March has come and gone and we have had a ton of things happen this last month. With the 5th year of Rain World Art Month, Rain World: The Watcher being released, a new game being revealed, the success of launching Cabernet and so much more! This month was filled with tortoise news and activities.
The games in this Dev log are…
- Rain World
- Cabernet
- Future Vibe Check
- Echo Weaver
- Sorry We’re Closed
- REPOSE
- GIGASWORD
- Nanomon
Rain World | The Watcher DLC Out on PC
A year ago, we announced that Rain World: The Watcher was being developed and on March 28th, the 8th anniversary of Rain World, we released the DLC on PC!
Three years ago, Akupara Games became the new publisher for Rain World. Working with the talented community and watching them hone their skills and grow has been an amazing experience.
Check out Rain World: The Watcher on Steam!
Rain World Art Month
The 5th ever Rain World Art Month completed, and it was a joy to see the amazing community coming together to draw and support the artists.
We are creating a virtual art museum to highlight some of the art that was drawn for the event! I’m still getting a final count, but we had over 9,000 different art posts!
Cabernet | 1 Month after launch!
Last month, we launched Cabernet on PC, Playstation 4, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch!
Cabernet has been a great journey to watch grow and listen to the developers tell a story within their game. The developers have been hard at work to fix a few bugs that the community has reported early on release! Thank you to the community for reporting them so the team could investigate and smash them!
Cabernet has a 90% positive rating on Steam!
I also want to share this fan art piece from the talented @seheartz!
Check out Caberent on the different platforms!
Steam Community Items
Cabernet trading cards emoticons, badges, and profile backgrounds are now available!
If you’ve been playing Cabernet on Steam then you should already have the Steam cards in your inventory!
Future Vibe Check | The DJ Otter Plays a Welcoming Party
Introducing Future Vibe Check, our first automation game!
Future Vibe Check is being developed by a single developer, Manik Bhat! Use automation to your advantage to design and create different sounds from instruments to create music and achieve enlightenment. Your guide DJ Otter will help you if you need help on the way.
What songs will you create during your automation adventures?
We go into deeper details with Manik about the behind the scenes in Future Vibe Check which I would strongly recommend you watch!
Wishlist Future Vibe Check on Steam!
Echo Weaver | New Cycles, New Game to Tortoise Family
Echo Weaver also joins our family of games and as an added bonus, it will be on Gamepass at launch day one!
The moment I beat the demo, I knew that Echo Weaver was something special which many people from the team, including me, have been itching to tell you more about! We could see the quality and passion that Moonlight Kids put into Echo Weaver and that was something we’re eager to support.
Fun Fact: This will be our first title ever on Gamepass!
Wishlist Echo Weaver on Steam and Xbox!
Sorry We’re Closed | Sorry We’re Close Physicals!
If you are a fan of physicals, then you can preorder Sorry We’re Closed Playstation 5 and Nintendo Switch physicals which include:
- Physical copy of the game (PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch)
- Holographic sticker sheet
- Soundtrack download card of the OST
- Design booklet (including character profiles, art and insight of the game)
Check out Sorry We’re Closed on the various platforms!
REPOSE | April 14th Release Date on PC
Your first day is almost here; REPOSE releases April 14th on PC.
Your application has been accepted. You’ve passed your first interview. You’ve nailed the second and final interviews. Your first day is April 14th. Too bad training didn’t prepare you for what you would find in the facility.
HR requires you to wishlist REPOSE.
Gigasword | Bosses are Done – on to Finishing the World!
I talked with Jack, the solo developer on GIGASWORD, about what he has been working on this month!
Hello Giga-friends!
I hope you’ve all been well! It’s been a while since our last update post, but that’s because I was very hard at work on a super important task: completing all the bosses in the game! That’s right sports fans, I’m pleased to announce that every boss in GIGASWORD is finished!
Today, I’d like to showcase some of these boss battles, as well as provide some details on where development is headed from here. Okay, let’s jump in!
Who’s the Boss?
By now, many of you are probably familiar with GIGASWORD’s first boss, Sloan the Executioner. He’s that minotaur-looking guy that you face at the end of the game’s demo. In the full game, after defeating Sloan and completing the Monastery, you’ll head to the Flooded Gardens. This is the water/plant themed area of the game, and the boss here is the biggest and baddest plant of them all. Introducing: the Corrupted Angelroot!
