Jump to content

Crypt of the NecroDancer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 209.163.184.2 (talk) at 15:14, 15 June 2015 (→Development: minor). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Crypt of the NecroDancer
File:CryptoftheNecrodancerGameLogo.jpg
Developer(s)Brace Yourself Games
Publisher(s)Brace Yourself Games, Klei Entertainment
Designer(s)Ryan Clark
Composer(s)Danny Baranowsky
EngineMonkey X[1]
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
OS X
Linux
ReleaseApril 23, 2015
Genre(s)Roguelike, Rhythm game
Mode(s)Single-player

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a 2015 independent video game designed by Brace Yourself Games.[2] The game takes fundamental elements of a roguelike dungeon exploration game, and adds beat-matching rhythm game set to Danny Baranowsky's soundtrack, to move and control the protagonist character; the player's actions will be most effective by continuing to the move the character set to the beat of the current song and are penalized when they miss a beat, and by learning the patterns that the various creatures use in time to the beat. The mixed genre game includes the ability to import custom music for the game, and for the player to optionally use a dance pad instead of traditional controllers or keyboard controls.

Gameplay

Crypt of the NecroDancer is a top-down 2D dungeon crawler in which the player controls one of a selection of characters to explore several levels of an underground dungeon that are procedurally generated similar to roguelike games.

Players can manipulate their character by using either a dance pad, a mouse and keyboard, or a gamepad.[3] Unlike traditional roguelikes, the player can only have their character move or attack if they perform the action on the beat of the music. Like with many rhythm games, each successful beat match will boost a coin scoring multiplier along with the completion of the action. Failure to match each beat does not directly harm the character in most situations, but this will cause the scoring multiplier to be reset, and may cause the character to be harmed by a nearby monster if he/she is in their attack path. The character can also be harmed by moving into a monster's attack. When the character's health meter empties, the game is over. Monsters move according to predetermined patterns by type which the player must learn to attack and avoid damage effectively.

Crypt of the NecroDancer screenshot of the 0.244alpha version showing Cadence, a playable character (middle) next to two blue slimes (left), a titanium broadsword (right) as well as some dropped gold coins.

As the player explores, they will collect new weapons, armor, usable items, and treasure; the player's inventory is automatically managed by the game. Defeating monsters will drop a number of coins that can be used to purchase items from shops within the dungeon. There are also diamonds that are used for purchasing permanent enhancements to the character's abilities at the game's lobby. The dungeon is divided into four zones, consisting of four levels each. The first three levels of each zone require the player to find the exit and defeat a mini-boss to unlock it; the fourth level is a larger boss character that must be defeated to progress further. In addition, the player is limited to the length of the song to complete the level; when the song ends, they are automatically sent to the next level, forgoing the rewards of completing the level.

The player returns to the game's lobby area after dying or optionally at any time, losing any items, gold, or other equipment at the time, though retaining any diamonds they have found. The lobby features shops which the player can spend those diamonds for permanent upgrades. The player can then restart the game, or if they have completed any zones, access the next available zone directly. The player can also access the other game modes, such as "hardcore" mode in which the player must be able to complete the entire four-zone dungeon run without dying. The player initially has access to the main character, Cadence, while new characters with different modes of play also become available as the player completes certain goals; for example the monk character is more powerful in combat and can easily defeat monsters, but immediately dies if he touches gold. Special trainers and other beneficial non-player characters can be rescued from certain zones, and once rescued, will provides these services to the player from the main lobby.

The game features sixteen tracks composed by Danny Baranowsky, which are ordered with varying beats-per-minute, making deeper levels more challenging than earlier ones. The user has the ability to set custom music for each of the game's levels, with an internal software known as Essentia shipped with the game used to determine the beats-per-minute that is used to set the tempo for the game.

Story

In the main game, the player control Cadence, the daughter of a famed treasure hunter that has gone missing. In searching for him, she falls into a crypt controlled by The Necrodancer, who steals Cadence's heart and forces her to challenge his minions to retrieve it.[4] She is forced to fight through the crypt's dungeon with her actions tied to the beat of the music and her heart as to stay alive and defeat the Necrodancer. Inside of the crypt, Cadence finds her missing father, and together the two of them defeat The Necrodancer. They take The Necrodancer's magical golden Lute, and use its power to resurrect Cadence's dead mother Melody. They discover that the lute is cursed however, and Melody must keep playing it forever or she will die. To try and break her curse, Melody enters the crypt in search of answers. After The Necrodancer is defeated a second time (this time by Melody), she finds her own mother, Aria. Aria reveals that she knows how to break the curse of the lute, and sets off through the crypt to do so. In the end, Aria sacrifices her own life to destroy the golden lute, and doing so she frees Melody from her curse, allowing her to return to her family.

Characters

Main characters

Cadence

Voiced by: Elspeth Eastman
The Protagonist and default playable character of the game. Cadence comes from a family of adventurers, and enters the crypt after her father goes missing.

Melody

Voiced by: Cia Court
Cadence's mother. She died to plague when Cadence was seven years old. After the player beats the game as Cadence, they find a magical golden lute which can be used to revive melody. At that point Melody becomes a playable character. Melody wields the golden lute in combat, dealing damage to all nearby enemies whenever she moves.

Aria

Voiced by: Jacqueline Samuda
Cadence's grandmother. She was the first one to find the crypt, and the golden lute inside. She is unlocked as a playable character after beating the game as Melody. Aria is a difficult challenge character, and instantly dies if she takes damage or misses a beat.

Dorian

Voiced by: Gavin Hammon
Cadence's father. After Melody dies, Dorian enters the crypt to try and recover the golden lute, but is captured by The Necrodancer's magic. When Cadence defeats The Necrodancer she rescues her father, and he too becomes a playable character.

