Welcome back to this month’s newsletter! We’ve got links galore as the team has been hard at work developing new features in the game while also preparing for industry events like GDC. With so much going on we look forward to sharing what's to come for The Rabbit Haul.

Story Trailer

Kicking things off, the team is delighted to share a new trailer. Take a look!

With this being our first story trailer, the team has learned a lot through the process and we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. As we continue the production of The Rabbit Haul we are eager to showcase more of our game through trailers in the following year!

Earth Appreciation Festival

Additionally, we are excited to announce that The Rabbit Haul will be part of this year’s Steam Earth Appreciation Festival which began on April 1st! This festival is all about highlighting nature-themed games that put focus on the delicate yet balanced ecosystems of our planet.

🔗 Take a peak at the full Earth Appreciation Showcase

🔗 Browse all the 160 games that are part of Earth Appreciation Steam Festival

Playtests return this summer!

As part of the Earth Fest, we’ve announced that we will be resuming playtests starting this summer. So join our Discord now to be the first in line to test the new features in the Rabbit Haul.

Here is a glimpse at some of the new features waiting for you ⬇️

What’s the happening at GDC?

This year’s Game Developers Conference just concluded and our team has made their way home from San Francisco. How was our experience you ask?

🔗 Check out what we thought of this year's con here.

New feature deep dive: Pots

We’re also excited to bring your attention to this feature spotlight of The Rabbit Haul: Pots!

🔗 Read more about Planting Pots here.

Update to Our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Before we wrap this newsletter, we want to turn your attention to the changes to the terms and conditions for our services, including this newsletter, as well as our privacy policy. 

As an active subscriber to our newsletter, you are bound by these terms. If you have any questions or concerns, please send us a message at [email protected].

That wraps up this month's newsletter! As always, join our Discord to learn more about what we are working on and to get to know our growing community.

And if you haven't already, wishlist The Rabbit Haul on Steam to stay updated on any future playtests. 

Take care and we will see you next time!

We recently returned from San Francisco where we attended GDC 2025 and in this blog post we’ll be going over our takeaways from the event and answer the question, was GDC 2025 worth it? (for us)

Some Context is Needed First

After our win at the GDC pitch session in 2024, we were awarded 2 All-Access passes for GDC 2025. These passes are usually out of our price range (~2200 USD each), so it was a big opportunity to see how much more value we would get out of them compared to our previous Indie and Expo passes. Another factor that helped us decide to go was that we received grant funding from Edmonton Screen (a local organization) to help offset some of the costs. In the past, we’ve gotten good value out of going to GDC so these two factors tipped us towards going to GDC 2025.

Despite receiving that sizable financial help, San Francisco is still extremely expensive, especially during GDC. We are a Canadian studio and so the exchange rate made it even pricier. Not to mention the current political climate which made us uneasy about going. 

Our Goals at GDC 2025

Our goals for GDC were to attend some talks to help us in areas like marketing, production, and audio expertise. We also wanted to meet with major platform holders such as Nintendo and Xbox to discuss porting to those consoles for The Rabbit Haul as well as being featured in their showcase. Another goal of ours was to present at The Mix and Day of the Devs. Finally, we wanted to connect with other game devs and build connections to share experiences and help each other out.

Was Attending GDC Worth it?

It’s hard to quantify but we’ll do our best to summarize our thoughts below.

The meetings & showcases

No.

We did not manage to meet with Nintendo (we hear it’s a bit of a unicorn to meet with Nintendo at GDC), but we did meet with the folks at ID@Xbox. It is good practice to set up face time with your network to deepen your professional relationship at GDC. I believe we were successful in that regard with Xbox.

Unfortunately, we also didn’t make it into The mix or Day of the Devs. By the time we heard back from those decisions though, our flights and accommodation were booked. We wish those slots were confirmed well in advance to make it easier for international studios to make informed decisions on their attendance to GDC.

The talks

Yes and no.

The marketing talks we attended felt like they were aimed towards a more entry level crowd. It was good knowledge but a lot of the information we had already learned from reading the newsletter from Chris Zukowksi or Game Discover Co. At our stage, we need more specialized help when it comes to our marketing efforts. 

Similarly, production talks were often geared towards much bigger teams than ours which have different problems than we do. However, some learnings could be applied to our studio. More than anything, production talks mostly confirmed that all teams face the same problems we do, and that there are no clear solutions for them.

The audio and design sessions were a lot more interesting. They offered more niche advice on various workflows and design patterns. We felt more inspired after attending talks that were on the creative side of game development rather than business ones. It sounds pretty obvious when saying it now, but we overdid it on business talks this year which kind of drained us.

The people

Definitely, yes.

The friends we make along the way are always the highlight of game dev events. It’s great to chat to other devs and get inspired by what they are making. We also grow our network of gamedevs we can talk to if we run into hiccups or if we need advice or vice versa. “The friends we made along the way” is a hard thing to quantify in terms of return on investment. These are not transactional connections but there’s something to be said about growing your network. Also meeting in person over online helps build a better rapport.

It was great to chat with indie developers that are at different parts of their journeys. Commiserating with some that have similar struggles and sharing tips, joining impromptu park pitch sessions to try and help devs practice, or simply, hearing about each other’s games. Everyone we’ve met shared a love of games, each in their own way and for different aspects of development. Either way, the sense of community felt at GDC is still alive and well and it is invigorating to be around.

GDC overall vibes

No.

Generally, attendance felt down across the board at GDC. We figured it is due to what has been happening in the broader games industry mixed with the recent political shift. However, it was still surprising to see some of the bigger companies not having a presence on the show floor (Nintendo, Sony, Xbox, Unity, Epic). They were still present at GDC but in a smaller capacity and behind closed doors. A lot of the country pavilions also skipped this year, including the Canada booth. All this resulted in less games being shown on the expo floor which was sad to see.

However, the games that were displayed at the show were just as vibrant as always. The alt.ctrl.GDC section showed off truly innovative modes of playing games, the GDC Play area had some gems that I can’t wait to see more of, and as usual, the IGF and Day of the Devs games are worth having on your radar!

The Result

So given similar goals, we would not go back to GDC next year. The current cost of the conference coupled with the deteriorating Canada-US relations make it not worth the trouble. Don’t get me wrong, GDC has always been expensive but things were really cranked to 11 this year. The only justification for going back is if we had a specific showcase we were attending like The Mix or Day of the Devs or if we were pitching to publishers.

Still Considering GDC? Read on.

However, if you’re considering going to GDC, here are some tips and resources to get the most out of it:

Funding (Canada & Edmonton specific)

• Edmonton Screen, formerly Edmonton Screen Industries Office (ESIO), has funding opportunities available to Edmonton studios to attend industry events such as GDC. Read more on that here.
• The Trade Commissioner Service often has free Meet to Match passes to give out to studios attending GDC. (More on Meet to Match below) Stay in touch with your local Interactive Digital Media organization to have access to those opportunities.

Setting up Meetings

• Meet To Match is a platform to set up meetings with other attendees. In the past, we have gotten a good amount of use out of it, and it got us in front of publishers we wouldn’t have had the network to talk to. This year, it was a bit quieter and had a lot more service providers, so mileage may vary per year or per event (they run the platform for a multitude of gamedev events).
• Sometimes, you’ll be able to fully book your schedule using Meet To Match but if you are unable to, LinkedIn can still be a viable option. A lot of publishers are taking meetings at GDC and are not on Meet to Match.
• Make sure to communicate early; a lot of people get their schedules filled 2 or 3 weeks before the event.
• If you want to meet with platform holders such as Nintendo, you need to book those meetings in January outside of Meet to Match (Linkedin is your friend).

Pitch Deck Preparation

• For this, I’ll refer back to our previous blog post on this. Don’t forget to practice and be prepared to pitch in loud environments!

Meeting Other Developers

• Hang out in the Yerba Buena Gardens, it’s always full of inviting devs that are just there to meet new people.
• The Indie Hostel is also a great place to meet other developers, the lounge area is always welcoming, and you never know who you might run into. It’s also ideal that it is one of the cheaper options for accommodation near the convention center in San Francisco during this time. Keep in mind that you need to stay at the Hostel to have access to the lounge.
• The Marriott Marquis lobby is one of the most popular locations for meetings at GDC. The lobby is bustling with developers and publishers throughout the week. Hanging out there and introducing yourself to people waiting for their meeting to start is a great way to meet stakeholders in the industry. The Marquis also has a great bar (sometimes referred to as The Death Star) to just hang out at night.
• GDCFeet is a hike that’s organized by devs to walk along the beach and see the sights. It happens on the Saturday after GDC and it’s a great way to decompress at the end of the week and get a more relaxed setting to connect with other devs.
• There are a few lists of events and parties that circulate before GDC which are great to plan your evenings like this one.

