The REAL CQX Update!

I promised an update and here it is!

So for those who don't know, my current project is CQX, or Casual Quest XNA (Working title). The project began as a direct port of a BYOND game by Jacob Brennan (IainPeregrine) called Casual Quest. After making significant progress on the project, and taking a long hiatus due to busy times, I finally picked it back up a couple months ago and began making great strides toward completion. Once I realized how quickly the project was progressing, I decided I should ensure I still had permission to continue. I was able to confirm my continued permission to continue relatively quickly, along with a friendly request; If I could manage to re-brand the project with new  art and a new title, it would be appreciated. Which brings us to today. (More details after the jump)



After putting out a call on GameDev.net for pixel artists, I was contacted by Stephanie Smith, who has agreed to contribute the art for this new path. Stephanie has worked on and released a couple of her own games in the past. You can find info on her work HERE. She has so far provided several quality sprites in a very short time and has been both helpful and receptive to feedback, so thanks!

Meanwhile, I've been diligently working to improve the core game functionality and playability. Quite a lot is done, but quite a bit yet needs work.

Some of the things on my Todo list include:

• Tier 3 classes
• More monster behaviours (Spiders, Snakes, Mummys, etc...)
• Additional regions
• Additional Skill types (Summons, Controlled powers, Seekers, etc...)
• Bosses
• Improved powerup management
• Score Saving
• Robust Sound Effect framework
• Better music handling
• More songs
• Improved UI
• More/Larger maps
• Online multi-player
• Achievaments/Trophies
• ?????

I have some rather ambitious plans for this project, but I mean to start small, and progress as I go along. Initially I plan to release to Xbox Live Indie Games a local multiplayer only version. Once this has been released, I will be moving the project into MonoGame for richer platform support where I can once again begin the task of implementing the online portion of the game. In the long run I'd like to open a conversation with Sony for potential release to Vita or PS4, as well as Steam's Greenlight, Desura, and any other PC channels that make sense. If I'm able to secure the funds for the necessary toolkit, I will also be considering an Android port for the new indie friendly consoles like Ouya and GameStick.

I'm also interested in any feedback from gamers and the original CQ community, so if you have anything to say, I'm happy to hear it. 

For anyone who might be interested, a super early test build is available here

It requires The XNA 4.0 Runtime to run.

Thanks for reading!