Hello Adventurers,
The day we've all been waiting for is finally here! CrossOver: Roll For Initiative has officially launched on Steam. This journey has been incredible, and we couldn't have done it without your unwavering support and invaluable feedback. Your passion and insights from the demo have shaped the game into what it is today, and for that, we are immensely grateful.
We are thrilled to share our new launch trailer, showcasing the unique blend of puzzle, action and RPG elements that make CrossOver a truly one-of-a-kind experience. You can watch the trailer here:
One last thing: we have recently introduced Casual Mode. At the beginning of your experience with CrossOver you could feel overwhelmed by the pace; if that happens we suggest you try toggling this mode on in order to get familiar with the game’s mechanics.
Once again, thank you for helping us bring this unique mashup of strategy, action, and puzzle genres to life.
We will leave you with some new details from the game’s developer:
“Thanks to the amazing feedback from the Steam Playtest, the ongoing free Demo, and some great videos/streams playing CrossOver, I've made a whole host of changes and additions prior to release. Some of these are things people directly suggested (thank you!), others were things they complained about or felt were missing. Here is a list of some of those improvements from the past year or so.
Major changes:
* Replaced most of the UI! I used the paper/book theme throughout for a more consistent style, added hover sounds for clickable items, etc.
* Added a whole new game mode: Dice Defense! Lots of people asked about an option where they just played Match 3 with the dice, so this new mode features autobattling towers. If you choose, you can indulge in some extra strategy by repositioning your dice towers, changing their attack mode (spells vs physical), and upgrading their abilities. You can also use your Dice Ultras. Wait, what are they? See below!
* Added Dice Ultras to give you something extra to do with your collected dice if you have a bunch of unused ones. The standard Dice Blast can be used any time you have 40 or more dice of one type - spend 30 of them to do a wave attack, damaging all enemies. You also get special Dice Ultras based on your Race/Class combos. These do a range of things from healing you, gaining a chunk of gold, giving you various buffs, or applying status effects to all enemies. More recently, I put a little tooltip in the character creation screen for how they're meant to be used.
* Added a progression system to both Endless Mode and Dice Defense. You gain rank points every run based on your performance. Going up levels rewards you with extra starting abilities (some you choose, some you always get). Hover over the rank banner to see them.
* Added Hotkeys! 1-6 and F1-6 selects your spells or weapons. Hold SHIFT for a hint of which key matches which slot.
* Added the ability to reorder your action lists. Move your favorite spells, weapons, items or mercenaries to the top for easy access. This also has the effect of reassigning hotkeys. You can reorder slots while time is halted or between levels on the campaign screen.
* Added accessibility options:
- disable screen shake. Some players felt it can be distracting. Note that the intensity of shake is related to the strength of melee weapons you use.
- disable screen effects, such as underwater, fog, dust, heat. These were impacting some players' enjoyment, though I feel strongly that they should be left on unless absolutely necessary - they serve a gameplay purpose of distracting the player to make things harder, along with providing some visual diversity and immersion.
- brightness slider for the dice tray. Some screens are darker than others, so this can help see the dice more clearly. While I don't have a colorblind mode, the dice are different shapes as well as colors, and I also recently tweaked their textures to make them much more distinct & vibrant.
* Behold, Casual Mode! A popular request due to the difficult and mind-bending nature of the game. This gives you a slider to adjust the % of damage enemies deal, even set it to 0% for god mode. Players can have a more chill, unhurried experience now if they want to. Note it only applies to Campaigns, so the leaderboards in other modes are "pure".
Minor tweaks:
* Made the onscreen hint about pausing the game ([TAB] = Halt Time) more obvious. A lot of people found the frantic action too hard and wished for a pause option... without realizing it was already there :D
* Added a prompt to alert players there is a Merchant available on the map screen. A LOT of players missed this.
* A slightly controversial one: changed the "execute attack" button to be RMB instead of LMB. When both select and attack were on LMB, it meant you couldn't attack spots on the sheet where you could select something instead. For example, if enemies were crowding around your items and you wanted to drop a grenade right in the middle of them, you couldn't. Annoying! With this change, you can now attack anywhere. You can also keep your current action selected while you play with the dice - attack, match, attack again without reselecting. Once you get used to it, this change feels great.
* Added little arrows to indicate the direction the dice will move after you make a match. Some players were confused about why they went one direction or another, so this is a visual hint that the dice will always move in the direction you moved the matching dice. For example, if you swipe left, the dice will fill from the right and move left. This is different to how Match 3 games usually work (always filling from the top), so I can see why it is initially confusing, however it gives you some extra control for making/saving up combos or working towards dice you need.
* Forced a prompt to try the Tutorial if you haven't already, when you first start a campaign. Also added more tips and info to the tutorial. Yeah, I know it's basic, but that's why there's a manual!
* Reduced the default volume. I love blasting the awesome music, but I guess it was too loud for some people. Maybe it still is! Ear-wimps.
* Balancing, balancing, balancing. Also added a warning that the Sci-Fi module is supposed to be much harder than the fantasy one, despite being unlocked at the beginning.
* And a million other things... from small visual tweaks such as removing the swirly effect on the red blockers when placing mercenaries, to making the "weapon not ready" error sound much less annoying. Still annoying? Maybe, but it's kinda supposed to be!”