Showcasing at GDC

• Showing your game on the GDC show floor is a bit of a lottery; you may run into someone that has an impact for you but the likelihood of that happening is pretty slim, and the cost of showcasing is simply not worth it. More exclusive events may yield better results, such as The Mix or Day of the Devs, which have press specific times. However, it is a highly competitive process to be selected to participate in those events. Keep an eye on this list of showcases and festivals for opportunities at GDC and beyond.
• Keep in mind that GDC is a business to business (b2b) event and that influencers, the press, and consumers don’t really attend the show floor. If your goal is to get marketing traction such as wishlists, GDC is NOT the right event for you. You should look into Gamescom instead. We have a blog post about our experience at Gamescom 2023 if you are interested in knowing more about that.

We hope these insights into our GDC 2025 experience are useful to you! If you haven’t done so already, please wishlist The Rabbit Haul on Steam to support our small studio.

Until next time 👋

We’ve added a new tower to The Rabbit Haul, and it’s a goody. The Sniper Violet is a tower that perfectly embodies the idea of beauty meeting precision. With its sharpshooting capabilities and the ability to give players the power of sight, the Sniper Violet is a formidable ally in your defense as it will ensure that no enemy is out of reach.

Inspiration

The Sniper Violet draws inspiration from the real-life violet flower, native to our home and known for its beauty and delicate scent. Violets are unique in how they disperse their seeds—by shooting them with remarkable precision, ensuring their growth in diverse environments. Similarly, the Sniper Violet tower excels at targeting enemies with pinpoint accuracy from afar. Its graceful yet deadly nature makes it a perfect homage to the violet flower's own strength and beauty.

Sniper Violet Stages

Seed Packet

Once you’ve unlocked the Sniper Violet in the upgrade store, Gerald’s Green Shop will stock Sniper Violet seed packets for purchase in your run.

Level 1

At this stage, the Sniper Violet cannot attack. You must water and protect it from harm for 2 nights before it will bloom and gain its sharpshooting abilities.

Level 2

At this stage, the Sniper Violet will defend your farm from raccoons, excelling at shooting enemies from afar!

Level 3A

The Sniper Violet is the first tower to offer 2 different final stages. The first one, the Mega Sniper, comes with a significant damage increase and the Shared Vision symbiosis effect.

The Shared Vision effect allows Sniper Violets (at level 2 and above) in direct horizontal or vertical line of sight to share their attack radius, allowing them to cover even more of the battlefield. Be careful, as planting crops or other towers in between this line of sight will break it!

Level 3B

The Camo Sniper has a lot to offer as well. It benefits from an attack speed boost and the ability to target the elusive Ghillie Raccoons. Additionally, the Camo Sniper grants other towers within a 3x3 area the Spotter effect.

The Spotter effect grants its benefactor the ability to also target Ghillie raccoons who are normally invisible to range towers. The effect also increases the towers' attack radius.

That’s it for the Sniper Violet! Join our Discord community to learn more about all that we are working on for The Rabbit Haul.

And of course, if you haven’t already, wishlist The Rabbit Haul on Steam to stay updated on when the next playtest will happen.

Until next time! 👋

The world of The Rabbit Haul is full of adorable yet devious raccoons, each with their own tricks to snatch your hard-earned crops! In this dev update, we’re introducing all the enemy types you’ll encounter in the game. Each raccoon brings a unique challenge, so knowing what to expect will be crucial to your success. Let’s take a look at these cunning critters!

Bandit

The Bandit is the most common enemy type. These pesky raccoons will steal crops when they reach your haul. If the player gets too close, they’ll try to attack and maintain aggression for a few seconds before focusing back on the haul. Expect to see a lot of these troublemakers throughout your journey!

Ghillie

The Ghillie raccoon is a master of stealth. These camouflaged bandits cannot be targeted by projectile-based towers, making them tricky to deal with. They will also evade the player if they get too close, making them resistant to melee combat as well. Like the Bandit, they steal crops when they reach the haul.

Reaper

Reapers have a singular purpose: destruction. Their priority is to attack and destroy towers before they even think about stealing crops. If you rely heavily on defensive structures, these raccoons will be a serious threat to your farm’s security. Get to them before they destroy all your defenses and leave you vulnerable to the next wave of raccoons.

Feral

Unlike other raccoons, the Feral does not attack the player or your towers. Instead, their goal is to reach the haul as quickly as possible and devour your crops on the spot. Unfortunately, once a Feral eats a crop, it’s gone for good—you won’t be able to recover it!

Bandit Level 2

A stronger and more dangerous version of the regular Bandit, this upgraded thief has increased health and deals more damage. Expect a tougher fight when these raccoons come prowling!

Wizard (Coming Soon!)

The Wizard raccoon isn’t in the game yet, but when it arrives, it will be a major threat. This mystical menace will have different spells and tricks up its sleeve to take down your defenses and give the trash panda posse the edge!

Giant Bandit

Slow but incredibly dangerous, the Giant Bandit is a walking disaster. If it reaches the haul, it will steal a LOT of crops in one go! This tanky raccoon also has a powerful AOE stomp attack (coming soon). With a massive health pool, defeating it won’t be easy.

Raccoon King

The ultimate challenge, the Raccoon King is a boss that relentlessly chases the player. This powerful enemy has multiple unique abilities, but we’re keeping the details under wraps… for now. Expect a tough battle!

That’s the full lineup of the Trash Panda Posse currently planned for the demo of The Rabbit Haul! Each raccoon brings a unique challenge, and we’d love to hear your thoughts. Join our Discord community to share feedback and propose new enemy types in our feature request polls.

And of course, if you haven’t already, wishlist The Rabbit Haul on Steam to stay updated on development and be ready for the next playtest.

Until next time and watch out for those raccoons! 👋

December Playtest Results, Exciting Updates, and What’s Next

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year from all of us at Caldera Interactive! We’re starting 2025 with a look back at the December playtest for The Rabbit Haul. It was an incredible week, with over 70 players testing new features, submitting feedback, and helping us shape the future of the game.

Thank you for joining us on this journey. Here’s what we learned, what we’re working on, and how you can continue to be part of the process.

What you Loved

• Art Style: The cute visuals stood out as a highlight, with many players praising the vibrant look of the game.
• Engaging Gameplay: The mix of farming, tower defense, and combat kept players entertained and eager for more.
• Sniper Violet: This new tower addition was well-received and proved to be a favorite among testers.
• Extended Inventory: Players appreciated the added organization and flexibility this brought to gameplay.
• Community Events & Interactions: The live Q&A during the playtest was a hit, with players enjoying the chance to connect with the developers and share ideas, and also chatting strategies with other playtesters in the Discord. Want to join the fun? Join our Discord.

What Needs Work

• Combat Challenges: Combat was the most commonly mentioned area for improvement. Issues with hitboxes, weapon upgrades, and interactions between players and enemies made combat feel less polished.
• Stink Bombs: Players liked the concept but noted odd hitboxes behaviour and limited effectiveness during later waves.
• Sprinklers: While useful in theory, these were often replaced by Beehives, which provided more value for their cost.
• Controls: We received a few reports asking for more flexibility around remapping controls to make the game more accessible.
• Bugs: We received 51 bug reports, ranging from small UI issues to gameplay mechanics. We’ve already started working on fixes to address these for the next playtest.

Who Played

This playtest brought in many new players—73% were first-timers, introduced through events like Gamescom, word-of-mouth, and social media.

Our audience’s favorite genres, including Survival and RPGs, align well with The Rabbit Haul’s design. It’s exciting to see how well the game resonates with its intended audience.

Community Highlights

We love hearing your ideas! In our Discord, players can suggest new game features and vote on others’ submissions through our Feature Leaderboard. The top three suggestions right now are:

1. Ranged enemies (and more explosions) with 8 votes.
2. Ability to destroy or move plants and towers with 7 votes
3. The ability to pet the pig with 6 votes. 🐷

These suggestions not only inspire us but also help us prioritize what’s most important to you. Want to share your ideas or vote on your favorites? Join our Discord to participate!

We also hosted a live Q&A session during the playtest, answering questions and diving deeper into The Rabbit Haul’s development. Thank you to everyone who joined and participated—it was a fantastic discussion! If you missed it, you can watch the recording on YouTube: Live Q&A Session.

We’re planning to host more live Q&As in the future, so stay tuned for announcements!

