Rabbit and Steel News

[p]Hello Rabbits![/p][p][/p][p]I hope your September is going well![/p][p]Mine has been pretty busy.[/p][p][/p][p]I'm about 60% of the way through with boss fight work. Honestly, it's going a little slower than I envisioned it would.[/p][p]...Well, I guess the whole DLC has (since I think I said "late summer" at some point) but that's neither here nor there.[/p][p]I'm trying to have the DLC done mid-November-ish, but we'll see how that goes.[/p][p]Hopefully other games continue to keep you occupied in the meantime.[/p][p][/p][p]Today, another class preview and a boss fight preview![/p][p][/p][p]Thus far I've previewed two ranged classes, so it's high time for a melee class introduction.[/p][p][/p][p]For that we now have the Hammermaid Rabbit: a class specializing in weighty hammer strikes.[/p][p]A rabbit for the slow, heavy, big damage enjoyers![/p][p][/p][p]Last time I introduced Pyromancer Rabbit, who had a somewhat complex rotation with a lot of random procs, contrasted with great freedom of movement.[/p][p]The Hammermaid Rabbit is basically the opposite: her base rotation is dead simple, but her more powerful attacks slow her down significantly. Playing Hammermaid is about carefully planning your strikes so you aren't stuck in place when something dangerous comes your way.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]First, her Primary! She... hits things with her hammer. This slows her down moderately, so use it carefully.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Her Secondary is a step and swing to damage both sides. It's slightly weaker than her Primary, but she gains a significant movement boost before the attack goes off.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]For her Special, she hits with her hammer... twice! A slow two-hit that can be spammed over and over.[/p][p]This move is powerful, but it slows you down a lot, even past the point where the GCD stops running.[/p][p]It also has no cooldown! Instead, it functions similar to Defender Rabbit's Special. But, unlike Defender Rabbit, Hammermaid gains a use of her Special every time she uses any other ability. So, you can use it quite frequently, if you're able to stand still for a moment.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Hopefully you can kind of see how to play Hammermaid: your Special is very powerful, but slows you down. Your Secondary is weak, but lets you move quickly. And your Primary is kind of an in-between option. You can cancel the later part of Special's slowdown by using a quick Secondary to adjust.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]There's one more quirk about her Special: it doesn't have its own damage![/p][p]Instead, the Special uses your Primary's damage. As in, whatever your Primary hits for, loot effects and upgrades and all... your Special will do that damage twice. So Hammermaid's ideal loot might be a bit weird compared to some other characters. Definitely don't pick up the Mountain Staff.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Finally, her Defensive gives her invincibility and deals damage 3 times to her left and right. It also locks her in place, so even as a Defensive you might need to be careful where you use it. It's great as an extra offensive tool though.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]And, just like the Special, the Defensive also doesn't have its own damage number! Instead, it uses the Secondary's damage. As in, whatever damage your Secondary does, loot effects and all, your Defensive will deal that 3 times.[/p][p][/p][p]And that's Hammermaid Rabbit! A simple class on its face with a pretty high skill ceiling.