Now that you’re all caught up, we can get started. It’s been a long journey since our first post about Retro/Grade on the PS.Blog over three years ago. We’ve worked very hard creating the best game we possibly can since then — if you saw the three year old screenshots, you’ll notice that it’s barely recognizable as the polished product you see today. Besides all the visual polish we added — like jaw-dropping effects and full HD 1080p rendering at 60 frames-per-second with anti-aliasing — we’ve added a ton of content.

Although we have a campaign mode, challenge mode is really the star of Retro/Grade. It’s where the real meat of the game lies. In challenge mode, you are presented with a galaxy map, and you go through playing various challenges that are based on the campaign levels, but with various twists and rule changes. For example, in some of the challenges, the music is sped up, which naturally makes completing the level more difficult. We also have challenges that require you to reach certain score targets, have trickier patterns, and plenty more! There are 130 challenges spanning a map filled with secret paths, warps, and rewards.

What kind of rewards, you ask? All sorts! We have cheats that turn on fun gameplay features like big heads, disco lighting, a film noir look, and more. We also have 11 unlockable ships, some of which feature characters from other indie games like Meat Boy, Minecraft, Octodad, and Go Home Dinosaurs. We also reward you by unlocking tracks in the music player. While that may not sound too interesting (especially if you bought the soundtrack), our music player is set up like a DJ deck with two turntables, which means you can scratch and mix the unlocked sounds to your heart’s content!

If challenge mode doesn’t sound like it interests you, campaign mode will keep you coming back for more. You can compete on one of our many leaderboards for the different songs and modes — don’t worry, we have separate leaderboards for guitar and DualShock controllers, just in case you feel that one control scheme has an advantage.

Retro/Grade is available today for $9.99, or in a bundle with the soundtrack for $14.99. The soundtrack, which is in AAC format and is copyable to a USB memory stick, is also available separately for $7.99. We have a demo available, so if you’re not yet completely sold on this reverse-shooter, now is your chance to try it out! Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you on the leaderboards!

Firstly, how did we design a game played in reverse? We worked backwards of course! We started with the idea that it’d be cool to play a game where time is flowing backwards, but we didn’t have any ideas on how to pull that off. We did a lot of brainstorming — time reversing is a hard concept to wrap your head around. We figured for gameplay purposes, undoing your actions would be the best fit for that theme. When undoing, you have to match both the timing and the position of previous actions. When matching timing, music is the best way to achieve that, so we thought rhythm gameplay would be the best mechanic to build the game around. We figured a 2D game where your motion is constrained to a few discrete lanes would make it easier to match the positions.

A 2D spaceship shooter seemed like a great fit for the theme, so we tried to incorporate elements from sidescrolling shooters on top of our rhythm game core. Rick Rocket, the hero in Retro/Grade, must un-fire his shots, which are timed to the beat of the game’s music. Rick is equipped with basic lasers, but he’s also got a range of special weapons that he will un-fire, since shmups usually tend to feature awesome special weapons. All player fire has to make sense when time is moving backwards, so if the player makes a mistake and doesn’t unfire a shot correctly, it damages the space/time continuum, which is what you’ll be trying to preserve instead of health in Retro/Grade. Too much damage to the continuum and it’s the end of the entire universe!

One of the greatest parts of sidescrolling shooters is weaving through crazy patterns of enemy fire. We wanted to use that in Retro/Grade, but enemy fire works a bit differently since time is reversed. The player still has to dodge enemy fire, but it is returning to the guns that fired it. If the path is blocked, then it is preventing the shots from being fired, which creates a paradox. Paradoxes damage the space/time continuum, so Rick must carefully avoid enemy shots while getting into position to unfire his shots.

Now that you understand how we came up with the design and what it is, how is it actually played? When we were still brainstorming how the game would work, we realized that if we have five or less discrete lanes, a guitar controller would be a great control mechanism — Retro/Grade is a rhythm game at its core, after all. From the beginning of development, we designed the game for both the guitar and the DualShock in order to ensure that one scheme isn’t easier than the other.

With the DualShock, Retro/Grade plays a lot like a shooter. Up and down move your ship one space lane up and down, and the X button unfires your projectile. When playing with a guitar controller, you press the colored fret button to move your ship to the corresponding lane, and strum to unfire. We also have a Retro/Rocket power up, which allows Rick to reverse the flow of time again (forwarding it) allowing him to undo mistakes and try again. The circle button, or whammy bar, will summon this power.

Sounds confusing right? It really isn’t! Understanding how everything fits into the fiction of the game world with time reversing is complicated, but the actual gameplay is easy to pick up. It’s all about dodging enemy shots and un-firing yours, and everything is timed to the beat of our awesome original soundtrack by Skyler McGlothlin. We spent a lot of time putting together a tutorial that introduces all the concepts slowly but surely, so if you aren’t sold on the game yet, be sure to try the demo once it’s available.