The Nocturne are naturally very studious beings, and spend most of their lives concerned with the pursuits of topics such as biology and herbology. As a result, the Garden sector of the Nestrium is filled with many rare plants that have been relocated to the tower so as to be preserved and studied further. One such specimen is the massive flower-plant known as the Angelroot, one of the most complex and magestic organisms in the Nocturne’s vast collection. Unfortunately, the corruption being spread by Gnosis has warped this plant into a sinister, bloodthirsty creature…and Ezra is the latest thing on the menu. I hope you’ve been working on your gardening skills!
This boss is fought very differently from Sloan. The Angelroot is a stationary creature, taking up the whole room and using multiple sections of it’s body to attack you. It’s eye is its weak point, but you’ll have to get it to lower it’s head to be able to reach it. To do that, you’ll have to focus your attacks on the corner-plants first, which will take turns shooting and stabbing at you. Once the corner-plants are destroyed, the Angelroot will lower it’s main body and switch up its attack patterns, allowing you to deal some serious damage!
Let’s take a look at another new boss: Verrick, the Alchemist!
Once the chief alchemist of the kingdom of Thoenhart, Verrick has been transformed into a horrible vulture-like creature. While he spends most of his time at ground level attacking you with his hands, he can also use his wings to jump up and shoot down at you from above. You’ll have to make use of your surroundings to bring him back down!
Verrick is one of the biggest and most complex boss monsters featured in the game. I’m really happy with the way he came out; he’s got a large variety of attacks, and his fight is sure to be one of the most epic the game has to offer.
Let’s take a look at one more: Engle, the Silver Paladin.
Engle is the ice-themed boss of the game, found at the end of the Frozen Spire. This fight is pretty similar to Sloan in the sense that you’ll be facing off against a humanoid enemy around the same size as Ezra, but don’t let your guard down! Engle has a LOT more tricks up his sleeve than Sloan ever did. There’s more to this fight than initially meets the eye, but you’ll have to wait ’til you play it to find out what it is!
There are many more bosses waiting to be discovered and defeated, but I can’t spoil EVERYTHING, now can I? Nevertheless, I’m very excited for you guys to experience these fights for yourselves once the game is finally out.
What’s next?
Now that the bosses are done, I’ll be moving on to something I’ve been VERY excited for: Hiding the game’s secret collectibles! As most of you may know from the demo, every area has 5 crystal feathers to collect, which can be traded in at save points to increase your max health. But that’s not all there is to find! You’ll also be able to collect scrolls, which are like lore documents hidden throughout the world. Along with that, you can also increase your max health even more by finding Ezra’s new fuzzy friend, Cottonbum!
Cottonbum is a rabbit that has mischievously found his way into each area of the Nestrium. Upon discovering him, you can kneel down and pet him to restore some health. However, if you manage to explore each area to its absolute limits, you may be lucky enough to stumble across something this rabbit REALLY wants – a carrot! Feed this item to Cottonbum and he’ll reward you handsomely…with more max health!
For the next couple months, I’ll be hiding all these collectibles throughout the world, as well as making sure they’re all fully functional. I’ll also be touching up some last minute things related to the level design, such as updating backgrounds and tile sets, finishing some optional puzzle rooms, and tying all the areas together.
It’s sure to be a very busy, and very productive, next few weeks here for the game, but I’ll be doing everything I can to keep you guys updated on everything as often as possible! Please be sure to join the GIGASWORD Discord server if you want to stay updated on a daily basis – it’s where I post all my devlogs, and it’s also the biggest congregation of giga-fans on the internet! You can join here: https://discord.gg/er5hAyRT9B
Okay, that’s all I’ve got! Thank you guys so much for sticking with me through this massive journey. The finish line is within reach!
Much love,
Jack
If you are interested in GIGASWORD then I would strongly recommend wishlisting GIGASWORD on Steam!
Nanomon | Demo Updated
A small update for Nanomon but the demo got an update to include more QOL changes, new encounters, balance changes and more!
Check out the updated demo here and if you enjoy it please give Nanomon a wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1498060/Nanomon_Virtual_Pet/
If you want to hear more news on these titles, then join our Akupara Discord, or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Bluesky, or Instagram!