Rabbit and Steel News

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!

Hello rabbits,

Rabbit & Steel will be at MAGFest, January 5th-8th 2023!

If you're attending, come see us in the indie hall and try out the game!

Hope to see you there.

Hello Rabbits!

Last time I made a game, I had a dev blog on Tumblr for a little while, which slowly turned into sporadic Twitter posts, which never really got too much traction anyway. In our chaotic age, the tides of social media continue to shift and churn. So, this time around, I'm pitching my dev log tent on the one sturdy rock that seems to weather all storms... right here on the Steam page!

Plus, it's nice and close to the "Wishlist" button. So close, that you may have misclicked on this post by accident, if you came from the store page. The "Wishlist" button was slightly further up, by the way. If you missed it.

I'll try to make a post about the game once or twice a month! Check in for art, gifs, previews, and news.



RABBIT & STEEL is an action co-op "raiding" roguelite that aims to feel a bit like a miniature tab-target MMO raid.

Or, so the description says, but different people might have different ideas on what "raiding" really means (depending on their favorite online game) and might be curious as to how Roguelite elements play into that.

So I thought it might be useful to lay out what bits I'm taking from different genres, and explain how the basic gameplay works. Though, not all in one post; that'd be waaaay too long.

In today's blog, a little bit on GCD combat, and the rabbit's moves!



"GCD" stands for "Global CoolDown". Basically, the time after using one attack before you can use another. You can't use all your attacks at once, so you have to think quickly and pick attacks that will do the most damage to the enemy.

Though, this is easier said than done.
Each class has a "Primary", "Secondary", "Special", and "Defensive" move. How these moves work and interact with each other is what makes a class a class!
It might be helpful to look over the moves for whatever class you pick...



...And then use those moves to the best of your abilities to pump out damage!



...And don't forget the effects of the items you pick up...



Yeah, by the end of a run things might get a bit complex.

You can probably guess just by looking, but certain items are a lot better when used by specific classes. Maybe one run you won't find many things that are good for the class you're playing... but a great way to hedge your bets is by bringing a different-class-playing-friend along!


...So why is dealing damage so important anyway? Can't you just stand back and plink away with your Secondary? The boss will die eventually... right?

Allow me to explain... in the next post. Stay tuned!