Rack and Slay News

A more sizeable update before the weekend. I added new fonts in pretty much all places throughout the game (menus, shop, tooltips etc.). This is a first big step towards the improved look-and-feel we're aiming to have ready when Steam Next Fest arrives early next year.

[h2]Coming Soon: New Item Graphics (WIP)[/h2]

Another super important part of the improved visuals will be brand-new, hand-drawn item graphics. They're not all ready yet, but here's a first teaser:



[h2]Out Now: New Demo Patch[/h2]
With future plans touched on, let's get into what the latest demo patch brings right now!

[h2]Patch notes (v0.6)[/h2]

• New shiny fonts everywhere! 🎉
  
• Improved how bonus shot power is displayed on the power gauge by adding a small red “danger zone” overlay to it.
  
• Bombs within the range of an explosion now have a short “ignition time” so follow-up explosions don’t all happen at the same time.
  
• Small improvements to the look of particles.
  
• Hidden feature: When using the keyboard, you can now rotate your aim more quickly via the A/D keys (in addition to Q/E for slow rotation) if you prefer to adjust your aim via keyboard-only means.
  
• Notable fixes:
  
  • Mouse movement detection to switch back to mouse controls is more robust.
    
  • You can now properly aim even when ending your turn at the edge of a hole.
    
  • Turn won’t end prematurely if a ball is still being slowly dragged into a hole.
    
• Various balancing tweaks and minor fixes.
  

I sincerely hope you enjoy the latest changes and thank you so much for checking out the demo. If you have any feedback, would like to discuss games and their design, or just want to say hi, please swing by via Discord or Twitter! ❤️

Small update, but those difficulty tweaks are quite delicate. If you have feedback on the difficulty curve during a run or when going up difficulties (especially 15+), please let me know via Discord or Twitter!

[h2]Patch notes (v0.58)[/h2]

• Slightly increased difficulty scaling throughout a run (i.e. later levels are a bit harder).
  
• On difficulties 15+ you now get a random starting item (to help deal with early levels on lower health, and also increase long-term variety when starting a run).
  
• Super minimal mouse movements do not disable controller mode anymore.
  
• Various balancing tweaks and bugfixes.
  

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!