Hello everyball,

as we announced a few weeks back, we finally follow up with the small promised technical update of CrossCode! With version 1.2.0-5 we update NW.js to a newer version and also add basic support for the SteelSeries Engine.


With this version, CrossCode now runs with NW.js version 0.35.5, which hopefully fixes some of the memory leak issue several players have reported on Windows, as well as crashing issues on Linux and OSX. If you have issues with the new version (or past issues remain), please let us know via E-Mail (contact@radicalfishgames.com) or in the Steam Forum.

For users of the nwjs_old branch, things stay the same.


SteelSeries Engine 3 is a tool that let's you adjust all the funky periphery that SteelSeries has to offer. It also doubles as a kind of local server, allowing applications to register themselves as "Games" and illuminate your hardware. SteelSeries asked us to integrate this into CrossCode and being avid gamers ourselves the only logical answer was to say "yes".
All jokes aside, what this means is that we can highlight certain keys on your keyboard based on in-game context. We are currently supporting all Steel Series Keyboards that have Per-Key-Lightning.

List of supported keyboards.
Download for SteelSeries Engine 3 / Gamesense


Once Game Sense is activated in the options menu of CrossCode your function keys will turn into a Health-Bar, while the number keys will light-up to the corresponding element. Future updates might extend this feature as players request cool stuff or we come up with more ideas.

Big thanks to SteelSeries who provided us with the hardware and tech support to implement this.



And that's all for this update! Sorry for the lack of new content, but as we mentioned before: new things are being worked on! Expect more in 2020!

Until next time!

Hello everyball!

Quite some time has passed since the last Update so we wanted to let you know what we've been working on recently and what Updates you can expect next!


With the Newgame+ Feature completed we're now focusing our work on the Post Game DLC that will add a little Epilogue to the current end of CrossCode. Among other things it will feature things like an extended Rhombus Square, more Quests, and a proper Final Dungeon. And also a few answers to some of the questions you might still have at the end of CrossCode's story.

Here's a screenshot without context to give you a little something:



We don't have a release date for the Post Game DLC yet, as it will still take some time to develop. We're currently targeting Q2, 2020.

As we're currently focused on the DLC, we unfortunately don't have a lot of content ready for regular game update. However, you can expect an upcoming technical update in the next 1-2 weeks, as we plan to update NW.js, the software/engine we use to run CrossCode. We hope that this will fix some of the Crash issues people experience on Linux as well as Memory Leaks on Windows. There will also be a little feature added to that, but more on that later!

Now, a lot of you were most likely waiting for something else from CrossCode this years... those console versions!

As our Publisher Deck13 Spotlight is working on the port, here's a short message from them about how things are going:


Greetings everyball,

Michael here from Deck13. Publisher of CrossCode and the folks who are porting the game to consoles. And yes, we’ve been reading your tweets. Your posts on reddit. Your messages on Facebook. The outcalls on Discord. And we’re pretty sure there have been some Tik Tok videos, too. And as promised via Twitter, we’ll talk about the state of the console versions a bit. Also Switch, yes.

First of all: We’re still working on it and we’re making really good progress. That being said, we hoped for a 2019 release earlier this year. And – as you can see – this did not work out as intended. We underestimated the amount of work a bit. Or, in other words, it became... complicated. Especially the performance became a major challenge. Lea would say: Why?

That’s why: CrossCode is written in HTML5. And that means that there is tons of JavaScript. And live compiling it in a Chromium Browser is causing security issues on consoles and is forbidden on most platforms as hackers could attack the hardware through that. So we had to find a solution. Which is basically an interpreter which translates the code but locks it up in a cage. That also means: We had a performance bottleneck. As the code was read by the interpreter and then translated into something the console would understand and then read by the console. It is like watching a movie in a movie in a livestream. Yet: We have it under control now. We’re still ironing out the last issues, fixing some broken bosses and quests (which also have to be interpreted which means the interpreter must be able to read them etc.). But we’re getting there.