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Deep under the Emerald Lake, water seeps down into an ancient underground pool known as the Subterra Sanctum. This calm place is home to many a creature looking for peace and quiet among the chaos the Spell has wrought.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]However, not all is safe within this sanctuary, as on its east side grows a giant, sentient mass of thorny vines and flowers. This dangerous, overgrown plant is known as Eternal Bloom.[/p][p]What began as a single bud has grown over thousands of years to be completely unkillable. Within her domain, her life-aspected magicks run amok; her thorns, flowers and etherial butterflies all seek to drain whatever life energy it can from any creature that ventures too close.[/p][p]Unfortunately, our rabbit adventurers have some business over there.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Throughout the fight, Eternal Bloom doesn't attack much herself. Instead, she summons butterfly allies to do much of her mechanics.[/p][p]Though these butterflies will typically disappear after their attack is done, if your build has a lot of strong AoE, you can destroy these butterflies to make mechanics easier.[/p][p]In addition to the butterflies, Eternal Bloom will frequently entrap you in large circles of spiraling flowers. So, you'll have to make do within the limited space.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]...If any of these attacks look familiar to anyone, that's a coincidence! There's no relation to any other characters that may have shown up in a different game.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]After you defeat her, you move into her mass of thorns. What enemy could possibly await you here...?[/p][p][/p][p]Some people have asked what kind of animal factions we'll see in the DLC. After all, the base game we had an area with mice, wolves, crows, et cetera.[/p][p]The DLC's areas aren't quite as clear cut! The Subterra Sanctum isn't just plant girls. We're stepping into a dangerous, magical realm where just about anything could stand in our way. Be prepared for some suprises![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]As I said before, I'm about 60% of the way through the bosses after 2 months of working on them. It's been a bit slower than I expected so far, but I'm going to try and lock in and finish them by mid-October. That way, I can have some friends test them and give feedback while I do all of the Story content for the game; as well as get a trailer done.[/p][p][/p][p]So if I can accomplish that, the DLC will hopefully be done in November. If I can't, it'll be later than that.[/p][p]Things are getting closer to completion though![/p][p]I don't know if anyone has noticed my absence from various social medias, but I really just have been trying to get this DLC done ASAP. So art streams and other non-R&S things are probably on pause until I do that.[/p][p][/p][p]Also, one more thing![/p][p]I've previewed 3 new classes so far in these update posts. So you might be wondering how many classes are in the DLC...[/p][p][/p][p]Uh, there will be 4 new classes total![/p][p]So, there's one more I haven't shown.[/p][p]And, like last time, I think I'll keep her a secret for you to discover for yourself when the update launches. (She is my personal favorite new class, though!)[/p][p]There's no particular meaning to the number of new classes. It's just what I could reasonably accomplish without delaying the DLC even longer.[/p][p][/p][p]I'm not sure if there will be another long progress-preview dev log quite like this between now and the DLC's release, but I'm sure I'll have some small teasers to post before launch![/p][p][/p][p]With that, I'll see you all next time![/p]

