Greetings everyball and happy Pride Month!! 🏳‍🌈

A couple of months have passed and we've got news regarding CrossCode merch! Also a concert and an update for our new project!
 

In our last post in January we announced a Makeship crowdfunding campaign for a Smug Lea Plush, which was an overwhelming success! Exactly 4.000 units were ordered, which means that it reached a funding of 2.000% or 20 times of its mandatory goal!

Over the past 2 weeks we noticed happy fans posting about the arrival of their personal Smug Leas so we hope that yours have reached you by now or will soon as well!

Now, with the popularity of this campaign, the question for further CrossCode merch arises! For this purpose we created a poll to to collect some opinions from you, our fans:

THE MERCH POLL!

We are interested which characters you’d want to have for additional plushies and also what kind of additional types merch you would want to have.

Thank you for taking the time to share your opinion with us!

 
Our composer Deniz Akbulut (going by “Nagi Shirakumo” in Japan) and his classmate Hibiki Utagawa co-founded Game Echo, an officially recognized club in Kunitachi College of Music. Together they arrange and perform various video game music in concerts, including wind band and orchestra.
You might remember their arrangement of Lea! from last year, fully written by Deniz himself!

On this year’s March 25th they performed the The Ultimate Experience for wind band, arranged by Utagawa-san.



Also part of the concert was a medley of Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil, arranged by Deniz!



And on that note, congratz to Deniz for graduating!


We wanted to also give you an update about our new game project Alabaster Dawn!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3110760/Alabaster_Dawn

The biggest new feature is the Cinematics system which helps us deliver visually dynamic cutscenes outside of the usual ingame-perspective.



Of course new content also requires new enemies to fight. And, as old wisdom goes, giving someone a fish might feed them for a day but implementing a fish enemy will allow them to punch fish for a lifetime! … Anyway, look at these flying fish… They fly and shoot lightning, is that cool or what?!



Another new interesting enemy is a turtle. Wait, we already introduced it? Well, but now it’s angry! Which means higher stats and new attack patterns! Expect to see variations like that to truly test your skills in special battles now and then.



On the quality-of-life side, we realized that the swapping between weapons to match enemy weaknesses has been pretty annoying early on, when only one element is available. Our solution was a Loadout option that allows players to simply swap weapon combinations with a single button-press!



To improve the atmosphere and immersion of our world, travelling NPCs have been added, like these restless caravans that are diligently delivering crucial cargo between predefined stations.



And, on the visual side, our weather effect system has been further improved and can dynamically change the vibe of your journey with flying leafs, rain and clouds.



Other work, not shown yet still essential, includes more sidequests and further progress with the second and third areas of the game!
 

On a more general note, we're still working a public demo version for Alabaster Dawn, which is supposed include a proper prologue properly introducing the setting of the game!

And on the topic of the story, we think it is about time we finally properly introduced another team member who has actually already been supporting our writing process since an early stage: Enter Luke “Lun Calsari” Wacholtz!

Some of you old-timey fans of the RPG Maker 2k scene (like many of our team…) might know him as the creator behind the cult classic The Way, while others might have experienced his newer work, as a writer in Shadows of Adam or his recent own project, Learn Japanese RPG: Hiragana Forbidden Speech!

In Alabaster Dawn he has already played an essential role in further fleshing out the scenario and characters and is also a great help in polishing up our dialogues to make them more snappy and incorporate diverse yet internally consistent styles of speech!

But lets give Luke the stage to introduce himself:
"Hello! I’m a wanderer, game developer, and writer with a passion for cool tech and storytelling. I’ve spent tens of thousands of hours crafting RPGs, including The Way and Learn Japanese RPG: Hiragana Forbidden Speech. I also contributed to Shadows of Adam, and now—most exciting of all—I’m thrilled to join the team behind Alabaster Dawn!"

For the end of this post we want to give a quick shout-out to the our friends and fellow German developer Pentapaw Studios and their upcoming game Yarn Guardians

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2928940/Yarn_Guardians/

Take control of various adorable flying kitties and fight your way through hordes of only slightly less cute enemies using BALLS… Yarn balls! And a variety of other yarn-themed weapons.

And best of all, you can play it in coop with a friend!

All of this cuteness has been animated by VanAnimation, who also animated Lea and Juno in their respective game trailers!

 


Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/radicalfishgames.com

Community Discord: https://discord.gg/radicalfish

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radicalfishgames/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@radicalfishgames

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RadicalFishGames

Followers and Subscribers are always appreciated!

