Raiders Rise News

[p]Now that a few days have passed, let’s take a look at the playable characters so far.[/p][p][/p][p]Atabusk is a melee character who fights with two weapons. His ability throws a shuriken that can hit the enemy team, and he has many unlockable skills. For example, if you knock someone down with his ultimate, you can steal their crystals![/p][p][/p][h2]Remember, the beta is only open until February 15![/h2]

[h3]Enjoy fast 3v3 online PvPE matches, designed to be competitive, accessible, and fun. Play real matches and help shape the game with your feedback. [/h3][h2]How to Play[/h2][h3] [/h3][h3]Click “Request Access” / “Join the Playtest” on the Steam page.[/h3][h3]Download the playtest and jump straight into PvP battles.[/h3][p][/p][h2]When[/h2][h3]Available during the Steam PvP Fest.[/h3][h3]Starts on February 9 · 18:00 UTC / 19:00 CET[/h3][h3] [/h3][h2]Why Play[/h2][h2][/h2][h3]Try the game before release.[/h3][h3]Your feedback directly influences balance and mechanics.[/h3][p][/p][h3]👉 Add the game to your wishlist to support development and stay updated.[/h3][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]🎮 What you’ll find in this demo:[/p]

• [p]5 unique playable characters 🧑‍🚀 [/p]
• [p]A planet full of action and secrets 🌍 [/p]
• [p]Tons of custom Valentine’s emotes 💌💃 [/p]

[p]It’s the perfect chance to dive into PvP, discover new characters, and who knows… make new allies (or rivals)! 😏[/p][p]📅 The demo will be available from Monday to Sunday—don’t miss it! 🆕 We’re looking for new players and can’t wait to see the community grow ❤️ ✨ Give Raiders Rise a try and share your favorite moments with the Valentine’s emotes.[/p][p][/p]

[p]💥 The Valentine’s Festival begins! 💥[/p][p]The Raiders Rise demo is now live! Pick your favorite character and start fighting for crystals and glory. 🧑‍🚀 Who will be your ally… and who will be your rival?[/p][p] [/p]

[p]🧩 Unlocks, Progression & Meta Systems We’ve completed the core implementation of the new skin and rider unlock system. Players can now clearly track their progress thanks to a new widget that shows how close they are to unlocking a rider using tokens.[/p][p][/p][p]Different claim sequences have also been implemented depending on the unlock state:[/p]

• [p]Owned fragments are converted into currency[/p][p][/p]
• [p]New fragments are added to a visual puzzle[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Fully completed unlocks trigger a final reveal sequence[/p][p][/p]

[p]In parallel, we’ve begun work on the rider unlock flow, following the same system as skins. Animations for random token claims and final polish are planned for the next sprint.[/p][p]⚙️ Core Gameplay & Technical Improvements This sprint brought important improvements both in gameplay and on the technical side:[/p]

• [p]Improved enemy spawn validation, ensuring monsters appear correctly based on the level state[/p][p][/p]
• [p]New enemy behavior in open areas, improving control and movement for flying enemies[/p][p][/p]
• [p]A new collision editing tool that greatly simplifies the creation and iteration of level colliders[/p][p][/p]

[p]Colliders for Planet 2 are now fully completed, and we continue iterating on new planetary layouts. Enemy navigation graphs have also been updated to better support more organic level shapes.[/p][p]We also carried out a major build-time optimization:[/p]

• [p]Build times were reduced from ~30 minutes to under 6 minutes[/p]

[p]Finally, tutorial analytics tracking has been implemented, allowing us to analyze the player funnel and identify where players drop off during the early experience.[/p][p]🧠 Characters, Enemies & Animation This sprint saw major progress in characters and enemies: Several new skins were added and updated for Jack, Sky, and Corrin, with visual improvements using our finalized low-poly workflow.[/p][p][/p][p]On the enemy side:[/p]

• [p]A new Armadillo enemy with three variants (A/B/C)[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Initial animations implemented and tested in-game[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Early development of desert kamikaze enemies[/p][p][/p]

[p]We also tested different enemy animation approaches (rigged, non-rigged, and vertex animations) to optimize performance. Additionally, an improved Katie character model has been integrated, with a clear in-game quality upgrade. We continue progressing on UI and meta animations for selection and overview screens.[/p][p]🌍 Environments & Level Design Planet 2 is now fully finalized, including the Epoch level. We’ve also started development on Planet 2.2, a new desert biome.[/p][p][/p][p]To visually differentiate sub-planets without increasing asset count:[/p]

• [p]New foliage variations were added[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Base assets were reused while adjusting rocks and vegetation to give each biome its own identity[/p][p][/p]

[p]Several levels (Balance, Marina, and others) were updated with this new foliage pass, maintaining gameplay consistency while improving visual readability.[/p][p]Thank you, as always, for your continued support and feedback ❤️[/p][p]➡️ Wishlist Raiders Rise on Steam ➡️ Join our Discord and take part in upcoming playtests[/p][p]See you in the next update — and until then… keep raiding! 🚀[/p]