Author Archives: jmcmorris

Weekly Recap #31

Crazy week! It consisted of more interviewing, hiring two new developers, helping them get setup, attempting to fix bugs, and planning to move to another state. So yeah, two new developers. This is super exciting since with their help we’ll see development pick up quite a bit. I’ll be sure to introduce them once they’ve settled in.

Crea is now rank #47 on Greenlight! I think next week will finally be the week we get greenlit. Amazingly, I am most excited about this so that I’ll finally be free of obsessively looking at the stats page. But, it is cool to see how many more favorites and follows we have than the top 50 average.

greenlight_47

This week I’m wanting to get a new version up that fixes some really bad issues people are running into. I already have a build up for omega testers so if you have access or would like to help test it then head over to the forums. Once I get the green flag from a few players I’ll hand it over to humble to make it public.

Crea Release v0.7.2

Quickly patching v0.7.1! Some players found an embarrassing obvious bug that slipped by me. Please upgrade to this new version (0.7.2) immediately if you have v0.7.1 (released yesterday).

Available on your Humble Bundle Library

version 0.7.2
General:
- (Bug) Resolved issue with realms not saving properly when world is named with a space or special characters
- (Bug) Resolved issue with speep not properly becoming idle when the player is distant
- (Bug) Resolved issue where pressing spacebar would cause the UI to scroll

Crea Release v0.7.1

A new version of Crea is now available. This is a smaller update focusing on fixing some larger issues and incorporating player feedback from last weeks update. If you have any issues or feedback please check out our forums. Here is the changelog.

version 0.7.1
General:
- (Feature) Monster information shown on mouseover and contains name, level and HP bar
- (Feature) Implemented support for animals and first animal, the Speep
- (Change) Increased drop rate and drop range of keys
- (Change) Increased number of trees in plains
- (Bug) Resolved issue where invalid character in a world/character name would cause several issues
- (Bug) Resolved issue with interacting with dropped items
- (Bug) Resolved issue with water/lava running out into unloaded regions.

Combat:
- (Change) Several tweaks to conflict system
- (Details) Spawned monsters in a region stay the same level until the monster push
- (Details) Conflict regions take longer to become stronger at a increasingly slower rate
- (Details) Less monsters are required to kill to change the hostility level of a region
- (Change) Added trail to Torrend when it charges
- (Bug) Resolved a few small issues with boss

Talents:
- (Bug) Resolved issue with Artisan skill not working properly

UI:
- (Feature) Item notification area near toolbar showing recently aquired items
- (Bug) Resolved issue where replacing skills on the toolbar would cause the game to crash
- (Bug) Resolved slight graphical issue on toolbar
- (Bug) Resolved issue with available material quantity in crafting UI not updating properly with nearby treasure chests

Weekly Recap #30

The last few days have been crazy! As you may have seen, I decided to look for another developer once again. I have gotten a surprising number of responses from this and have spent the last few days just talking to people. I am trying to take it slow and be as certain as possible when/if I decide to bring someone on board. I did manage to get some work done on Crea earlier in the week.

The first change I made is truly a game changer. It will now be possible to see monsters information when mousing over them. This includes the name, level and HP percentage. The big one here is the level. With this you’ll be able to gauge how strong the monster is relative to you. Additionally it will finally explain why monsters have different stats. The support is mostly implemented for displaying this information at different times. Users will be able to choose to display the monster’s HP bar always, during mouseover, only when the monster is damaged, or never. I just need to hook it into the settings but first I think I need to revamp the settings UI to nicely support more options.

monster_info

Another welcomed change is that now you get item notifications on what you picked up or crafted. I really like how this turned out.

item_notifications

I have also been working on adding support for animals. They are now hooked into the conflict system. When a region has higher hostility less animals will spawn in it. Now it has an interesting good/bad balance. So far I have got the first animal implemented – Speep!

hearding_speep

I’m trying to wrap up what I’m currently working on so I can publish a new update with these changes and all of the bug fixes and balance changes I have made this week as well. I am hopeful this update will be available very soon!

For this upcoming week I will be continuing to interview people for the dev position. I will also be working on adding more animals and refining the underground some. I’d like to make it more cavernous and less holey, with more monsters underground as well as some other interesting things. I’d love the underground to be a really intriguing place to explore.