Retro/Grade will be available for $9.99 on PSN August 21st, or you can get a bundle featuring the game and soundtrack for $14.99. The soundtrack will be available by itself for $7.99, so if you want both, the bundle will save you $3. Thanks for reading, and I can’t wait to see you all on the Retro/Grade leaderboards!

Hey everyone, good news: We’ve finished our award-winning rhythm/shoot’em up, Retro/Grade! The game will be released on August 21st exclusively on PS3, and will provide hours of mind-bending rhythm-based gameplay as you fight through reverse-timed space battles.

We’ve gotten many requests to make Retro/Grade’s soundtrack available, so I’ll go ahead and confirm that we’ll be selling it on PSN. If you want the game and the soundtrack, there will be a discounted bundle — we’ll have more details on pricing soon.

For those who aren’t familiar with Retro/Grade, it’s similar to a classic Shoot ‘Em Up… in reverse! At the beginning of the game you stop a massive alien invasion, but all the destruction damages the space/time continuum, causing the flow of time itself to reverse. What would have been the final boss is actually the beginning of your backwards journey. You must help Rick Rocket restore the continuity of space/time, before the temporal anomaly rips the universe a new time-hole!

Since time is reversed, you must undo your actions to protect the health of the space/time continuum by unfiring your shots, which are timed to the beat of the game’s music. In addition, you must dodge enemy projectiles returning to the guns that fired them. You can unfight the battle with either a DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller or a PlayStation 3 guitar controller.

To learn more about the game, click here and visit the official site. Check back soon — we’ll have much more to discuss, including Retro/Grade’s support for guitar controllers!

Retro/Grade is an innovative fusion between a rhythm game and a sidescrolling shooter that has received the IndieCade audience award as well as two Independent Game Festival nominations. The game begins when you have just singlehandedly fended off an alien invasion, but all the destruction damaged the space/time continuum, which caused the flow of time itself to reverse. What would have been the final boss is actually the beginning of your backwards journey.

Since time is going in reverse, you must undo your actions in the space skirmish to protect the health of the space time continuum. This means you have to dodge enemy projectiles returning to the enemies that fired them while un-firing your projectiles as they return to your ship. It is easier than it sounds since everything is timed to the beat of the original retro game inspired soundtrack.

If you have a guitar controller collecting dust, brush it off because you can use it to play Retro/Grade! (Don’t worry. Gamepads are supported as well.) If you are having trouble imagining how a game can be played in reverse or how to pilot a ship with a guitar controller, you’re in luck. Retro/Grade will be playable in booth 6415 at PAX Prime later this month, so stop by our booth and give it a try.

At PAX, we are having a high score contest where the winners will be forever immortalized in the credits of the game. To enter the high score contest, you need a Reverse Pilot ID Card. If pre-register on our website, we will print a custom reverse pilot ID card with your picture and call sign that you can pick up at PAX. If you forget to pre-register, you can still compete, but you will miss out on your chance to have a cool custom card. In addition, we will be giving out t-shirts to people who beat a challenge.

If you can’t make it to PAX to check out the awesome progress we’ve made, here’s a quick update. We’ve added some amazing boss fights with crazy reverse attacks. Your spaceship can now unshoot plasma beams. We now have motion blur to give you the feel that you are reverse rocketing through space at breakneck speeds. We’ve added new exciting locales for backwards battles. We’ve added all of this without sacrificing antialiased 1080p running at 60 frames a second! Check out this video to see some cool new stuff in action:

If you want to make sure you have all the latest and greatest info as we announce it, become a fan on facebook or follow us on twitter. I hope to see you at PAX!

As you can see in the screenshots, all the graphics have been redone in order to take advantage of the power the Playstation 3 provides. Retro/Grade will look amazing on your HDTV because it runs at Full HD (1080p) with anti-aliasing at a silky smooth 60 frames per second.

On the gameplay side, we’ve been very busy working to ensure that it is the most fun possible. After some serious focus testing, any rough spots in the gameplay have been smoothed out. Our composer, Skyler McGlothlin, has worked hard to improve all our original tracks for the game. We’ve adjusted the gameplay patterns for maximum enjoyment. In order to help people wrap their minds around our time bending concepts, the tutorial has been greatly improved.

If you are going to the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle on September 3-5, stop by booth 3008! Retro/Grade will be playable, and we are giving out posters and info cards. As well, you can win a Retro/Grade t-shirt by beating our challenge.

On top of all that, we are having a contest to get your name in the credits for Retro/Grade! The gamers with the top five scores using the guitar controller and the top five scores with the DUALSHOCK 3 at PAX will be mentioned in Retro/Grade’s credits. It should be a great time, so be sure to stop by!