Greetings everyball and Happy Holidays a Happy New Years to all!
So another year has come and gone, huh? Time sure flew fast in hindsight, especially when you look back at those months since the last blog post.
However, the time has not been squandered, as progress on Project Terra has been made! And today is finally the time to give you another update!
Holidays
First of all, Happy (late) Holidays of 2023!
Obviously they have already come and gone, same for the recent New Years, but we still wanted to share this holiday art of Juno and Filia by the ever talented YuiKannon.
Recent Progress on Project Terra
Since our last progress update in August, Project Terra has been steadily progressing in various areas. With technical aspects getting finished up, we can hopefully soon dedicate more and more focus on creating the actual content of the game!
Weapons
Two additional weapons have been added to Juno’s arsenal!
The first being the Spear, a long and fast pierce-type melee weapon that can whittle enemies down with speedy pokes but also packs some wide range combo attacks.
Had the opportunity to work alongside the developers of CrossCode on their next project!
Here's an early showcase of some combat animations I've worked on.#ProjectTerra #gamedev #indiedev #pixelart #ドット絵 pic.twitter.com/CNKhbXsqo3
— JAanimated (@jaanimated) January 10, 2024
Note that this clip also shows some new progress on already existing weapons, namely additional attacks and combos for the Sword, Hammer and Crossbow.
The second one is another ranged weapon, the Kama, also known as “chain-sickle”, “sickle on a chain” or “that badass ninja weapon on a chain”.
Ooh, look at that! A new weapon in #ProjectTerra !
This is the Kama, which can be used in battle, but also as a form of movement for exploration and for puzzles off course!#gamedev #indiedev #pixelart #ドット絵 pic.twitter.com/Rpzvyj99fE— Teflora (@teflorator) January 11, 2024
As you can see, it will be essential for some puzzles, because it allows Juno to pull herself to certain objects and drag others towards her.
PS: Did you notice the mid-air aiming slowdown near the end?
With this we got 6 out of 8 total weapons implemented at their core, though they will still need more polish and additional attack combos .
Menus
Another aspect making a lot of progress are our Menus! The first being the always important Quest Menu.
Time to update you guys on some of the menu stuff we've been cooking. First up:
Quest Hud & Menu!
You can track a quest right when it starts or toggle it in the menu. Everything is also accessible from the map menu.#ProjectTerra #gamedev #indiedev #pixelart #ドット絵 pic.twitter.com/M2SNWVRJmJ
— R.D. (@RadicalRegiden) January 10, 2024
Also, the already existing Item Menu has received some more polish and options to keep your inventory easier to manage.
Round 2: Inventory
Items are separated by category, with each able to further separate by sub-types.
Panel on the left provides context based information for each item.
Also, yes max 999 per item.#ProjectTerra #gamedev #indiedev #pixelart #ドット絵 pic.twitter.com/JQaDGdbdWl
— R.D. (@RadicalRegiden) January 11, 2024
At the end you can also see the Save Menu that was finished recently!
Not shown but equally important is the tasty Cooking Menu which is a lot of work but steadily progresses to its nutritious completion! 🍳
Exploration
As for things to find during explorations, we implemented some of the first destructible and interactive entities which will drop items. However, unlike in CrossCode, with some of them you will need to interact with from up close to get their precious contents!
As with #CrossCode, there is a lot to find and collect in the world of #ProjectTerra!
Like strange plants containing mysterious "essence" and trees that will share their fruits after a resolute hug. 🌳❤️
(Plant sounds are WIP)#gamedev #indiedev #pixelart #ドット絵 pic.twitter.com/cIOVYSxQem
— Henning (@GFluegel) January 11, 2024
On a related note, treasure chests have also been re-worked, though they still need proper graphics.
Nighttime Visuals
As for visual features, lights and props have been enhanced to better handle the various levels of brightness in the day & night cycle of our game.
We recently implemented some features to display props and lights depending on day/night time. Have a look at this beautiul garden at night!#ProjectTerra #gamedev #indiedev #pixelart #ドット絵 pic.twitter.com/lVgX44yk9c
— Thomas Fröse (@ThomasFroese) January 11, 2024
This sure does a lot to create a fitting night-time atmosphere, doesn’t it?
… Wait, “day & night cycle” I hear you ask? Yes, this will indeed be a feature in Project Terra. However, we can already tell you that it won’t be happening in real-time, to give control to the player and prevent time pressure.
New Content
Now let’s finally get into some content-related progress after all those features!
More work has been done on the NPC characters populating the settlements and offering their help and quests to our heroine!
We've spent a lot of time working on new characters recently! Just like in #CrossCode, there will be a lot of NPCs in #ProjectTerra to talk to, each with their own colorful portrait. No grayish faces this time!#gamedev #indiedev #pixelart #ドット絵 pic.twitter.com/9VIYqmng9G
— Felix / Lachsen (@lachsen) January 11, 2024
Other content progress includes but is not limited to more puzzles and polish for the first dungeon, as well as work on the next area, specifically mapping, fight & scene sketching and designing new enemies!
Well then, of course there is still a lot to be done, so we will use the energy from the recent holidays to push forward again. Game needs developing and our biggest priority now, with most features checked, is creating a “Vertical Slice” by filling up the first area with all the content you’d also expect in a finished game to get a representative impression of the overarching pace and feel of our game!
