Hello everyone!

Our last updated from April 1st included a couple of changes we decided to undo after all. :P
All joking aside though, there is a little bit of truth to the whole story: We do plan to improve the portraits!
Also: today we announce the release date for Milestone 0.6 and tell you what you can expect.

Improved Portraits

Now, except for the obvious mask covering the face - did you notice anything different about the April Fools portraits?


Well, let's take off that mask!


It's a new shiny and polished portrait!

Most reviews praise CrossCode's pixel art style and we're very happy about that! Still, occasionally we received feedback that the character portraits are somewhat lacking in comparison to the smaller sprites and environment graphics. Of course, it's impossible to be perfect in all respects and that's ok! And while it's tempting to fix every problem, overdoing this tends to block actual progress and delays the final release.

Yet, there is something critical about the current state of the portraits: It has a very strong impact on the first impression. In some instances people mentioned that they were initially "put off" by CrossCode, because they didn't like the look of the portraits. In the end it's the characters that will grab your attention first.

That's why we decided to revise our existing portraits. However, to make sure this won't delay our progress all that much, we got some help: Marty and Gran of 10G Coin (creators of The Island and Springtime Warfare) join our team! Both being very talented artists, they help us with polishing the character designs and updating all the assets.

And these are the results so far:





Other graphics will be improved as well, for instance Lea within the character menu:


It will take some time to update all existing characters and their expressions. That's why we can't promise to release the new expressions with the next milestone. However, it will happen soon!

What do you think? How do you like the new portraits? For real this time. :D

Milestone 0.6

It's about time we release a new version of CrossCode for real. However, you'll have to wait a little bit longer. That's because milestone 0.6 is going to be HUGE.

This milestone will include:

• Maroon Valley - an expansive new environment beating both Bergen Trail and Autumn Rise in size[/*]
• Ba’kii Kum - a new village you will find within Maroon Valley[/*]
• Faj’ro Temple - a complete new dungeon full with puzzles and boss fights[/*]
• 10+ new enemies (...including the boss fights!)[/*]
• The cold element[/*]
• More quests and NPCs within Rookie Harbor and Bergen[/*]
• Improve Trading and Shopping Menu - you can finally sell items![/*]
• Improved party member AI[/*]
  

It is essentially like merging two updates in one, really.

That's why we'll need a bit longer:
We will release Milestone 0.6 in the Beginning of May.

Hi-Lights

Finally, let's end today's DevLog with a couple of images of our recent development!


This is Faj’ro Temple from far away, now with animation!

About time to enter the dungeon! This map will still be improved.

A small impression of the puzzles inside Faj'ro Temple.

Meanwhile, R.D. started working on the new village - Ba’kii Kum...

... and also on finally implementing a proper shop menu - with selling option!




And that's all for today's update. We still got a lot to do, so April will be very busy.

Until next time!

[ 2016-04-03 16:55:32 CET ] [Original Post]