Cross of Auria News

Let's talk for a few minutes about what to expect and what I'm looking for.
- I will be pushing updates to this branch of the game, not always with patch notes, in order to test the 5.0 format before it merges with the retail version of the game.
- Save files made in the 5.0 branch should not be loaded on a 4.X version, and vice versa. Only load your 5.0 save while 5.0 is installed, or else you will experience problems!
- I'm looking for bugs and oddities - specifically the ability to access content that should not be accessible yet. The short explanation is - I've inserted an entire "day" in between Ruby waking up and her meeting up with Jack. If you are able to escape this loop and see dialogue from any of the other party members or story content, please document how you were able to escape and report it here or on Discord (https://discord.gg/bMS9ktw).
- At this point, I am confident that save files made here in the Alpha #1 build will be able to be carried over all the way to the merged 5.0 retail build, so long as we don't find something game shattering in between now and then. That being said, I am also confident that all save files made on the 4.X builds will not be compatible with 5.0 and future builds. For clarification: the current default branch of the game is a 4.X build. A New Game file is required to participate in this test. If you do not participate in the test, a New Game file will be required once 5.0 is the default live branch.
- Expected play time of the default build: ~8 hours.
- Expected play time of the 0.01 build: ~15 minutes.
- Try to break it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Expectations for the 0.02 build:
- Expanded minigame area.
- First major Day 1 quest.
- Activation of Phoenix Ash and the first Shoreline quest.


Alpha Opt-In Instructions
1. With the Steam client open, right click Cross of Auria and select Properties
2. In the new window, navigate to the Betas tab
3. Enter the following beta access code: version5alpha
4. Press the "opt-in" button and make sure the branch listed is "alpha5 - 5.0 Alpha Branch" in the drop down menu. Then, it is safe to exit this menu.
To switch back to the retail version of the game, select "None" in the drop down menu instead.

Changelog (This is from the "x. Patch Notes" file found inside the game folder)
0.01 [5.0 Alpha Build #1, Test Date: June 23, 2021]
- Some zones are save restricted.
- Do not play your regular file while 5.0 alpha builds are installed. Also, do not play your 5.0 save file while the regular build is installed.

What's In This Version:
- Expanded intro up to Day 1 Lvell. Progression past this point is blocked. The upcoming Day 1 events take place in between waking up from the Veil scene and meeting Jack on Day 2.
- Access to DLC is available starting at Ruby's House. Activate the statue next to the teleport pad.
-- The events in Lvell are not yet placed.
- Lvell Guards prevent progress toward Jack, Scarlet Cavern, Auria.
- The Colosseum basement events, The Pit, and DLC are accessible from the new room in Ruby's house.
- Framework for a new area (Battleground #) has been placed in the area north of Lvell.
-- Ability to recruit allies.
-- Function for dismissing hired allies when Ruby leaves the area, returns party members.
-- Function for dismissing party members when Ruby enters the area, returned hired Allies.
-- Progression is not currently set up.
-- Wood, Food, Leather, Oil, Iron, Coal, Steel, Stone, Silver Piece, and Gold Piece have been added to the item database as currency for this area.

What To Look For: Look for these and other bugs and report them on Discord!
- The orc war world map should not be accessible.
- There should be no soldier or vendor NPCs in Lvell.
- Only Lvell, Shoreline, Battleground, and Veil zones should be accessible.
- If you found everything in the Veil, the first torch should light up in the trophy hall.
- Dialogue with characters who are not yet in the party should not happen.

New:
- Intro slightly expanded.
- Battleground area under construction.
- Day 1 version of Lvell (currently restricted).

Fixes:
- Removed unused dialogue for the Moderate HP Potion Recipe in Ruby's house.
- The dialogue for pickups in the Elcott Mansion now matches the item received. Players who have already looted this location before 4.1.4.4 will be able to return and loot it again.

Changes:
- The Founder's Pack DLC, Headless Horseman DLC, Colosseum, and Hall of Challengers now have warp-in entrances from the Veil. This new Veil location will be accessible consistently throughout the game and from various interconnected points throughout the world.
- Ruby's Basement has been sealed off. DLC is no longer contained in that location.
- The Trophy Hall has been moved from Ruby's House to the Veil.
- Rift Beasts are now Soul type. Soul enemies have the following resistance changes (higher # = more weakness | 0 = immune)
-- Arcane (*167), Ghost (*133), Poison (*67), Soul (*50), Holy (*33), Psychic (*0)
- Details changed for the Poison ring from Den An'ura.
- It is not possible to engage the Frost Titan until the Old Junk is delivered if it is picked up. Moving forward is still possible if the item is never picked up or if the quest is completed.
- Minor terrain changes to the North and East sides of The Four Kingdoms Area.

Notes:
- Left blockers off map in Lvell. They will block the exit when the events of the day 1 morning are in place. For now, the path is open for testing functionality of the event.

