RKGK / Rakugaki News

RKGK is launching May 22! First look at Gameplay!

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RKGK is a single player 3D platformer filled with style, graffiti culture, self-expression, and thrills. It will be released on May 22, 2024 on Steam.

Propaganda has been blasted on every screen in the neobrutalist Cap City, turning citizens into mindless conformists and draining the city of its vibrancy. A group of rebels, led by Valah, is fighting back by covering the screens with graffiti and restoring individuality to the city's inhabitants.

Valah utilizes her vibrant paint to navigate through the city by effortlessly jumping, gliding, and surfing amidst the dull infrastructure. Her mission: tagging and concealing the draining screens to thwart their mind-altering influence, part of our larger effort to dismantle B Corp's control and ignite a movement for reclaiming individuality before it's lost forever.

[h2]Gameplay[/h2]
RGKG gameplay prioritizes being fun, fast, colorful, and fluid as you traverse the city to take down B Corp's CEO, Mr. Buff, and his lackies.

Valah sprays her paint for extra momentum, with the press of a button you can glide around on a colorful trail that coats the grey industrial complexes of Cap City. Surf, jump, and gain speed to get through the levels faster for a greater challenge.

As you come across unwanted enemies patrolling the area, attack them with a jolt of spray paint or your fisticuffs to make them explode! As you keep chaining together your attacks and movements in this fast-paced gameplay, Valah will activate Defacer Mode.

[h3]Defacer Mode[/h3]

Entering Defacer Mode gives Valah an extra edge. Fill up the Defacer bar at the bottom of the screen, and you’ll have Valah moving even more quickly through those challenging levels and kicking even more B Corp butt! Your momentum will even create an indestructible force-field in front of you that you can use to destroy enemies just by running into them!

Players also get a 10X multiplier, for those looking to get the highest scores in each level. You’ll want to get into Defacer Mode as fast as possible and keep maintaining it for the best scores and times.

[h2]Progression[/h2]
We start off in the Urban Ramparts on the outskirts of the city. As you progress in RKGK, each level gets you closer to the center and B Corp’s HQ where you’ll find the merciless CEO, Mr. Buff.

As you go through a level, you’ll receive a letter rank and gameplay stats based on your performance. Higher ranks are awarded based on how fast you make it through and how high your score is for the level. If you run out of lives, you’ll fail the level and must try again to keep progressing.

After completing a level, they are re-playable, so at any point you can go back and try and get a higher score, complete challenges, or grab coins or Ghosts that you might have missed your first time through.

Coins and Ghosts can be used by talking to your friends in the Hideout, where you can exchange them for various customizations.

For players that love competition: While RKGK is a single-player game, we made the Session Result screen easily shareable to go head-to-head with other RKGK players and prove that you have the fastest times and highest scores!

Make sure to wishlist RKGK to pick it up when it launches on May 22, 2024 and follow us on social media for even more information! See ya soon!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2146570/RKGK__Rakugaki/

[h2]Follow RKGK![/h2]
RKGK.com | Tiktok | Instagram | Threads | Twitter | Facebook

Content Creators! We're on Lurkit! Sign up for a key here: https://www.lurkit.com/campaigns/rkgk

Meet the characters helping you express yourself in RKGK!

Hello from our Hideout at the edge of the Urban Rampart in Cap City!

Cap City used to be a vibrant, lively place. Until B Corp and it’s dusty CEO Mr. Buff showed up, anyway. They’ve been turning it’s citizens into mindless husks of who they used to by through screens used to drain everything that isn’t useful to B Corp’s goals.

We’re fighting back. Valah is leading the charge with her graffiti skills, determined to cover every screen with art and restore individually to the city. She’s able to nimbly parkour across the city with the help of her bright paints that let her jump, glide and surf through the grey infrastructure, then tag and cover the draining screens to stop their mind control. We’re trying to disrupt B Corps control and inspire others to reclaim their uniqueness before it’s too late.

[h2]Customization[/h2]

Express yourself with Valah through her paint choices, graffiti tags, and personal style.
As you complete levels, you’ll collect coins and ghosts that you can use in the Hideout to get more sweet clothes, art, and paint. You can quickly change to your new customizations by visiting the Wardrobe Station in the Hideout! Customizations will become available to unlock with coins as you progress through the levels!

[h2]Friends[/h2]

In the hideout, your friends are waiting to help you keep your uniqueness intact.

[h3]Meet AYO[/h3]

AYO is a little floating robot that is super pissed off at Buff—they might hate him just as much as Valah. AYO was found outside the Manufacturing Facility, probably discarded due to some malfunction, that’s the running theory anyway. We tried to study him and see if we could learn more about Buff’s army but wound up gaining a loyal friend that was happy to offer support in and out of combat.

AYO has you covered when you’re ready to change up your look or your paints. Just talk to them in the Graffiti station, and you’ll be able to unlock your favorite color palettes and art to decorate all of Cap City with your unique style!

AYO is sometimes the voice of reason Valah needs, but you didn't hear it from us.