With that we will say goodbye for now and get back to work. Hoping for a happy and productive year of 2024!
Until next time!
31 Comments
Every single update is looking so amazing, OMG! I feel like I’m already in love with this game way before it’s even out. The graphics are so pretty, the combat looks so juicy, and even the UI is just *MUAH*!
Am I correct in my assumption that you’re taking heavy inspirations from Secret of Mana? I reckon CrossCode was already inspired by SoM (among other games), but this feels like it carries even more of its DNA. I swear, this looks like just the spiritual Mana successor I’ve always dreamt of. I was always hoping for a game that took the core gameplay of Secret of Mana, but leaned even more heavily into the multiple weapon combat gameplay. Taking all those different weapons and fusing them with the action-packed and stimulating combat style of CrossCode feels like just the thing I needed!
Indeed somehow familiar, but SoM doesn’t have so many puzzles to solve. I would say the weapons are both normal, and so should their movements be.
That garden in the nighttime showcase already looks GORGEOUS! Imagine the final version, maybe there can even be a garden in every hub area :p
Though the Twitter embeds absolutely obliterate the quality of every video for some reason. Even when (I think) they’ve finished loading they still look like a mess.
Maybe it’s something on my end, idk?
I can’t wait to see more. The UI of a game is often an overlooked, but it does matter. The Quickselect menu in Crosscode was great, having a menu without really opening it is just good for the flow of a game. Will there be any News about Music and Sound effects? I hope that the sound effect for a melee hit will change. It sounds like a hit on crystal with an iron bell, not very pleasant.
Oh, it’s cool
Can u post more stuff here, not Twitter?
Agree
Im so excited for this game! I loved crosscode and this looks even better. I can’t wait to see it finished :D
Beautiful! You guys deserve so much more attention honestly. Crosscode was a brilliant game, story, combat and characters, it was great! I wish this game had pets or monster capture… Like in Crosscode, there were some monsters I would have loved to capture to summon for battling monsters or those pvp. I hope when this game is released, it becomes popular.
I was keeping my opinions on Project Terra a bit reserved up until this update – wow! This one really caught my attention, all this work is looking great especially coming from Cross Code which was already impressive in so many ways. Keep up the fantastic work Radical Fish team!
Looks like some incredible progress!
…..but this blog post only appears to have 1 image on it? None of the social media posts in the blog post itself appear to have any associated images for me :-(
There are already videos on Twitter, no need for images here.
Will there be laser bridges? Asking for a friend.
Game looks gorgeous and the gameplay is just perfect, can’t wait to play it!
this look so amazing. I am new to CrossCode and the community it has created, but I am already so excited to play this. CrossCode’s controls and flow is quite unmatched in my experience playing arpg indie games. This weirdly feels like the game I always wanted to play if I were to have the desire to explore a truly living and breathing, open landscape. Please take care while continuing the hard work!
Hey y’all, loving the developments so far. I was wondering if we could have an area with music like Bergen Village from Crosscode. I really liked the music because it sounded a bit silly and gave a relaxing vibe because of it. After dealing with all the seriousness of other parts of the game, it was nice to return to Bergen village to reset thanks to the music.
Hey y’all, loving the developments so far. I was wondering if we could have an area with music like Bergen Village from Crosscode. I really liked the music because it sounded a bit silly and gave a relaxing vibe because of it. After dealing with all the seriousness of other parts of the game, it was nice to return to Bergen village to reset thanks to the music.
Guys, i have some questions about CrossCode and send them in u email. But without answer =( May be mail not sent?
4 elements and 8 weapons? Holy cow I’m so excited for the combat mechanism 😍
I hope that rain and other environmental effects are not linked to specific conditions and I hope that they can happen randomly.
any news?
NINE Skill Trees!? Oh hell yeah!
The game is absolutely beautiful!!!! cant wait for the next blog update
The game is looking great!! cant wait for the next updates im SO excited!!!!
any news?
I am so, so, so excited for Project Terra. Crosscode is among my favorite games, and I cannot wait to play Terra. If you ever need beta testers… ;)
Be well Radical Fish, y’all are wonderful!
I am Japanese. I previously wrote a review of Cross Code on Steam. Of course, it is highly rated! Cross Code is one of my favorite games in my life!
I am very much looking forward to your new game!
If you don’t mind, I would like you to support Japanese!
another update please! even a short one!
Half a year has passed, anything more to show?
:)
Soon!
Hello Felix and Stefan! Hope you are doing well. My name is Joel Santos, I’m based in Recife, Brazil, and work as a freelance translator.
I noticed that Crosscode doesn’t have a Brazilian Portuguese translation and became interested in working with you, Crosscode is one of my favorite indie games of all time! Thank you and congratulations for making this amazing game! I also can’t wait to play Project Terra, which I would love to localize as well! I’ve much experience in video game localization (more than 30,000 words translated in this field) and can provide an opportunity to raise your sales chances in the biggest vídeo game market of Latin America. Brazil Brazil has over 89 million video game players, ranking 4th on steam among the biggest markets. The Brazilian gaming Market also generated more than 5.78 U.S billion dollars in revenue in 2023. But unfortunately, only 5% of people speak English, and only 1% are fluent. Are you ready to conquer this market?
Couldn’t reach you guys via email… So I’m trying over here. Hope we can do something together.
Best Regards,
Joel Santos
Happy (even later) Holidays.