Over the last few weeks, I've received some questions regarding the game as it is right now and specifically what to expect when 5.0 releases. Let this post serve as the final resting place for all updates 5.0 related. If you have any questions that aren't listed here, please feel free to comment your question. I'll do my best to answer it and include the update in the section below.

Section 1: The game as it is right now.

Q: Will achievements be coming to Cross of Auria?
A: No. For the time being, it isn't possible to implement achievements. At some point in time, the plugin which connects the engine (RPG Maker MV) to Steamworks stopped working. I've tried on multiple occasion to fix it, you can even see some of the files leftover in the game folder. However, it appears to not be possible to re-establish the connection between client and Steam. In the place of achievements, I made a room in Ruby's house dedicated to trophies. They will be functional when 5.0 releases and will offer in-game rewards. At first, the room will be much larger than is necessary as to accommodate future trophies. If you happen to know how to code in Java or Ruby and are interested in making a plugin to make actual achievements work, feel free to let me know & join the Discord @ https://discord.gg/bMS9ktw.

Q: Where can I find herbs?
A: The "Herbs for Clarence" quest is unfinished and will not function as expected. Originally, details and a conclusion were planned but ultimately put on the back-burner in favor of preparing the 5.0 update.

Q: How do I get into the dojo?
A: The newer section of Lvell (main city area) is not yet finished. Some buildings, like the Dojo, are inaccessible.

Section 2: Updating to 5.0

Q: Will the Founder's Pack DLC still be available?
A: Yes. The FP DLC will be moved to a new location in the Veil which will be accessible at multiple points in the game. Additionally, the Challenge of the Headless will also remain accessible in a similar manner.

Q: Will I be able to keep my current save file?
A: No. Once the new version of the game is released, a group of save file replacements will be launched to erase all currently held save files for all players. Playing the game in a 4.0 zone on the 5.0 framework will lead to crashes and other undesirable effects.

Q: Will all the blocked off cities open up in 5.0?
A: Not right away. When 5.0 launches, Ruby will be confined to the Lvell area for a short while. The beginning of the game is being expanded, so expect to spend more time in Lvell than you did before. Other unfinished or blocked off cities will open up at the rest of the game is opened up in the time following 5.0's release.

Q: Which areas will be included in the initial 5.0 release?
A: The Veil, Lvell, The Colosseum, The Pit, & Shoreline. The Agartha activities will be temporarily moved to a regularly accessible place within the Veil until Agartha is reopened later.

Q: After 5.0, what can I expect to be released next?
A: Originally, Ruby wakes up on the second or third day with the timeframe being unclear. With 5.0's release, Ruby will wake up from the Veil on the first day and the events of day one will be more clear. The events which take place during the current game will still happen, but the when of it all will be more ironed out. 5.0 basically encompasses the day one. After the initial release, the meetup with Jack and progression through Den An'ura and Scarlet Cavern up to Hell's Gate will be added, then Auria with the Rabbit's Foot and Frost Forest and the rest of the current game. I'm adding some time between launches in order to untangle the Rabbit's Foot from progression throughout Revan and to fix some incomplete or otherwise unintuitive questlines. For instance, Ewynn is completely broken and needs to be fixed from the ground up. I can't release Auria with Lvell at the same time without completely fixing the Rabbit's Foot questlines.

Q: When is 5.0 coming out?
A: I wish I could answer this, but making a promise before I'm sure would only lead to disappointment. As of right now, I'm entirely sure how much work needs to be done to untangle Lvell from other parts of the world. I also need to add worthwhile things to do for day one.


Whenever I come with another Q/A that needs to be posted, I'll edit it in. If you have any questions, let me know!

It's been less than 48 hours since CoA went free to download and already an additional 14,000 people have added it to their library! Thank you all for giving the game a chance! I hope you're enjoying your time on it so far.

A few things to keep in mind before we get started here:
• I am currently developing a new version of the game which will expand the intro and some other parts of the current story. Because of this, a new save file will be required once 5.0 releases. If you choose to keep your previous save file from before 5.0, things are going to break!
• I originally intended to make the 5.0 branch an opt-in only, but with so many new people downloading the game, I feel it would be best to get everyone on the same version ASAP. Because of this, once I am ready to start redistributing the game with the new intro, 5.0 will be the only available version. Other branches will be disabled.

Moving on, the reason I'm writing this is to invite you all to a live stream in about 5 hours from now, at 3:00 PM EST. Today, I'll be spending the day preparing the Veil and Lvell area for immediate release. Additionally, I'll be preparing a new character to join the party with their own questline as a thank you people who bought the game before I changed the price to free. This character and questline will be exclusive to those players until Jan 1st, 2022. At that point, the area with the new character will be added to the primary game files. However, the other thank-you goodies will remain in the paid-only branch which is no longer available. Thank you to the hundreds of people who supported this project since it's release in 2018!
Please feel free to join me @ 3pm EST today here:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

If there are any changes to the stream time, the title of the stream will reflect that & an update will be posted on my discord (https://discord.gg/bMS9ktw)

See you there!

