Hey, rabbits!
...Wow, there are a lot more of you than the last time I wrote a blog post!
It's been a whirlwind of a week for myself, a number of amazing happenings set against a haze of hotfixing bug after bug after bug.
There's still more bugs, by the way. There were 5 more reported in the Discord just while I was writing this post. I guess a lot of things can go wrong when your game runs over the internet.
But I'm taking a short break from all of that to talk about things!
That's right, the game has sold over 100k copies in its very first week!
That's... a very very large number. Overwhelmingly so.
There were a lot of great games that came out the very same day as Rabbit & Steel... not to even mention some of the stuff that came out earlier in the week. And yet, you all have decided to give my weird little game your time and attention. For that, I'm humbled and thankful.
When I started making the game, one of my goals was to make something that did a bit better than my previous game, Maiden & Spell. Maiden & Spell about broke even in terms of the time and money I put into it.
This game has done... much better than that. I think I will be safe in my solo indie development endevours for the forseeable future.
So, thank you, everyone. Here's to the updates and new games yet to come.
Most of the really, really critical bugs should be patched out now. There are still a few lingering issues I'd like to tackle here and there, and I'll likely get to those soon.
My goals with the game going forward is as follows (subject to change).
Immediate future plans:
1) A balance patch!
Everyone says Wizard Rabbit is too weak, and I kind of agree. Her Defensive is hard to use, a lot of her upgrades are terrible, her DPS is kind of middling for a lot of effort playing her, etc. etc.. I'd also like to touch up Sniper Rabbit a little bit, although her situation isn't quite as dire.
I'd also like to add more "movement speed up" effects to loot items that are currently in the game. There's a lot of stuff that slows you down, but few things that speed you up. Being extremely slow can be funny, but being extremely fast can be funny too.
2) A "toybox" mode!
Basically, a little extra room where you can try out any item combos you'd like against a training dummy. Currently, the plan is to make it so that only items you've won a run with are available; but that's still just a plan.
3) An art gallery!
I've got a lot of concept art that's currently just sitting in a Discord thread; I'd like to throw it in the game proper. Plus, it'd be a way to look back on some of the Story cutscene art, if you'd like to.
Further future plans:
1) More classes, more bosses!
I can't really give a specific date to this, but... instead of a trickle of small updates that add a few new items here, another boss pattern there... I'd like to do a big DLC! Like a real one! New stages, new music, new bosses, the works. Probably for free!
Since the game is multiplayer, I feel like it will be easier to drag your friends back to the Moonlit Kingdom a few months down the line for a lot of new content releasing at once, instead of trying to get them to play to see one new class or boss at a time.
No idea when all of that will come together, but I'm in the process of writing it all down so I can at least give Hagane an idea of how much I'll be asking of him. It'll probably be a while.
2) More mod support!
I need to figure out how to make Steam Workshop work with Gamemaker. I have no idea how hard that is... seriously, I haven't looked into it at all.
But, with the way the game is programmed, I think custom loot items and bosses should be pretty achievable. Custom classes... are a bit more difficult; can't really promise anything there.
Anyway, those are the plans! I'll update you on progress periodically in blog posts similar to this one.
We had a World First Race last week! It was... quite eventful.
For those who weren't following the event closely, I'll summarize what happened.
On the first day... we got a Lunar Clear within 3 hours! A team found a way to cheese the whole game. That's a roguelike for you, I guess. Their strategy involved 3 Dancers and 1 Druid, all with the Garnet Defensive Special, keeping 100% Rabbitluck uptime while the Druid spammed their Defensive.
Everyone, including the team that won, felt that this was... a bit anticlimactic. So, we decided to add a new rule that everyone had to use a different class, and continued the race.
The first clear with that new rule in place came almost exactly 48 hours after the event began. Second and third place came in soon after.
So, here's all the winners, and the times that each boss was defeated!
Again, no real prizes other than the fun that everyone had. Thanks to everyone who participated and made it a truly special event. And extra special thanks to Saya, who helped me run the whole thing.
The OST is finally on Steam!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2984870
It's also available on Spotify and Bandcamp, if you'd prefer:
https://rns-ost.tumblr.com
It is set at 10USD; that's what Hagane wanted to price the album as, and I didn't want to undercut him here on Steam. So 10USD! Sorry if that's a bit pricey.
That's all for now!
Thank you all for playing.