Rack and Slay News

Reminder: Rack and Slay will release on MAY 27, 2024 (that is exactly 3 weeks from today)! I wrote about everything the full version will entail in a previous post. Today marks the last content update before release. The rest will all be polish, tweaks and finalizing the achievement system for launch.

The highlight of this patch are new boss enemy variants:


[h2]Patch notes (v0.99)[/h2]

• Doubled the number of boss enemy variants. Enjoy! (Yes, they're also in the demo.)
  
• Added subtle shaders to many more objects, including most collectibles.
  
• Added low-health warning overlay to the edges of the screen when at 1 health.
  
• Decoupled some visual-only animations from fast-forwarding, so they always play at the same speed (e.g. opening treasure chests).
  
• Tweaked the wording of several menus and info screens.
  
• Various minor fixes.
  

By the way, if you'd like to help out a tiny indie endeavor and haven't wishlisted the game yet, know that every single click helps a lot! Thank you!

Mostly optimizations and fixes in this one, but in case you missed it we just announced the official release date for the full version: Rack and Slay will release on MAY 27, 2024!

Also we have a brand-new cover and main menu art that represents the game much better!


[h2]Patch notes (v0.91)[/h2]

• Updated main menu background art and client icon.
  
• Added “surrender” option to the pause menu. This will instantly end your run as if you had died, and (in the full version) grant you the XP for all cleared levels up until this point.
  
• Bounce speed of bouncy obstacles will slow down after 500 bounces in the same turn to prevent getting stuck in infinite bounces between obstacles.
  
• Reworked UI selector logic to make it more performant and robust.
  
• Heavily optimized player and enemy ball animation controller.
  
• Lots of minor fixes.

Remember to mark your calendars: May 27, 2024!

[h3]Mark your calendars![/h3]
I'm thrilled today to reveal that Rack and Slay will release May 27th! I'll be working on the game basically every day until then to add even more polish on all fronts, plus the last bits of additional content for maximum variety on release day! So looking forward to when you will finally be able to get your hands on the full version! ːsteamhappyː

In other no less exciting news, here's a brand-new key artwork for the game (you can also find it and many more assets in the press kit). Same as all the new in-game art and animations, it was created by Estivador, so this should make for a much more coherent overall style to the game's online presence and also gives a better impression of how the game actually plays when you look at it. I personally absolutely love it!


But speaking of full version, here's what to expect in terms of content and game modes:

• 111 game-changing items, with 50+ of them being unlockable through playing any mode you like (and yes, in good Slice & Dice tradition there will be an "unlock all" option).
  
• 20 difficulty levels to unlock in packs (no need to go 1-by-1 if you're that good).
  
• The full 10-level Crawl Mode for your good old ~30-minute roguelike runs.
  
• The shorter Delve Mode with half the levels, but double the item drafts.
  
• The one-level Raid Mode with random items for a quick burst of mayhem.
  
• Daily Mode featuring a unique set of game-changing run modifiers every day.
  
• Wild Mode for random (and sometimes extra crazy) sets of modifiers.
  
• A set of Challenge Runs featuring pre-defined gameplay variants that will often drastically change the way you play the game.
  
• A full Item Compendium to track your unlocks and collect badges for the highest difficulty you beat using each item.
  
• (For the nerds like myself who love reading patch notes:) Full in-game patch notes.

So, a final reminder to (if you haven't yet) please wishlist the game. For a tiny project like this every single click is a huge deal. Plus you'll also be reminded right when May 27th hits to grab your launch-discounted copy! See you then! ❤️

Things are rapidly moving forward with patches 0.85 through 0.9 all in one (cause the former primarily had full-version improvements)! Watch out for an exciting announcement soon! :)

[h2]Patch notes (v0.9)[/h2]

• (Full version) Added challenge runs (unique pre-defined gameplay variants). For example, start with only a few shots but gain 1 shot per kill; or tons of huge explosions that insta-kill enemies but lots of extra enemies; or extra shots but sometimes they go backwards. :D
  
• (Full version) New item Black Hole: Pulls the closest enemy towards you when you fall into a hole. This brings the total to 111 items!
  
• Changed Demolisher to work on the first X obstacles you touch (X being the number of Demolisher items you have) and not just during the first turn to give you more freedom to use the item in a planful way.
  
• Changed Double Shot to trigger every other turn instead of only on the first turn since with the recent rework into a mini ball item it has lower immediate potential.
  
• (Full version) Made it possible to switch between unlocks in run-end screen when multiple items were unlocked in a run.
  
• Added tooltip to difficulty settings that shows all active difficulty effects.
  
• Prevented direct repetitions in item re-rolls from occuring.
  
• Excluded a few initially not very useful items from the random starting items pool for difficulty 15 and above.
  
• Added a few new sound effects.
  
• Added a few new icons and item graphics.
  
• Updated Unity engine to the latest LTS version. Primarily to ensure long-term compatibility, maintainability and (potentially) portability. You shouldn’t notice any difference except for maybe some performance improvements here or there.
  
• Optimized in-game lighting and added a third light quality setting.
  
• A bunch of general performance improvements and code cleanup.
  
• Several wording adjustments (shoutout to axerity).
  
• Countless smaller fixes and tweaks.

I hope you continue to enjoy the demo, and as always if you have any feedback please let me know via Discord or Twitter or leave a post in the Steam discussions!

[h3]NEXT FEST[/h3]
Join me (Graeme) for a Steam Next Fest livestream to show off more of the Rack and Slay demo.

An up to date demo is live now for you to play for yourself.
Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and if you like the game please be sure to add it to your Wishlist!

[h3]PRE-RECORDED VIDEOS[/h3]
You can also watch several pre-recorded videos of me playing around in Rack and Slay over on Graeme Games.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]