Good evening everyone! I just wanted to take a moment to let you all know that as of a few minutes ago, Cross of Auria is officially free to download the entire base game on the Steam Store! For those of you who have already purchased the game, I will be including something with the 5.0 update for you exclusively - the details of which I'm not entirely sure yet. When that exclusive content becomes available for download, you'll the details posted in the corresponding patch notes and it will probably be in huge letters and in the title.

Anyway, if you're wondering why I decided to make the base game free to download... well, it's simple really. I originally was going to do the game as a series with episodes, with each game being about 6 hours of play time and costing $0.99 to buy. After much research, I finally came up with a way to expand the back-end limitations of the engine so I no longer have to worry about things like amount of enemies, amount of battlegroups, items, events, etc. Basically, there was a hard cap of things I could make, but now there's not. Between my cap being lifted and me already passing where the original story ended, I want to put the game in as many hands as would be willing to play it. That's what is most important to me. I want you all to play and enjoy what I've made.

For those of you who have supported me so far by purchasing the game when it still had a price tag, you will not be forgotten. I have made this poll for you & others to decide what you should get: https://www.youtube.com/post/UgzPSFxLHyRjAtiPj-Z4AaABCQ


A quick note about the 5.0 development before I go -
It's coming along just fine. I'm going to begin deploying the first builds in the next week or two once the back systems are completely finalized. Once a forced new save file will no longer be necessary (relative to other 5.0 files), I'll make the process to getting on this version of the game clear. Once this version catches up to the current public version, it will take the place of the current public version. Keep in mind that if you do not opt into the 5.0 version now, you will still have to replace your save file with a 5.0 new game later. Better to do it sooner so that your progress between now and public launch isn't lost!

Happy gaming everyone. Goodnight :)

As some of you may know, I've been working on the 5.0 structures for a few months now, admittedly on and off, and I wanted to gauge interest on something: How would you feel about a separate app branch for 5.0 Alpha/Beta testing? Short explanation - you'd opt into the new branch using the same method we use to change game versions, make a new save, and play through what is currently available while reporting back and bugs or gamebreaking issues you may find. Save files will more than likely not be able to be preserved due to how some bugs require fixing, so using multiple save files and saving often would be advised. For instance: a save file just before talking to an NPC who bugged out would be safe after the bug fix, but a save file from after that same NPC would not. Basically, I won't add debugs the way I did with the meeting hall chest and the Delivery Boy, but instead would focus on hard fixes for when 5.0 releases publicly.

If you're interested in following 5.0 as it's being developed and participating in the Alpha & Beta testing of it, please join my Discord @ https://discord.gg/bMS9ktw. Cross of Auria channels are just after the specific game channels. Keep in mind that I use this discord for my youtube & stream adventure, so that's the bulk of the channels and discussions.

Some more specifics for this 5.0 development test:
• Areas and quests would be drip released in order of the in-game timeline / playability.
- Example drop order: The Veil (new intro) -> Lvell day 1 -> Lvell day 2 w/ Jack -> An'ura & return -> Scarlet & Black Forest -> Auria & Hell's Gate -> Auria main -> Rabbit's foot functionality -> Frost Forest -> Agartha functionality -> Orc war zones -> Release to public/main branch
• If a bug required the NPC to be replaced in order to be fixed, anyone with a save file after the bug was found would have to restart the file or revert to a previous save before the bug was encountered.
• If you manage to not keep saves past where bugs occur and only progress and save as they are resolved, you'll be able to keep this save file moving forward into the public version.
• The initial drop for the new veil intro will take the longest, since all of the back end structures have to be in place to prevent more forced game restarts. I currently have no timeframe for this, but the expected time to complete the entire 5.0 process is why I wanted to give everyone something to do in the meantime.

On top of all of this, I am still taking art submissions provided they fit the style of the game. If you or someone you know works with pixel art and you want to make something for CoA, stop by and talk to the two artists already working on the game! Artists who submit quality work get to work with me on adding their own questline to the game, provided it still falls under Revan's specific fantasy theme. For a frame of reference, the questline with Adrian, Ana, Ryan & Maya was created by one artist, and the battles for Headless Horseman and soul/void based enemies (Those Who Watch, Wretch) were created in part by the other.

Let me know what you think. It's likely that I will proceed with this method of 5.0 testing even if nobody openly says they're participating since it will be easier for me to manage.

One final note, there will be no more updates to the retail branch of the game until 5.0 is complete and goes live. I've tried to fix some issues with various game branches but the only true fix is to take them out and redo them altogether which will affect all current save files. In essence, this is the reason for the new save file requirement once 5.0 goes live.