[p]Hello Rabbits!![/p][p][/p][p]I return to your Steam Library news feed to bring you DLC progress updates. And gifs! And screenshots! And teasers![/p][p]...Okay, that's not the only reason. I've also got...[/p][p][/p][p]And not just one... but three![/p][p][/p][p]The iconic Wizard Rabbit with her iconic hat and iconic scowl![/p][p]Her hair is super super floofy, which makes for a very satisfying squishing and hugging experience.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]By very very very popular demand, the Dancer Rabbit![/p][p]Put her on the shelf right up next to your Heavyblade plush; no one will judge you.[/p][p][/p][p]The Ancient Rabbit, with a detachable dragon pet that can velcro to her head!![/p][p]Not going to lie, this one's in here cause I personally really really wanted one.[/p][p][/p][p]Get them here for a limited time!![/p][p][/p][p]https://www.makeship.com/shop/creator/rabbit-steel[/p][p][/p][p]Onto a fiery DLC preview![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Here's an extremely minor Rabbit & Steel development story: I originally wanted a Pyromancer to be among the cast in the base game![/p][p]The plan was, Heavyblade was going to be an unlockable "Purple" character, Bruiser would have been in the starting 5, and "Pyromancer" would have been the unlockable "Red" character.[/p][p]I ended up deciding to make Heavyblade a very simple starter character, so things got mixed up a bit. Spellsword Rabbit was switched in as the other "Purple" character.[/p][p]But, what's the point of a DLC if not to include unrealized dreams?[/p][p][/p][p]And thus, Pyromancer Rabbit joins the fray![/p][p][/p][p]If I had to describe Pyromancer Rabbit's gameplay with two words, they'd be "mobile" and "complex".[/p][p]Compared to other characters, she has unparalleled freedom of movement: she attacks from a range and none of her moves slow her down significantly. Her Secondary even speeds her up a bit![/p][p]But doing her rotation optimally (even just out of the starting gate!) will take some fast reflexes and quick thinking.[/p][p][/p][p]Let's start with her Secondary, actually.[/p][p]This is her main filler attack; what you use when everything else is on cooldown. It's a quick 2-hit from a distance.[/p][p][/p][p]Her Primary is a bit weird! It blasts your target from a distance, and it's off the GCD with a 4 second cooldown. Meaning, if off cooldown, you can weave it inbetween your Secondary spam.[/p][p]Your Secondary also has a 30% chance to instantly reset the Primary's cooldown, so be ready to press it quickly between attacks![/p][p][/p][p]Her Special is where her real damage is dealt, as she kicks a ball of fire horizontally at her enemy. If the ball hits, then it explodes in a large radius, dealing plenty of damage. If it misses... then it misses. Don't miss.[/p][p]It has kind of a long cooldown... but her Primary has a 50% chance to instantly reset it AND charge it! That's two luck-based cooldown resets on one character![/p][p][/p][p]Finally, her Defensive will grant her brief invulnerability, in addition to resetting her Primary AND charging it.[/p][p][/p][p]...That's a lot! Did you get all of it...?[/p][p]No...?[/p][p]Well, don't count on her upgrades to make it any simpler.[/p][p][/p][p]At least you don't have to worry about mobility![/p][p][/p][p]The DLC will also, of course, include plenty of new bits and baubles to collect and equip.[/p][p]Some of the new additions could probably be recreated with mods, if I posted the assets and item descriptions.[/p][p]But, I'm also expanding functionality for what loot items and trinkets are capable of doing.[/p][p][/p][p]Case in point, some items from the Daynight Set![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Each item in the Daynight Set transforms into something different when you use your Defensive![/p][p]The individual item effects are a bit simple, but when you have to think about the switching it becomes quite complex.[/p][p][/p][p]The Rainbow Cape is from a different set, but it uses the same "transformation" functionality to a different end; by "transforming" into a copy of whatever you picked up last.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Another upcoming item set is the Painter Set![/p][p]This set revolves around a new status effect "Paint", which deals damage and applies a new, random debuff upon wearing off.[/p][p]Great for debuff builds and multi-hit builds![/p][p][/p][p]New capabilities like this will also hopefully allow for some interesting mods as well.[/p][p]I haven't looked at modded item sets at all, by the way.[/p][p]Sorry if a new item happens to be similar to something you created; great minds think alike![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Just two things now stand between me and getting this DLC done; boss fights and story dialog.[/p][p]Though, there's more if you count the things I'm paying other people to do; like translation and music.[/p][p][/p][p]It's so easy to type "boss fights" on a todo list, but... that's the big task that will take months to make![/p][p]So, please wait warmly.[/p][p]Next blog post will likely preview a boss fight that hasn't been made yet![/p][p][/p][p]Thanks for reading, and remember to get a plush!!![/p][p][/p][p]https://www.makeship.com/shop/creator/rabbit-steel[/p][p][/p]