[h3]Meet FUTURO[/h3]

FUTURO is an absolute menace with a soldering gun and a beast at writing music. When she’s not fixing, hacking, or creating something new, she’s composing the great tracks you’ll hear while traversing Cap City. She loves Valah’s art, and Valah loves FUTURO’s music. It’s a friendship based on mutual respect, which can be the best kind of friendship. There’s a lot that is still mysterious about her, but we’re looking forward to learning more in her own time!

Interacting with FUTURO will take you to the music shop, where you can select some of her newest tracks to add to your playlist as you paint the city.

The cool thing about FUTURO is that even if she composes techno music, she is always listening to so many other genres! She doesn't care about what others might think and knows music is universal.

[h3]Meet ALMA[/h3]

Before Buff’s reign over Cap City, Valah met ALMA while reaching for the same oversized sweatshirt. Initially, there was bickering, but after a LOT of it, Valah and ALMA realized they actually have a ton in common, including impeccable fashion sense. He’s got a big heart and is an incredible fashion designer, even if he’s not always convinced of it! He’s always down for a good talk or an even better gaming session!

ALMA has an array of clothing designs for you to trade coins for to unlock. His eye for pop culture cannot be missed!

Have you seen his huge scissors? We are a bit scared of them tbh...

[h3]Meet MURO[/h3]

MURO is the oldest member of the crew and the one who found the Hideout. She’s probably the most artistic and athletic of the bunch! She’s appreciated as a great listener and teacher for everyone in the group.

MURO has some high-value customizations, like rare outfits, graffiti, and even AYO gets in on the customizations. MURO doesn’t trade for coins though, you’ll have to give her ghosts that can be achieved through completing various challenges in RKGK.

MURO is always motivating others to be better, this is why her items are so high-valued and require a big effort from Valah to get them.

[h2]Now what?[/h2]
We can’t wait to share more. Make sure to wishlist RKGK and follow us on social media for even more information! See ya soon!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2146570/RKGK__Rakugaki/

Hello from the Hideout! Lets talk Cap City and Valah!

Hello from the Hideout! Valah and the gang are spending most of our time here now that Cap City has been taken over by B Corp and its smelly CEO, Mr. Buff. This is just temporary, until we stop Mr. Buff from spreading his mind-control influence on the rest of the citizens.

[h2]Cap City[/h2]

Cap City used to be a busy, bright place until B Corp moved in and started playing propaganda on all the screens in the city. Since then, everyone has turned into mindless husks. The draining screens have influenced how they act, what they wear, listen to—everything. It’s turned the city dull and grey with everyone acting the same.

This doesn’t work for us. We’re fighting back.

We’ve figured out that if the citizens of Cap City can’t see the screens, then they can’t be drained by them, and their uniqueness and color will come back. As some of the last holdouts, we must do something before everything that makes this place great is gone. So, we’re taking to the streets—armed with our paint, sweet music, and individual style— to cover up every inch of those screens with rakugaki and take down Mr. Buff and his lackies.

Graffiti is about to save the day... as usual!

[h2]Valah [/h2]

Leading the charge is Valah!

Valah has been drawing ever since she read her first manga when she was five years old. Before Buff showed up, life was chill. The hideout what just a place to hang out, practice art, play videogames, and read with good friends. They all have their own ways to show their personality, but Valah’s was through graffiti! Any reason to show off her newest art was exciting.

After seeing the damage that the corporation has been doing to the city and her friends, Valah has made it her mission to fight back! She’s determined to cover every draining screen in the city with art and free the citizens from their dull, mindless lives. Even if that means coming face-to-face with the virtual nightmares that Buff came up with to take him down.

The trick is to NEVER STOP DRAWING! some of us unfortunately stopped for a while but we started again and here we are!

[h2]Traversing the City [/h2]

[h3]Platforming [/h3]
Valah takes to platforms with the help of her graffiti, which lets her jump, glide, and surf through the city quickly. You can see the trails Valah leaves behind as she zooms around and uses the momentum to keep her moving! Not even B Corp’s mechanical robots can stop her once they get a spray of paint to the “face.”

[h3]Graffiti [/h3]
Graffiti is life. It's how Valah shares a piece of herself with the world, and now it’s being used to take Cap City’s citizens out of their mindless shells and back to their lively, former selves. Thankfully, Valah’s got what it takes to cover every draining screen with her art and restore life to the brainwashed residents.

When the boss hears about this… you can bet he won’t be too happy, but we just must inject the corporation with some rakugaki, too.

[h3]Defacer Mode [/h3]

As Valah keeps moving and chaining her jumps, surfs, glides, and melees she’ll eventually enter Defacer Mode. Defacer Mode lets Valah graffiti-surf faster and grants a force field in front of her, which lets her destroy enemies just by colliding with them.

Players also get a 10X multiplier, for those looking to get the highest scores in each level. You’ll need to get into Defacer Mode as fast as possible and keep maintaining it for the best scores and times. We'll show a little more on Defacer Mode really soon with you all!

[h2]What’s next? [/h2]
We’ll have more on gameplay with Valah in an upcoming blog post, and more on customizations, supporting characters and Mr. Buff!

