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.
  

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.

[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! steamhappy

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.

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 shouldnt 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.

[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=pduLRdxhPLY;full][/previewyoutube]

[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=pduLRdxhPLY;full][/previewyoutube]

Hey folks! Huge thanks to everyone who checked out the demo during Steam Next Fest! Please leave your feedback on the forums or the Discord. Much appreciated! <3

[h2]Patch notes (v0.81)[/h2]
The new demo update focuses on making things "more fun" by changing how some things in the game interact and introducing a few quality-of-life improvements.

• Keys are now carried around by enemies (like coins or gems) instead of getting consumed.
  Fewer missed keys, more item picks, more options to pick up a key indirectly FUN!
  
• When you defeat an enemy that is carrying a coin, gem or key, you now collect the item as if you had touched it.
  
  More coins and gems, plus sometimes enemies hand gems around between each other until one dies and you get all the goods FUN!
  
• Mini balls do not collide with spikes rotating around the player anymore.
  Combine Impaler and The Gang for ultimate self-surrounding mayhem FUN!
  
• Mini balls now collide with swords rotating around enemies, i.e. can be used as protection from those (if youre cruel enough).
  More counterplay against sword enemies and bosses, secret buff to The Gang too FUN!
  
• Theres now a small indicator above the player ball when you have 3 or fewer shots remaining at the start of your turn.
  No more confusion about being out of shots, enter focus mode and really try to make those last few shots count FUN!
  
• Added light quality setting to the advanced options. Setting it to low will disable a few shaders, particles and the pulse effect on circular lights in the game.
  Better performance on low-end devices FUN?!
  
• Various minor fixes (always FUN!)

[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=pduLRdxhPLY;full][/previewyoutube]

Its Steam Next Fest and Rack and Slay is participating to bring billiard roguelike wackiness to the event! The demo comes with 60 items featuring all kinds of fun combinations to explore, and full access to the 10-levels Crawl Mode through 20 difficulty levels.


As a reminder, here's what's coming to the full version on top:

• Many additional items to unlock for more complex effects and synergies.
  
• 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.
  
• Wild Mode for random (and sometimes pretty crazy) sets modifiers.
  
• Plus, obviously, all kinds of tweaks, fixes and polish all around.

• Replaced all item art in the game with shiny new graphics.
  
• Added a variety of 8-ball boss enemies to shake up your runs.
  
• Added many new objects, obstacles and collectibles for more variety.
  
• Lots of item reworks, balancing and new items for the full version.
  
• Improved difficulty scaling and more transparent difficulty selection.
  
• Quality-of-life improvements such as effect indicators and a new shot gauge.
  
• A new run-progression map so you can plan ahead for upcoming bosses.
  
• UI and look-and-feel improvements, including new sounds and visual effects
  
• Improved physics and stability even in extremely crazy combo situations.
  
• Hugely improved gamepad / Steam Deck controls.
  
• Countless bugfixes.

[h2]Patch notes (v0.8)[/h2]

• Added a level map to the shop screen displaying your current progress throughout a run and reminding you of when boss levels come up.
  
  
• Additionally, boss variants are now rolled when you start a new run, so you will be able to see a preview of which type of boss youll be facing in levels 5 and 10.
  
• Made some performance optimizations regarding physics, shot predictions and level generation.
  
• Fixed restart button to restart the same mode youre in instead of a default run.
  
• Other minor fixes and tweaks.

[h2]Patch notes (v0.79)[/h2]

• Added many additional item-specific effect indicators and sound effects.
  
• Added a few safer bridged hole variants with multiple planks.
  
• Gave keys a small point light so theyre not as easy to miss.
  
• Fixed active teleporters sometimes looking as if they were inactive.
  
• Fixed temporary power bonus not being considered for the shot gauge and a couple items if you had a 0% permanent power bonus.
  
• A few other minor fixes and tweaks.

[h2]Patch notes (v0.78)[/h2]
Quality-of-life improvement: Items that have a percent chance to activate are now briefly displayed above the player character when they activate, so its not as easy to get confused by their effects or miss taking them into account.
For example:


Additionally:

• Added a "bridged hole" variant that has a gem in the center of the bridge instead of a coin. Whos going for the risky shots?
  
• Chests now have a chance to spawn a gem instead of a coin on touch.
  
• Added a few new item-specific sound effects.
  
• Miscellaneous item tweaks, fixes and wording improvements.
  
• (Full Version) Added yet more run modifiers for daily / wild mode (e.g. "all spikes are volatile").

• Improved collision accuracy, especially involving complex (e.g. star-shaped) obstacles.
  
• Fixed several bugs related to pausing the game in certain game states.
  
• Fixed a bug on high game speed where multiple bosses could spawn in the same frame.
  
• Implemented fail-safe for balls getting stuck on very high speed / power to prevent soft-lock situations.
  
• Fixed an issue where if the last enemy was defeated from you re-spawning on top of it, the level would take one additional turn (without enemies) to finish.
  
• (Full Version) New unlockable items: Phantom Spikes (volatile spike synergy) and Golden Balls (mini ball synergy).
  
• (Full Version) Added additional run modifiers for daily / wild mode.

Gearing up for the upcoming Steam Next Fest with pretty hefty demo update today! steamhappy

[h2]Patch notes (v0.75)[/h2]
[h3]New Content[/h3]
NEW: Collectible Ball Pile that shoots out 3 mini balls as soon as it is collected by you or an enemy.


