The new update is finally ready and with it you can now enter the arena in Rhombus Square and take on several combat challenges! Also, more quests!
Oh and in case you're wondering about the version number: we decided to call this one version 1.1 instead of 1.0.4, because the arena is a pretty major feature!
Rhombus Square Arena
The arena in Rhombus Square is finally open! In it you can take on several Cups each featuring a list of combat challenges!
In all cups, the enemies and bosses are upgrade to level 55-60 to still pose a challenge to your end-game character!
Additionally, the Rookie Cup can also be played with the whole party in Team Mode!
Each cup features a list of rounds that can be fought individually as well as a rush mode where you can take on all the round in one go.
Your performance in each round and rush mode will be evaluated with a score and rewarded with medals. For each medal you will then collect Arena Coins that you can exchange for rewards such as new equipment, but also decorative add-ons like...
Fancy auras!
And... PETS!
Yes. CrossCode now has pets. They will follow you around. You can even pet them. But that's it.
New S-Rank Mode + Quests
For this update we enhanced the Combat Rank system, adding a couple more effects when changing rank as well as a special S-Rank mode + combat theme! Also, enemies will now respawn faster during S-Rank making it easier to keep up a long combat streak.
Note: If you don't like the new effects and music and would like to have things as they used to be, you can disable everything in the options menu under interfaces!
As for quests, you will find more in this update as well! One is in the final Arid Breeze Quest in Ba'kii Kum, the other one you will find in Sapphire Ridge - check the bulletin board!
Additionally, there is a new challenge mode for the Turret Defense mini game, complete with a few new rewards to collect!
And finally, you'll find a couple more NPCs hidden throughout CrossWorlds!
Oh, and this update also comes with a couple new music tracks! Here a little preview:
... let's hope there are not too many bugs this time.
Upcoming 1.0.4 Update + We won that SXSW Award!
Hello everyball!
It has been some time since the last proper post, so let's catch up on what happened recently and talk about the upcoming 1.0.4 update!
Version 1.0.4 + Recent progress
The next major CrossCode update to version 1.0.4 is getting close!
Most content has been finished, however, a lot of texts still needs to be translated which is why we might not be able to make the release in April.
However, it will definitely still happen in the first half of May. Sorry for the delay!
And when it releases, here is what you can expect:
In here a few impression on all those new features!
The lively arena lobby!
The arena cup menu with a list of challenges!
Your battle will be rated depending on your performance with 4 types of medals!
Medals will be rewarded with Arena coins that you can exchange for new equipment and new decorative Add-Ons, such as this Menacing aura!
And finally: more quests! Some of them will take you to very peculiar places!
Next steps
The next major feature we'll focus on, other than of course more quests, is now the New Game+ mode!
We haven't really spoken much about this New Game+ and a lot of things are still rather open. However, something you can expect is a very flexible feature that allows you to configure your next playthrough in different ways. You can choose to keep your level, equipment and brush through the game with ease, or go for a challenge and fight harder versions of the enemies and bosses with or without your end game stats & equipment. That's the idea at least! More details will follow.
The Post Game DLC is still on our list but it's very early in development. That's also why we still can't promise any release date just yet. It will happen, but it's also important to us that we don't rush it so you don't get a half-baked extension.
CrossCode won an Award!
Now here is something we really should have written quite some time ago, but we actually WON THAT SXSW AWARD!
Cross-Code won the Most-Fulfilling Community-Funded Game Award!
This was only possible thanks to the help of all of you voting for the game! Thank you so much!
Also: That photo might suggest otherwise, but that Award was not affiliated with Microsoft or Xbox. But while we're at it we might as well mention that CrossCode for Xbox One has been announced as well for 2019!
Shout out for an upcoming Action-RPG
Kingdom of Night is an 80s Action RPG which is sorta like Diablo meets Earthbound! Check out there trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSmGrMzjiFQ
Their Kickstarter can be found [URL]here!
And that's it! Until next time!
CrossCode 1.0.3-3 – SPEED LINES
CrossCode Version 1.0.3-3 has just been released and finally features SPEED LINES!
We recently made the shocking discovery that over all those years, CrossCode's gameplay has been TOO SLOW.
Pictured: Regular CrossCode gameplay that is slow and has pacing issues.
In order to fix this issue, we added SPEED LINES!
Pictured: Improved CrossCode gameplay with speed lines for a faster and superior experience.
We also made a few trees more regular.
For now, the new Hotfix release is only available through Steam.
EDIT:
Happy April Fools' Day!
Yeah, that last update may have overdone it a bit with speed lines.
With today's update speed lines have been reduced to only appear in important combat events (because it's actually cool that way).
If you don't like those speed lines either, you can disable them in the option menu under the Video category.
If you actually miss having speed lines on every move, you can still use the Speedlines bonus code to enable them!
Same for the Regular-Trees.
Vote for CrossCode at SXSW Game Awards!
Hello everyball!
