Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Raid Leaders!
302 days ago, in March, Crab Raid Tactics demo have been published on Itch. Later, in May, it came to Steam as well. I want to sincerely thank everyone who played the game, added it to their wishlist, shared their feedback and ideas with me. When this game finally matures enough to be released - that would be thanks to all of you.
Throughout this year, I applied to several online and offline events, and was able to showcase Crabs on some of them:
- Feedback Quest 3 on Itch.io
- Feedback Quest 4 on Itch.io - Scored #3-#4 in Graphics and Overall Fun, 4th place
- Feedback Quest 5 on Itch.io - Scored #1-#3 in every category!, 2nd place
- Steam Strategy Fest - Store Showcase
- DevGAMM Lisbon 2023 / IndieX Steam Event
- DevGAMM Lisbon 2023 Game Showcase
- DevGAMM Lisbon 2023 Public Pitch (won that one as well)
For now, let's celebrate all that with the last update of this year! I have something nice in store for those who've been following the game and providing suggestions
Objectives and Rewards
Remember side objectives added in the last update? With this update, side objectives now give out minor rewards. So far, it is limited to "Loot" and "Pearls", but the expansion of the reward pool is something I'll start working on soon!
The rewards themselves also got a significant facelift, and several graphical artifacts related to them have been fixed.
UX And QoL Changes
Over the course of this year, I've received numerous requests about some things. Always in a hurry, moving from country to country, preparing the build for one even or the other, I wasn't able to give enough love to those things. But I can now!
Move All Button ːsteamthumbsupː
That's right, it's finally here :) there is now a separate button and hotkey to command all three Crabs to move out to the same location. This is the first implementation, so I am sure you would have a lot of comments, requests and ideas about how to make it better. If you do - don't hesitate to let me know!
Settings & Quit buttons in-game ːsteamthumbsupː
Any game should have that, that's basic stuff. So, Crab Raid Tactics now has it, too!
Attunement UIːsteamthumbsupː
The UI window for attunement reward now automatically pre-selects a Crab that can attune an ability, instead of always selecting the first Crab in the squad.
UI improvements ːsteamthumbsupː
The overall UI style have been tweaked to improve clarity and readability, and highlight on all the selectable elements have been updated. Also, gradient fonts! Do you like gradient fonts? I like gradient fonts!
Main Menu update
Ok, nobody actually asked for it, but I'm kind of proud of this one. Just look at how much it changed!
Lighting Update and Performance Options
Making the Settings Menu accessible during the run led to a minor rework of all the performance options, so they could be safely changed mid-game. I had to spend extra time to fix some of the existing issues with graphics and performance. There was also another iteration on the lighting on all game scenes - to make Crabs stand out a bit ore on every environment. Let me know if I actually succeeded!
Improvements marked with ːsteamthumbsupː were based on the feedback I got from all of you so far. Keep it coming!
As always - I'll be happy to see you on Crab Raid Tactics Discord, hear your honest thoughts and awesome ideas!
GL;HF! Until the next year!
Stefan, Your Dungeon Master