CrossCode DevLog #62
Menu, More Food, Parallax and Shops!

Welcome back!

This week we have created a simple shop to use in the upcoming update, an awesome animation for consumables, added parallax layers and fixed tons of smaller issues. We also remixed the exploration area so that you can progress a bit faster while looting all the treasure!

Shop Incoming

Many players already suggested this and what kind of RPG would CrossCode be without a good old shop. So for the next release we wanted to have a shop where you can buy consumables and higher tier equipment. So I went ahead and put together a small but functional menu for it and here it is:
shop

This design will be used for the next release but we do want to change it slightly and add an option to sell you items too. The shop itself will be available through Carla in the exploration area, so make sure to check our her goods!

Buff Display, Food and Sorting

Consumables can have buffs and when you hover over them you’ll want to know what kind of buff you’ll get. Since we don’t want to put this information in the description text, we decided to add a small interface in the bottom-left corner of the info box. This shows the same icons you see when you activate the Buff. Here’s a screencap of it:
buffs

You’ll also see how long the buff stays active! When opening the help menu you can see what each icon means. This way we can build in all the funny descriptions while still showing you what a buff does. Awesome!

Noticed the new Sort-Button in the top bar of the screen? That’s right, that is the same button we talked about in DevLog #61. This buttons is both available in the inventory and the equipment menu.

Finally Felix sat down and created a custom animation for Lea when eating consumables. Check out out:
lea-eat

New Option

Normally you can open the quick menu while holding down the SHIFT-Button (or the Left-Trigger on the gamepad). While playtesting some of us noticed that it’s actually quite cumbersome to hold it down all the time. For this reason I added a new option which enables 2 different possibilities to access the quick menu:

  • Hold: Default behavior. Just hold down the button as long as you wish to stay on the quick menu
  • Press: Press to toggle the quick menu. No need to hold down the button anymore!

The option will be added to the general tab in the options menu.
quick

Parallax Layers

Felix actually finished this right before the last DevLog was written but we decided to put it in this update. He added the possibility of parallax layers! This will be used when walking near pits or leaves above Lea. Here is a short gif that shows the effect. Click on in to get a longer (and larger) version:
para-2

The coolest part is that the background is actually a normal layer inside our map editor. This mean we can add multiple layers for both background and foreground parallax layers. So expect some cool effects in the future!

Fixes and Changes

Aside from the bigger changes we spent quite some time fixing smaller issues and expanding our systems. We added a new system that allows us to let every game module have custom checks for saved variables. This sounds very technical but this allows us to build quests or check if you have a specific amount of items right in our editor.
There is also a new puzzle room in the making! This one will feature the new bouncing switches mechanics we introduced in DevLog #60.
Henning spent some quality time remixing each map in the exploration area. We reduced the density of enemies and gave them a bit more experience points. Additionally there is a small quest now to get some good gear earlier.

Alright this all I got!

Hope you enjoyed this update and until next time!

8 Comments

  • I heartily support any game with sandwiches. In fact, it seems that Lea has enough food for a merry picnic.

    Also, good job Felix! I really like how Lea eats her food. If I were a patient person, I would ask for that animation to be more in depth, but time is important. Perhaps make a Lea picnic animation as a loading screen picture? Also, can you use Consumables in the middle of a battle?

    And finally, will you guys post links to these updates in the forums? I think it would work posting the update on your blog and a link to the new update in the forums.

    • Thanks! :D
      I seriously had an idea for Lea spreading out a blanket for certain “items”, but that would be rather impractical during battles. :P
      So yeah, you can use items during combat. That’s why the animation is not too long, because if you get hit while eating your food the whole action is canceled (you don’t lose your food, though). We might have items that need longer to eat, but small items should be quick to consume or they are pretty useless in dangerous situations.

      Posting a link to the blog in the forum is a good idea. We’ll probably open a thread for that. :D

  • Deathguy46 on February 3, 2015 at 12:19 am said:

    Those parallax layers are really cool! Do you think that any dungeons might show an earlier floor, and in a similar fashion to some handheld RPGs, will you sometimes be able to drop down for quicker access? This could be cool in a tower area, and could make for some interesting puzzles.

  • Ben Lalande on February 5, 2015 at 2:34 am said:

    Just sitting here reading another devLog…. throwing my wallet at the computer screen. :P

    Exciting work guys, looking forward to that Crowd Funding!

  • Emmet Cooper on February 16, 2015 at 12:05 am said:

    And here I am. Grinding my teeth. Can’t wait for the full version. :\

  • CodeMaster on March 9, 2015 at 10:36 am said:

    What is the save file in the crosscode folder called?

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