As always, thank you for reading our updates and for your continued support!

Until next time!

Greetings everyball! We haven't posted here for some time but today is a special occasion!


After years of passionate fan demand we can finally present the new and extra smug Lea plush, in partnership with Makeship!

And there will be as many as there is demand… If you preorder yours within the next 3 weeks!




The plush design (as well as this post’s header art!) was contributed by our dear super talented artist YuiKannon!
We actually already have a finished real-life sample in our office and can confirm that is indeed smug, smol, and smooshable! It’s also robust, can sit on its own when asked nicely and is complete with horns in the perfect headpat distance (just tested it).

PREORDER YOURS AND SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN!

For people unfamiliar with the Makeship process, you can consult their “How it Works” and FAQ pages. In short, each product basically runs a 21 days crowdfunding campaign during which the already designed and prototyped product can be pre-ordered. If the minimum goal (200 units in our case) is reached, the production will start after the end of the campaign and the goodies will ship 2-4 months later!

Of course every customer will be refunded in case the campaign falls short of its goal. But of course we wanna make it happen, right?




As we mentioned back in August, we are still working hard on our next big project Alabaster Dawn.

Our next big goal will be the release of a public demo - we initially hoped to have that one ready early this year, but it looks like it will take us a bit longer.

Meanwhile, here a few impressions from recent developments:




The first proper dungeon has been completed! Here are a few examples for the puzzles:
https://bsky.app/profile/gfluegel.radicalfishgames.com/post/3lfs4uf22oc22


Unlike in CrossCode your companions actually follow you inside and play a role in solving the puzzles:
https://bsky.app/profile/radicalfishgames.com/post/3lfx7x2mp3k25


And to release some stress you’ll find pots and other objects to annihilate:
https://bsky.app/profile/regiden.radicalfishgames.com/post/3lfmvjmy5v22m


As you’d expect for a dungeon, you can also receive new abilities there, of course with a fancy cutscene:
https://bsky.app/profile/radicalfishgames.com/post/3lfitmotnz22a


Aside from the elements and combo attacks, you can also find various Divine Arts for additional options amongst Juno’s arsenal.
https://bsky.app/profile/lachsen.radicalfishgames.com/post/3lfuokxxndk2x


Finally, a quick look at a crucial cutscene in a work-in-progress state with familiar placeholder music.
https://bsky.app/profile/radicalfishgames.com/post/3lez7r3jz7c2g

Hello everyball!

You may not have heard much from us in the recent years. That's mostly because we've been busy working on our next big project.

Now we're ready to reveal that game with its official name and a trailer!



Steam Page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3110760/Alabaster_Dawn/

Here's the short pitch:



Alabaster Dawn is an Action RPG that builds on the best aspects of our previous title, CrossCode. It features a deep combat system, challenging puzzles, and a changing world that will reveal more secrets over time, all bundled up in an engaging story.

The shadow of Nyx has fallen—warping the world into a wasteland and vanishing the gods and their people. Now, Juno the Outcast Chosen, awakes to an impossible task: bring it all back.



The game is still in development but we are working towards releasing a public demo next year and are planning to go early access later in 2025, just like we did with CrossCode.

Aaaand that's it!
If you like what you see, consider wishlisting the game!

Hello, everyball!

On this day, 3 years ago, the 1.0.0 full version of CrossCode was officially released for PC, after years of development and Long-Early-Access. We will celebrate this special occasion with a gift to all our supporters and also use the chance to give you an update on our next game, Project Terra!
We will be celebrating the 3rd anniversary of CrossCode with the last proper (non-hotfix..) release, which would be version 1.4.2!

Luckily it contains almost no new content that we had to actively work on, because the main change would be the removal of the exclusivity of the "Platform-Exclusive Quests". That's right, now players on PC can also do the quests that were only available on Switch/XBox/Playstation before, and the same will be true for all the consoles, once the version will be released on them in the near future! Of course this also means that all the related pets can now be found by everyone!

And as an additional goodie, we also added another Custom Cup which allows re-fighting battles from those quests with adaptive levels, so even high-level DLC characters with ascended gear are in for a challenge!

Other changes include Combat Arts for an ally that mysteriously never got any (whoops...), a 5 years overdue fix of a legendary bug regarding music-looping and some more minor bug fixes, typo fixes and balance tweaks!
Regarding out next project, so far known as Project Terra, we are still working on a playable prototype while also refining our editors and creative vision.

In a recent post we also presented the design of our main heroine, Juno!