More details can be found in this video, where Robert, who is working on the interpreter, is sharing some details:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfBzlzvt8RU

Sadly, Lea isn’t able to say the word where yet. But the question would be: Where are we at right now? We are currently focusing on testing the Xbox One version of CrossCode. If everything works out as intended, this should be the last major playthrough. We’re hunting the last performance killers, the last broken quests, the last weird behaving enemies. We are close to the first submission. We are already in the optional submissions. Yes, it runs (most times, but we’re working on that) at 60 FPS by now. And yes, it plays as fluid as on PC.

How? How can we not mention Switch. Well, we’re doing it now: We’re focusing on the Xbox right now for no specific reason but just to focus on one platform. Technically, with the way the interpreter is working, the step to other platforms is rather easy from there. Okay, for the Switch we need to do some further optimization, but that’s, compared to the rest, just some minor stuff. After that we’ll “just” need to pass the certifications.



When will CrossCode release on consoles? We’ll announce that once we have a fixed date set. Expect an announcement on a rather short notice here as we are, obviously, also in discussions with the platform holders about that. To shorten the wait, we’ve prepared a small trailer for now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF1y3ff2AVw

Thanks. Bye, Michael, Bye.

-----

And that's all from our side as well!

You'll most likely hear from us one more time this year. Until then!

Greetings everyball,

the time for version 1.2 has finally arrived! And with it come new arena content and, of course, the New Game Plus!



The long promised New Game Plus is finally available! And it packs a ton of options that can modify your playthrough for additional challenge, experiments or pure silly fun. As long as you have earned enough Trophy Points to unlock them!

For additional challenge you can, for example, increase the damage you receive and the cooldown of your consumables, give enemies (including bosses!) more challenging attack patterns or reduce the effect of the popular HP Regeneration.

For perfectionist gamers there is even a mode that has poor Lea die after just one hit...


Dashing experts and fans of fancy witches can also activate Witch Time, which (heh...) will slow down time whenever you execute a Perfect Dodge!


And if you just want a fun time as an all-powerful avatar of destruction you can activate Sergey Hax and deal ridiculous damage with every attack.

Of course it'll also be possible to transfer your progress from the old game into the new one, like items, levels, botanics and more.

These are not even all of the modifications you can use. You better take your time to check it out yourself to craft your unique kind of CrossCode experience!

Lastly, some of those options, like Sergey Hax or keeping your old level, will also trigger a few special changes to the game's dialogue. Certain suspicions may seem very justified all of the sudden...


As for the game itself, three more cups are now available in the Arena of Rhombus Square:

Faction Rookie Cup, Faction Advanced Cup and Faction Team Cup.

As the names imply, those cups center around revisiting battles from the quests that you have solved for the Factions of Shadoon. How well can you handle them at a high level, with top scores on the line?

Of course to access the cups you will first need to solve all the quests related to the fights.

With 3 more cups and their precious Arena Coins being available, the Arena Shop has extended its offers as well. You can now also find 4 pieces of unique equipment and also 3 precious pets. Ever wanted to have Death itself under your command?



Well, it won't really help you here but it makes for a cute companion, doesn't it?

 

And that's it for this update! Have fun with the new content and look forward to more in the future!

Until next time!

Hello everyball,

more time has passed but we're finally getting closer to the next release! Also, we'll be at Gamescom! And Plush Leas!


That's right, only one month to go. Pretty much exactly one to be precise, because the release is going to be on September 13th!

That's a Friday... Friday the 13th. D:

Version 1.2 comes with New Game+ and as we mentioned last time it is technically feature-complete. However, we wanted to add a little extra for some of the options. Namely: New Dialogs.





Yeah... turns out doing insane damage transforms Lea into... something else. Depending on what options you choose, some other story related dialogs might also change.



This hopefully makes a second run even more enticing for those who are still on the fence.

But wait, there's more! We also managed to sneak in 3 new cups along with some new pets to buy! The cups are themed around the various quest-related fights and bosses you've encountered in the game. To unlock these cups you first need to finish all faction quests. After doing so, the cups will automatically be available to you via the reception lady.