Hello rabbits!!

It's been a hot minute since I wrote a real dev blog. The last one was in... uhh was it really December...? Gosh, I need to make these things more often.

I've been drawing!
Mostly game assets for the DLC, but some other things as well.

I now have all of the character and enemy animations for the DLC done.
I also have all the playable character abilities and upgrades done; which means I can start putting sneak-peeks of them into these proofs of life dev logs.

But first....




Today is the 1-year anniversary of the game's release!!
It's truly been a wild year.
I won't go into too many personal details, but quite a bit has changed for me in 12 months!
It's all thanks to you guys, and I couldn't overstate how eternally grateful I am.



So again, thank you all so much for playing.
Onto the class preview!



I frequently get character class requests! And I do sometimes listen to them.
By far, the most requested class I got was "Gunner". The second-most-requested is a bit harder to pin down, but "Alchemist" was definitely up there.

So I combined those ideas into one class! Introducing the Grenadier Rabbit: a long-ranged fighter with unparalleled versatility.



The Grenadier Rabbit's base kit is very simple.
First, her Primary: A very quick shot that does a decent amount of damage. By default, her Primary has 6 shots before she needs to reload.
How does she reload? Well, her Secondary!
It's an "attack" that does no damage, and runs your GCD for 2 whole seconds.



Her Special is a thrown "grenade"!
She throws an exploding potion a fixed distance infront of her.

And her Defensive is just a quick duck for cover.
Nothing too special... though, it does have an additional effect of resetting your GCD; so you can use it to reload a little bit faster if you're looking for a little more DPS at the expense of your invulnerability.


Seems like a pretty simple class, right...?
Not quite! What really makes Grenadier Rabbit interesting are her ability upgrades.



Her Primary upgrades all turn her gun into a different "weapon".
For instance, her Sapphire Primary is a bit like a semi-automatic.
Her Garnet Primary is an electro-gun.
Her Emerald Primary is a rocket launcher!

Her Secondary upgrades... don't actually change her Secondary at all!
Instead, they further augment her Primary.
You can mix and match effects to get some wild results!





Her Special and Defensive work together the same way; with her Defensive upgrades affecting her Special, while the Defensive itself stays the same.
By taking upgrades for both, you can create some crazy effects.






All this wackiness was pretty complicated to put together, programming-wise.
But, I think the end result captures the "alchemist" fantasy quite well.
Pick a gun, pick some ammo, mix some potions, and get experimental! (When the DLC comes out, that is)




So to clear up any possible confusion, this is just a preview! I haven't updated the game or anything yet.
My original goal when I first decided to do this DLC was to get it out by the game's first anniversary, but making games certainly does take longer than you think. And, maybe this is all a bit more than I originally thought it was going to be.

But the only thing that could stop this DLC is me literally dying! You guys have truly changed my life and given me all the financial leeway I could ever ask for.
So I've got all the time in the world to make things, if you've got the patience to wait for them.
At my current pace, I'm hoping this all comes together around September or October; December at the absolute latest.

Current progress in detail:

New Stages: Just missing the music!
New Characters: Just missing SFX!
New Enemies: Animations are done, but I still need to make the fights (including their gimmicks)
New Items: I've written down a bunch of ideas, but haven't implemented anything yet
New Trinkets: Haven't started!
New Story: I've written a few things....

That might not look like there's a lot done, but the animations and characters are one of the big tasks, and that's now behind me.
In fact, I've already got it set up so I can "play through" a run of the DLC areas; the bosses just don't do anything yet.

I'm going to tackle the items and trinkets next, and hopefully get them all done by late-June. Then onto boss fights; which I think I can get finished by the end of August. And then there's the story, which I don't think will take too long to put together; I'm planning on it being a bit shorter than the one in the base game.

After that is just transations, testing and touch-ups!

See you all again in the next progress report, in a month and a half or so!

Hello Rabbits!

No proper dev blog this month; sorry!
I've been doing lots of fun things; like going to Magfest, getting very sick from going to Magfest, and also moving house IRL.

I have been making some progress on the DLC though!
All of the background stages are now complete, and all of the design sketches for new enemies and classes are done.

After this post I will enter "art hell"; doing nothing but animating characters for the next month.
It's not quite as hot as the real hell, but it's about as much toil and suffering.

In the meantime, look at this mysterious location!



And these cute enemy sketches!



I'll have a real dev blog showing some of them in action... in a few months, when they have animations and fights and stuff.


With that out of the way, the patch!

This patch is primarily a bug fixing patch, but also focuses on add a few requests from modders. New functions have been added so that achieving certain item effects is a bit easier, and some things are now possible that weren't before.
These additions shouldn't break any existing mods, since it's only adding and fixing things.
But if it did break your mod somehow, please let me know via email or Discord DM!

