the Establishments "Recruit Exam" -- a gruelling face off with an Establishment-engineered machine in order to earn the license to explore beyond the walls of HQ into the indeterminate void.
Content
Each dungeon exists in an "indeterminate" quantum state until it is stabilized by the Establishment. Players can enter Establishment-approved dungeon branches until they earn their Recruit License and gain access to the stabilization controls.
The pre-approved dungeons include:
Tutorial: Learn how to use all of the robot abilities: Launch, Ruby Rider, Laser, Dash, Parasol, etc.
Training Branch: A small and basic dungeon featuring Splitting Jelly enemies. Learn how to navigate procedurally generated dungeons and find the exit.
Lava Chasms: Use the launch, parasol, and other aerial abilities to cross gaping lava chasms while dodging and shooting down Laser Eyes.
Soul Spirit Hallways: Explore the enclosed and dark hallways teeming with Soul Spirit Statues -- creeping stone statues which break apart into wraithlike Soul Spirit ghosts. They are invincible to weapons, but can be destroyed by leading them into the light.
Main Branch: The first permadeath dungeon. This is where the main game begins. Navigate through 8 levels of a procedurally generated dungeon and face off with Soul Spirits, Laser Eyes, Electro Piggos (ground based enemies which will chase you and bump you off into the laser), and Death Dots (flying drones equipped with dodging abilities and lasers.) Complete this branch to gain access to the rest.
B-Side Branch: Double the number of floors as the main branch, lights out, and increase enemy difficulty scaling. Also increased time dilation (time flows faster, everything moves faster including the players and enemies.)
Gauntlet: A gruelling 30 floored branch with all enemies from the main branch and time dilation faster than B-Side.
Soirée: All enemies from the main branch re-appear as Tier Two variations. (Tier Two enemies have all their stats boosted, a new appearance, and often new abilities or behaviors not present in Tier One enemies.)
100 Trials: A brutal 100 floor permadeath challenge. Time dilation turned up to the max. Only the ultimate robots survive.
(Bonus) Jelly Rave: Claustrophobic hallways with an excessive number of Splitting Jelly enemies (from tiers 1-7). Great for farming money and overloading your GPU.
(Bonus) Death Dot Dirty Dancing: Extended Lava Chasms dungeon generation with excessive numbers of floating Death Dot drones of Tiers 1-3.)
Victory Chamber: Learn about the secret "battery-overclocking" mechanic -- by shooting down enemies while midair, you can overclock your battery and execute multiple launches, dashes, or other abilities mid-air before touching the ground. Use this ability to cross gaping lava chasms that would otherwise be impossible.
Recruit Exam: The final dungeon -- comes with a 100 ruby entry fee per attempt. Tests the recruit with every mechanic learned so far, including battery-overclocking. At the end of this dungeon robots are faced with a boss; a machine built by one of the Establishment engineers to test their fortitude. This dungeon is permadeath, and marks the end of the main game.
Bonus Content
Bonus abilities / software plugins: There are four optional abilities to collect in-game from the Establishment Engineer including the bubble shield, companion drone, personal rally point, and ruby collector field.
Overworld hub exploration: As your robot earns higher ranks (through completing dungeons) they gain clearance to more of the overworld. This includes access to previews of new dungeons currently under development.
The Library: As you're exploring in the dungeons you'll find journals authored by a robot named "Illia" which will be kept in the library once found. Here you can read her story of joining the Establishment, taking the recruit exam, and the truth about the history of the Establishment and what lies in the void outside the walls.
The Gallery: Each dungeon has a rare collectible painting at the end. Complete all 13 dungeons to complete your gallery and show to your friends in co-op.
Iceberg Pieces: Rare pickups found exclusively in parts of the map you shouldn't be. Go on the ultimate bug-hunt and exploit every glitch you can find to collect all the iceberg pieces left in the game by the developer.
Hidden Areas: There is an achievement for finding each area of the game. Some of these are basic and part of the main story (The Establishment Antechamber, Zen Temple, etc.) but some are more obscure and hidden (such as secret paintings leading to dungeons that are still in development.)
Achievement board: Contains a checklist of every achievement in the game including gallery paintings, skins, journals, iceberg pieces, hidden areas, etc. Can you reach 100%? As of writing this, only one person has!
More info
Game themes:
Similar games:
Risk of Rain 2 (roguelike, powerups, music)
Celeste (precision platforming challenges)
Spelunky (procedural level generation and enemies)
Nier Automata (story and themes)
Gameplay Samples
7-minute uninterrupted gameplay (and link to development logs playlist):
Other Screenshots
The dungeon branch selection board. Interact to change the stabilized dungeon. The green balls are the completed dungeons. The skull is the recruit exam with the final boss.
The Gallery: Every dungeon gives you a painting when you complete it. Paintings are hung here for you to remember!
Gear room. Use your rubies to get new cloaks and robot models.
Explore the overworld/hub for secret rooms. The Establishment is full of secret tunnels and hidden areas. Some are even only accessible through glitches, where you will likely find an "iceberg" piece placed there by the developer.
By exploring the secrets of the Establishment overworld, find access to secret worlds and previews of new dungeons. Featured: Covella (the entrance to the underwater ocean dungeon.)
Featured: Zen Temple (The Spirit Playground)
Take the boat from the Zen Temple across the void to the Fog Fields (where you can gain access to the Silver Abyss -- an experimental areas still in development.)
Coming Soon
New boss battles! Featuring Solomon The Third, Solpugid, Krak Ness, and others. Face off with these enemies repeatedly in dungeons as they learn and grow along with you!
Note from the developer
Thanks for checking out this store page! I hope you like what you see, and if you have any questions about the game, feel free to contact me directly on Discord! I love to connect with my players and hear feedback about this game. Running Robot Man is a dream game of mine, and something I want to continue to developing for many years to come. There is so much content I want to add to it, I could never list it all here (new dungeons, new enemies, endless worlds, software plugins/upgrades for your robot, community dungeon parties, etc.) Your feedback, support, purchases, questions, and sharing with friends all helps me so much! So thanks again for checking out the game, and I hope to hear about your experience with it!
Jackson
