Core Keeper News

A few months ago, we gave a handful of people the opportunity to participate in a Core Keeper Closed Alpha to give the developers their feedback on the current iteration of the game. Since then, we’ve been working hard on quality improvements, balancing gameplay, fine-tuning certain mechanics, and adding and updating features so that Core Keeper can really shine.

We’re very grateful for the feedback, and we’re now in a place where we want to give YOU the chance to experience Core Keeper in all its glory before it hits Early Access in 2022. So, without further ado, we’d like to introduce the Core Keeper OPEN ALPHA!

[h2]What is the Core Keeper Open Alpha?[/h2]

The Core Keeper Open Alpha is an extended gameplay opportunity where you’ll be able to download the latest build of the game, explore a vast procedurally generated underground world, mine resources, farm crops, discover recipes, build bases, take on several of our GIANT bosses, and experience plenty of other exciting features and mechanics. All of which can be enjoyed in single-player or in teams of up to 8 players for a vibrant co-op experience!

The Open Alpha will run from Wednesday the 1st of December to Tuesday the 14th of December, giving you FOURTEEN WHOLE DAYS to uncover the secrets of The Core. Afterwards, you’ll be able to give our developers your feedback on the game, helping to make Core Keeper even better in the run up to Early Access.



[h2]How Do I Take Part?[/h2]

It’s easy! Simply head on over to the Core Keeper Steam store page and download the alpha build of the game – no purchase necessary. From here, it’s a case of playing it like you would any other Steam game but remember that you’ll only be able to access this build between the 1st and 14th of December. Think of it as an early Christmas present from the developers here at Pugstorm.

[h2]Can I Stream the Open Alpha?[/h2]

The short answer is yes. The long answer is that we’d absolutely love it if you did! If there’s one thing we want to see as developers, it’s people sharing their first-hand experiences of the game. We’ll be casually browsing YouTube and Twitch throughout the duration of the Open Alpha to check out your streams, say hi, and maybe even answer some of your questions if you have any.

We hope you have an amazing time taking part in our Core Keeper Open Alpha! Don’t forget to Wishlist Core Keeper on Steam to show your support. If you want to connect with other players to team up in multiplayer or you’re just looking for the latest Core Keeper news and information, make sure you join our Discord!

Halloween has come and gone, but monsters are forever…or until you defeat them at least! There are all kinds of weird and wonderful life forms in the mysterious underground world of Core Keeper, and we thought we’d show off some of our creations today. From the humble Slime to the terrifying Caveling Brute, we’ve got quite the roster of creatures. In fact, you might even say it’s a bit of a monster mash!

[h2]Orange Slime[/h2]
Location: Dirt Biome
Attacks: When provoked

The Orange Slime is the very first monster we designed for Core Keeper, and it’s probably the first monster you’ll encounter in-game. Slimes have been an RPG and adventure game staple for as long as anyone can remember, and we love their jello-like features. The Orange Slimes aren’t aggressive in Core Keeper, meaning you’ll be able to walk among these blobs without fear. Just watch out for the goo they leave behind though, it’ll seriously slow you down. If you do decide to initiate combat, make sure to sidestep the Slime’s jump attack before landing the killing blow.



[h2]Poison Slime[/h2]
Location: Nature Biome
Attacks: With poison (duh)

Purple Slimes are a lot less passive than their Orange counterparts, and they’re much tougher too. If you wander into one in the Nature Biome, look out for their purple trails, as these Slimes ooze a poison that will temporarily reduce the amount of health that you can recover from healing. Their attack patterns are similar to those of our other Slimes, so they can be dodged with a simple sidestep. Just make sure you’re not sidestepping into a puddle of poison!

[h2]Larva[/h2]
Location: Larva Biome
Attacks: Relentlessly

These little grubs may look cute, but they’re very aggressive when it comes to Explorers. You’re likely to find a handful of Larva in most parts of the Larva Biome, and they can be taken care of with a couple of well-timed attacks…it’s their cocoons you’ve got to watch out for. Step too close, and they’ll start to hatch (we think it has something to do with the Explorer’s body heat), spewing out multiple Larvae at once. Don’t you just Larva challenge?

[h2]Big Larva[/h2]
Location: Larva Biome
Attacks: Torches & Explorers

Little Larva are one thing, but it’s the big ones you’ve got to watch out for. These chunky bugs are twice as aggressive, and they’re also very photosensitive – meaning they’re not the biggest fans of torchlight. If you ever place a torch, go off exploring, then come back to find it destroyed, you can almost guarantee it’s the work of a Big Larva. Oh, and did you know the Big Larva is Sven and Max’s favourite creature?