(Art by Sibylle Hell)

The reception was very positive and we almost instantly received amazing artworks by fans!

For now, we're still focusing on getting all the core mechanics worked out. Here's a preview of how things look right now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi1tShnt-Lc
If you're curious about our next game, make sure to keep an eye on our blog and Twitter, where we'll post most of our progress.
 


And with all that being said, it's time to finally say goodbye to CrossCode after almost 10 years of development.

Thank you so much for supporting us over all those years!

Now, it's time for us to focus on new things!



Special thanks to YuiKannon, who has done many CrossCode-fanarts in the past, for drawing those amazing artwork of this post! You'll likely see more art from her in the future on our blog!

Hello everyball!

Starting today, you will find the cast of CrossCode in (yet) another indie game: the deckbuilding card game Quantum Protocol! For the occasion, we also release another hotfix for CrossCode, adding bunch of fixes, a tiny bit of content, as well as a small group of guest characters!


With today's update, Quantum Protocol will include a whole set of new cards featuring several CrossCode characters as well as the four elements for you to use!

https://youtu.be/bWF_FiAiDK4

Here is an overview of all newly added cards:



Those cards work in a unique way reflecting the mechanics of CrossCode. You can read more about it in this blog post

You can get Quantum Protocol on Steam here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1328530?utm_source=collab&utm_campaign=crosscode



We released another hotfix, mostly fixing bugs and spelling issues. There's also a few small content additions, including:


A new Supporters' Cup to be found among the custom cups, adding a few more quest related boss battles to the arena.


A new room above the Rhombus Square Item Shop assembling a whole bunch of traders for all kind of items.


A couple of guest characters from Quantum Protocol just vibing in a certain inn. Have fun finding them! Unfortunately, with no new dialogs this time.

And that's it!

Meanwhile, the CrossCode New Home DLC is currently being ported to consoles and we'll let you know once a release date is certain.

And otherwise, we're all hard at work on Project Terra, currently working on a lot of things, including a new animations system:

https://twitter.com/lachsen/status/1388218721433493505

We'll likely create another post about Project Terra in the future, showing things a bit more in detail.

And that's all for today! Until next time!

Hello everyball!

CrossCode is finally complete! Or is it?

As some of you might remember, we introduced you to a certain someone, exactly 6 years ago.

Now guess who's back?
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Playing as Lea is great and all, but some of you might miss an option for a protagonist who simply is... manlier.

That's why we proudly present to you, once again:



Only this time Manlea is real


You can play CrossCode, being Manlea.


You can beat up enemies, being Manlea.


You can talk to other characters, being Manlea*.

*Keep in mind that Manlea is still Lea, but manlier. She's still referred to as Lea and with she/her pronouns (a.k.a. we didn't adapt any dialogs).

Manlea is now available as a Skin DLC on both Steam and GOG!

Get Manlea on Steam
Get Manlea on GOG

This is no April's Fools joke.
This is real.

Today just happens to be Manlea's 6 years anniversary.

With all that being said:

Have fun being Manlea in CrossCode!

Also: if you now, for some reason, feel like screaming at us, we'll be available in another gamedev stream this Saturday 20:00 CEST / 11am PDT on our Twitch Channel

Hello everyball!

So... we're not entirely done yet! Today we'll release another small update for the DLC Crosscode: A New Home, adding a bit of more optional content!

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This update includes a bit of optional content that we originally hoped to released a month ago, but didn't quite manage to finish in time.

Version 1.4.1 includes 3 quests as well as a couple of arena cups and new Trade Offers in Rhombus Square.

Note that the new content is part of the A New Home DLC and not included in the main game.

Here a few impressions of what's included:







Actual boss enemies can be properly seen in the game!

This update is pretty much the final content addition to CrossCode! With following releases we only plan to fix remaining bugs and issues.

That means, after over 9 years of development, CrossCode has finally been completed!


We noticed that several players are now counting on a sequel to be developed, especially due to a certain cutscene in A New Home.

We sort of regret adding that cutscene, because the truth is:
Right now, there are no plans for a sequel to CrossCode.

We definitely had a great time working on this title and see the world and its characters grow.
But after 9 whole years, we are ready to work on something new.


We're currently in the prototyping phase for our next game.

That games doesn't have a proper name yet, but it does have a temporary project title:

Project Terra

Project Terra will be an Action-RPG, with a gameplay mix similar to CrossCode, featuring a new setting and story line!