What's Next

Based on your feedback and our roadmap, we’re focusing on the following features and fixes for the next playtest:

• Boss Fight: Get ready for an epic challenge! The next playtest will introduce The Rabbit Haul’s first boss fight, adding a new layer of excitement and strategy to the game. Will your defenses be enough to take it down?
• Symbiosis Crystals: These will reward players for creating symbiotic relationships in their gardens, encouraging creative and strategic layouts.
• Haul Upgrades: Symbiosis Crystals will also unlock Haul Upgrades, letting you customize your strategy. These upgrades will add a new dimension to how you approach each run.
• Safe Zone Town: We’re replacing the current main menu upgrade store with a safe zone town. Between runs, you’ll be able to upgrade towers, manage your resources, and prepare for the challenges ahead. This immersive addition will deepen the game’s roguelite elements and give players more reasons to keep coming back.
• UI Updates: We’re continuing to refine the user experience with UI improvements such as the HUD.
  Custom Music: We will be working with a composer to bring fresh sounds to the game!
• Ability to Move Plants and Towers: Based on your feedback, we’re adding this highly requested feature to make gameplay more flexible and strategic.
• Balancing: Tweaking towers, crops, waves, and upgrades to be more fun and accessible.
• Bug Fixes: We’re actively addressing the 51 bug reports submitted during the last playtest to ensure a smoother experience.

Unfortunately, we can’t get to everything for the next playtest. We love reading all your experiences and ideas for the game. Please understand that as a small team, we have to prioritize balancing, bug fixes and new feature implementations. But I promise we take all your feedback seriously and will get to it eventually.

Support the game

If you haven’t already, please wishlist The Rabbit Haul on Steam. It’s a simple way to support the game and stay updated on future playtests, announcements, and updates.

Want to be more involved? Join our Discord for discussions, sneak peeks, and a chance to shape the game through feature suggestions and live events.

Thank you for being part of this journey. Your feedback and enthusiasm make all the difference, and we’re excited for what’s to come in 2025!

-- Until next time! 👋

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

So many UI updates and a playtest announcement!

Happy November everyone! We’ve already made it 10 full months into this year, and the final two promise to be just as fulfilling as the rest. For the past couple of months, The Rabbit Haul has been going through many UI updates, along with other smaller implementations. We’ll tell you all about it here!

Environment Updates

We’ve started with the basics, with new looks for our ground tiles and some new trees. Which one of these trees is your favourite?

Still in progress assets include the grass and the addition of clouds in the sky. It's about to get a whole lot cozier in The Rabbit Haul!

UI Updates

The biggest updates inside The Rabbit Haul are for the UI of the haul, the inventory, and Gerald’s Greens.

The Inventory

The inventory has gone through a basic update, thanks to feedback from our playtesters. We learned that the red surrounding the selected item was difficult to discern, so we have updated how a selected item looks. We loved having the vines and leaves around the inventory, so we reimagined them on the outside of the inventory bar.

In addition, we have moved the health bar to above the inventory, making it easier to track, and updated the currency tracker to match the other bars.

The Haul

Previously, the haul was a simple pop-up that allowed you to click or drag crops into it. After this UI upgrade, the haul pop-up includes a side-by-side inventory window, allowing you to view your full backpack inventory alongside the haul.

Did I say backpack? Yes, yes I did. You will soon have the ability to get additional storage space through the backpack. No more worries about not having enough space to collect everything in the world!

Check out below for the current in-game implementation screen.

Gerald’s Greens (The Shop)

Gerald, our second favourite rabbit companion with our first favourite pig companion, has recently renovated for your shopping needs! He even learned how to speak - he’s been working hard the last couple of months.

Like with the haul, your inventory will appear side-by-side to his shop. His shop will also split up crops, towers, and tools, so you can browse at your own leisure. The information bar will also display discovered synergies once that system has been implemented!

Check out our artist’s UI concept below and compare it with the old system.

Other Updates

While our primary focus has been on UI updates, we have also made a few additional adjustments to the game, including:

• Player attack animations
• Tower VFX
• Analytic updates
• Implementation of Watermelon crop, Stink Bomb, and Sprinkler tower into the game
• New boss attacks
• AOE indicators

There’s always more to add, but I think I’ve given you many sneak peeks at what to anticipate for the next playtest. Speaking of which…

Next Playtest: December 2

Our next playtest is just around the corner! We discovered that the week long playtests are the best way to ensure everyone has ample time to try out The Rabbit Haul, so we will continue providing access for the extended time period. This next playtest will run from December 2 to December 9, 2024 (Courtney’s birthday!) and will happen exclusively in our Discord server.

We hope to see you there!

Well, I think that about wraps up our monthly update. I hope everyone had a wonderful spooky season and are looking forward to Mariah Carey season. We will continue to work hard on The Rabbit Haul as the temperature trends downward, and we’ll be back for a special holiday update next month. Stay warm, take your vitamins, and always look for ways to celebrate and show thanks to the people around you!

• Celebrating 2 years of this newsletter. Thank you to all our subscribers for the support!
• We’re excited to announce that The Rabbit Haul will be showcased at the Alberta Games Series this week in Calgary. Looking forward to catching up with all the amazing Alberta studios and devs!
• We’ll also be attending the Montreal International Game Summit (MIGS) at the end of the month.
• No October playtest as we continue to work on some major features and updates.

Gamescom 2024: Wishlist Case Study

Have you ever wondered why developers are always pushing for Steam wishlists? Think of Steam as a social media platform where wishlists act as “likes.” The more wishlists you get, the more likely Steam will promote your game on visible parts of the platform like the Popular Upcoming widget. Many indie studios aim for the 7,000+ wishlist mark, which is said to increase your chances of making it on that widget and significantly boost your wishlists in return.

For indie developers, every wishlist counts, and that’s why events like Gamescom can be so crucial for building momentum. But let’s be honest, events like these can be very expensive, especially when you’re working with a limited budget. Luckily, the Edmonton Screen Industries Office (ESIO), a local organization, sponsored our booth and travel to Cologne for Gamescom 2024, making it possible for us to attend this major event.

Our Initiatives for Gamescom 2024

To make the most of the event, we planned several initiatives to attract attention and boost our wishlists:

• We localized our Steam page into the top 10 most popular languages on Steam: French, German, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean.
• We teamed up with four other studios for a Stamp Rally where attendees could win a Steam gift card by collecting stamps and entering a raffle.
• We brought 1,000 sprout hair clips and 1,500 postcards with game information as giveaways.
• We streamed gameplay on our Steam page throughout the entire Gamescom steam festival.
• Organized and ran a closed playtest of our demo on Discord during Gamescom 2024.

The Results

Here’s a breakdown of the data from our time at Gamescom 2024:

• 1,293 wishlists added between August 20 and August 25, 2024.
• Around 733 unique people played our demo at the booth during the event.
• We stamped 462 cards during the show as part of the Stamp Rally.
• On August 20, we showcased our game at Courage Cologne, where 68 people played the game.
• We had 2,745 unique visits to our Steam page during the event, with 42% of those visits coming from the Gamescom Steam Sale page.
• Only about 466 visits came from QR codes and links displayed at our booth and on our handouts.

In terms of geographical traffic

• 29% of the traffic came from Germany.
• 20% from the US.
• 11% from Russia, which we believe was driven by our Russian localization.

Key Takeaways

• Gamescom Steam Festival is the real driver of wishlist traffic, not just having a booth. The event’s global reach on Steam is where most of the visibility comes from.
• Our sprout hair clips were a hit and became an unexpected booster for discoverability.
• The Stamp Rally helped us maintain momentum, particularly after traffic from the Steam Festival page began to taper off.
• While Gamescom is an international event, our data shows that it’s still primarily a German-focused event.
• Russian traffic was surprising, but it likely came from our decision to localize the Steam page into Russian.
• Missing out on showcases like the Future Games Show or Awesome Indies Showcase impacted our overall visibility. Securing a spot in these could have increased our wishlist numbers dramatically.
• We gained 125 new newsletter subscribers from the Stamp Rally and about the same number of social media followers from our live posts during the event.

The Aftermath: Was It Worth It?

For us, the return on investment was positive, especially since our trip and booth were largely subsidized. However, it’s important to note that results can vary wildly. We heard about studios in the Indie Arena Booth who only garnered a few hundred wishlists, while others who had their trailers featured in the Future Games Show or Awesome Indies Showcase gained thousands of wishlists each day. It’s always a gamble.

While we didn’t attract a ton of press attention, we did get some coverage:

• Robokot Games (Russia) published an article recommending our game at Courage Cologne.
• Jugendforum NRW (Germany) made a reel about our game, thanks in part to the popularity of the sprout hair clips.
• Indie Games Plus (international) covered our demo after playing it at Gamescom.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we’re happy with the wishlist numbers we generated at Gamescom 2024. It’s a big event, but it’s important to manage expectations and strategize to maximize the return. The community aspect, the press, and the exposure all contribute, but it’s often the side events and smaller engagements that add up.
Beyond wishlists and demos, Gamescom is also a fantastic place to network with other developers, publishers, and industry professionals. The event offers countless opportunities to meet potential collaborators and partners. We took full advantage of this, booking several business-to-business meetings that could lead to exciting new partnerships and opportunities for our studio. If you attend Gamescom, make sure to bring business cards, set up meetings in advance, and use the event to expand your professional network.

