With the release of the new demo, I'm finally giving in & making a Paw Borough sideblog! Just to contain all my hype to one place.
That's it really, we'll see you in beta!
Would you like to create some pelts? Or just take a look at our cat files? No need to dally—follow this link to see and download cat PSDs for up to 8 breeds!
Happy update day, catfolk! We apologize for the late update, but we wanted to share the Beta dates with you in this update. We took extra time to ensure the dates were accurate without risking something not being ready in time or causing burnout for our team. We’ve done quite a bit of internal assessment on the pros and cons of letting ~2,000+ people into the game.
Our most pressing thought was how to reconcile needing to continue working on key features while getting valuable feedback and play data on all that we already have. There was a lot to consider, in reputation, timeline, and team morale. We did not want to give the wrong impression that we felt anywhere close to a done game, but we have a lot of high fidelity mechanics and playability to share which need high population testing regardless. We’ve finally settled on rolling our sleeves up and opening to testers. At the start, we’ll provide a comprehensive breakdown of everything we’re planning to add over the months of the test, and continue our monthly check-ins on our progress. We’re ready to grind, and we hope you are too! And in many ways, it will be much nicer to get the comprehensive mass testing whenever we have something new to roll out!
We hope you will all agree that this update was worth the wait, as we have exciting news to share with you today, along with our most exciting news yet! :)
Accessory Progress
We are proud to announce that we have 47 unique accessories, altogether with 564 color variations.
We have just about reached the edge of our odyssey in the first production run of accessories. After 8 months of practice and training for our fledgling team, we’ve improved immensely at our pipeline. What has previously taken us months now takes a matter of weeks. We have one more backer accessory to develop, and any additions in the near future will be small, simplistic items in comparison to our full sets, but I’m very proud of the team for how far we’ve come, and the marvel of quality they produce in good time.
This month’s new progress includes:
Frog Friends
Illustration by Remmie, sponsored by Hag
Protogear Recolors
Recolors by Emma
New decor
We’ve also been busy with decors.
Argh, matey!
Macaws by Jersopod, cannon, barrel and newspaper stack by Giulia and Remmie
In addition, style compliant sketches of the original rose decor!
Sketches by Remmie
Archetypes
We’re here to introduce a very exciting mechanic that has been in the works since our initial overhaul. It’s one of my personal favorite concepts, and the primary motivation behind how we’ve structured the cat design system.
Introducing… cat archetypes!
Archetypes are a specific combination of traits which, when fulfilled, mark the cat’s profile with a badge and reward the user as an achievement fulfillment. (If the cat’s traits are changed, the badge will be removed. Cats may fulfill multiple Archetypes simultaneously.)
For example, this badge means the cat fulfills the Ruby archetype, a badge which requires the cat to have the color Ruby in all slots.
Examples of the Ruby archetype include:
To give examples of the specificity, other Archetypes include for example “Leopard,” which must have the following to comply:
A Yellow range Leopard overcoat
Light Greyscale or Light Yellow undercoat
Yellow or Greyscale Claws
None for the second accent
Here are some Leopards!
Owning these cats will give the user rewards, sometimes completely custom to the Archetype.
What we hope to achieve with this system is a greater incentive to think creatively within the restrictions of our cat builder, and to reward our players for intentioned play in collecting, breeding, and designing a variety of cats. After all, it is the core of the game!
And with each new addition of colors or patterns, we’ll release an onslaught of new Archetypes! We plan to introduce a healthy amount of them, some easy to get, and some harder depending on genetic obtainability and the obtainment method.
This system is already up and running on our servers, and is in its infancy. We’ll get a lot of data from testing it out!
Originally, this system was on the backburner while we focused on bigger picture mechanics, but we’ve fast tracked it so we can bolster and better encourage casual play while the Guild system is still in its preliminary beta state.
Pelt System
Perhaps the feature we are most excited to see in use and tested is the Pelt System, which we briefly introduced in the 2024 November Check In. There is a frankly insane amount of functionality behind this feature, which includes autonomous user decision and interaction every step of the way.
First, we were able to implement dynamic layering. This means that Unclipped (top layer) pelts can actually sport layers which are placed behind the cat automatically. Valuable uses for this feature include the inside of sleeves, backs of hoods, and items which you would otherwise always want to go behind anything it’s stacked above.
Users can view their pelts already submitted, see their submission progress, choose to submit more to the pelt, choose to print their pelt themselves, choose to list pelts for buyers to print on demand, and view their pelts on any cat.
There is also a draft system which allows users to store information they aren’t ready to submit yet.
Users can list pelts as a print-on-demand resource, and are able to control how many copies they will allow to be printed.
All prints will require a tax which will be dependent on the coverage %, calculated based on the amount of pixels that cover the canvas. This means that small pelts, like a hat or a monocle, will take only a small tax!
AND we have a rudimentary tagging system going as we experiment with this feature! Big news! Once we iron out the kinks, we’ll be able to roll out user filtering and tagging of other content, such as cats or forum posts.
And drumroll please…
As teased at the beginning of this update, we are overjoyed to announce the Closed Beta dates! Early access launches on February 3rd, with the regular Closed Beta starting on February 6th!
During the Closed Beta, you’ll have the chance to experience many new and polished gameplay features, exciting customization options, and the now refined economy! We encourage all testers to not only find any potential bugs and ui improvements, but also to provide feedback and suggestions on all of our game features and our economy!
All 253 Early Beta, 1940 Beta and Kickstarter codes have been generated, and we will begin sending them out shortly over the next day.
In the coming week, we’ll put out writings on our expectations early on and the features roadmap that we’re currently staring at. We can’t wait to see you all in Kotemara soon!
To summarize: We shared decors, Protogear recoloring, Frog Friends, pelt system showcase, archetypes and closed Beta dates.
What to expect next month: Further asset and development updates. Check-ins for how closed Beta will be going.
We just developed the capabilities to generate hundreds of item codes custom tailored in seconds. Tested, and it worked! Generating Kickstarter reward codes will now be a breeze.
We have finished nearly all accessories on all starter poses. The only items missing a few pose renders are the Iridescent Trail and the Guard Set, both of which are being actively worked on.
Huge lift on optimizing for mobile. We now have most pages on the website working on mobile. It's not perfect, but it's getting good enough for the start of a closed beta. Slightly shoddy, but functional for mass testing and further improvement.
Pelt submissions are working. We have moderation tools and extensive testing tools for users. Users can now use the dynamic layering system on unclipped pelts by making two layers in a PSD. Users can test pelt previews on any cat they own. We also developed a coverage % system which will help determine the cost of a print.
The pelt shop has been implemented and is undergoing testing, including version 1.0 of a rough tagging system, allowing for extensive custom filtering. The goal is, after beta user testing, to expand this system site wide to forum threads, cat profiles, and eventually the notebook feature.
*As an aside, in the preview this was version 1 of the pelt submission testing. The terms "male" and "female" will be replaced with the venus and mars symbols
We're tentatively looking at dates for closed beta between February and March, and this week will hopefully help us determine a final decision for an official announcement. Thank you for the patience!
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