Hello Rabbits!

It's been a few months! Just wanted to quickly make an update post, so as to not leave people completely in the dark as to the DLC's progress.

I did say in some places that I wanted it out within the year no matter what, and it is currently December.

Uh... it probably won't be coming out this month, sorry!

The DLC is basically done, minus a few things here and there. The story is written and out to translators, and I think most of the bugs have been worked out.

There is still work to be done on the final boss, some story CG to draw, and balance changes to be made to the new characters' abilities.

However, I am still waiting on some things from other people. So, I think rather than working super hard to finish everything within the month (and also rush other people over the holidays), I'll just move the release date back, and take own my time with the rest as well.

The update is turning out great! I'm very happy with everything in it so far.

I promise it'll be really really cool, so hopefully the result will have been worth the wait.

Something I've been asked by a few people is if we're planning on doing another World First Race, like with the original launch of the game.

This will probably disappoint a few people but... probably not. Mostly, because I don't know how I could possibly create a fair, fun competition this time around. The problem comes down to mods and player knowledge.

First, there'd be very little to prevent players from using mods to practice/prog off-stream before attempting new bosses "for real". Even if I were to disable Steamworks mods until the race was done, there are plenty of ways to mod the game's code itself to, for instance, give yourself complete invincibility, access developer commands, or allow you to fight a boss over and over to practice.

Alternatively, if I were to allow Steamworks mods that allowed people to practice bosses, then racers would feel forced to use them to stay competitive, and I feel like that would be detrimental to the "World First Race" vibe.

And, even if I could figure something out with mods, the best players have way, way more knowledge about the game than they did when it first launched! People know exactly which 2 loot + 1 upgrade combos will make their team completely unstoppable, even when fighting blind against Lunar bosses, and the race would likely devolve into re-rolling the first stage over and over until you could get one.

You might be able to come up with some theoretical ruleset that would mitigate these issues, but it'd likely be extremely contrived and unsatisfying to many players.

So instead... we'll be doing a "Lunar Prog Party" stream!

The rules are... stream Lunar Mode in whatever way feels "fair" to you, and we'll restream it with commentary while cheering you on!

If you want to use practice mods, go ahead! Alternatively, if you want to fight things "as intended", with re-fighting all the enemies up to your prog point, we and the audience will commend the extra effort. And, solo/duo/trio groups are also welcome!

We'll compile a list of teams that won during the event and post it in some format.

It isn't a "race" though, so feel free to take your time. As long as you clear before the event is over!

While removing the competitive aspect will probably make it a bit less exciting, my hope is that it will encourage people to fight the bosses on their own terms, rather than conforming to some un-fun meta strategy.

The plan is for the event to start pretty soon after the release of the DLC.

I don't have an exact DLC release date for you (as it depends on other people a bit right now) but I'll try to give at least 2 weeks-ish notice for those who want to participate!

One more thing, Rabbit & Steel will have a booth at MAGFest this year!

And... the DLC will be playable there as well! (Likely restricted to just Normal/Hard Mode)

So if you're in attendance, feel free to stop by and give it a try a bit early!

Though, if you are in attendance, please be mindful of posting spoilers for those who aren't.

That's all for now, sorry for yet another delay!

Next post will be the release date, for super real this time!