“The Big Larva started out lying down just like a regular Larva, but we had visual issues where it was clipping into walls. My solution: let's make it walk on two legs and give it a sassy walk cycle. Easy fix!” – Sven, Pugstorm CEO

“I think I like the Big Larva the most since a walking larva is just cool. Sometimes it is a bit of a love-hate relationship though when they keep destroying my torches.” – Max, Programming & Multiplayer Developer

[h2]Caveling[/h2]
Location: Stone Biome
Attacks: Explorers & Other Creatures

The Cavelings might just be the remnants of an ancient underground civilisation, and there’d probably be a lot you could learn from them, if they weren’t so feral. Cavelings are very territorial and will attack anything that crosses their paths. The only exception to this rule is other types of Cavelings – all of whom seem to tolerate each other just fine. Not much is known about the common Caveling, other than the fact that they enjoy mining and seem to subsist on some rather strange looking bread. Our designer, Julian, is also very fond of them.

"My favourite monster is definitely the Caveling. They started out as simple enemies, but they have ascended into mascot status for the game, hence why they play a bigger role now and there's more variations of them." – Julian, Lead Artist

[h2]Caveling Shaman[/h2]
Location: Stone Biome
Attacks: With Fire Magic

Caveling Shamans are a strange and mysterious variation of the common Caveling. They wear peculiar headdresses and have a wild look in their eyes that suggests they may possess dangerous magic powers. They also shoot fireballs from their staff, which confirms that they possess dangerous magic powers. Caveling Shaman can attack via both melee and ranged combat, making them formidable foes. It’s rumoured that the Shaman can predict an Explorer’s movements, making dodging their fireballs all the more difficult!



We hope you’ve enjoyed hearing all about our monsters. We’ve still got a couple of creatures up our sleeves and plenty of bosses that we’ll be sharing more info on later. For now, make sure you join our Discord server for more news, updates, announcements, and information on Core Keeper.

[h3]“Will there be fishing?”
“Pleeeease let there be fishing!!”
“There's a river in the poster! There's gotta be fishing. Plus, I just really want there to be.”
“Fishing elevates every game, and that's just a fact.”[/h3]

On the 12th of June 2021, we announced Core Keeper to the world. Approximately five seconds later, you asked us if there’d be fishing. We heard your requests in the Discord server and started looking into the mechanics, but we had to keep things quiet until we knew we’d 100% be able to incorporate it into the game. Well, we’re pleased to report that the wait is finally over. We can confirm CORE KEEPER WILL HAVE FISHING!

Read on to find out more about this exciting new mechanic and some other features as part of our most recent changelog!

[h2]More about Fishing[/h2]

You know the old saying: “Give an Explorer a fish, and you’ll feed them for a day; implement a fishing mechanic, and you’ll feed them for a lifetime.”

We wanted to keep the fishing mechanic nice and simple in Core Keeper, so all you’ll need to do is equip a fishing rod, find a body of water, cast your lure, and wait. You’ll notice ripples in the water at first, followed by a splash if you’ve managed to hook a fish. When you see the splash, that means it’s time to reel that bad boy in!



We don’t want to give too much away right now, but you can expect plenty of variables when it comes to fishing. From the type of rod that you fish with all the way down to what you manage to pull out of the water. Different biomes might just house different creatures, and you may occasionally fish up something unexpected.

[h2]Introducing the Carrock and Puffungi[/h2]

You’ve seen the Glow Tulip, you’ve sampled the Heart Berry, you’ve even gotten a taste of the Bomb Pepper…but we wanted to bring you MORE! More crops mean more recipes, and more recipes mean more buffs.

Say hello to the Carrock and Puffungi, two unique little plants that can only be found in the Stone and Mould Biomes, respectively.

Carrock: This hardy root vegetable is found in the Stone Biome and can only be planted in stone ground. It can be cooked with other food sources to create various types of stone dip snacks. When eaten, it recovers health and gives an armour buff for a limited amount of time.



Puffungi: Found in the Mould Dungeon, Puffungi can only be planted in mould ground. This mysterious mushroom can be cooked with other food sources to create various types of mould cheese (yum!). When eaten, it recovers health and gives a buff that reduces damage from bosses for a limited amount of time.

[h2]Look out for the Caveling Brute![/h2]

He’s big, he’s mean, he’s a little slow, but we won’t hold that against him. It’s time for you to get to know the Caveling Brute. This oversized Caveling hangs out in the Stone Biome and packs one mighty punch. It’s a bad idea to take on the Caveling Brute when there are other Cavelings around, so we recommend luring smaller enemies away and taking them on first before you try and tackle the big guy.

