#crystal control

The Fortune Teller - Crystal Control 2 - VirtuallyComptent

Gaze deep into the foggy globe and find your true heart's desire!*

Streamin’ some Crystal Control 2 art with @thatsjustridiculous! Come join us for pixel game art fun and riveting conversation!

CLICKHERE!

New Yasim Concept - Crystal Control 2 - Virtually Competent

Hey everybody, Crystal Control got a slick new update late last night.

You can check it out right now!

Just make sure you see "Version 1.1" at the top left corner or you're playing the wrong version (if it's not showing up, refresh the page a few times until it does)!

Version 1.1 Patch Notes:

4 new control modes (Gamepad D-Pad + Buttons, Single Gamepad (Buttons Only), Single Gamepad (With Sticks))

Control modes selectable from title screen via left/right arrow keys

Title screen displays up, down, and fire controls as well as current control scheme

Tutorial reflects all control changes

Fixed graphics bug with charges not disappearing after L2 or L3 shot

CRYSTALS!

Crystal Control has just gone live, marking Mike's debut as a video game developer and the start of my decent into deep depression as I wonder if I could ever top the mechanical brilliance of his competitive shoot 'em up. How exciting!

We released a beta build of Crystal Control some time ago, but thanks to the artistic stylings of Colin Greenhalgh and the musical prowess of Derek Klaren, the game is looking and sounding better than ever. Don't take my word for it, though; grab a friend and check it out for yourself!

Play Crystal Control now!

CONTROLS!

Much like Dikdik before it, Crystal Control hopes to bring multiplayer back to the couch by forcing two players to share a keyboard in order to duke it out. Unlike Dikdik, however, Crystal Control is a bit complex and you may find that your keyboard can't handle all four keys (two per player) simultaneously. We've remedied this by allowing player one to use "Shift" and "Ctrl" instead of "W" and "S" (respectively) if this happens to be the case for your keyboard (don't worry: you can't start the game without holding all four keys down, so you should know right away what works and what doesn't).

Those alternative keys are specially designated as modifier keys (so they don't count toward the limit), but be cautious if you happen to have any odd keyboard shortcuts set up with any of the keys involved.

If you happen to have some Xbox 360 controllers on hand, however, you'll be happy to know that they're fully supported by Crystal Control! Just press any button on either controller and the game will automatically switch over to controller mode.

EPXCON!

If you happen to reside in the Iowa City area, you can stop by the University of Iowa's Art Building West for EPXCON RIGHT NOW, where the V-Comp booth is all set up and our games are on display (including Crystal Control...I'm accepting challengers)! Unfortunately, Mike wasn't able to make it, but you can still come by and tell me how great you think his game is (and maybe I'll pass the information on...maybe).

If you happen to stop by, be sure to also check out the Iowa City Public Library's booth, where you can find ANOTHER new title from Virtually Competent, tentatively titled Shipshape. We're really excited and honored to be developing Shipshape for the library's large "tablet table" project and we hope that the game will offer children a fun, cooperative experience when it hits in a few months. Of course, the prototype you'll see here is still very much in its early stages, so don't be too harsh when you visit the V-Comp booth to talk to me about it!

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On the faceyspaces, an friend of mine asked about the strategy of Crystal Control. I posted a gigantic novel of the three strategies our gaming group here has come up with (see below). The day before this, I'd been thinking up a new mechanic to go with the eventual update of CC that allows you to pick different characters, each with different abilities. The mechanic would give more of an incentive to go after the less powerful outer crystals and just be more aggressive and accurate in general. It would act sort of like a super move in fighting games to help end the round if you took a decent sized advantage, and would only activate if you controlled over half of the crystals on the field.

And so I present to you, the new mechanic, Control.

With this mechanic, when you have more than half (so, in this case, 7 or more) of the crystals, outer or inner, it'll cause EVERY crystal on the field to fire at the opponent, regardless of if you have them claimed or not. Yes, this means even if your opponent has crystals claimed, those crystals will fire at them during Control.

While this version of Control is powerful and will definitely put someone on the defensive, that wall of bullets is 100% avoidable. It also only activates once per round, so if the opponent makes it through that initial barrage then it's business as usual, though they'll still be down in terms of how many crystals they have, and you'll probably have gained a bit more of a lead during the two seconds of sheer defensive panic on the opposite side of the field.

And yes, there is a lot of new stuff in that screenshot. Updated Yasim, a brand new character for the second player, a background, and lots more impressive stuff that Colin has been working on. Hopefully we'll have a new build out soon but, until then, keep playing the old one and let us know what you think.

Peace, Michael

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BONUS: Crystal Control Strategies!

The Play: Snag the first 4 or 5 outer crystals with L.1 shots and then go for inner ones.

Advantage: Usually leaves you with a LOT of crystals right off the bat if you hit all your shots, and those slow straight shots control screen space better than any of us gave them credit for. Also, L.1 shots don't kill any of your charge, so you may very well have a L.2 charge immediately after you shoot your 4th or 5th outer crystal.

Disadvantage: Letting the opponent get maybe 2 inner crystals before you even look at them WILL put you on the defensive, and you may find yourself losing that initial advantage quickly.

The Play: Focus entirely on keeping as many of the inner crystals as possible at all times, if not all the inner crystals.

Advantage: You're forcing the opponent to react every two seconds at the very least, more if you shot any of the outer crystals along the way. You're also dodging far less and able to keep your focus on accuracy rather than evasion. It's a basic strategy and also very effective.

Disadvantage: This can go to time easily if both players are skilled at dodging, and there are far fewer crystals inside than out, so if you aren't paying attention to how many your opponent has you could easily find yourself losing. That said, if you see your opponent is completely on the defensive, you can snag some outer crystals pretty easily.

The Play: Keep at least one inner crystal and just start throwing L.3 shots in the hopes of trapping them between two inner crystal shots and hitting them with a near unavoidable L.3.

Advantage: FUN. Also the most interactive.

Disadvantage: DIFFICULT. It relies on you being able to dodge everything, keep your charge, and know where your opponent is every step of the way. It's also probably the least viable.