Crypt of the Necrodancer

Crypt of the NecroDancer
Developer(s)	Brace Yourself Games
Publisher(s)	Brace Yourself Games, Klei
Designer(s)	Ryan Clark
Composer(s)	Danny Baranowsky
Engine	Monkey X[1]
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows OS X Linux
Release date(s)	April 23, 2015
Genre(s)	Roguelike, Rhythm game
Mode(s)	Single player
Distribution	Download

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, 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.

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").^[4] 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.^[5] Clark considered how games like Spelunky put the player more controller 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.^[5] 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".^[6] 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.^[5] The title came after discovering this concept, and plays on the pun of the word "necromancer".^[5]

The game was being 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,^[7][8] with full release on April 23, 2015.^[9]

Reception

Early critical reception has been positive.^[14][15] Destructoid named the game one of their favorite entries at PAX Prime 2013,^[16] and praised its execution.^[17] Joystiq also gave the game a positive review.^[18]

The game was named as an honorable mention for the 2015 Game Developers Choice Awards for Innovation and Best Audio.^[19]

References

External links

• Official website