This is just a quick post to notify you that CrossCode has been nominated for the Most Fulfilling Community-Funded Game award by SXSW!
If you feel we deserve this award, you can vote for CrossCode here!
Deadline is February 17!
We'll be at GDC 2019
Since we finally managed to release a game, we thought now is a good time to visit one of the big events for game developers.
So we'll be at GDC in San Francisco this year! If anybody else is in the area and wants to meet up, let us know (Twitter or E-Mail works best)!
And that's it! Until next time!
CrossCode 1.0.3 - More Quests and NPCs
Hello everyball! It's time for another CrossCode update! Version 1.0.3 adds a couple new quests, more NPC dialogs and a few small details here and there.
New Quests
With this version we fulfill our long-standing promise to finally conclude "A Promise is a Promise" quest line! And here it is, complete with a new boss fight and a fair bit of plot development! Have a look around Rhombus Square and you might spot D'kar in a new building you can enter!
In other news: The Last Minute Heroes guild headquarters is finally open to everyone! And they even have a quest for you! However, you'll actually find that one in Sapphire Ridge towards the end of the game. Check out the bulletin board in the Cave Inn!
More NPC Dialogs + More
All the NPC dialogs of the recent contest have been implemented, so now you can finally find out what they have to say!
You might also notice that a new consumable item is dropped by the Moon bugs in Sapphire Ridge - you'll also find it in the Backer Store of Rookie Harbor.
And finally, if you'd like to see Lea acting out a very, very dated meme, try the new Caramelldansen bonus code.
Have fun!
Next Steps
Now the time as come to tackle the big features! We recently started with the implementation of the Arena in Rhombus Square, which will include a multitude of combat challenges including of course a boss rush mode! We'll post a few more details about it soon. For now, have a WIP screenshot of the Cup selection menu:
Another feature we'll work on next is the New Game+ mode that will allow you to replay the game with certain aspects changed. What aspects exactly? More about this in the next blog post!
Both the Arena and New Game+ modes are part of our new milestone for version 1.0.4 that we hope to release in April 2019. Of course, it will also come with more quests, NPCs and other things.
Until next time!
NPC Dialog Contest Results
Hello everyball!
The results of the NPC contest are finally ready! Each of the 100 submissions (yes, exactly) has been evaluated by 4 team members and here are the results!
Top 20 Submissions
We decided to only show the NPCs without the dialogs to not spoil things too much. All the NPCs shown here will have new dialogs coming with the next version to be release in January!
Anyway, here are the winners of the NPC contest!
Place 20 by Louis "rioreur" Schuck
Place 19 by Daniel 'Dusk' Haysham
Place 18 by Arthur 'Druideftw' Wiese
Place 17 by Christian Eickenfonder
Place 16 by Gabriel fon Ronsenburg
Place 15 by Fiona "Fixc" Cheng
Place 14 by Rohit K
Place 13 by Arthur 'maulmann' Heilmann
Place 12 by Jake Mastay
Place 11 by Kelton 'Rakata' Sullivan
Place 10 by Javier 'Grimbel' Arriaga
Place 9 by Adrian "Firecrow" Boivin
Place 8 by Felipe 'The Sparkstar Scope' Almeida
Place 7 by Kriem
Place 6 by Joshua Hendriks
Top 5 Submissions
Following this are the Top 5 that will each win a physical copy of the CrossCode Soundtrack
Place 5 by Charles "CheesewheelJones" Rutherford
Place 4 by Smaland47
Place 3 by Alex 'Aeon' ZeMans
Place 2 by Andrew "RinTheWanderer" Beals
Place 1 by Joseph "Noel" Cobranchi
And that's it! Congratulations to the winners and a big thank you to everyone who participated! There have been a lot more great submission but in the end, we had to make a choice.
Until next time!
Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays, everyball!
We don't really have any special update for the occasion this year, but in case anyone didn't see it yet, there is still a matching seasonal quest hidden in CrossCode!
Enter the Bonus Code Holiday-Man at the title screen and give this particular NPC in Bergen Village a visit!
NPC Contest: We got your entries!
The NPC Contest has ended over a week ago and we got a total of exactly 100 entries! What a neat number! And there are quite a lot of great dialogs among them, too. Now we actually will need a bit more time to determine the winners, since we won't simply draw them randomly, but need to review all the dialogs (by several team members) to find the Top 5 and Top 20 of all submissions. Given that many team member will be busy over the holidays this will likely take a bit longer. We'll make sure to announce the results at the beginning of next year!
The next Update
Yes, we're still working on CrossCode though admittedly work has been going somewhat slower as we got closer to the holidays. However, we plan to pick up the pace again next year and we'll start with another update in mid to end January that will feature a couple new quests including the finale of the A Promise is a Promise quest line! After that, we'll finally focus on the arena and the long promised New Game+ mode.
Anyway, that's all!
We wish everyone a good time, a nice celebration and all the best for the coming year!
And hopefully with plenty of great presents!