We’d love to hear how other indie developers fared at Gamescom. Please share any tips for next year.

Thank you for reading, and we’ll catch you next month!
-- Isael

And our Gamescom 2024 Recap.

First off: hello to all our new blog subscribers from Gamescom! In August, our team flew across the world from Edmonton, Canada to Köln, Germany to present The Rabbit Haul at Gamescom 2024, and WOW - what a success! We also have some massive news about the game, so let’s just get right into it.

Gamescom Recap

A big thank you to everyone who came and visited our booth at Gamescom and tried out The Rabbit Haul in person. We got to chat with thousands of players, give out 1,000 sprout clips, and raffle off a $100USD Steam Gift card and Steam keys for Pekóe through our Cozy Game Scavenger Hunt! We had over 700 people playtest the game in person, and nearly 500 people participated in the scavenger hunt, getting our and our studio partner’s cute stamps! Congratulations to our winners!

In addition to our players, we’d like to thank the other studios that made our Gamescom so memorable:

• Our Scavenger Hunt partners: Kitten Cup Studio (Pekóe), Slime King Games (Under the Island), Pine Creek Games (Winter Burrow), and Yaldi Games (Out and About)
• Edmonton studios & booth partners: Crimson Herring (Sovereign Syndicate), Itzy Interactive (Weird Os, Mad Devils), Frozen Machine (Penguins vs. Pirates), Only by Midnight (ctrl.alt.DEAL), and Occlusional (Catrophy Trail); plus Edmonton Screen Industries Office!
• Additional new friends: Wood Runner Games (Croak), Roofkat Games (Escaping Atlantis), Schleuder Games (Space Sprouts), Winter Crew (Fallen Tear), Fat Alien Cat (Momento), and Whimsical Wolff Games (Kohlrabi Starship)

There were so many other kind and brilliant folks that we met throughout the week, and we are grateful for every person that came and chatted with us. We learned so much throughout our time, and we hope to return for Gamescom 2025!

The Rabbit Haul is Greenlit for Production!

Perhaps our biggest news yet: The Rabbit Haul has received the Canada Media Fund’s Innovation & Experimentation Program funding for the production of the game. We were one of seven studios across Canada who received the funding, being the only studio from Western Canada to receive the recommendation. You can learn more about the program and the funding decision here.

This news means that the game will continue to be developed until release, slated currently for mid-2026. We are currently finishing up the prototype version of The Rabbit Haul, and will begin the full production cycle later in September. This will mean that there will be many more playtests available for the game in our Discord, so we encourage you to join us on this journey!

Blog Post: Getting CMF Production Funding

When Caldera received prototype fundings for Project Ghost and The Rabbit Haul, we created a couple of blog posts talking about our learnings and giving tips for receiving the funding yourselves. You can view them here and here, and here.

Now that we have received our production funding, we have made yet another post to provide information to other Canadian developers looking to receive funding of their own! We talk about what we have done over the past year to prepare for this program application, including pitching to publishers, hosting closed playtests, and creating a marketing study. By clicking on the photo below, you can read the full post with our insights and recommendations.

Our team always tries to share the knowledge we’ve gained through our trials and tribulations with other game developers, so we hope some of this information will be beneficial to both newcomers and veterans in the industry alike.

Looking Ahead

August was less focused on game development, as you can likely tell from this blog post. However, features that were announced in the previous month’s blog post have now been implemented into the game, so those will be available on the next playtest.

Speaking of the next playtest, there is no scheduled playtest for September. This decision was made in part so that the team can finish the prototype build of The Rabbit Haul and prepare properly for the full development cycle. While there is no playtest planned, keep an eye on our social media accounts for any updates or opportunities that arise between newsletters.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our crazy summer adventure, and while the temperature may begin to drop, remember to always drink water and take care of yourself.

Until next month!

We received our CMF Production Funding, and now we're here to help you do the same!

Securing production funding from the Canada Media Fund (CMF) can be a game-changer for indie developers. But with a record number of applications, your project needs to stand out more than ever. When we received the news that we were successful in the Innovation & Experimentation program funding, we were told that over 50 applications were submitted, and only 7 were successful. To check out all the selected projects in this previous round, see this post.

Our application was recommended with a grade of 78.83/100. We were the last project to get funded out of the 7, which means all other projects scored above 80.

Ahead of the second intake for the Innovation and Experimentation program, closing on September 10, 2024, we decided to share how we managed to be one of the lucky few to receive production funding last round. Beware however, that a lot of the things we share below take months to implement and might not benefit you for this upcoming application.

Pitch to Publishers Early

One of the first steps we took was to start pitching to publishers ridiculously early. Building relationships before you even have a finished prototype can be a game-changer. Not only did this help us refine our pitch as we were building a prototype, but it also allowed us to secure letters of support from publishers, which significantly strengthened our CMF application. We wrote an article about creating a pitch deck for your game to use when talking with publishers here.

Initially we were hesitant to pitch early, thinking that we only had one shot and that we might burn bridges with publishers. This turned out to not be the case for us. Most often, publishers told us that they were interested but that they needed to see more of the game before moving further.

Closed Playtests and Player Feedback

We ran several closed playtests to gather raw data and player feedback. This wasn’t just for improving the game—it was also crucial for our application. It demonstrated that real players were engaging with our prototype and helped prove there was a market for our game. We even asked one of our most dedicated community members to record a testimonial about the game, which we added to a Meet the Team style video as supporting material. Although this video is not mandatory for the application, all 3 jurors mentioned that they watched and enjoyed the video. Below is the video we submitted with our application.

Community Building

Building a community around your game is essential. Whether it’s on Discord, social media, or through live events, showing that you’re active and already have a following adds a lot of value. We made sure to highlight our community engagement in our application, which included playtesting sessions, posting regular updates on social media, and attending industry events like GDC and Gamescom. We highly recommend recording video and taking pictures of people playing your game to add to your “Meet the Team” video.

It’s also important to think ahead about what you want to do about community building as your game enters production. Including things like campaign ideas, social media strategies, and event attendance will help show the jurors that you have thought through the next few years.

Leverage Mentorship

Seeking help from mentors was another key move. We built a network of experienced industry professionals who provided guidance and application reviews before submission as well as helping us in our game dev journey. This not only improved our game but also added credibility to our team in the eyes of the CMF. To quote one of the jurors from our feedback, “The team is new, but studio members have produced a great looking Demo. Seem to have the right people as mentors and it shows.”

Thinking Like a Publisher

One of the biggest lessons we learned was to think of the CMF as a publisher. They want to know that your project is a safe bet. We focused on mitigating as much risk as possible by showing how our team was prepared to make and finish the game. We outlined our financial strategy, target audience, and how we planned to reach them. We also highlighted similar games on the market and explained how our project was different.

Team Section

Don’t underestimate the importance of the team section in your application. While we’ve heard that teams that have not released a commercial project yet are at a huge disadvantage, do not let that discourage you from applying. Demonstrating our team’s experience building prototypes still earned us points and showcasing our team’s dedication to the project through other activities like winning the GDC pitch competition really helped us here. We still scored 9/13 in this section despite not having a shipped game as a studio.

Salary Deferrals Still Work

Although more risky in their eyes, the CMF still accepts salary deferrals as a way to finance your project. We had heard that the CMF was less likely to accept deferrals from now on, but it sounds like it depends on the project.

Interim Financing

We also opted to work with a reputable bank like the BDC to secure interim financing. We went through a loan application and received a term sheet from the BDC to add to our application. This showed that we had been vetted by a reputable source and proved less risky in the eyes of the CMF. The CMF is particularly concerned with intellectual property (IP) ownership and a reputable bank like the BDC is much less likely to offer predatory terms that might infringe on IP than a private lender. If you are going with a private company to provide financing, make sure to read the small print.

Market Study and Benchmarks

This was perhaps the most challenging document to write due to the condensed page count (only 10 pages maximum), but we came up with a good strategy to ensure we included all the necessary information - and, as one juror said, we created a “pretty flawless Market Study doc”. There is a lot of research required for this section outside of your internal data, including information on your competitors, your games market and your audience, your marketing platforms market and audiences, and realistic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your success. This portion is only worth 10% of your overall submission grade, but will be a key indicator of your strengths and knowledge about your game.

Base your market study on real data! We used Chris Zukowski’s benchmarks from his blog How to Market a Game to figure out how our game was performing during prototyping. Specifically, we used our demo’s median playtime as a benchmark because we were already playtesting on Steam. Turns out, the median playtime for our game fell into the Diamond tier. Plan which benchmark you want to utilize early so that when application time comes, you can add real data to your application. Another popular benchmark is Steam wishlists.

