Nekokami News

[p]Hello Planetary Architects,

[/p][p]Well, it's actually almost summer but in the Nekokami universe, Spring is coming! In the season of growth, renewal and confusion, our Spring Council Member and her buddies are waiting to meet the company's latest rising star.

[/p][h3]Major Gameplay Changes📣[/h3][p]
Hill Tiles: Hill Tiles can now only be placed where there are at least two adjacent Tiles (of any type). This gives Hill Tiles a more unique gameplay identity.
Catcus Habitats: The Cat's favorite succulents now have a stricter size limit.
Flower Habitats: Kami Approval has slightly decreased. They are still as beautiful as ever.
[/p][h3]New Content🎁[/h3][p]
Chapter 2 Finale: Star System Pan
New Hub Systems: Seat of Seasons, The Blooms, Sector 79, Galala Valley. New secrets of the universe will unfold!
New Star Systems, each with unique gameplay: Udon'en, Garden of Oden, Tamago Reserve, Pastry, Pho, Katsu, Trials of ChaoFan

14 new Kami Visitors and 8 new BGM tracks.
We have proudly updated our Early Access Meter:

[/p][h3]Other Improvements🎉[/h3][p]
The mythical Golden People and Silver People now have a stronger ancient civilization aesthetic and will react to your planet creation with small docks, city gates etc.
All cat portraits in Chapter 2 have been retouched and updated! You can now see their mesmerizing kawaii eyes much more clearly before they mess up your planet!
Getting around the Milky Way🌌 will be much easier now. The Milky Way itself is better visualized, and administrators/key cats of each star systems are highlighted.
Star Systems will now show certain important statuses - whether you are waiting for a colleague 📆, or a colleague is waiting for you, or you have earned a Certificate already .
Continuous improvement on the localization.
We have previously delivered various new functionality in Jan as well: [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]

[/p][h2]The Road Ahead🚀[/h2][p]With the work in these 9 months our tiny team of two has gained some first hand experience to better estimate the amount of work needed to bring Nekokami to version 1.0. We are glad to say that we have "leveled up" in our general production ability, BUT, at the same time, Chapter 4, our last chapter, is going to be huge.

Therefore, we’ve decided to extend the Early Access period slightly. The full 1.0 release is now planned for early 2026. 📅 Thank you for your patience and support!

[/p][p]Thank you so much for supporting the Early Access of Nekokami! Hope you have the best time with your colleagues and the Kami. 🌟 Please don't forget to report any bugs you encounter in your new adventures using our in-game link!


Rocket-in-Bottle Team[/p]

[p]Hello Planetary Architects,

Here we are, the last part of our progress update. Some of you may have started the journey when we first launched into Early Access. The feline folks and gods will be quite disappointed if your memory of them are already fading, but maybe it's a good idea to give a small summary of the story so far?

[/p][h2]📃The Story So Far[/h2][p]Spoilers for existing content.

You started your career with our Caretaker greeting you at the office... with all the suspicious signals that he is "up to something"...?!


Things spiral as you realize you are simply a magnet of Kami and they just love "helping out" in every one of your Expeditions... be it a lush paradise, a desert, or a home for the Golden Humans. Oh, the tiny Golden fellows, loved by the Cats and Mr. Autumn, in particular.


Did you manage to help Senpai on his troubles? Well, there're greedy, virulent intelligent races unlike the Golden Humans. One species in particular expanded star system to star system until they met their doom under the wrath of the Kami...


As we reach the end of Chapter 2, your favorite AI, EYE, has informed you that Mr. Autumn is not alright....


[/p][h2]👻Surprises Along the Journey[/h2][p]We must again thank you the patience of our Early Access supporters. As you are probably aware, we are slightly behind schedule. This Content Update is significantly larger than the EA-launch gameplay, so for this novice duo of developers, the production of the Update has already been one very long journey full of surprises...

One surprise, for instance, happened when we create the artwork for our new characters - we realize that the original ones look,.. dull?! Blasphemy to our feline gods! Turns out that we need to go back and improve almost all of our existing artwork...

Now you will see more emotions from your best friends:


You now know that Manager Sori is keeping some secrets when not saying sorry... Or Priest Collar is kind of really a priest...


And, wait, who is this?


As the game get so much larger we also realize in our play testing that it is so easy to get lost now. We again then needed to take some time to improve the overall Milky Way experience...

Oh there are so much more. Can't wait to deliver this new Nekokami experience to you all!

Let me end the progress updates series with a farm field and a giant cat (?). Hope you enjoyed it and the new adventures will arrive very soon!