Here are a few impressions you might have seen recently on twitter:

https://twitter.com/teflorator/status/1336536291396161536

https://twitter.com/ThomasFroese/status/1376868521024573441

https://twitter.com/teflorator/status/1376981558964408322

https://twitter.com/lachsen/status/1346589705052299270

https://twitter.com/RadicalRegiden/status/1352623637715705857

It doesn't look much like a game yet, but we'll get there! Right now, we're mostly working on tools.

We'll talk more about the new project within the next few months.

But for now, a short disclaimer:



That's right! The state of Germany is financially supporting the development of the Project Terra prototype! Yay! Tax money well spend.

So yeah, expect more, hopefully exciting news soon!

Until then!

And here it finally is! After another 2 years, we have finally released the last content extension of CrossCode!

The DLC CrossCode: A New Home is now available on Steam and GOG, currently for 10% off!
If you don't own the main game yet, there is also currently a sale for half the price!

That's really a lot of game for not all that much!
Since the early supporters on Indiegogo made the development of CrossCode possible in the first place, we decided to make the DLC a perk of the original "Game" tier (and above) for our Indiegogo backers.
You'll find the DLC on CrossCentral (there might be a slight delay with the upload).
Here is what CrossCode: A New Home has to offer:

• A playtime of about 8-15 hours
• Ku'lero Temple: Probably the biggest dungeon we've ever created
• Fight against several enemies, including over 10 new bosses
• Run over water for the very first time in the new area Azure Archipelago
• Tackle 8 new optional quests with unique mechanics and scenarios
• Listen to 3 new music tracks composed by はがね/STEEL_PLUS
• Unlock new Arena Cups and Bonus CP to fully upgrade your circuit tree!
• And of course: Finish the raid!

Note: All the new content of the DLC is playable after the end of the main game. There is no reason to restart from the beginning - you can continue with your old save.


If you enjoy the new music of the DLC and want to support our composers, you can also buy the new CrossCode Original Soundtrack EX on Bandcamp, Steam, GOG, and other music platforms as well!

This soundtrack features not only the new tracks of the DLC, but also a number of more recent CrossCode tracks that didn't make it into the first soundtrack, as well as a selection of old tracks from the early demos and Early Access versions.
Since we're entirely hopeless with scheduling, we ended up adding too much text content just days before the release. Our localization partners did their best to translate the new content as fast as possible, but still, the localizations might not be 100% complete by the time of the release. Just to be clear: If you see any untranslated text (which will mostly be for quests and other optional content) - that's because we added the content way too recently! We're sorry!

The good news is: we're all working on the localization at this very moment and will update the game as soon as it's completed - this will hopefully happen within a week.
The DLC will extend the story of CrossCode. So in order to play it, you need to finish the main story of CrossCode first - and you'll need to get the good ending.

You've reached the good ending when the final screen looks like this:


However, when the right side of that screen is red, you got the bad ending. Don't worry! You can get to the good ending very quickly by going to the left and replaying the final part of the game. You can even skip the last battles, dungeon, and boss fights.

Here's a more detailed guide (with an obvious spoiler warning):


In the Meta Space, go to the left to be set back in time

Teleport to Rhombus Square - South Arch

Go down the stairs in the south east, then to the east entering Lloyd Passage and keep running further to the east

At this point, you might spot Albert sitting in a cafe in the south east of Lloyd Passage

Walk to Albert and talk to him! From this point on, the game will give you clear instructions on what to do next.

Make sure you convince Albert's friend in the following meeting!

If you want, you can safely skip the following raid of Vermillion Wasteland, the final dungeon and the final boss fight to get right to the ending.

If you did everything right, you'll get the good ending and can start playing CrossCode: A New Home!

CrossCode: A New Home is fully compatible with NG+ saves. Certain NG+ options such as Sergey Hacks might even slightly change the game's dialog. However, keep in mind that playing the game with certain NG+ options might impact the overall difficulty and entirely negate any sort of challenge.

We recommend playing the DLC with a regular save first!
This DLC is our first major release since a very long time. Please keep in mind that, as with any major release, things might not be entirely stable yet. There will be bugs.

We did a lot of testing and had a very long beta phase prior to the release. However, from experience we know that there will always be issues left that we missed.
That's why we'll be set and ready to patch things up as quick as possible, at least for the next week or two!

Hopefully, nothing critically bad will happen. But if you want to be extra sure, we recommend keeping a save from the end of the main game.

And that's all! Have fun with the DLC! We hope you enjoy the extended story, new battles, and puzzles!