Our advice: launch a "coming soon" page on Steam as soon as possible, even if you don’t have a trailer or press release ready. For small indies like us, getting picked up by the press is unlikely, so it’s better to start gathering wishlists organically through playtesting. If you don’t have data to support your application, it’s a sign that you need to do more to get it.

We wrote a whole article on community building and marking a marketing plan for your game here.

Marketing Agency

Securing a marketing agency on retainer and getting a letter of support from them was a big plus for our application. We met with various service providers at GDC who were willing to support us, which added a lot of credibility to our marketing plan.

Self-publish or Publisher?

We had both a plan A (self-publishing) and a plan B (seeking a publisher) in our market study, and we made sure to outline both options in our application. This demonstrated that we were prepared for any scenario. In order to support the publisher route, we pitched our game to dozens of publishers and asked for letters of support from them. Access to capital is scarce and we found that publishers are more than happy to come on board with a partner like the CMF to secure financing. Don’t be afraid to ask!

Innovate, But Be Strategic

Innovation is great, but it needs to be grounded in reality. We made sure our innovative features were directly tied to the market analysis we conducted. This showed the CMF that we weren’t just being creative for creativity’s sake, but that we were innovating in ways that would resonate with our target audience. This will be one of the heaviest-weighted documents, so make sure you are investing a lot of time within this section.

Supporting Documents

Adding additional documents to support your Innovation, Creativity and Advancement piece is crucial. We added the Meet the Team video which we discussed earlier, we also added an Art book and a playthrough of our demo (which is required for the application). Here’s what one of our jurors had to say about it: “Overall a very strong, well articulated proposal with complementary supporting materials to add more clarity and highlight all of the key features about the game play. Well done to this team.”

Final Thoughts

Getting CMF production funding is no small feat, but with the right preparation, it’s possible. Focus on building strong relationships with publishers early, gathering player data, and thinking of the CMF as a publisher which will help you frame your application in a way that mitigates risks for them. Show that you’re active in the community and have a solid plan for both development and marketing. By doing so, you’ll not only improve your chances of getting funded but also set your project up for long-term success.

Good luck out there!

Related Articles

1. Insider Tips For Your Canada Media Fund Applications
2. Your CMF Application Questions Answered
3. Unlocking CMF Funding: Securing 250K For You Game
4. Pitch Deck Deep Dive
5. Guide: How to Begin Managing Your Gaming Community

Gamescom, August playtest, and in-game updates.

While summer is already halfway over, it feels as if we are just heating up. Traveling across the world, holding our longest playtest yet, and getting prepared to complete the prototype version of The Rabbit Haul - it’s all here!

We're Heading to Gamescom Germany

We are thrilled to announce (again) that Caldera Interactive will be attending Gamescom Germany 2024 with The Rabbit Haul! A big thank you to Edmonton Screen Industries Office for bringing us again this year along with other local studios as a part of their Summit Push program. Below is their full announcement of studios attending Gamescom.

https://edmontonscreen.com/gamescom2024/

As one of the biggest gaming events in the world, Gamescom offers an unparalleled opportunity for us to connect with our international community, showcase our latest developments, and share exciting news. Mark your calendars for August 21-25, 2024, and come visit Courtney, Isael, and Mickael at our booth - Hall 10.2, Booth E40 - for an unforgettable experience.

Our Playtest Returns

Get ready for an exclusive, week-long playtest during Gamescom week! We are so excited to have two unique playtests available: one being hosted at the event, where attendees will have the chance to try out new features in a shortened, 6-wave run, provide feedback, and interact with our development team.

Our other playtest, hosted on our Discord server, will be a test of the full game, including our out-of-run upgrade and unlock system. This will be an excellent opportunity for our players to give some of their final feedback on the prototype version of The Rabbit Haul, as we head into our production of the full game - do not worry if your suggestions are not yet implemented, we have everything noted and will be working on them during our production phase!

As we head into one of our final playtests of the summer, we just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to each and every one of our players, who have tested any and every iteration of The Rabbit Haul, and who have provided the most valuable feedback about all elements of the game. We spend so much time looking over your answers, reviewing what we can do better and implementing plans to make each test a unique experience. Our community is the reason we are able to do what we do, and we truly appreciate your support.

New Article on Community Management

We believe that strong community management is crucial for a thriving gaming environment. That's why Courtney has penned an in-depth article on the subject: sharing insights, strategies, and best practices that have helped us build and maintain our amazing community. Whether you're a developer, community manager, or an enthusiast, there's something in it for everyone. Check it out on our blog and join the conversation.

In-Game Updates

Now to the juicy part - what’s new in The Rabbit Haul for July! We have a new crop and two new towers - one offensive and one defensive. In addition, there are language updates to note.

Watermelon Crop

The Watermelon is a purchasable crop that has a longer growing time than most of our other crops. However, it sells for a high value, and if it's put in the haul, it will punish enemies who try to steal it.

When a raccoon picks up a Watermelon, a "heavy" effect will appear, and the enemy will be slowed while trying to exit the playing field, allowing the player extra time to attack and get back their crop!

Stink Bomb Tower

Stink Bombs are our second wild encounter, after the blueberry bush that we introduced you to last month. They will appear sporadically, and can be picked up by the player to be placed where they prefer.

If an enemy walks over the Stink Bomb, they will be damaged with a chance of "poison" effect, where there will be damage applied over time. These are a one-time use tower, so be careful about when and where you use them!

Sprinklers

We've heard you about how tedious watering can be, so we've implemented a new tower that can help speed up the process for you, and will also assist you during the night as well!

Sprinklers can be purchased at Gerald's Greens, and have 3 stages.

• Stage 1: waters in a plus (+), affecting the crops above, below, and to the left and right.
• Stage 2: waters all the plants around the sprinkler, including those diagonal to it; similar to the effects of the Beehive.
• Stage 3: waters two circles surrounding the sprinkler, for a total of 24 plants watered daily!

In addition to its impressive daily properties, it will also assist you at night by spraying water at the enemies nearby and pushing them back, allowing you more time to fight and prevent them from hitting your haul.

French In-Game Translations

Isael has been working hard at translating The Rabbit Haul into French. It is a slow process to find every line of text and translate it accurately, so we are unsure if it will be fully implemented by the time the playtest comes out - but stay tuned!

Courtney’s Fun Fact: je ne parle pas français, mais je parle un peu japonais et coréen.

Steam Page Localized to 10 Languages!

We are very excited to update our Steam page to ten languages, allowing you to learn about The Rabbit Haul in whichever language you prefer.

These languages include: English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean.

Currently, these languages are just for the Steam page itself, with plans for in-game localization coming much later in our development process.

We are so excited for you all to try the latest version of The Rabbit Haul. Our team has been putting in countless hours to ensure that the game is as best as possible heading into the biggest event of the year.

We can't wait to see you at Gamescom Germany 2024! Any recommendations for places to see in Cologne, or things we absolutely need to pack?

Remember to wear your sunscreen, and get ready for the best August yet! See you next month. 💚

Our Community Manager explains the basics of running your video game's community, made for studios who can't hire a dedicated manager

Hello all, Courtney here!

Last month, I had the opportunity to present at the Edmonton GameCamp monthly meetup about Community Management - what it is, how to do it as a small studio, and how to measure success. As this topic is SO important for game developers to consider early on in their process, we thought it'd be valuable to give an extensive guide for those looking to start building and maintaining their game's community - and yes, this should start well before your game launches, ideally right when you begin your development process (but even if you're years in, it's never too late to start - unless you start tomorrow).

Buckle up, this is a long one!

Before We Begin: Introduction

Before I get in to the deep and dirty, I thought I should quickly introduce myself. Hello again! My name is Courtney Nickerson, and I've been with Caldera Interactive since January 2024.

I originally started my Community Management career in the esports sector in 2020, helping build up and manage the Alberta Esports Association. I also have a strong background in Project Management and Administration across multiple fields, which has greatly helped in forming my understanding of planning and executing various community engagement strategies. Education-wise, I have a Bachelor's Degree in Professional Communications with a minor in Journalism, a Business Administration diploma in Management, and am a Certified Associate of Project Management - basically, I've done a lot around organizing and communicating with people in and out of companies to achieve goals.

At Caldera, you've seen my writing behind our newsletters and our social media posts, or in our Discord. I've also helped the team plan for and/or attended various events, such as GDC, Game Con Canada, and our upcoming attendance at Gamescom. Behind the scenes, I assist with various strategic initiatives, such as our marketing documents, social media planning & analytics, playtests, and other items. I try to help the team with whatever communication or administrative tasks they may need, fitting in to whatever role they may need (and, as a small studio, that's required of all of us! We all help each other out).

