Another CrossUpdate. #51. Not as special as #50, I guess.
Anyway, a lot of stuff happened since last time. On the one hand, we worked on previous content such as the boss battle and the outer cargo ship region, bringing it very close to final completion.
On the other hand, we started something that has been due for a long time: finally more puzzle mechanics! Oh, also: graphics.
Angry Cargo Crab
I decided to do all the last remaining tasks for our first boss enemy.
First of all, our boss needed a proper Boss-grade HP Bar:
In case you wonder why the HP bar is partitioned into 3 segments – here is what happens when you break through one of these separations:
We call this an HP break. When you reach one of those, well… there is bad and good news.
The good: you get some HP replenished.
The bad: the boss will become angry.
…Really angry…
Well, it’s boss design 101, really. With these remaining features, the boss battle is finally completed (modulo additional changes once more feedback comes in).
More Puzzle Mechanics
After R.D. finished the Map Menu complete with gamepad controls we decided to let the game menu rest for a little while an focus on something new: Puzzle mechanics.
First he implemented group switches – several switches that need to be activated during a short time span:
Afterwards came Dynamic Platform that move out of the ground, fly through the air and so on:
Finally, I added push and pull-able blocks. Yes, that’s right. Lea can finally use her hands for something else than throwing balls:
Note that all graphics you see in these pictures are just placeholders. Those will be replaced for the next release.
Currently, R.D. is working on an actual Treasure Chest entity. Finally you’ll be able to collect some items! More on that soon.
Cargo Ship Improvements
I had the urge to work on the outside cargo ship graphics. Again.
Here’s a comparison:
Also, R.D. finished the cabins up to the last room… which was the toilet:
Yes. The toilet.
And apart from that, we both worked on several new NPCs with interesting dialogues that you’d want to read over and over again. Maybe.
Overall, the cargo ship is getting very close to completion!
Graphics and other Stuff
Martina continued working on the graphics for an entirely new area.
Here a very early excerpt (still WIP):
On another end, I just recently started working on graphics for another area, which will be our first proper “dungeon”. With puzzles and stuff. Nothing worth showing yet, though!
Additionally, Intero is composing another piece of soundtrack which will be used in one of our recent cut scenes. And hopefully soon: our first proper boss battle theme!
Well… anything left…?
Oh yeah, Lea now can level up, complete with notification and stat change display:
No, usually you won’t be leveling 3 levels at once. Sorry. :P
And that’s it for this update. Things keep moving. Until next time!
15 Comments
Let the Lufia II and Alundra puzzles emerge!
Also, dat level up graphic. Looks like Ark from Terranigma. xD
As for the boss, will every boss have these phases (maybe more or less then 3), or is this something specific for the crab?
Hey!
Bosses will likely always have some kind of phases. Sometime maybe even puzzles ;)
The new area looks great, beautiful colors and mood
Hi!
Wollte erst einmal loswerden, dass ich es toll finde, dass das Projekt stetig Fortschritte macht und immer besser und besser wirkt. Vor allem der Krabbenendgegner haut mich tierisch (nettes Wortspiel, was?) um, da selbst dieser große Gegner wundervoll animiert und detailiert ist. Ich bin ein großer Fan von Pixel Grafik. Ich mag diesen Grafikstil irgendwie lieber als 3D Polygone. Vor allem detailierte Pixelgrafik im Stile von Metal Slug. Und an diese Qualität kommen eure Pixelkünstler wahrlich dran! Respekt. Einen ähnlichen Ansatz, vor allem was die Animationen betrifft, hat Lachsen bereits bei Velsarbor und Tara’s Adventure gezeigt. Aber euer neues Projekt legt noch einmal eine gewaltige Schippe drauf, was womöglich der explizieten Teamarbeit geschuldet ist. Dieses Thema hatte ich auch mal bei großen RPG-Maker Projekten geraten. Hätte man sich Arbeit geteilt, wären viele positive Projekte auch womöglich fertig gestellt worden, aber das ist ein anderes Thema. Obwohl ich Velsarbor immernoch nachtrauere.
Soviel zum Lob. Nun noch ein paar Fragen. Mich würde einmal interessieren, ob es schon Planungen bezüglich der Veröffentlichung des Spiels gibt. Damit meine ich nicht einen Termin, das wird sicherlich noch ein paar Jahre dauern, sondern eher wie und wo das Spiel veröffentlicht wird. Ist geplant das ganze auf Smartphones und/oder Konsolen lauffähig zu machen? Die Techdemo++ sagt zumindest, dass es auch Geräten die lediglich einen Touchscreen besitzen nicht funktioniert. Aber da ich auch in euren Beiträgen öfter mal etwas von Gamepad Support lese, glaube ich kaum, dass nur Desktop Rechner mit Browsern in Planung ist, oder? Zumindest auf der Wii U mit dem Gamepad, ließe sich das Ganze vom Konzept her sicher außerordentlich gut spielen. Zumal ich irgendwo mal gelesen habe, dass der Browser der Konsole HTML5 Spiele unterstützt.