Weekly Recap #29

Guess what!?! The new update is finally here! It has been a long time coming but it should prove to be well worth the wait.  If you have preoredered Crea you can go download the update from your humble library. If you haven’t preodered then you should do that now over here! Here are some of the larger features that have gone into this update.

  • Boss Fight – That’s right, the first boss fight is here and it is an epic one.
  • Remna and Imbuing – Once you’ve defeated the boss you’ll unlock the ability to obtain Remna from monsters and using this Remna you can imbue items to craft even stronger equipment.
  • Mannequins and NPCs – Mannequins are now available for crafting and are great to place gear onto. Additionally, mannequins can be brought to life as NPCs by placing unique outfits on them.
  • Perseverance and Hardcore mode – Survival matters now. Stay alive and you’ll gain the perseverance buff that grants additional experience and talent points gain. If you really want to test your survival skills then hardcore mode is now available which makes death permanent.
  • Inventory Space – Your character now only starts with a single inventory bag; however, you can find new ones and upgrade them through crafting. They are a little rare so keep an eye out.
  • Treasure Chests – Completely reworked, treasure chests now can have some tasty loot. However, in order to open them you now must find a key. They are always close by and are either found on monsters or in pots.

You may also find changes made that you gave feedback on such as:

  • You can now change selected tool with mouse wheel scroll
  • Digging is faster and dirt is weaker
  • Characters can jump and fit into 3 tile tall holes
  • Researching is even better now
  • For even more check out the changelog at the bottom of this post

Even with all of these amazing changes, everything is still very much a work in progress. Everything will continue to be iterated on in future updates. Speaking of which, the next few updates are planned to have much shorter release cycles. These updates will focus on refining existing content and adding in some smaller enhancements.

In other news, we are 97% to top 100 on Greenlight (Greenlight Page). That is some amazing progress in 1 week. This major jump is thanks to Humble Store for featuring Crea, Steam greenlighting 50 games and a pirate site hosting Crea. That last one is not exactly the best but it was inevitable and all I can do is hope those that pirate the game eventually decide they want to help support us. Anyways, just need a final push to get us into the top 100 and go from a percentage to being ranked. Thanks again everyone for the continued support!

v0.7.0 changelog

Spoiler Inside SelectShow

Weekly Recap #28

Lots to update you on this week! Greenlight update, Supershow announcement and Crea update details.

This last week has been a good one. We have moved up to 84% to top 100 on Greenlight (Vote for us on Greenlight) and had a good sale day towards the end of the Humble Winter Sale. If we keep this momentum Crea could be Greenlit soon – maybe even this month! This is really exciting. I’m looking forward to being able to share Crea with a larger audience, but first we have much work ahead of us. I’ve seen several games launch on Early Access that were not prepared for release, so I want to make sure that Crea is at a really solid place when it becomes available on Steam. It’s especially important that Crea’s development is further along so that the differences from Terraria and Starbound are more apparent.

marathon

We have been invited to be part of the Indie Showcase livestream. This is a 48 hour livestream where devs are joining streamers as their game is played. Crea is on Saturday morning at 3:30-4:00AM PST. It’d be great to see some of you there. Even if you cant catch the Crea portion you should check out the event – lots of amazing games. Let your friends know about it too! Here is the schedule for the first half: http://greenlitgaming.com/indieshowcase/

Kelley, Aaron and I have been working hard at wrapping up this massive update. Finally after 10~ weeks we will be releasing the update this week. This update is jam-packed with new content: NPCs, a boss fight, revamped treasure, standalone sever, upgrade-able bags, tweaked researching, mannequins, new armor, and the list goes on. I am hoping to push the build out to omega testers today or tomorrow. Once it has cleared testing I’ll publish it onto the Humble store for everyone.

The next few updates will have much shorter turn around times. Once this update it out I plan to turn my focus on polishing some existing content. Underground will be receiving some attention. I may work on the main menu since what is currently there is merely a placeholder. The character creation is in major need of a facelift. We will see though. I’m listening to your feedback so be sure to let me know what you think.

Greenlight Giveaway

We have managed to get up to 77% to the top 100 on Crea’s Greenlight Page which is amazing and we’re extremely grateful to everyone for voting and sharing Crea. Now that the Greenlight launch period is long over we’ve sunk back into obscurity. Lets change that! Oh, you need an incentive? Well then, let us help you help us.