His giant wooden club is a force to be reckoned with, and a single hit can do a lot of damage to a defenceless Explorer. It’s worth the fight if you’re short on materials, however, as the Brute drops wood – a valuable resource if your sword or pickaxe suddenly breaks while you’re exploring the Stone Biome.

[h2]Full Changelog[/h2]

We’ve implemented plenty of other new features and changes that we’d like to share with you. Check out the full changelog below:

• Two new plants: Carrock & Puffungi
  
• Two new cookable food types
  
• New enemy: Caveling Brute
  
• Starving now gives multiple debuffs
  
• Being well-fed now gives multiple buffs
  
• Pheromone system – enemies can follow invisible trails of scent that you leave behind
  
• Bosses can now be re-summoned after being defeated
  
• Heart Berries & Bomb Peppers are now more common
  
• Increased chance for crosses on the ground to spawn valuables
  
• Walls can no longer spawn valuables
  
• Improved the generation for decorations in wooden rooms
  
• The eyes of the player character can blink and change direction
  
• Improved visuals for when an item breaks
  
• Improved lighting for when bombs explode
  
• Randomised the starting frame for torches to prevent animation sync
  
• Lowered volume for the larva’s sound effects
  
• Added rooms with enemy slimes around the area where Glurch the Abominous Mass spawns
  
• Increased the size of the dirt biome
  

We hope you’ve enjoyed this developer update. Did you know that we announced some of these features early in the official Core Keeper Discord? If you want a first-look at some of our features, make sure you join the server today!

What makes a development team happy? Well, we love meeting new community members in the Discord, reading your comments on Twitter, and hearing how much you’re looking forward to Core Keeper…but what makes us really happy is getting feedback from YOU on how we can improve our game!

We recently ran a week-long Closed Alpha on Steam, giving you the opportunity to play an early build of Core Keeper and let us know what you think. We’ve read through ALL your feedback, and we’re beyond thrilled to announce that we’ve already started working on some improvements. We know you’ll be interested in what’s been updated, so read on for info on the Alpha feedback and details from our changelog!

[h2]Hungry, Hungry Explorers[/h2]

One of the most important pieces of feedback we got was that players were getting hungry, fast! Currently, when a player’s hunger level gets too low, they experience a starvation debuff that impacts movement speed. This was frustrating for our Alpha Expedition, many of whom struggled to find enough food to satisfy their hunger before they located the materials to craft a cooking pot to make more filling dishes. Oops!
We’re working on balancing hunger so that finding food is still a challenge, but players aren’t totally nerfed at the start of the game. So far, to remedy this, we have reworked the food system so that food now drains based on the distance the player has moved; increased the food value that mushrooms give from 5 to 9; and made it so that seeds now have a chance to drop from slimes & wooden destructibles. We hope this will give players the opportunity to begin farming much earlier on in the game.



[h2]You Want to Play Core Keeper with Friends[/h2]

If there’s one thing our feedback confirmed, it’s that you can’t wait to play Core Keeper with friends. All of our Alpha Testers who provided feedback said they would be likely to recommend Core Keeper to a friend, with the majority of those Alpha testers giving the highest possible rating of recommendation. This kind of feedback warms our hearts, and we hope you’ll enjoy playing in up to 8-player multiplayer.

[h2]Glurch the Not so Abominous Mass [/h2]

Glurch is one of the first bosses you’re likely to encounter in Core Keeper (though our bosses can be fought in any order), and it’s one tough-looking blob. At least on the outside. It turns out, players were having a less-than-challenging time taking on the giant slime by employing a “hit and run” technique and chipping away at its health. To make Glurch a real threat, we’ve updated the game so that it now recovers 25% of its maximum health any time the player runs outside of aggro range.

[h2]The Ultimate Explorers![/h2]

We asked you which feature you enjoyed the most out of farming, cooking, crafting, exploring, combat, and base building. 68% of you found exploring to be the most enjoyable feature. You also enjoyed base building, farming, cooking, and crafting. Looks like we might have to work on combat a little bit though!

[h2]Wood You Believe It?[/h2]

Want to craft torches? You’ll need wood. Want to make tools or weapons? Better grab some wood. Want to build a base? Well…you get our point. Unfortunately, player feedback suggested that wood was a much less common resource in the underground than we intended. Crafting and base building are key components of Core Keeper, so we knew something had to be done.