One of the more... exotic pets you can get with the version 1.2.


CrossCode will once again join the Indie Arena Booth at Gamescom!

Where: Cologne Trade Fair (Hall 10.2), Germany
When: August 20-24 (August 20 for business visitors only)

The booth will be managed by our Publisher Deck13, however, part of Radical Fish Games will be visiting Gamescom as well from August 20-22 (Tuesday to Thursday).

If you want to meet us, make sure to follow our Twitter where we'll let you know when we'll be at the booth!

You'll also find something special at the CrossCode booth:



That's right! Plush Leas are now a thing and you can win one of them at the CrossCode booth!

And if you won't be able to be at Gamescom, you can get one over the internet as well!

Checkout this Tweet by Deck13 with an opportunity to win one of 5 Plush Leas!

And that's all for now! See you at Gamescom and otherwise again in September!

Until then!

It's been almost 2 months since our 1.1 Release, so we thought it's due time for another update. Let's jump right into it!

Version 1.2 will include a feature that was a stretch goal in our IndieGogo campaign back in 2015: New Game Plus. As such we didn't just wanted to let you replay the game and keep all your stuff. We wanted to add more options for players to customize their playthrough with different options. And we actually laid down the groundwork for this pretty early on. Remember that trophies had a value attached to them? Yes, they did! And they weren't for show.


Once you have a save file with a clear mark (this little star under the level display) selecting New Game from the title menu will now prompt this little selection. Selecting the right hand option lets you use your combined trophy points to customize your game! How? Well there are a lot of options...




These here are just some of the options you have, but as you can see we do feature the usual culprits like carrying over items or increasing EXP/Money. However more unique modifiers are also on the table which can alter the gameplay quite drastically.
Combining different combat modifiers and enemy related options can make the game very challenging or make you insanely overpowered. The choice here is yours!

Here's a little example of what happens when combining Dash Master and Witch Time:
https://giant.gfycat.com/BlankSkeletalAlligatorgar.webm
(sorry for the bare link, the clip got a bit too long :P)



Selecting any option from the Carry-Over group will let you select a clear file that will be used to import items, levels and so on. And yes this means, that by importing saves you can quickly jump into new game plus too! Just in case someone needs it!

Content wise most of the features we wanted to implemented are already implemented (in fact only 3 of 42 are currently still WIP). We want to push the update to our internal beta testers very soon and make sure everything is sound. Since we are also including new dialogs (and maybe even quests) in the update it will takes a tiny bit more time to really test all of it. Because of this we can't give you an exact date on the 1.2 release. But we do our best to get it done as soon as possible, pinky promise!

The last couple of weeks our team was busy visiting some events and also having a big trip to Japan so we took that time to unwind a bit and relaxed.
But that doesn’t mean we didn’t work on other CrossCode related stuff! It's just content we don't want to share just yet to not spoil the surprise.

Alright, that's it for this update! Until next time!

Hello everyball!

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!



The arena in Rhombus Square is finally open! In it you can take on several Cups each featuring a list of combat challenges!

• The Rookie Cup with regular enemies you'll meet in the field all over CrossWorlds
• The Seeker Cup with dungeon enemies as well as several smaller boss fights
• The Dungeon Boss Cup with all the boss enemies of the temples!

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.



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:

https://twitter.com/interovgm/status/1128671769857024000

That's it! Have fun with the new version!

... let's hope there are not too many bugs this time.

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!


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:

• The Arena in Rhombus Square has finally opened and comes with 3 different cups: The Rookie Solo & Team Cup and the Dungeon Boss Cup!
• New equipment and decorative add-on rewards you can get through the arena!
• 2 new quests complete with new boss fights
• A new repeatable Turret Defense challenge mode
• Several small NPCs hidden throughout CrossWorlds here and there

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!


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.


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!


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 here!

And that's it! Until next time!

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.

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!




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!

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.




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!




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!

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!