NEW: Boosting variant of the Redirector that not only changes a balls direction but gives it a hefty speed-up as well.

NEW: Wall spikes now have a chance to spawn as volatile. Volatile spikes shoot across the arena as soon as any ball gets spiked on them, potentially killing multiple enemies on their path until they hit an obstacle. (In the last level of a run all spikes become volatile when youre out of shots and havent defeated all enemies yet.)


If you pick up the "Spike Swallower" item you can also use them to bring the healing to you! :D


NEW (Not in the demo, but take it as a full-version teaser :D): Added a bunch of additional run modifiers for daily / wild mode runs, one of my favorites being mini balls explode on impact. Fun in combination with the new "Ball Pile" collectible!


[h3]Item Reworks[/h3]
A bunch of rather situational items were buffed or changed to make them more generally useful, so that even when you dont fulfill their full effects requirements (yet) they can help you out in a pinch:

• Double Shot could get you into trouble too easily, so now it shoots a mini ball in the direction of your shot instead of shooting yourself again. Tip: Use it to e.g. get rid of those Toxy enemies that would damage you on direct touch.
  
• Rich Collector and Healthy Collector now have a (small) baseline of gold and healing they provide, so theyre not totally useless early in a run.
  
• Whoops now has a small chance to spawn a gem instead of a coin.
  
• Loot Box now gives you 1 gold each level in case you dont have enough gold to receive a random item yet.
  
• It's Over Nineteen now grants you some shot power in case you dont have more than 19% yet.

• The tutorial and controls overlay now includes Q/E keys for slow aim rotation when using keyboard and mouse (previously a pretty hidden feature but depending on your mouse accuracy it can be useful for some players in certain situations).
  
• Defeating a boss now only counts as an enemy defeat (e.g. for certain item triggers) if it was the last enemy in the level (i.e. it was actually defeated and doesnt immediately respawn).
  
• When youre out of shots in the final level, the game now displays a reminder message on screen that you need to clear all enemies to finish the level.
  
• Minor tooltip improvements and bug fixes.

Smaller demo update today, but some important tech improvements to ensure level generation can much more easily be maintained and expanded further in the future! Thanks to everyone who keeps enjoying the demo (and left their feedback on the Discord), good to see the increase in player numbers wasn't just a flash in the pan! <3

[h2]Patch notes (v0.71)[/h2]

• Balancing
  • Trinity now doesnt triple itself, i.e. only works on (and will only be consumed by) other items. (Sorry about that, it's often fun to see things get out of hand on lower difficulties and there are still plenty of ways for the game to go crazy, but Trinity stacking could render even higher difficulties trivial sometimes, which was a bit much.)
    
  • Small tweaks to make difficulties 5-9 a little more intense on average.
• Improvements & fixes:
  • Added option to change target FPS in the advanced settings (default is uncapped as before). Should not affect most players, but potentially help performance on some lower-end devices.
    
  • Refactored level generation code to be much more robust in edge cases and be way easier to maintain or expand in the future. (You should not notice this for now unless you ran into a rare level-gen crash before.)
    
  • Fixed a few typos in tooltips and item descriptions.
    
  • Fixed a few minor visual bugs.

Today I'm excited to bring you the biggest demo update so far! All items in the game received brand-new artwork. You will face a variety of mid- and end-boss enemy balls in your runs, that spice things up by asking you to defeat them last in a level. Additionally all difficulties have been rebalanced, more art assets have been added, and all kinds of tweaks and fixes made their way into the game.

[h2]Patch notes (v0.7)[/h2]

• Bosses: Added 8-ball boss enemy variants. Meet them in levels 5 and 10 of a run.
  
• New item art: Added brand-new art for all items in the demo.
  
• Other art updates:
  • New look for the shot power gauge.
    
  • New open animation for treasure chests.
    
  • New art for hole bridges.
    
  • New mouse cursor.
• General:
  • Rebalanced all difficulty levels. Game is slightly harder on average, lower difficulties got a little extra spice, and difficulty scaling per level throughout runs was adjusted accordingly.
    
  • Added option to hide blood / skulls.
    
  • General wording pass on items and tooltips.
    
  • Lots of miscellaneous fixes and tweaks.
    

There's a new teleporter variant in the game that reverses the movement direction of any ball using it and opens up new room for tricky plays. Ball and bomb cannons have also been spiced up a little and now rotate a random amount after each shot meaning you may have to adapt your plans.

If you want to show off your latest trick shot, have suggestions for what else could be added, want to provide feedback, or you found a bug, please drop by the Discord or let me know via Twitter!

[h2]Patch notes (v0.61)[/h2]

• NEW:
  
  • Added "reverse" teleporter variant that flips movement direction.
    
  • Ball and bomb cannons now rotate after taking a shot.
• BALANCE: Nerfed a few items granting healing or max health cause they were able to make playing even on higher difficulties feel too safe.
  
• POLISH:
  
  • Made hole attraction radius a bit smaller.
    
  • Tutorial now only shows controls for your currently used input method.
    
  • Various minor fixes.

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 dont 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 wont end prematurely if a ball is still being slowly dragged into a hole.
    
• Various balancing tweaks and minor fixes.
  

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! <3

[h2]Patch notes (v0.57)[/h2]

• Adjusted bridges to make them easier to survive when crossing.
  
• Bombs dont 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.
  

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.

• 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.

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.
  

Early demo out now!


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