Hope to get back with a real dev blog in the near future!



- Adjusted the hitbox of "donuts", including Enrage and Color Match
Previously, there was an exploit where, by having items that decreased your hitbox size, you could stand directly in the center of Enrage donuts and not get hit, or move quickly through the expanding donut and dodge it if you had a low framerate
Donut ring hitboxes are now slightly larger, and no longer take buffs from items like Evasive Potion into account

- Adjusted the check for the unlock for the King's Arsenal Soundtrack to be slightly more lenient
Previously, because of the time slow, if you defeated Merran just as it was about to end, it wouldn't count for the unlock; it now gives you more leeway

- Add a new icon to "Mods" in the options menu

- If you try to close the game just after an auto-save, it will wait about a second before closing.
Hopefully this will minimize issues where closing the game during saving sometimes corrupts your save data.



- Added "distance" variable on "ipat_bruiser_3" and "ipat_bruiser_3_emerald"
- Added "s_changeAmount", "s_newAmount", "s_sourceType", "s_sourceHb" to the "onGoldChange" trigger
- Added "s_teamId" and "s_playerId" to the "onSquarePickup" trigger

- Fixed issue where, when editing existing items using Mods, it wouldn't let you add new triggers unless other items were also added in the same mod
- Fixed issue where tset_uservar_darkflame and tset_strmult_backstab would crash the game
- Fixed issue where squareVars other than squareVar0 were unaccessable
- Fixed issue where the following functions didn't accept variables, only numbers (they now correctly accept variable names as well):

• tset_uservar_cond_squarevar_equal
  
• tset_uservar_random
  
• tset_uservar_random_range
  
• tset_uservar_sqvar
  
• tset_uservar_blackhole_charm_calc
  
• tset_strmult_backstab
  

- Added the following new "set" functions:

• tset_userver_random_range_int
  
• tset_uservar_switch
  
  
• tset_uservar_difficulty
  
• tset_uservar_hallwaycount
  
• tset_uservar_stage
  
  
• tset_uservar_hb_cooldownvar
  
• tset_uservar_hb_hitboxvar
  
• tset_uservar_hb_itemvar
  
• tset_uservar_hb_stat
  
• tset_uservar_player_stat
  

- The following enums have been added for use with "tset_uservar_difficulty", "tset_uservar_stage" and the "onGoldChange" trigger respectively:

• difficulty.cute
  
• difficulty.normal
  
• difficulty.hard
  
• difficulty.lunar
  
  
• stage.test
  
• stage.outskirts
  
• stage.nest
  
• stage.arsenal
  
• stage.lighthouse
  
• stage.streets
  
• stage.lakeside
  
• stage.keep
  
• stage.pinnacle
  
  
• goldSource.battleRewards
  
• goldSource.store
  
• goldSource.loot
  
• goldSource.debug
  

- Added new "quickPatterns":

• tpat_player_add_hp
  
• tpat_player_set_hp
  
• tpat_player_add_gold
  
• tpat_player_set_gold
  
• tpat_player_add_level
  
• tpat_player_set_level
  

- Added new boss patterns:

• bp_erase_bullets
  
• bp_erase_bullets_small
  

- You can now set items to spawn in with using Mods.
To set an item as something to spawn in with, a flag needs to be set on that item.
Check the API for additional info!

- Shop options will now sync correctly between players, even when using modded items
- Now, if you mod "loot" into stores, it will function like potions do; where each player can buy one (instead of only one player being able to buy it)



- Fixed issue where spectating a game would allow you to unlock stages
- Fixed issues where certain abilities and items (such as Assassin's Opal Secondary) could continuously activate over and over between battles
- Fixed issues where certain loot that required standing still (such as Iron Grieves) could activate even when you were KO'd
- Fixed issue where Diamond Shield wouldn't give allies invulnerability
- Fixed issues where Blackstrike, Counter, Tranquility, Flash-STR, Flash-DEX, and Flash-INT wouldn't wear off properly when applied by an ally
- Fixed issue where, if you defeated Tassha just as her clones disappeared, it could result in a softlock
- Fixed issue where, if you were not the lobby host and revived just as the host saw a party wipe, your character would appear alive in the background of the defeat screen (it now just KO's you; if the host says you've lost then you've lost!)

