Speedrunning Platformer Rooftop Renegade Is Out Now

By Tim Bowman, February 18, 2023

A new game races out this week from Australia.

Rooftop Renegade is a fast-paced, 2D running platformer developed by the small South Australian independent studio Melonhead Games.

The game released on Friday for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC on Steam for $17.99.

The main character is named Svetlana, a woman who stole a pair of hoverboard shoes called Chrono-Kicks that have the power to manipulate time. She’s being chased after by Globacorp to get them back, a corporation who controls the city. The gameplay is focused on getting better scores and completion times on each futuristically designed stage. The stages have time crystals to collect, obstacles in the way and different paths that players can take to reach the end of the level. The main single-player part of the game is called the “arcade mode.”

A seed-based “generator mode” in the game mixes up the levels for different challenges by creating stages with an assortment of layouts based on keywords entered by the player.

There’s also a local multiplayer “party mode” with up to four players, which is a major feature of the game. In each round, one player controls Svetlana while the other three try to take her down as the Globacorp gunners. The winner is the person with the best time as Svetlana. This mode is only for local players as the game doesn’t feature online multiplayer.

Rooftop Renegade started out as part of the Global Game Jam event in January 2018 when Melonhead Games were still students, where creators quickly try to develop a game in just 48 hours. The concept of the game evolved into a full development project and release that has been shown off at various conventions since then. The game was developed with Unreal Engine 4 and is the studio’s first release.

Melonhead Games was founded in 2017 and is a small team based in Adelaide, South Australia. The studio received funding from the Australian government and its New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS) program to jump-start the company. They also received a grant from the South Australian Film Corporation in 2019 as part of its Games Innovation Fund to help with the title’s development. Melonhead Games received additional funding through Epic Games’ MegaGrants program.

Rooftop Renegade won the Indie Showcase People’s Choice Award at PAX Aus in October 2022.

The game’s soundtrack composed by John Oestmann is available to download on Steam for $5.99. It’s also available to listen to on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.

Watch the game’s trailer: