May Update! Beta v0.30: Expanded Mines, New Game+, & More

Hello and welcome to the May developer update for Cattails: Wildwood Story! Another amazing month of development is behind us, and we’re excited to release yet another test build for our beta-tier backers!

Exciting News Coming Soon!

While we can’t give the details just yet, we wanted you all to be the first to know that we’ve got some very big news for everybody coming later this month! Not an official release date just yet, but I’m sure several of you will find it interesting 😻 We’ll have more to say in a couple of weeks, so watch your email inboxes and our social medias @CattailsGame and stay tuned!

Beta v0.30

A new version, v0.30, is now available on Steam for our early access backers. There’s several exciting new features, in addition to the usual bug fixes and balance changes.

Expanded Mines

If you enjoy your time in the mines, this update is for you! We’ve added not just one, but two new mines to complete, chock-full with new items, new enemies, new challenges, new floor types, and new rewards. When you reach level 100 of the first mine, you’ll find the key to the second mine. Likewise, at the bottom of the second mine you’ll find the key that unlocks the third mine.

Each of the three mines gets progressively harder and harder, so make sure you come prepared! (Especially once you reach the third mine, that one can be quite tricky 😹)

Mines Two & Three feature new generation algorithms and lots of new items to unearth. In Mine Two, be on the lookout for Alexandrite, a precious gem that is extremely rare. In Mine Three you’ll be searching the depths for Brightstone, a mythical stone with powerful properties.

Halting your progress are a host of new enemies with their own unique attack patterns. Take on Tremortroves, diabolical machines that generate harmful shockwaves; swarming Prowlers in their fragile nests; creepy Lurkers that cloak their presence and strike from the shadows; and plenty more intriguing foes.

You’ll also find new staircase modifiers! You may encounter a Candle challenge that requires you to extinguish many small lights in order to progress, or be greeted with false staircases in an Illusion challenge. Some rocks are placed directly over toxic poison vents, so watch for the telltale signs before you go rampaging through every boulder you see!

There’s also four new floor types to learn about before you go spelunking. For example, on Beach-type floors, you’ll find a veritable invasion of Granite Crabs that nestle beneath the rocks. Fortunately for you they are slow and lumbering, but you may find yourself easily beset by several of these minions trailing you in a long line. Try not to get cornered!

Of course, there’s plenty of new rewards for the brave cats who choose to take on these deadly trials. Each mine has two Power Paws to collect, which means that every Power Paw is now officially available in-game! Hooray!

The moles Molu and Molay will also open new Mole Cash stores when their respective mines become available, and each store has loads of cool stuff to purchase. From new pets to special items to crafting recipes, there’s lots of neat prizes available.

Craft Supply Troves to greatly increase your colony’s stockpile values; make Dynamite to provide you with a powerful way to progress in the caves; create Farsighted Orbs to magically discern the direction to the nearest downward staircase; or construct Bright Emblems out of fabled Brightstone gems to greatly secure your colony’s claim over the wilderness.

New Game+

Start a new savefile and begin with several bonuses! New Game+ is available for any player with at least 1 kitten that has reached buddy level 10 (the max level.) In the future, New Game+ will probably also require that you’ve completed the Main Story, but since the Main Story isn’t implemented just yet, that is not currently a requirement :)

Visit the New Game+ Portal in the Temple to get started. You’ll pick a kitten to bring over to the new savefile. You’ll begin with their coat color, appearance, and accessories. Your old savefile will remain as-is and be unaffected by the creation of your New Game+ savefile.

When you first load up your New Game+ savefile, you will also be granted a pool of XP, Mews, Items, and Skills based on you and your kitten’s lives up to that point. In general, the longer you’ve played on the original file and the more you’ve accomplished, the bigger your starting bonuses will be in the New Game+ savefile.

You’ll also carry over your progress in the following areas:
-All unlocked NPCs
-All discovered Power Paws
-Colony/Den layouts
-All unlocked furniture
-All unlocked accessories

However, everything else will be reset in the New Game+ savefile! You’ll be able to once again tackle most challenges from the beginning, including:
-Relationships/dating/marriage
-Map influence
-Stockpiles/construction projects
-The mines
-Museum
-Most achievements

We hope this New Game+ feature will allow players who want to maximize their time with the game plenty of additional time to explore the world of Cattails: Wildwood Story and take on its many challenges in a fresh new way.

Name Randomizer:

Ever get stuck trying to think up the perfect name? By popular request, we’ve added a Random button to the name inputs on the character creation and kitten creation panels!

Disable Achievements:

Some of our players have asked for an option to disable achievement progress & notifications, so we’ve added that option in the in-game Accessibility menu.

Alright, that’s everything for the month of May! Stay tuned for that exciting news coming later this month (we can’t wait to say more about it!!) Until then,

-Tyler (@FalconDevelops)