Okay - with that quick introduction out of the way, it's time to get into why you're all here: how to start your community management journey as a small indie dev.

What is Community Management?

Community Management is a relatively new field under the general umbrella of marketing. According to dictionary.com, community management is "the work of recruiting, nurturing, and growing a community online, as for a website or video game, to improve engagement and retention of users or subscribers."

However, I think this definition needs a little update: it fails to recognize that the Community Manager's job also includes building the community within the organization, and how offline platforms such as events play a major part in the general success of the community building.

For me, I tend to break Community Management into these four main categories:

Strategy

This includes researching, writing, and updating documents, such as:

• market study & marketing documents (which often include the below)
• social media plans/brand guides
• advertising (traditional and online)
• community management

These documents will take a good amount of time, as these are the basis for every decision you make going forward. When making a game, you want to make sure you are building a community of people that actually enjoy your type of game and are putting your money into proper efforts with expected outcomes.

There are many great resources out there talking about how to make any of these specific documents, but some important pieces you want to ensure are researched and communicated include:

1. An audience analysis of the population that will be interested in your game (including their average age range, purchasing power, gender, etc.)
   Disclaimer: the worst thing you can say is that your audience is everyone. If you are for everyone, you're for no one in particular. Would you expect to sell the same product in the same way to someone who is a 65 years old German man as you would an 18 year old female influencer from California? Likely not. It's really important to identify specific markets that you can realistically target for your game.
2. What your Total Addressable Market (TAM), Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM) and Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) - find out about how to do that here.
3. Key Competitors & Landscape Analysis - what games are similar to yours, what numbers are they pulling, who is their audience, and what makes your game different from theirs! SteamDB is a great resource for starting out your research.
4. What social media platforms you'll be using, based on where your audience is (which is why that audience analysis is SO important!). Most platforms post their yearly demographics information, so it should be fairly easy to find out where your audience exists and where you should be posting to reach them.
5. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will be your way of determining if a certain strategy or action is successful - are you looking to gain 10% followings on each social media platform each month, are you looking to hit the 7,000 wishlist number by the time you release your game demo, are you looking to be in 5 news articles this year? Each KPI will enlighten you on what you have to focus on during your few hours of community management - make them too extravagant and you'll face disappointment, but too lenient and you won't see much growth.

Social Media

As much as I hate that Community Manager is often seen as a synonym for Social Media Manager, in the indie dev community, they often fall into the same person's lap. It is also the most consistent way to reach your target audience in the modern world, and to not focus on it is to commit your studio to being unrecognizable.

For social media, you are often in charge of planning, scheduling, creating, and posting your content. We'll talk more about what this can look like in a later section, but what's important (and often overlooked) is the addition of networking and building connections through comments on social media, whether that be with individuals, other studios, publishers, etc. It also includes watching trends: check out Google Trends for up-to-date results for trending topics in each country!

Finally, it also includes moderation, especially if you have (and you should have!) a Discord. You want to make your community feel welcoming, and that often involves ensuring the people who join it are following your community rules and positively representing your company and your game - we all know games that are infamous for their toxic communities, and that often will be a reason people don't try the game. You don't want to be that (unless you do, but I don't think you'd be here, in our community, if that was true!), so make sure to moderate your members!

Public Relations

Public relations includes almost all external communication outside of social media. Some examples of public relations tasks that you engage in:

• Customer Relationship Management: Tracking the information of the people you meet, such as ways to contact them, how you met them, and what they do. I include publishers, other game studios, individuals who work in the industry, influencers, press contacts, and more. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you need support, this is the perfect place to start, considering they are people who know who you are! It's also useful to document times you have contacted them to ensure you're not overwhelming them with contacts.

• Press Releases: Knowing when and how to write press releases for your important game and studio updates is key to get media coverage, such as when Global News covered our GDC Pitch 2024 win. While I credit my journalism minor with my understanding of how to write these kind of things, these are some great resources for learning how to write the release itself and how to pitch it to media outlets for the best likelihood of the story being picked up.
• Event Organization: This starts from deciding which events (both online and in-person) that your company should participate in, researching and applying to the events, coming up with strategies to attract people to the event, and comparing them against KPIs to determine if the event was successful. Things like Steam festivals may be free, while GDC and Gamescom are not, but may have a much higher yield of success.
• Crisis Management: Sometimes, unpredictable and unsightly events will occur for your company. These can be anything from a person slandering the company or game on social media, to a global pandemic forcing the company to entirely shift their way of being, to layoffs. As a Community Manager, it is your job to not only try to predict and plan for as many crises as possible (with your team!), but understand how to manage internal and external relationships in the event of a crisis. This is a part of your job you hope never comes to fruition, but it's better to be prepared than be panicked. This guide from Hubspot should help you start building your Crisis Communication Plan.

Data Analysis

This is the final point, but is probably what I find most important. What is a plan without a way to show your progress? A dream. And while I personally dream of presenting at E3... well, you probably know why that's no longer a plan for me.

Data analysis includes reviewing your strategy documents and comparing the KPIs you set against the information you've collected through your trials of social media and press relations. For Caldera, this includes monthly reports on our social media channels (which I talk about more later on!) and player feedback from our private playtests on our Discord. It also involves us checking wishlist numbers before, during, and after events. By comparing them against our strategy documents, I can tell the following:

• If we are actually targeting the demographic we expected to.
• If our players are enjoying The Rabbit Haul, or if we are way off expectations.
• If we are growing our social media followings and our wishlist numbers.
• If we need to adjust our strategy documents at all.

By analyzing the data and updating the documents, we are always ensuring our company is moving in the right direction.

The Day-to-Day of Community Management

Okay, so I've spent a lot of time talking about what Community Management is, but how do you do it?

Well, as an indie developer who may not have a dedicated community manager, or as a new community manager yourself, I think it's easiest to break it down into four main sections: what you do Once*, what you do Monthly, what you do Weekly, and what you do Daily. The less frequent the item, the more time you are likely to spend on those tasks. Now, I put an asterick beside Once, because as mentioned before, you want to review these items periodically to update them, but that will depend on your availability.

Before we get into the tasks themselves, I need you to ask yourself one question:

How much time can you realistically commit to community management?

For reference, I recommend at least 2 or 3 hours per week, with more being required in the beginning for the strategy documents. This is so that you have time to do at least a little bit of each task area mentioned above. The more time you can dedicate, the more you can do - I can easily spend 7 hours or more just creating content each week (and don't ask how long this post took me). If you only want to post on two social channels twice a week, that will take a lot less time than a daily TikTok upload, weekly Twitch live, and constant meme battles with other studios.

It will depend on your strategy, as well as your REALISTIC commitment levels to doing community management. This is not the time to overestimate how many hours you are willing to do it, as it will do you nothing in the long run if you strategize around 40 posts a month, and only get 3 up - you're not going to grow if you burn out before you really start.

With that out of the way, here are my recommendations:

For my Once* category, this is all about strategy and documentation. Create your press kit, determine your social media channels, and research what events may be useful for your company to apply for and attend this year. For reviewing and updating, I recommend either quarterly or every 6 months, and never going longer than a year between reviews - a LOT can change in that year.

For the Monthly tasks, I personally plan, document, and update: plan the next month ahead for social media and playtests, document the social media and playtest statistics from the month, update the CRM tool, and write our newsletter. These are longer tasks that make the more frequent tasks easier to implement, so I save them for the last week of each month, or first few days.

Every week, I look at the social media calendar and create the assets required, write the copy, and schedule them to be posted. It's also valuable to do a weekly check-in on trending topics, such as major industry news or releases, or TikTok trends going viral. Sometimes, this can be as casual as scrolling socials and taking mental notes of what you've seen and liked, or more structured like Google Trends research.

Finally, the daily tasks are intended to be very quick for you to accomplish, usually taking less than 15 minutes. This includes checking for comments, shares, and direct messages on your social media channels, and checking for updates on your community and internal Discord channels (or whatever way you communicate with your team).

I've also broken down the expected time commitment for each duration, for those who really like to plan:

1. Daily tasks - 15 minutes
2. Weekly tasks - 1-2 hours (depending on content)
3. Monthly tasks - 3-5 hours (having templates really help here)
4. Once* tasks - 20+ hours

Before moving on to the next section, I mentioned scheduling social media posts and checking comments. The most efficient way to do this is to get a social media scheduling tool. There are many on the market, such as Buffer, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Zoho, Metricool, and many (MANY) more. For Caldera, at this time, we use Metricool. But it will entirely depend on your needs and resources as a company, such as your budget, what channels you post on, what kind of analytics you'd like, if you'd also like social listening included... the list goes on. I'd recommend doing research on all of the different options and find the best one for you, but I definitely recommend having one - it will make it so much faster to schedule, cross-post, and pull analytics. Trust me on this: my time commitment estimations will only work with a scheduling tool such as Metricool.