Eli

Voiced by: Scott McNeil
Cadence's Uncle. He looks after Cadence when her parents are gone. Instead of wielding a traditional weapon, Eli uses bombs in combat.

The Necrodancer

Voiced by: Chuck Kourouklis

The main villain of the game. He was originally a bard who found the golden lute and used it to gain power and immortality, but it robbed him of his humanity, turning him into a monster.

Other characters

Monk has taken a vow of poverty, and will die if he touches gold, but he can take one free item from the shop on each floor.

Dove is a pacifist. She cannot directly harm enemies, and doesn't need to fight bosses to progress through the game.

Bolt makes the game move at double speed, with two turns happening per beat instead of one.

Bard removes the rhythm element from the game, allowing the player to move freely, instead of in time with the music.

Coda is an incredibly difficult challenge character, who combines the gameplay elements of Aria, Monk and Bolt.

Soundtrack

The game's soundtrack was designed by Danny Baranowsky, designed to vary in speed and rhythmic complexity the farther the player gets within the game. In addition, the game will have two remix soundtracks that will become playable through the game's New Game Plus mode; one done in electronic dance music style by Alex Esquivel from group Super Square, and another done as heavy metal music by YouTube personality Jules Conroy ("FamilyJules7x").[5] Users have the ability to substitute the official soundtrack with their own MP3 or OGG music files.

Development

Crypt of the Necrodancer was a creation of programmer Ryan Clark, inspired by thinking about the traditional structure of roguelike games. Clark found that the player-character's death in roguelikes often occurred due to conditions created by the procedural-generation of the game as opposed to player's skill, and wanted to make a game that was more "fair" to the player to escape or avoid seemingly difficult situations.[6] Clark considered how games like Spelunky put the player more in control of their fate, as he viewed it as "a game that is really hard but you can still improve. If you die, you still know it was your fault" whereas in other games a player might die because "the game is simply unfair."[3] However, Clark also found that removing the turn-based nature of roguelike in games like Spelunky or FTL: Faster Than Light lost some of the flavor of roguelikes, and sought a way to maintain the turn-based nature.[6] They came up with the idea of using turns where each turn lasted only a short amount of real time; as such the "lack of time to think renders impossible the careful study and patience of the expert NetHack player".[7] With this concept, Clark recognized that this was similar to beat-matching rhythm games, and quickly refined the concept around the rhythm-based roguelike game.[6] The title came after discovering this concept, and plays on the pun of the word "necromancer".[6]

The game was developed using the Monkey X programming language.[1]

The game was released on Steam early access on July 30, 2014, using public feedback to improve the title,[8][9] with full release on April 23, 2015.[10]

Reception

Early critical reception has been positive.[16][17] Destructoid named the game one of their favorite entries at PAX Prime 2013,[18] and praised its execution.[19] Joystiq also gave the game a positive review.[20]

The game was named as an honorable mention for the 2015 Game Developers Choice Awards for Innovation and Best Audio.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b http://www.monkey-x.com/Community/posts.php?topic=5335&page=1
  2. ^ "Screw Next-Gen Controllers, This Dungeon Crawler Uses A DDR Pad". Kotaku. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Explore Dungeons With DDR Dance Pads in 'Crypt of the NecroDancer'". Mashable. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  4. ^ Muncy, Jake (5 May 2015). "Crypt Of The NecroDancer combines intimidating influences into a friendly hybrid". A.V. Club. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  5. ^ "Crypt of the NecroDancer to feature two remixed soundtracks via newgame+ and newgame++". Gamasutra. 2015-04-21. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
  6. ^ a b c d Williams, Mike (2013-06-23). "Dance Yourself to Death With Crypt of the Necrodancer". US Gamer. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
  7. ^ Kuchera, Ben (2013-09-03). "A roguelike that's a rhythm game? Jesus Christ, FINALLY!". Penny Arcade Report. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
  8. ^ Corriea, Alexa Rae (2014-07-17). "Rhythm roguelike Cyrpt of the Necrodancer hits Steam Early Access on July 30". Polygon. Retrieved 2014-07-17.
  9. ^ "Announcement of public development". Retrieved 2014-01-23.
  10. ^ Bertz, Matt (2015-04-16). "Crypt of the Necrodancer". Game Informer. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
  11. ^ "Crypt of the NecroDancer for PC". GameRankings. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  12. ^ "Crypt of the Necrodancer (pc)". Metacritic. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
  13. ^ Shae, Cam (2015-04-21). "Crypt of the Necrodancer Review". IGN. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
  14. ^ Turi, Tim (2015-04-21). "Crypt of the Necrodancer Review". Game Informer. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
  15. ^ Hancock, Patrick (2015-05-04). "Review: Crypt of the NecroDancer". Destructoid. Retrieved 2015-05-04.
  16. ^ "Roguelike meets rhythm game in the joyous Crypt of the NecroDancer". PC Gamer. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  17. ^ "Crypt of the NecroDancer pairs roguelike dungeon crawling with DDR rhythm". Polygon. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  18. ^ "Our top 10 favorite games of PAX Prime 2013". 2013-08-31. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  19. ^ "Review: Tales from the Crypt (of the NecroDancer)". Destructoid. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  20. ^ Hinkle, David (2013-08-31). "Pounding beats and dragons in Crypt of the NecroDancer". Joystiq. Retrieved 2014-01-13.
  21. ^ "Shadow of Mordor, Hearthstone, Bayonetta 2 grab Choice Awards nominations". Gamasutra. 2015-01-12. Retrieved 2015-01-12.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crypt_of_the_NecroDancer&oldid=667058097"