Rocket-in-Bottle Team










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[p]Hello Planetary Architects,

[/p][h2]⚡Kami Preview[/h2][p]In this fourth post of our series, we are going to preview... the Kami! There're a total of TWELVE brand new Kami who will join forces in messing up... I mean, "helping" you in your career!

Hm, but we don't want to spoil the surprise... so let's have some teaser screenshots for a Guess-a-Kami?(...some of them are easier than the others)

(The secrets of the Milky Way are safe, for now. 🌠 )

[/p][h2]🔮UI/Menu Improvements[/h2][p]Btw, there will be a ton of UI improvements 🔧 that will come along with the Content Update. For instance, human species as well as special rules for the planet will now be shown clearly in the Expedition Summary:

(Look at the glittering face of the Golden Human!)

The main menu will feature tiny worlds that tempt you with glimpses of future adventure:
Hope you enjoy the progress update. We are working real hard to bring the naughty cats to you all. Thank you again for your support!



Rocket-in-Bottle Team




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This is a functionality update. The new star systems, biomes and Chapter 3 content will arrive in the update AFTER this one.

[h3]🤝Local Co-op Game Mode[/h3]

• Surprise! We had this experimental two-player game mode brewing for some time. Enjoy your Planetary adventure in the Nekokami universe with another human!
  
• The Co-op Game Mode, as the name suggests, is highly cooperative. Players will share the same Tile queue and take turns to create beautiful planets and meet the objectives.
  
• At least one controller is required. Please see second part of the post for more details.
  

[h3]🔥 Other New Features[/h3]

• Surveying a placed Tile will now show a mini-Hexagon with iconic representation of constituents of the Tile.
  
• The star system display will now feature the associated main character(s). This will help players get around more easily.
  

[h3]🔧Bug Fixes and Other Improvements[/h3]

• Fixed a bug that prevent players from getting the "A Good Dream" achievement.
  
• The landing animation has been further improved.
  
• Slight visual changes to Expeditions across the Milky Way.
  
• Polish over Chinese and Japanese localization in story dialog. We will keep improving them!
  

[h2]🔰 How to Start Local Co-Op Mode[/h2]

When you arrive to the Main Menu Screen, you will now see a new option that allows you to assign controller to Player 1 or 2.



If you have one controller, you can activate Co-Op mode by assigning controller to Player 2. Player 1 will use keyboard & mouse.

If you have two controllers, you can determine who will be Player 1/2. To avoid conflicting controls, Player 1 gets the privilege to engage in dialogs 💬 and do various important actions in the UI.



Start the game normally, and you'll now be enjoying Nekokami with 2 players!

It's a highly cooperative mode - players get to place in turn. The two players can both preview the Tile they will be placing. We designed it this way so that none of the players will need to wait excessively - both players can plan for their placement while waiting. Of course, they can also coordinate their placement together!

Actually, you can switch your Tile in hand with that of your partner anytime... but remember to ask first, okay? 👻

If you happen to have tried the Co-op Mode sometime later, we welcome your feedback in the Steam Forums. Please let us know how it went!

[p]Hello Planetary Architects,

[/p][h2]Schedule Update: Q1 2025 📅[/h2][p]First, a schedule update - the ETA for Chapter 3 is now Q1 2025! We have all the gameplay ready, but we are still working hard to resolve bugs and catch up with the localization and music. We wish to stress that the content update will be BIG, and we need to make sure our Early Access players will have a smooth experience through the Chapter 2 finale and beyond. So, we must humbly ask for your patience. Thank you!

In this third post of the series, we will address one concern from some of our beloved Early Access players - why all planets so far are Earth-lookalikes? Where are our alien landscapes of a universe ruled by the Future Cats? 👽

[/p][h2]Onsen Biome ♨️[/h2][p]Let me introduce you to the Onsen Biome - a biome where Kami Energy is far too intense for general Human habitation. Excess Kami Energy crystallizes on the planet surface as Kaminites💎.

Most of these planets have the most healing Onsens in the Milky Way. And of course the Kami knows that very well!

Create the Osens to bring Luck to their visitors and yourself. Make sure the temperature is right, though.

[/p][h2]Frontier Biome 🌄[/h2][p]The other one is the Frontier Biome. When planets are first formed physically, not even the Kami has arrived. Nekokami Co's mysterious high-tech networks🔮 has just started deploying...

Hm... the drawings look familiar... why are they all over the place...?

And who are we summoning?!

Both of these Biomes will offer refreshing unique gameplay, such asadjusting Onsen temperature for the Kami, fixing Kami Energy pipelines, and even preparing for installation of EYE on planets (?)!

Don't worry. They all sound more challenging than they really are. If the Cats can do it, so can you!

We can't wait to get you all to visit these wonderful planets 🚀. Thank you again for your support!



Rocket-in-Bottle Team
















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