Finally, I'd also love to share our Social Media Planner with you all! This is an easy template I've used since beginning at Caldera to organize all our posts every month, showing me how many posts I have on each channel, and allows the team to see what I am (or am not) working on at any one time. I include the date and time it's to be posted at, what type of post it is (and what visual asset is required), the copy for the posts, and a link to the post once published. I know it looks crazy busy, but it is really a time-saver for me! Some things like our monthly newsletter, our #FollowFriday posts, and our playtest announcement schedule can be scheduled in easily, as they happen on a specific date or schedule. You'll be surprised with how quickly you can fill up a calendar just adding in regular content.

Tracking Community Engagement

Like I mentioned, I think data analysis is the most important part of Community Management, so I wanted to give it a section to deep-dive a bit on what this process looks like for us.

Monthly Playtests

For The Rabbit Haul, we decided to host regular private playtests in our Discord for our community members in order to garner feedback about the updates we are implementing in the game (that we include in our monthly newsletters!). As this initiative is explicitly about getting data about the player experience, documentation and review of this information is the highest priority.

For the playtests, we created a feedback form with the following areas:

• Demographic Information (gender, age range, geographical location)
• Player Habits (hours spent gaming, primary gaming device)
• Rating of Game Mechanics (controls, farming, exploration, tower defence)
• Enjoyment of Game (overall, difficulty, likelihood to recommend)
• Feedback to Developers (favourite aspects, least favourite aspects, suggestions)
• Bugs or Glitches
• Marketing (how did they learn about The Rabbit Haul)

This information will help inform us if our playtesters represent our target demographic, if the game is meeting their expectations, what parts of the game need to be worked on most, and what areas of our marketing are most effective at getting playtesters. In addition to what's on the form, our programmer provides data on the number of keys activated, average playtime, and number of wins vs. losses.

I review this data within the week of the playtest ending and create a handy document with the results, along with identifying major shifts or trends in answers. The team then reviews it and adds or updates items in our backlog of tasks.

Social Media Reporting

Social media reports are a review of the past month of posts (or whatever timeline you decide, but I find monthly is easy enough to upkeep and allows you to take action quickly if something is going terribly wrong). I usually do this at the beginning of each month for the previous, although be aware that depending on the social media channel, it may take a few days for analytics to update on the scheduling tool.

For the Caldera social media report, we get the data in the following order:

1. Pull wishlist numbers off our Steamworks page.
2. Check social media following numbers on all our channels, adding them to a bar diagram comparing them to the previous month's numbers.
3. Go channel by channel (usually using Metricool analytics, but they don't have all our channels available) to find: number of posts, total impressions, total engagement rates (reactions, comments, shares), and average reach per post.
4. Check out the top 3 performing posts on each social channel, individually identifying their impression and engagement numbers.

From there, I created a standardized document that shows all of this data, and indicates whether we've trended positively or negatively on each data point. I also ensure to keep our goals and strategies consitently visible on each report, so we are always aware of what we are working towards, and also identify any unique jumps from events that may have occured.

Tips & Tricks

If you have made it this far, I commend you. I know I have thrown SO much information your way. However, this is my condensed version of the top things I want you to take from this post, broken into Starting Community Management and Building the Community.

Starting Community Management

1. Determine Your Why: Know what your goal is, and define how the community plays into that goal.
2. Research & Report: Know what your game is and who are the players that make up your target market. Also identify where those communities exist online, as that's where you'll have to be.
3. Realistic Time Commitment: Understand how much time you and your team can commit per week towards community management. This will include who takes care of what (but make sure there aren't too many cooks in the kitchen!), and defining what your timeline for success looks like - the more time committed, the faster you're likely to grow, but you shouldn't compromise quality for quantity.
4. Gain Your Bearings: Start with building your strategy, defining your brand, deciding on your social scheduling tool, and building up your social media calendar. It doesn't have to be done all at once, but I don't recommend building the house until the plans are finalized, the contractors are settled, and the foundation is placed.

Building Community

1. Consistency is Key: While you want to ensure your content is engaging, it simply isn't enough to post once a week or twice a month in this attention economy. Don't let yourself be swept away in the current of social media timelines.
2. Respond to People!: Community is all about connection - people love when brands respond and acknowledge them. It isn't enough to throw your content to the void, you have to make yourself known as a brand that cares about the people who care about you.
3. Learn From Your Community: The community will make it very clear what kind of content they like from you, and how they like to interact with your brand. For example, our Making a Game series is by far our best content series on YouTube, and we are reintroducing them into our regular content rotation. The Among Us Twitter account is my favourite example of this, as they've adapted their voice and content to be more in line with the way their fans interact with them.
4. Keep Your Confidence: Remember, you love the game you're making! KPIs are made up numbers that you are striving towards, but it's most important to never lose your passion towards your game. The reason people are following you is because of your game, not because they wish to participate in your metrics. Strategies can be changed, mentorship can be acquired, but this is your game, and you deserve to show it off.

Wow. That was a lot. Thank you so much for reading all of this information on starting your journey to community management in gaming.

I'd like to leave you with a few additional resources that go even more in depth on various topics from experts, the first two who really shaped who I am today in my career.

• Victoria Tran (Community Manager, Among Us)
• Chris Zukowski (Game Marketing Expert)
• LinkedIn article re: Art of Community Management
• Hitmarker article re: Community Manager Jobs & How to Become One

If there is anything in this guide that you'd like further clarification on, or if you'd simply like to connect, please feel free to reach out to us on any socials - I try to check daily!

It's been a pleasure writing this for you all, and I hope that everyone finds success in their games and in building their communities.

Until next time,

Courtney

We won an award at Game Con Canada! And we are still as busy as ever.

We promised in the last newsletter that we would be busy this summer, and this newsletter is just a peek at everything we’ve been up to in the month of June! From Game Con Canada to massive in-game updates, we have so much to show you.

Game Con Canada

Game Con Canada is one of the largest gaming conventions in Western Canada, and we had the opportunity to showcase The Rabbit Haul this year, thanks to Edmonton Screen Industries Office and their Summit Push Program. Both Isael and Courtney spent the June 14th weekend speaking to hundreds of passionate gamers about the game, equipped with our new gameplay trailer and our fancy new demo of the game. Thank you to everyone who showed up and said hi, and sat down and played The Rabbit Haul.

Asides from all the incredible people that we spoke with at the booth, Courtney had the opportunity to speak with the team at Good Enough Gaming about the game, as well as The Rabbit Haul winning Best Indie Game from CG Magazine.

Game Updates

As mentioned in the Game Con update, we created a new, in-person demo version of The Rabbit Haul. This version is 6 waves long, with a tutorial quest line to introduce the various mechanics of the game to new players. During Game Con, this version of the game played around 20 minutes, with the fastest time being under 8 minutes! While parts of this demo version will make it into the final version, this iteration is meant for in-person tests only, to ensure that as many people can try the game as possible over the weekends.

New Tower & Crop

This month, we have added in a new offensive tower, the Sniper Violet, and a wild crop, the Blueberry Bush!

Sniper Violet

The Sniper Violet is a new offensive tower which shoots fast, hard, and at far ranges. This works perfectly in tandem with the Touch-Me-Nots which shoot bursts at short range, meaning the Trash Panda Posse won’t stand a chance! There will also be symbiotic relationships built in with this tower, working alongside other Sniper Violets to best protect your garden.

Blueberry Bush

Foraging has become a big hobby in the last few years, and one of the best parts of exploring in games such as Stardew Valley and Story of Seasons. So we wanted to incorporate wild crops in addition to the ones you grow in your garden. The first of these crops is the Blueberry Bush, which will grow randomly in the wild, and replenish similarly to the strawberries. It has a low sell value, but will improve your haul strength and provide you much needed nourishment after a hard-fought night battle!

Backswing Combo Attack

The first of our combo attacks is being implemented into the game, empowering your personal attack power with a bit of speed. By timing your swings just right, you’ll be able to swing, backswing, and then finish them off with an overhead slash. These combos will be locked behind the skill tree, which we will show you below.

Skill Tree & Out-of-Run Upgrades

We have been working the hardest on our out-of-run upgrades, which include our skill tree and unlockable items at this time. This is to give our gamers more reason to play again, with rewards being given for your hard work building up your haul and survival skills through the waves. You’ll be able to strengthen your defenses with unlockable towers and new skills, and build a bigger and better farm with new crops. As this system is complicated and time-consuming, we aren’t able to show you everything - but maybe that’s good, so we have more to show you next month!