Zum anderen hoffe ich, dass ihr dieses Spiel NICHT Konstenlos anbietet. Für so ein engagiertes Projekt zahle ich gerne. Auch mehr als 89 Cent was so manche Spiele für Smartphones heutzutage kosten. Wäre euer Projekt auf dem derzeit allerorts beliebten Kickstarter wäre ich auch sofort als “Backer” dabei. Einen “Donate” Button gibt es auch nicht also vermarktet das Spiel irgendwie. Und verkauft es paar Tausend mal. Ich wünsche euch allen Erfolg der Welt.
Now that’s a long post! I try to answer your comments and translate so everyone understands :)
First thanks for the praise! Lets hope we can keep it up ;)
Comment #1:
Where will you release the game? Smartphones/Console/Desktop?
Smartphone is something we don’t do anymore. The gameplay mechanics are simply not good for a mobile game. And adding on-screen controls is bad design. So we would have to redesign the game quite a bit. And we don’t want to do this :)
Our main platform to release the game on is the desktop (via steam or other services). It’s no problem to port it on desktop. There is almost zero extra work for the desktop version. The web will stay as second release platform. You can play CrossCode with the gamepad in the web too. It’s only supported in Chrome right now though… Give it a try!
And last but not least we have the WiiU. WiiU support are framework that make it possible to port web based application on the WiiU. This already works too! Check out the 2013 Recap video (Link).
As long as we can easily port our game using while having all the web technologies we will probably port the game anywhere. Otherwise we would need to rewrite the game in another language. And that’s a lot of work. (So Sony and Microsoft, if you’re reading this. Make a framework for us poor little game developers that use web technologies :()
Comment #2:
I hope the game will not be released for free! If there is a Kickstarter, I’m going to back it.
No it will not be for free at all. There is no free-to-play mechanic. This game will be a regular game you buy and own with everything it contains.
We actually now talk more about the price and it will be something between 10-15 EUR. We also plan a crowd-funding campaign right now. We start this after we release the next demo at the end of this year. So expect a campaign at the beginning of 2015.
Comment #3:
The game will probably be in development for some years..
Actually after the crowd-funding we plan to work full time on the game and release in one year. Maybe there is some delay, since you never know what happens, but that’s the plan.
I hope I translated everything correctly and cleared some things up for you!
Again, thanks for the comment :)
…work full time on the game and release in one year.
How long do you plan the main story to take?
The work you done so far is really great and all the little things like the plants mentioned in the last update. I’m pretty sure it’s very time consuming.
And as allways, keep up the grat work… and make this technical post about the floating physics ^^
Dat Pixel Art. I just love it.
Yet again, an impressive update!
The Angry Cargo Crab is really interesting, especially with the anger mechanic!
The lighting changes on the maps are subtle, but look a bit more fitting.
But the platform stuff really has loads of potential!
So as par for the course, I’m curious about something:
Can you jump on pushable blocks? Cause that would offer a lot of variety for platforming and puzzles.
Also, will you keep the game linear or not? I could see the player having the freedom of deciding what area to explore, and once a dungeon is finished, all enemies in the other areas and dungeons ‘level up’. Though that probably depends on how much plot relevance the dungeons will have… (I’m talking too much sometimes… ^_^”‘)
Well then, I’m looking forward to your next update! Thanks for making this, you guys are the best!
Hey there!
Yes, you can jump on Pushable blocks.
You can even push those on dynamic blocks, that will move them around and to different heights.
There are many possibilities there! :D
We actually plan to keep the game linear from the story (and also the order of dungeons) with a combination of side quests and areas that can be explored freely.
Oh god, now I’m starting to imagine stuff like the ‘World’s End’ from Grandia (giant wall full of floating blocks).
Now it’s getting even harder to wait! >_<
Those little details like the semi-transparent walls when you enter a room are simply awesome!
Thanks!
it’s actually quite hard to map these little rooms, but they to tend to look pretty nice in the end!
Dieses Spiel ist zusammen mit “Hyper Light Drifter” das Spiel, worauf ich mich am meisten freue. Genial. Weiter so.
Einen Donate-Button gibt es nicht, oder?
Gruß
Eli
Thanks a lot! We’re looking forward to Hyper Light Drifter too :)
No there is currently no Donate Button. Before we add one we want to officially create our company and hold a crowd-funding event.
Hello!
I just tried this game and could not get past this boss in about 30 tries. Is it even possible to beat him? I don’T stand the least chance, he moves way faste rthan I can even see, and when I sometimes spot him I’m already about to die :(