- Fixed a number of typos and text issues in various languages

[h2]1.0.4.6 Hotfix[/h2]

- You can now set hbColor0 and hbColor1 to "-1" to make an item/ability match the current character's color palette
- Added new pattern functions from October's balance update to the modding API

- Fixed issue where, if you had a mod that changed the effect of an item that already exists in the game, and then joined a lobby without any mods enabled; the item would still function as if it were modded while in that lobby
- Fixed Tassha softlock for real this time
- Fixed issue where trying to make new copies of base game status effects within mods would cause the game to crash

- Fixed typo in Wizard Rabbit's Sapphire Secondary (the description said it was a 30% damage increase, but it's actually 40%)

- Fixed a number of other typos


[h2]1.0.4.7 Hotfix[/h2]

- Fixed issue where mods that copy status effects wouldn't correctly copy over certain parameters

Hello Rabbits!

The seasons continue to turn, and it is now almost winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
What that means for you depends on where you live. Maybe you're somewhere where all the normal monsters are replaced with slightly stronger ice variants.

As for me, I'm hard at work at Rabbit & Steel's DLC!

For those who've missed me talking about it before; I am, infact, working on a content update to the game.

However, unlike a lot of roguelikes that do a number of small patches that add items, bosses, whatever here and there, I am packing it all into one update! One chunky DLC. I figure it will be easier to convince your friends to come back and play for a large content update, rather than just one new boss or something.

I originally wanted to aim for the game's release anniversary of May, but at current pace that is definitely, definitely not happening. Late Summer 2025 to Fall 2025-ish might be a more accurate estimate. Hopefully not too much later (but who knows, life happens).

Today, a small preview! But first....




Following Heavyblade Rabbit, Tassha the Snowfur Wolf is now also a plushie!



https://www.makeship.com/products/tassha-plush

The perfect Christmas Gift! ....Though, she won't actually arrive at your door until a few months after you order.

She'll be available for the next 3 weeks, so pick her up while you can! It probably wouldn't be a good financial decision to buy 4 of them... but you could.

When I asked around what other characters people wanted turned into plushies, the answers were pretty scattered; but Tassha came up a lot! There seem to be a lot of other ones people would like though... so I'm sure Makeship and I can cook some more up as well. So pick up Tassha while you can, and comment below if there's a Rabbit or other character you want to see a plushie of next!!





If you're one of those who actually played through the base game's story, you know that there were a few unanswered questions.

It's time to find some answers... far below the Moonlit Kingdom.



New areas! The right half of the map is blurred for spoilers.

When you set your destination to a DLC area, you start in "The Crack in the Geode". This place functions like the Kingdom Outskirts, with a few easy enemies and chests to get your run going before reaching the harder areas.



Definitely something odd going on here.

The structure of the game is mostly unchanged; each DLC area will have a shop, enemies, a chest and a boss at the end. Like here, we see the shop....



Oh! Uh, hi Tassha.
I guess Tassha's running the shop now.



Hm, I wonder where Asha is then.
Hopefully she's not somewhere slightly off to the right, preparing for that all-too-tired "fight the shopkeeper" roguelike trope.

When playing through the DLC for the first time, you will be limited to the DLC areas. However, I do plan to add a setting to completely randomize the all the game's areas (base+DLC) once you beat the DLC. This setting won't make any canonical sense (as the DLC takes place after the events of the base game), but it'll be something you can do.

And again, aiming for late Summer 2025-ish for the DLC! Hopefully!

That's all for now, see you next time!