Rabbit and Steel News

Hello Rabbits.

I come bearing great news. The netcode... is finally finished.

I hope you won't mind a (maybe boring) blog post covering it. It's basically all I've been working on for the past month and a half. I'm quite proud of how it turned out as well; the result is much cleaner and straightforward than my previous game.

Where shall we start?




Rabbit & Steel's online play is lobby-based. From the menu to begin a run, you can flip through the options to either open up to online play, or simply stay offline.




And of course, you can browse through the public lobbies as well. Each lobby has a name, a description of the party's goal, and how many players they're looking to fill. Additionally, you can lock your public lobby behind a password, if you're looking to keep the lobby between a group of people who might be in a Discord together without necessarily being Steam friends.





Joining a lobby brings you here, to the preparation screen where you can select characters and try out your moves on a training dummy.



However, you don't actually need to pick a character after joining! By simply letting the party move on without you, you become a spectator.



You don't need to limit yourself to one character per computer either.

If you've got a friend sitting next to you IRL who also wants to play in your online lobby, they can join simply by picking up a controller and tapping in. Couch co-op and online play can be done at the same time!





In the above screenshot, we have 4 different computers connected to this lobby.

Player 3 and Player 4 are playing from the computer this screenshot was taken from. If Player 3 wants to quit, they can do so by clicking on their name in this menu.

Player 1 and Player 2 are playing from a different computer called "Client 1" that's connected to this lobby.

The lobby's host "mino", as well as another "Client 3" are just spectating.

...Uh, hopefully that's not confusing. The point is, you can spectate, play your own character, play with people sitting next to you, and play with people on the other side of the world, all in the same lobby, and it'll work just fine. You can even spectate someone doing the single player campaign, if you want.




...Phew! Glad to be done with all of that.

I suppose this is as good a place as any to share other random news about the game's status.


First off, I'm moving the release date to Early 2024. Sorry!

I think if I tried really hard I still *could* get the game out by late 2023... but honestly, I think that the result of doing that would be a pretty bare-minimum kind of game. What's advertised on the tin, and nothing more.

As much as I wanted to get the game out during the Year of the Rabbit, with just a few more months on the schedule I think I could make the game something much more special. I'd have space to add in the features and content that would truely make the game shine. So I'll be taking that time.


Second, the game is now being classified as a Roguelike! Rather than a Roguelite.

There are still going to be a few things you unlock over the runs, but the game's design has come to emphasize a consistent difficulty, rather than something you could progress your way out of.

Even when I was calling it a Roguelite the progression elements were pretty minimal, and they've only become more minimal over time, to now being just a collection of unlockable items and cosmetic baubles. So, not wanting to give people expectations of Hades-esque strength progression (or something of that sort) I'll be updating the terminology in various places as I go.


Third, and maybe least important; I'll be updating some art assets and screenshots in the coming weeks. A lot of the stuff on the store page is a little bit old.

Maybe the art updates will give me an excuse to introduce some characters... that sounds like a fun topic for next time!

See you then!

Hello Rabbits!

Hope you haven't minded a bit of radio silence; I've been busy with netcode.
Joining lobbies, character movement and player attacks are now working!

So it's like... 1/3rd of the way there. Current goal is to have netcode done by early June, after which I can focus on making content, putting out a demo, and doing some proper marketing for the game.



Speaking of marketing...

Rabbit & Steel will have a booth at Momocon 2023!



The demo featured will be very similar to the one I had at Magfest.
If you're attending, be sure to swing by and try the game out!

Hope to see you there!

Hello again Rabbits!

It's been a hot minute since the last blog post! I've been working hard at various parts of the game. Last March was animation month for me; almost every planned enemy in the game now has animations!

I think in the last Dev Blog I vaguely hinted at showing a little bit about the game's Story Mode, but uh, I got a bit distracted making other things instead. Like a few important shop items! Let's talk potions, upgrades, and this smug looking cat.





Starting from the left, the cat. Her name is Asha, and she's a shopkeeper. She shows up at the beginning of each stage except the first one. I don't really know what her deal is. She isn't for sale.

Next, we have the two items in the top left that feature in every store: a Full Heal and a Level Up.



In Rabbit & Steel, health is a very precious resource. Generally, the game is balanced so that all damage is avoidable, and health is very difficult to recover. Loot items that restore health are few and far between.

So, the Full Heal here is your primary health recovery option for the game. If you've lost a lot of health and don't think you'll last until the next store, be sure to pick one up!

But if you don't think you'll need it, that's 10 gold that can be spent elsewhere.

The Level Up is exactly what it says. As mentioned in a previous post, each level equates to a 1% damage increase to everything you do. Generally, the other items in the store will be a better use of your gold, but if absolutely nothing else strikes your fancy, then buying a level or two is always a good fallback.

Next up, the potions!



Potions have powerful effects that give you a sizable upper hand. For example, the Evasion Potion reduces the size of your hitbox to a negative number, meaning that you can graze slightly into projectiles and AoEs without taking damage. The Swifthand Potion speeds up your GCD by 10%... which basically means you're doing 10% more damage.

They have a drawback though: their effects only last until the end of the current stage. Meaning they are a temporary boon to get you through a potentially tough spot.

Finally, ability upgrades.



These will upgrade an ability until the end of the run. But, you might ask, what kind of upgrade? That depends on the upgrade gem, as well as the character you're playing.