For every 1% closer we get to the top 100 we will give away a copy of Crea. If we go up more than 1% in a single day then that’s cause for celebration – more copies! Please help us spread the word by sharing with your friends, online communities and… well, nevermind, don’t tell your mom.

All copies will be given away by @SiegeGames. Be sure to follow us!

Weekly Recap #27

We are back from visiting family and ready to refocus ourselves completely onto Crea. We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a good time with family! Even though this last week was quite eventful, I managed to sneak in some work in on Crea, preparing for the big upcoming update.

First of all, there is a new equipment tier. This new tier includes 4 new swords, 4 new bows, and 3 new equipment sets. As with past equipment, we’ve tried to make each piece unique. There’s the Executioner (sword), which deals more damage the lower HP the user has. There’s the Ricochet Bow, which not only carries over the triple shot of the Winged Bow but also causes the arrows to bounce off walls. There is also the Beast armor set which grants some tasty dash cooldown reduction.

ricochet_arrows

The other noteworthy progress is the introduction of difficulty modes. Right now we only have two modes: Normal and Hardcore. Hardcore has some lovely permadeath, which is going to sting much more than in Terraria because of character progression and you do not drop your items. Over time, I’d love to have Hardcore to be a completely different experience from Normal.

To start with, Aaron and I came up with a “death penalty.” It is not the typical death penalty though. After staying alive for some amount of time you gain a “Perseverance” buff which grants you additional XP and TP. The penalty for death is that you temporarily lose this buff. This has a nice side effect in that Hardcore characters will progress faster than Normal characters. I’m playing around with the idea of the Perseverance buff growing stronger the longer you’re alive. What do you think of that?

This next week we will be implementing three new monsters as well as a new biome. I’m really excited to get these in Crea. They will be great additions!

Weekly Recap #26

This was a good week! We’re moving right along for the next update, which will be massive. Over the last week we’ve been focusing on implementing NPCs – finally. Anyone that has been following Crea since our Kickstarter knows that things are constantly evolving and sometimes changing completely. Well, NPCs are no exception to this and we’ve completely redesigned how they work.

In the past, gaining access to new NPCs would involve triggering an event in the world. Once available, managing NPCs would be done through a complex system. After a great deal of redesigning Aaron and I came up with something fresh and simple.

Occasionally players will find a scarce material known as Remna Core. Using this, special NPC outfits can be crafted and once an outfit is placed onto a mannequin, it comes to life.

animate_mannequin

For this next update we are introducing the four NPCs: Merchant, Scavenger, Researcher and Healer.

npc_lineup

Merchant – As you would expect, this NPC buys and sells goods. The merchant has a regular supply of wares that are replenished everyday as well as daily specials.

shop

Shop UI (prices not final)

Scavenger – Don’t leave items laying around for too long! The scavenger will pick up and sell any items left dropped on the ground after a day. Keep in mind though that he must throw out the old to make room for the new.

Researcher – Occasionally players will find recipe scrolls, which hold the secrets to crafting unique items. However, they must be translated by the researcher and he does not work for free!

Healer – Well, she heals you. We’re also considering having her provide a buff or something along those lines.

We have at least a few more NPCs planned: Grafter, Cartographer, and Dungeoneer. We’ll be introducing them over the next several updates.

The NPCs wont move around but you can choose where to place them and if you ever want to move them then just punch them a few times! (Use the collect skill). Do not try this at home, kids.

Take that and that and THIS!

Take that and that and THIS!

I’m really happy to have NPCs finally in Crea. We are now moving onto adding new equipment. Fortunately this should be fairly quick and we’ll swiftly move onto adding some new monsters in. Next week is Christmas so we will be busy spending time with family but I’ll try to sneak in as much development as I can!

Humble Winter Sale

Crea has launched onto the Humble Store and we’re participating in their Winter Sale. This means that Crea is on sale for the first time ever! Most likely Crea wont be going on sale again for awhile.

One thing that needs mentioning is that we are currently only 2-3 weeks away from a major update. This update will be dramatically improving the game across the board. We are adding in the first boss, NPCs, animals, new monsters, a new biome, more items and equipment, and even more. Additionally, a character and world wipe will be required. Sorry about this, but with so many changes it was necessary. Please keep this in mind!