Make sure to wishlist RKGK and follow us on social media for even more information! See ya soon!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2146570/RKGK__Rakugaki/

Hello, we’re Wabisabi!

[h2]Hello everyone, we are Wabisabi Games, the developers of RKGK![/h2]
RKGK is our first game, and we’re so excited to be able to share it with all of you soon!

[h2]Wabisabi Games[/h2]
We wanted to introduce ourselves to the players as you’re learning more about RKGK!

A shared love of video games, anime, manga, and street culture brought our four founders, Oscar Noriega, Anwar Noriega, Julio Zabre, and Esteban Lezama together. Wabisabi was brought together in Mexico, and now has developers coming together from seven different countries remotely all over the world.

While we took on work in advertising to build the studio up initially, our goal was always to create RKGK.

Did you know wabisabi means to appreciate the beauty in the imperfect? Now you know...

[h2]RKGK[/h2]
RKGK is our love-letter to the things we grew up loving– anime, retro platformers, and our roots in graffiti culture.

“We always pay homage to everything we loved as kids that fueled our imagination, from graffiti and streetwear to anime and manga.”

[h3]Anime[/h3]
The anime we watched as kids in the 80s and 90s made a profound impact on our lives. We loved the larger-than-life stories being told with their humor and relatability. The different styles and expression through this artistic medium was like nothing else we had seen.

You’ll see the art style in the main characters of RKGK heavily showcasing these vibrant colors, in contrast to the hand painted backgrounds nodding to 80s and 90s anime. The character proportions are heavily stylized to add emphasis to the graffiti in the universe, which is our main weapon and tool for the story of RKGK.

Watching anime in national tv was tough. One day you were watching episode 143 of your favorite show, and then next day pum... episode 1 again. Maybe this helped us grow the patience needed to make games.

[h3]3D Platformers[/h3]
Growing up, we all played a lot of games, especially games from the golden era of 3D platformers. We fell in love with the genre: the larger-than-life villains, the puzzles, and the ability to figure out the quickest ways to overcome a smooth challenge.

We put a lot of focus on creating a single player experience that’s challenging but approachable to all, regardless of their familiarity with platformers. We’ve been working to make sure that Valah is responsive with a lot of varied actions that can be chained together for a unique experience.

We hope you find all the secrets in the game! (being fully transparent, there are some of us who still haven't.)

[h3]Graffiti[/h3]
We have been exposed to the graffiti culture of Latin America our whole lives. In this culture there is an unmistakable honesty in its expression, where it can be a tool to inspire a thought, open minds, or reveal a history and emotion that can’t be shared with words or an image alone.
We worked with an amazing graffiti artist to develop the art you’ll be using to spread creativity back to Cap City.

This honesty inspired the purpose of RKGK and gave us the setting and story that we wanted to tell (with some cartoon-villain humor, of course!).

We cannot confirm nor deny some of us painted graffiti in real life. 🤐

As you play through RKGK, we’re excited to see you leave your mark on every surface possible, take down Mr. Buff and restore Cap City to its vibrancy. Make sure to wishlist RKGK and follow us on social for more news and information! Till next time!

As we all work remotely at Wabisabi, it's hard to get a team picture– but here's our fantastic emotional support team!

Announcing RKGK! Coming Soon!

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Welcome to Cap City! RKGK will be coming to Steam this Summer 2024!

RKGK is a vibrant, single-player 3D platformer where you play as Valah, a member of a rebellious graffiti group, to fight the oppressive B Corp and its evil CEO that seeks to drain color and life from the Neo-Brutalist world of Cap City. Push platforming skills to new heights, unleash abilities, and use the city as Valah’s canvas to take down B Corp’s minions.

Unleash your creativity.

Light up the cold concrete with Valah’s graffiti, discover secret treasures, and map hidden paths through the sprawling urban world of Cap City.
Chain together jumps, dashes, glides, and grinds as you master the fluid and kinetic platforming action. Master routes and push through enemies to take down B Corp with speed and style.
Use Valah’s paint abilities for stylish traversal, chaotic mayhem, and making your mark on every corner of Cap City.
Channel your power through art and resist B Corp’s mind controlling technology by leaving your mark with an array of unlockable graffiti and paint customization options.

With your help, we can restore freedom and expression to the citizens of Cap City!

Hey, everyone! I’m Anwar from Wabisabi Games, working on our first game: RKGK!

We are extremely excited to finally show you what we have been working on for the past few years.

RKGK is our love letter and tribute to everything we grew up loving as kids: 3D platformer games, anime, manga, graffiti, electronic music, etc., and being our first game it just means the world to us that you will be able to experience it.

Since the very beginning, RKGK was developed with 2 concepts in mind:

To provide a nostalgia trip to all of you who also grew up loving the golden era of 3D platformers, watching anime on tv, going to your first rave, or even tagging your city!
To create a gateway for new generations of players who maybe haven’t experienced these types of games before, and hopefully grow an affection for them.

We can’t wait to tell you more about RKGK as we ramp up for launch, and excited for you all to experience the game.

Make sure to Wishlist RKGK and follow us on social media for even more information! See ya soon!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2146570/RKGK__Rakugaki/