Until next time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apoLeE7VZkU

Hello everyball!

As you can see, we finally have news for you regarding the CrossCode post-game DLC!
Not only do we have a trailer for you, there's also a release date!

The post-game DLC CrossCode: A New Home
will release for Mac & PC on February 26, 2021!
The release for consoles will follow this summer!

You can already wishlist the DLC on Steam!

Here a list of things you can expect:


An extended Rhombus Square that even includes a beach now!


The new area "Azure Archipelago" - ready to be explored!


Finally completing the raid!


The new Ku'lero Temple - probably the biggest dungeon of the whole game.


Several new quests all around CrossWorlds - you might even end up on a highway!


An extension to the main plot - learn more about how things continue for Lea and the others.

Of course, this DLC also comes with new, exciting music tracks to make the final chapter of CrossCode a very memorable one. However, our usual composer Deniz Akbulut unfortunately wasn't available anymore at this time to make the last CrossCode tracks. He recently has moved to Japan to learn Japanese and enter a university to study music. He had to put his full focus on preparing for the tough entrance exams; his last exam was today actually!

He recommended a good friend of his, who is also incredibly talented, to take over the burden of finishing CrossCode's soundtrack. So, we are proud to announce that the new DLC will feature new music written by はがね/STEEL_PLUS (Twitter)!

We know it took us a while, but as always we wanted to tune all those little knobs close to perfection. What came out of it is something we're very proud of. Thanks for all the support and allowing us to cramp everything in the DLC that we wanted. We did also try to incorporate feedback regarding the difficulty of puzzles (especially those that required precise timings). Once the DLC hits, please let us know what you think of them and the new puzzle element!

And with all that being said... see you again next week, for the release!

Hello everyball!

It has been a long time and we're finally back with a new update! We have news about the console versions as well as some words about the Post Game DLC release date.


CrossCode on consoles had a somewhat rocky release with a number of performance issues (especially on Switch). Luckily, most of the major issues have been fixed rather quickly! Unfortunately the certification of the patches for the different consoles took longer. At the time of writing, one patch is still in certification for the PlayStation 4. But we’re getting there. Work on following updates continues of course.

The next bigger update however will take a little longer. We have finally started on migrating to the latest build which means that we are also working on New Game Plus for the consoles. Due to the nature of how CrossCode runs on consoles (HTML5 inside a C++ application) this will take some time, as it requires additional testing of previously not included features. We are still quite optimistic to unleash the patch in 2020. But if you ask us for a specific date: No, we can't tell you when exactly NG+ is ready for consoles. But it will happen!

As you may already know, in celebration of the CrossCode release for consoles, we teamed up with ININ Games to give you a special limited SteelBook release and a really nice Collector's Edition! These two special non-retail versions of CrossCode are available for pre-order exclusively at the SLG Partner Store.

The Nintendo Switch Collector’s Edition is currently sold out, but there are still some couple of hundred copies of the SteelBook Edition left. The even more limited in numbers PS4 Editions are still available, both in the form of a Collector’s Edition - Limited to 1500 copies worldwide - and a PS4 SteelBook Edition.

All editions feature a sequential numbering, an individual number for each and every copy of the game, which shows off it’s exclusive nature in a really cool way! These editions will also feature a different (and reversible!) cover art than the regular retail version of the game.

Besides the console editions, we also have some good news for our PC fans. We are very happy that CrossCode will be given a physical PC release! As this version won’t be widely available at retail, the way to go if you’d like to own a PC copy of CrossCode will be to get it through the SLG Partner Store! The CrossCode PC Editions will be available as a SteelBook Edition, as well as a Collector’s Edition.


Work on the DLC continues! Here are few new impressions:


More progress on the new area! Things are still work in progress here!


A new location in the sky?


Look who is now in the game!

Now a little word about the release windows

In our last update we already mentioned that the release of the DLC will happen "hopefully this year".
Since the console release was more distracting for us than expected and also because we keep underestimating the amount of work ahead, we'd like to move the release window a little bit further.

The new plan is to release the post-game DLC in early 2021.

We know this is a bummer for many - initially we aimed to release the DLC in time for the second anniversary of the PC release.

However, ultimately we want to make sure that the quality of the DLC will match the rest of the game and for that we'll need a bit more time to bring the whole story to a (hopefully) satisfying conclusion.

Just remember: more time usually means a better result. That's why we had to postpone CrossCode 6 times before this already.

We are sorry for the delay but also hope you understand.
It will be worth the wait!

Until next time!