Rack and Slay News

Wanted to push out another small update before the weekend. Mostly minor quality-of-life changes this time around but getting those bugfixes in as soon as possible is always a good idea. Thank you for playing the demo, hope you continue having fun!
[h2]Patch notes (v0.57)[/h2]

• Adjusted bridges to make them easier to survive when crossing.
  
• Bombs don’t explode in your face due to colliding with each other anymore, but explosions now trigger other bombs inside their radius.
  
• Improved controller menu navigation (e.g. B usually closes menus now).
  
• Added shop hotkeys for reroll (L1 / R) and confirmation (R1 / Space).
  
• Updated some main menu UI components (e.g. scroll bars and compendium).
  
• Lots of minor bugfixes.
  

As usual, if you have any feedback or suggestions join the Discord (and meet lots of other cool indie devs and roguelike fans as a bonus) or shoot me a DM on Twitter!

Thanks to some awesome demo tester feedback, I was able to put together another small but hopefully meaningful update. Especially playing with controllers or on the Steam Deck should feel much better now! If you have additional feedback or suggestions, join the Discord and let me know!

[h2]Patch notes (v0.56)[/h2]
Controller improvements:

• Big improvement to thumbstick aiming for controllers.
  
• Reduced speed of “precise aim” (L2/R2) rotation on controllers (cause now you need it less often).
  
• B (“cancel”) button on controllers now hides tooltips.

UI improvements:

• Added "default shot power" indicator to power circle.
  
• Added “+1 item pick” popup when collecting a key.
  
• Slightly reduced size of item cards for large displays.

Plus lots of fixes and balancing tweaks all around. Most notably, when you buy multiple random items in the same level their cost now increases.

Many thanks to everyone who played the demo so far and gave feedback via DM, Discord or Twitter. This is the first time the game is exposed to a public audience and your feedback is invaluable when it comes to polishing the game on its path towards full release! ❤️
[h2]Patch notes (v0.55)[/h2]

• Balls now lose less speed when bouncing off of obstacles at obtuse angles.
  
• Changed Mirror, Parting Present and Telekinesis items to roll their activity at the start of your turn, so you can plan your shot around them.
  
• Improved controller aim smoothing.
  
• Added initial difficulty selection for new players. Also, difficulties up to level 9 are unlocked from the start, but the difficulty unlock curve beyond that is a little more flat.
  
• Added main menu particles.
  
• Added combo kill counter.
  
• Various UI fixes and improvements.
  
• Several balancing changes and bugfixes.
  

We've also had the first creators pick up (and thankfully really enjoy) the game, such as Retromation, GothicLordUK, RogueArena, The Indie Buffet, Rogueliker and German "friend of the house" Wildfremd. This means the world for a tiny indie operation like this in terms of visibility, so big shoutout to them!

Head to the Steam page right now to download an early demo version of the game featuring 60 wacky items and full access to the 10-levels Crawl mode through its 20 difficulty levels.




I'm Fabian and run my solo indie dev endeavors under the "Ludokultur" label. For Rack and Slay I teamed up with the amazing artist and animator Victor Negreiro to bring my vision of a "billiard roguelike" to life!

Here's what's coming to the full version on top (planned release Q1 2024):

• Many additional items to unlock with wild, often more complex effects
  
• The shorter Delve mode with double the item rewards
  
• 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
  
• Plus, obviously, all kinds of tweaks, fixes and polish all around
  

Additionally, as if releasing a first public demo wasn't thrilling enough, I'm especially excited today to officially announce a publishing partnership with 2 Left Thumbs! Take it away, Graeme!




Hello everyone! For those unfamiliar, 2 Left Thumbs is a "micro-publisher", meaning the whole operation is just me! My mandate as a publisher is in working with small teams whose interests and preferences in video games overlap my own.

Fabian and I got to talking over Rack and Slay, and our shared appreciation for affordable and highly replayable roguelikes – combined with my history in publishing roguelike titles – made for a perfect fit to join forces!

I hope you find the short and simple runs of Rack and Slay as addictive as I have! I’m thrilled to unveil this partnership, and to finally see this delightful little game in the public’s hands. Please share your feedback either in the Steam discussions, or over on the Ludokultur Discord. Cheers!