Happy Holidays from Caldera Interactive!
Our December playtest is live, our studio takes a break, and a Symbiosis deep-dive.
To think it’s been nearly a year of these monthly updates from me - I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have!
This will be the final update of 2024, and it has me reminiscing on the great work we’ve accomplished here at Caldera this year. Between receiving CMF funding for the production of The Rabbit Haul, attending events across the world showcasing our game, and building an incredible community on social media and on Discord, our studio has had a busy year. Our game has gone through many iterations, and will continue to grow as we draw nearer to our public demo, and then our full launch. However, those are still in the future, and we are here now - let’s get started!
In this edition of the blog, we will include a couple of studio updates, and also showcase an upcoming major feature update: the symbiosis system.
December Playtest and Live Q&A
As mentioned in our previous blog, we have a playtest occurring in the Discord this week - December 2 to 9, 2024. You can join the playtest at any time during the window by joining our Discord. The full changelog for the current build of The Rabbit Haul can be found here, but some of the highlights include:
- New towers: Sniper Violet, Stink Bomb, Sprinklers
- Extended Inventory
- AoEs for towers, including visuals
- Major UI updates
In addition to the week-long playtest, we are also hosting a Discord Stage on December 6, 2024 at 1pm MST/8pm GMT with the full Caldera team. We encourage you to attend, asking any questions you may have for our developers - whether they be about the game, the studio, or the people. The session will be recorded and released on social media at a later date.
Studio Closure - December 23, 2024 to January 5, 2025
Caldera Interactive will be taking a well-deserved break this holiday season! Our studio will be closed from December 23 to January 5 to allow our team to rest, recharge, and spend quality time with loved ones.
During this period, we will be sporadic with responses, but we’ll be back on January 6, energized and ready to bring more exciting updates for The Rabbit Haul. We’re incredibly grateful for your continued support and wish you a joyful holiday season!
A Deep-Dive into the Symbiosis System
In the current build, we tease the Symbiosis System, using visuals to indicate what plants are available for symbiosis. However, the actual system has yet to be fully implemented, and there is just so. much. more.
Without further ado, let me pull back the curtain a bit and let you know just the beginnings of what you can expect from our Symbiosis System.
Symbiotic Crystals
When Symbiotic relationships are formed and maintained - through towers, crops, and quests/NPCs, Symbiotic Crystals will drop that magnet to the player. Collecting Symbiotic Crystals allows players to level up their Haul, garden, tools, and more. (While these are still being designed, I can’t share the upgrades just yet!)
See below for a mock-up of what the Crystals will look like in game, including the magnet effect:
Symbiotic Levels & Roguelite Elements
When your Symbiotic Level goes up after collecting enough Symbiotic Crystals, the player gets two randomized button prompts that appear on screen. The player can choose one of the two options provided. The option pool that these two choices give consists of buffs that enhance your rabbit, your Haul, or your garden for the rest of the run. They also will be a source of rare item drops.
Haul Upgrades
With this system, we are planning a Haul Upgrade screen, which will allow you to upgrade your Haul similar to the current player combat upgrade system.
Below is a hint at what this Upgrade system will look like, including increasing playing area, Haul capacity, barricades, and Haul utility. Currently, the Basic Haul is the only one available, but additional Haul Types are planned for launch.
Symbiosis Visuals In-Game
Symbiosis relationships are now shown as blue outlines in the game.
For example, when planting a sprinkler, you will see a blue outline that shows its range of effect. Plants placed in that range have a symbiotic relationship with the sprinkler. All towers and crops that provide symbiotic relationships will feature that blue outline.
Furthermore, when interacting with a tower or crop that is being affected by a symbiotic relationship, it will have a blue selector instead of the usual white one. The blue selector will also outline the provider of that symbiotic relationship. To communicate to the player that a symbiotic relationship has been established, a unique sound effect (to be added) and visual effects is played above the receiver and provider of that buff when a relationship is formed.
To view all symbiotic relationships affecting a tower or crop, you can consult their info panel by interacting with them. On the left side of the panel, you will see an icon(s) that can be hovered for more stats about the buff this relationship provides. That same icon(s) is also displayed above the crop or tower when in range of it.
This is all we can share for now, but I hope you have fun finding all the symbiotic relationships that are currently in the game, and look forward to the upcoming Symbiosis System. Happy gardening!
I think that’s about it for the final update of 2024. I hope you have an incredible holiday season, spending time with your loved ones and enjoying all the remaining month has to offer. And of course, we hope to see you in the Discord before the playtest is over.
Until next month!
Courtney