See you in 2019!
Ninja Skin DLC + About that Switch version
Hello everyball!
We have another quick update for you, since today we release a little DLC to the public and also we'd like to have a word about a Switch version.
Ninja Skin DLC released
The Ninja DLC is now available on Steam! Use it to give Lea a stealthy ninja outfit. You can see it when moving around, during battle, and even in the menu screen!
I mean, she already runs like a ninja, so it was obvious we had to add this skin eventually.
Some background: The Ninja skin was one of the rewards for our Indiegogo backers and has been available for them for a few months already. We decided to release it on Steam a bit later, to keep it exclusive for our backers at least for some time.
About that Switch version
For quite some time now we've received a number of requests from people asking us to port CrossCode to one particular platform.
Everyday single day.
Yes, we heard you. You want to play CrossCode on your Switch.
We get where you're coming from. Our game has been inspired by so many Nintendo classics, so it would feel right at home on the Switch. And obviously, it would be amazing to play CrossCode on the go.
However, the reality is this: porting CrossCode to Switch is really difficult. As some of you might be aware, CrossCode is written in HTML5 which you cannot run natively on the Switch (just like most consoles). This means a LOT of things have to be reprogrammed/rewritten. And this is especially challenging on the Switch which doesn't provide the hardware capabilities of other current-gen consoles. That's why we still can't make any promise!
Now... We've given this answer many, many times. But who knows, maybe it's too technical and that's why people just won't stop asking so we'll simplify it a bit:
Sorry but CrossCode will be coming to Switch when Hedgehags learn to fly.
Anyway, this is now our answer to all those Switch requests for the time being!
You can keep asking if you want (and you probably will). The answer will be the same.
Anyway, that's all for now! Until next time!
NPC Dialog Contest + We won an award!
Hello everyball!
The year 2018 is coming to a close, but before it ends we have a little competition for you! Also, we won an award!
NPC Dialog Contest
You may have noticed that CrossCode is filled to the brim with NPCs! You may also have noticed that a lot of them... just stand there and don't even say anything. With this competition we plan to change this!
How to participate:
Deadline: December 16 11:59pm PST
What to win:
The 5 best submissions will win a physical CrossCode Soundtrack sponsored by First Press Games!
The 20 best submissions will be implemented into the game with an optional credits entry!
Dialog Types
There are two ways to write dialogs:
Regular Dialog: The player needs to explicitly interact with the NPC to start the conversation. This fits best for single NPCs
Xeno Dialogs: Speech bubbles will appear over the NPCs when you move close to them. Those work best for group of NPCs that talk with each other independent of the player.
Optionally, you can also switch from a "Xeno Dialog" to a "Regular Dialog". This usually happens, when Lea wants to comment on something the NPCs are talking about. This usually happens during one specific sentence of the Xeno dialog, so make sure to mention which one it is!
How Dialogs are evaluated
There are a lot of criteria we will judge dialogs by.
Apart from the more abstract "we just like it", here are a few of them you should definitely consider:
Some other rules
By submitting your dialog, you give us permission to use your dialog, as submitted or in a modified form as well as translated versions of your dialog, in future versions of CrossCode without further compensation.
...this should all be pretty obvious, but just to be sure!
CrossCode Christmas Giveaway
In addition to the NPC Dialog Contest there is also another "CrossCode Giveaway" raffle, held by our very generous community member streetclaw!
You can win CrossCode Game + Soundtrack Keys for Steam and even a complete Foil Cards Set!
We feel very honored especially considering that this year's competition was very strong with games such as Far: Lone Sails participating.
In addition, we've been nominated in 5 more categories:
Best Game Design Best Story Best PC/Console Game Best German Game Best Studio (for Radical Fish Games)
Gamedev Stream tonight
This is just a little reminder that we're still holding regular gamedev streams! In fact, the next one will be today!
When: 20:00 CET, 11am PST
What: We'll work on a new quest for one of our Indiegogo backers! In fact, we'll start working on a new mini boss fight!
Where: twitch.tv/radicalfishgames
And that's all! There will be another update post still this year (before Christmas) where we talk about ongoing development again.
Until next time!
CrossCode 1.0.2 - Achievements and Trading Cards
...time to dig up that old image again! Today we release CrossCode version 1.0.2 adding support for Steam Achievements and Trading Cards + a few smaller content additions.
Steam Achievements
Finally they're here! Steam Achievements have been added and will be automatically synchronized with your trophies once you start the updated game. That means you'll likely get a lot of achievements at once.
Note that only trophies marked with this symbol give you achievements!
Steam Trading Cards
Next we also finally added Steam Trading cards! There are a total of 7 Cards as well as 9 emoticons and 3 backgrounds! Happy collecting!
More changes
Apart from all these Steam related features, we also added the usual bunch of bug fixes and also a few content additions!
And that's all for now! Meanwhile, we're already working on new quests as well as the arena of Rhombus Square. Expect more updates in the following months!