Traduction de "The Rabbit Haul" en Français

Caldera Interactive is a bilingual studio, with fluency in both French and English. As such, we are making the first steps at translating The Rabbit Haul into French. This is the first of many languages we hope to add into the game, but those will be coming later in our development process. This translation work should be done by the end of August, so if you’ve been waiting, on y est presque.

July in Events

We mentioned in the previous newsletter that we would be attending GDX 2024 at Edmonton Expo Centre. Unfortunately, we have had to revoke our attendance to the in-person portion of the event to give us time to focus on new features, but we will still be a part of the Steam Sale! Please make sure to check us out there.

Finally, we want to let you know the state of playtesting: there are no current playtests scheduled for The Rabbit Haul during the month of July. We are still adding many large features to the game, and as such, we do not feel confident to show you a new version of the game within this month. However, there is discussion about reintroducing the May version of the playtest to our newer Discord members - if we do this playtest, you can find information on our social media or on our Discord!

Thank you to everyone who has read this far - here’s a carrot 🥕 (since rabbits don’t like cookies). We are still working hard behind the scenes, and can’t wait to show you more next month! While the sun is up and the river is flowing, remember to drink lots of water and take time every day to appreciate the smaller things in life.

There are so many events and so many updates coming to our game this summer. Learn all about it here!

As the days get longer and the weather gets warmer, we’re thrilled to bring you some exciting updates from our world. This summer promises to be our best yet, with big events and bigger game updates on the horizon. Here’s what we’ve been up to and what you can look forward to:

Game Updates

Ahead of our May playtest, we implemented a number of exciting changes:

• New Lose Condition: You no longer instantly lose when your haul reaches 0 crops! You lose when your haul is depleted AND raccoons have escaped with the stolen crops. You will also lose when your health bar reaches 0 hp, adding to the importance of strategic combat and fighting alongside your towers.
• New Tower - Wild Rose: The Wild Rose tower slows down enemies that walk through it and has a chance of causing a damage-over-time (DoT) effect called "Thorn". In addition, by placing a Wild Rose beside another Wild Rose, both towers will get a buff to their slow and Thorn effects. This does not work with diagonal placement. See below for more information!
• New UI: We have updated the look of the inventory bar and health bar in response to visibility concerns from previous playtests
• New SFX: We added a number of sound effects to items in the game, including the Touch-Me-Not tower attack, tower upgrades, rabbit healing and damage, and raccoon attacks.

May Playtest

Our recent playtest presented us with some challenges and invaluable lessons. While not everything went as planned, we believe that facing these difficulties head-on will ultimately lead to a stronger, more enjoyable game. Here’s what we’ve learned and how we’re addressing the issues:

• Playtest Procedure Updates: We noticed a decline in our playtesting numbers, despite increasing our interest since March. After chatting with our members, it was identified that our biggest issues were the short playtesting windows and unclear updates of changes. We are planning to extend our future playtests and better communicate updates about The Rabbit Haul to our Discord members.
• Gameplay Imbalances: We were excited to add new lose conditions to the game, and improve on the addition of player health from the previous playtest. However, we discovered some imbalances that negatively impacted our players’ runs. Our team is hard at work rebalancing our enemy waves and towers to ensure a more even playing field.
• Bug Fixes: We encountered more bugs than anticipated with our new features. Rest assured, our developers are prioritizing these fixes to enhance stability and performance.

Your honest feedback is crucial, and we’re grateful for your patience and support. We’re committed to learning from these experiences and making the necessary improvements to deliver the best possible gaming experience.

With the convention season upon us, we will be playtesting The Rabbit Haul exclusively in person during these events. Stay tuned to our Discord and socials for more information, including future online playtests.

Local Summer Events

We’re excited to announce our participation in Game Con Canada this year, June 14 to 16, 2024 in Edmonton! We will be at booth 863 in Hall F with the latest version of The Rabbit Haul for you to play and we’ll also have art postcards and stickers available to take. Make sure to come say hi if you’re in the area!

In addition to Game Con Canada, we will also be a part of Game Discovery Exhibition (GDX), hosted during Edmonton’s K-Days festival, July 17 to 28, 2024. While we don’t have our exact location or times yet, we look forward to showcasing The Rabbit Haul to those enjoying the festivities.

We’re Headed to Gamescom Germany!

But that’s not it for events! We’re also packing our bags for Gamescom in Germany. As one of the largest gaming events in the world, Gamescom offers a fantastic platform for us to showcase our latest updates and interact with our global community. We’ll be unveiling some big surprises, so if you’re in Cologne or attending online, be sure to check out our booth and keep an eye on our socials for some exciting updates.

Thank you for being part of our journey. This summer is shaping up to be an unforgettable season for our community, and we can’t wait to share all these exciting experiences with you. Stay connected with us on social media for the latest news and updates.

Happy Gaming!

Let's talk about GDC Pitch and Pitch Decks!

What is GDC Pitch?

As you may have read in our last newsletter, our studio was at GDC last month and won the GDC Pitch Competition Day 2 organized by Jason Della Rocca. Every year, indie developers can submit their game to the GDC Play and GDC Pitch before the deadline found at this link. The process to apply to GDC Pitch is super simple. We filled out a Google form asking for basic information about The Rabbit Haul game. A few weeks later, we received an email to say that our game was chosen as a finalist for GDC Pitch, along with 9 other games. The 10 finalists are split into 2 groups and pitch on either Day 1 or Day 2 of the competition and a winner is selected for each day.

The competition is essentially a simulation of a publisher pitch. You have 5 minutes to pitch on stage in front of a panel of 3 judges and 300 attendees. The judges select a winner among the pitches for that day and the winners win 2 all-access passes to GDC 2025 and all the honour and fame that comes with winning!

When we applied to GDC Pitch, we didn’t fully know what we were signing up for and we didn’t expect to be selected since our game is still very early. For context, our game is still pre-alpha and we were competing with games much further along in their development and with much more impressive traction numbers. You can imagine our surprise when we received the news that The Rabbit Haul was chosen among all the games being shown at GDC. We were already planning on pitching the game to publishers at GDC, but these meetings are behind closed doors. It’s another story to pitch your game to hundreds of people and 3 publishers simultaneously. Suffice to say, the pressure was on, so we got to work on the pitch right away.

10-slide recipe by Jason Della Rocca

The competition allows each studio exactly 5 minutes to pitch their game. You will get cut off abruptly if you go even 1 second over, so you should aim for 4:50 in reality. It is very challenging to boil down a game to 5 minutes only while mentioning everything a publisher needs to hear to form an opinion about your game. To that end, we used Jason Della Rocca’s 10-slide recipe which he explains in the video below.

I highly encourage everyone to follow this framework, as it forced us to be succinct and cover all the details necessary. Here’s a breakdown of each slide’s primary goal.

1. Catch attention from the start
2. Articulate core essence of the game
3. Show off the game (Video)
4. Explain how your game is unique/compelling
5. Demonstrate how you’ve proven the game’s potential so far
6. Demonstrate the market of the game
7. Show how you are going to complete the game
8. Convince that your team is the best one to make this game
9. Explain what you ask and expect from a publisher
10. Summarize the pitch

In the end, this is the pitch deck we used for the competition: link.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Once you have a good pitch deck, you need to practice running the pitch. We wrote our script as presenter notes in PowerPoint, and practiced it every day for weeks. You should aim to know your pitch by heart because you never know if you’ll have access to presenter notes. You should also practice your delivery so that you don’t sound like you are reciting from memory. We mostly practiced digitally among ourselves. Eventually, we asked one of our mentors — Clara Sia, a business development and Senior Influencer Strategist at Devolver Digital — to listen to our pitch and provide feedback. Clara hears hundreds of pitches in her role at Devolver Digital, and her thoughts were key to making our pitch the best it could be. I can’t stress enough how important it is to practice running your pitch before presenting. Although the competition was only a simulation, all the practice we did prepared us for the real publisher meetings we had at GDC.

For those that have access, you can hear our pitch as well as the other finalist’s pitches in the GDC Vault. Simply search for GDC Pitch and select Day 2 from 2024.

What do we get in return?

Winning GDC Pitch doesn’t guarantee funding for your game. However, the visibility and traction it provides paid dividends for us. For example, Global News Edmonton wrote an article about our win and it went viral on Reddit which gave us Steam wishlists and considerable brand recognition. We also get to add a cool badge on the game’s Steam page which legitimizes our game and studio even further in the eyes of customers and publishers. Finally, we also won 2 all-access passes for GDC next year, and we can’t wait to go back.

That’s it! We hope we could shed some light on what is GDC Pitch, as well as give you resources to create a pitch deck for your game.

Studio Update

The last month at Caldera was dedicated to writing an application to the Canada Media Fund to secure production funding for The Rabbit Haul. We’re now full steam ahead for the upcoming playtest in May. Stay tuned for details about that soon.

– Until next time! 👋