Introducing the Root Plant! When a player harvests wood, the wood now has the chance to drop seeds that can be planted to re-grow wood, making this a farmable resource. No more struggling to choose between tools, weapons, or decorations! It may take you a little while to farm a sizeable crop, so you may have to prioritise how you use the wood you grow at first, but that’s part of the fun.



[h2]Our Full Closed Alpha Changelog[/h2]
Here’s the full list of everything we’re updating as a result of Closed Alpha feedback:

• Ranged weapons can now shoot in 360 degrees
  
• Gathering wood now has a chance to drop root seeds that can be planted to regrow wood as the Root Plant
  
• Biome locations are now placed in a random direction from The Core
  
• Melee weapons no longer hit torches when enemies are near the torch
  
• Unique colours for each player marker on the map
  
• Players can now hover over player markers on the map to see their names
  
• The Caveling Shaman’s attack anticipation time has been increased from 0.35 seconds to 0.6 seconds
  
• Enemies ranged attacks and melee attacks now share cooldown
  
• Healing Potion crafting cost has been decreased from 5 Slime and 5 Heart Berry to 5 Slime and 3 Heart Berry
  
• Healing Potion has been changed from healing 40hp to healing 40% of max health
  
• Glurch the Abominous mass now heals 25% of its max health whenever the player runs outside of aggro range
  
• Glurch the Abominous mass now spawns 10 tiles further away from The Core
  
• Seeds now have a chance to drop from slimes & wooden destructibles
  
• Decreased chance for seeds to drop from crosses on the ground
  
• Next item auto equips if the previous one breaks
  
• Decreased the amount of digging for Cavelings
  
• New enemy: Red Slime – found in the dirt biome and attacks you on sight
  
• Reworked food system so food now drains based on the distance the player has moved
  
• Increased the amount of food mushrooms give from 5 to 9
  
• Improved visuals for Caveling Shaman attack anticipation
  
• Removed “CK” from the Core Keeper icon
  
• Option to disable screenshake
  
• Facing mouse direction is now set to be the default
  

Thank you for taking part in the Alpha Expedition, we can’t wait to share more updates with you soon. In the meantime, why not sign up to our Discord so that you’re the first to hear Core Keeper news?

Exciting news, everyone. Core Keeper is going to be at EGX 2021 from the 7th to the 10th of October!
If you didn’t get a chance to participate in our Closed Alpha (or if you did, but you’re hungry for MORE), this is your chance to play. Come and meet the Sold Out team and get hands on with the game – we can’t wait to hear what you think!

[h2]“How Will I Be Able to Play Core Keeper at EGX?”[/h2]

We’ll have some PCs set up in a dedicated area of the Rezzed Zone where you can play our Core Keeper Closed Alpha live at EGX. Simply look out for stalls featuring the Core Keeper branding and chat to one of our representatives to play. We’ll be doing our best to make sure that you all get an fair amount of time with the game, but we also anticipate that lots of people will want to play, so we recommend stopping by as soon as possible.

If you haven’t got your EGX London tickets yet, you can find out more about the event and pick one up HERE.



[h2]“What’s Is the Closed Alpha?”[/h2]

Our Closed Alpha is a little bit like an early build and demo of the game rolled into one. It’s not the full version of the game, but you’ll be able to experience a lot of what Core Keeper has to offer in a fleshed out, procedurally generated underground world and take on our first two bosses!

We’ve had plenty of feedback on the Closed Alpha so far – and we’re going to be working hard on balancing the game and incorporating our community’s feedback – so please note that there’s lots that we’ll be updating in the next build of the game.

[h3]What you can expect in the Closed Alpha build is:[/h3]

• A gorgeous and mysterious underground world with unique biomes and lots to explore.
  
  
• The ability to play alone or in up to eight-player multiplayer.
  
  
• An array of weird and wonderful creatures, some friendly, some…not so much.
  
  
• Plenty of ancient relics to uncover while mining.
  
  
• Fascinating plant life, from the humble Glow Tulip to the powerful Bomb Pepper, and the ability to farm crops and combine them into recipes for powerful buffs!
  
  
• The opportunity to build bases all over the underground and decorate them to your liking.
  
  
• GIANT monsters just waiting to be defeated.
  

[h2]“How do I Become a Part of the Core Keeper Community?”[/h2]

We’re glad you asked! Our community members are the first to hear when we’ve got news and updates or the opportunity to play the game before it launches in Early Access via something like a Closed Alpha. You can become a part of the Core Keeper community by joining our Discord at the link HERE.

Make sure you read the server rules and react with the right emoji to gain access to the full version of the server and connect with your fellow Explorers.

We’re looking forward to seeing you at EGX, and we can’t wait to bring you even more Core Keeper announcements soon!