There are 5 different kinds of gems: Opals, Sapphires, Rubies, Garnets and Emeralds. Then, there are 4 abilities unique to each character: a Primary, a Secondary, a Special and a Defensive. Each store contains a gem to upgrade each ability, but the type of gem is randomized.



Purchasing one of these gems will upgrade the corresponding ability with the gem, giving it powerful new effects. Sometimes it's greater damage at the cost of speed, sometimes it's a random chance for something wacky to happen, and sometimes it completely changes the ability to a new one!



Even the same upgrade gem in the same store will have differing effects depending on the class you're playing as. There are quite a few interesting combos to try, so I look forward to seeing everyone's builds!

Oh yeah; the game *is* multiplayer. And the store page says players need to roll on loot from treasure chests. Is the same true for stores?

Uh, no! Asha's brought enough full heals, upgrade gems, and potions to share. So spend your gold how you'd like; you won't be inconveniencing your allies.



That's all for today! In the next Development Blog, I'll show off...

...Uh, actually, I don't know yet. After I finish working on the ability upgrades, the next thing I'll probably work on is the netcode, which might be a dry subject for a blog post. Unlike my previous game, I'd like to have netplay in the demo before I release it; so that's the main obstacle in the way of a free demo.

There's some other stuff I'm also waiting on like music and SFX, and I'd like to give the game a bit of a polish-pass before a demo as well. So, I can't promise that all of that will be done by the next Steam NextFest. But, hopefully I'll have it ready by the NextFest after that. Hopefully. No promises!

Hello Rabbits!

Valentine's Day has come and gone. I hope everyone reading got to spend it with a special someone!

And for those who didn't... uh, you can still have plenty of fun by yourself!

Why not take a dangerous trip to the Moonlit Pinnacle?



So if this is a game meant to emulate the raiding experience, how exactly does that work if you're playing solo?

I mean, if something requires you to "spread out" from all of your allies, and you don't have any allies... that isn't much of a mechanic.

I'm glad you asked! The answer is bullet hell.

Pictured above: One of the earlier bosses on the hardest current difficulty



Solo play is an intense bullet-hell boss rush, mixed in with some interesting gimmicks. It's somewhat similar to my previous game's Story Mode in that way.

It's also somewhat similar to the multiplayer; as the single player boss attacks are usually directly analogous to the attacks bosses use in multiplayer.

Accordingly, the mechanics from multiplayer that work in a solo context are carried over.

Here's a few examples:



As you can see, it isn't just dodging bullets! The raid mechanics still exist as well. As well as the DPS ranking system introduced in the previous post.



As I briefly mentioned in my last post, getting KO'd in single player is an instant run loss.

This, plus all of the extra bullets, plus not having allies to share and optimize loot distribution, means that single player is a lot more challenging than the multiplayer!

But, uh, that's a roguelite for you.

The multiplayer, depending on the difficulty, ranges from a breezy pick-up-and-play fun experience with friends to a grueling experience that requires forsight and knowledge about mechanics and how to solve them.

The single-player definitely leans towards the latter, with a bit more emphasis on pure dodging skills than is required in multiplayer.

Speaking of single-player, in the next blog post I'll touch on the Story Mode! (Which may or may not be single-player exclusive. It may or may not be.)

See you then!

Hello rabbits! Happy new year!

It's the Year of the Rabbit, so it's our time to shine.

And as any seasoned raider will tell you, the best way to shine is to be top of the DPS chart against your friends. If your damage numbers aren't an accurate measure of your own self worth, then what's even the point of playing video games?

Anyway, that's why I'm writing this blog post while standing inside a ball of fire. It's painful, yes, but it's better for melee uptime.



(DPS, by the way, stands for "Damage Per Second". It refers to your average damage over a long fight.)



While you're fighting opponents in Rabbit & Steel, you'll notice a little bar at the top right of the screen.



This bar is a timer! It's the rewards you *could* be receiving at the end of this fight. Slowly slipping away with each passing second, with each missed GCD, like sand in an hourglass.

At the end of a fight, you'll receive a report of how much DPS everyone did, and gold and experience points based on how fast you defeated your foe. Defeat them fast enough, and you could earn quite the haul. Defeat them slow enough, and you might get nothing at all!



Gold and experience points, though, are those things important?

Well, you spend gold in the shop; that probably goes without saying.
Experience points turn into levels. 50 exp is one level, and each level gives you a 1% boost to all damage you deal for the rest of the run.



The faster you defeat enemies, the more levels you gain... which in turn, makes it easier for you to defeat enemies faster, which will net you more rewards.

And if you defeat enemies faster, then they'll have less time to defeat *you*. Certain enemies might even wipe the whole raid if you take too long to defeat them....

So DPS is the rule of the game! Nothing else matters!



Oh, hm, standing in the fireball killed me, actually. Maybe some other things matter.




If you're playing with friends and get KO'd, then you'll be able to revive, after a time. Obviously, it'll take your friends longer to beat the boss without you, so that means less stuff for everyone.

But, it especially means less stuff for you, because getting KO'd means you won't get experience points for that fight. That means, even when you're revived, you'll be just a bit weaker than your friends.

Not only that, but every time you revive over the course of a run, it takes just a little bit longer to revive again... and if you all get KO'd at once, you'll be starting a new run!

Unless you're playing solo, that is; in which case getting KO'd at all is game over! It's tough out there for a rabbit on their own, but some prefer it that way.


...Speaking of solo play, I think the most common question I've gotten is exactly how that differs from multiplayer.
That'll definitely have to be the subject of the next blog post. Until next time, see you around!