Hello everyball and everycabbage!

Some days ago, we teased that Alabaster Dawn and CrossCode would be part of a collaboration with another game.

Today we can finally reveal what that game is:

It is... SHADE Protocol!

For those who have not seen it yet, SHADE Protocol is an upcoming cyber-fantasy Metroidvania with fast combat, stylish abilities, and a wild world-cutting mechanic that lets you slice and reshape parts of the environment.

What caught our attention is that the team seems to care about many of the same things we do: expressive combat, secrets, ambitious pixel art worlds, and game systems that can get a little bit ridiculous in the best way.

So yes... mystery solved!

Together, CrossCode, Alabaster Dawn, and SHADE Protocol are planning a crossover collaboration with content in both SHADE Protocol and Alabaster Dawn.

And all of it is being planned carefully so it does not interrupt or delay the development of either game.


In SHADE Protocol, the current collaboration plans include:

• UNLOCKED: Secret bosses inspired by CrossCode and Alabaster Dawn
• UNLOCKED: Special CrossCode and Alabaster Dawn themed Harmonies, huge cinematic skills similar to Level 3 Combat Arts from CrossCode
• Stretch Goal: Guest music by Shirakumo Nagi, composer of CrossCode and Alabaster Dawn!
• Stretch Goal: New Protocols, essentially game-changing “build” options, that give players more ways to play!
• Stretch Goal: Potentially a full DLC with a new area, a self-contained storyline, and more!

Some of more ambitious plans are locked behind "Stretch Goals" for their upcoming Kickstarter campaign that will launch on June 4

You can check out the Kickstarter campaign and follow it here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/littlelegendary/shade-protocol

And you can find SHADE Protocol on Steam here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3581730/SHADE_Protocol/


It wouldn't be a proper collab if we wouldn't do anything, right?
Here's what we plan to add for Alabaster Dawn:

• SHADE Protocol themed Divine Arts! Expect some really cool stuff here!
• Zura, SHADE Protocol’s Instrument-wielding, world-cutting main character, will become a playable reskin for Juno in Somu’s Dream, our rogue-lite mode!

In general, we take this opportunity to think about ways to make crossover collaborations like this work well with the more fantasy-esque setting of Alabaster Dawn.

Of course, our prioriy will be getting the game completed first, so collab content like this will be the focus in later development and potentially for post 1.0 updates.

And some of you might wonder: Does that mean that Lea will be in Alabaster Dawn as well? Well... we'll see!

That’s all for today!

Thanks a lot for your support, and we hope you look forward to this very unusual crossover!


Key Art: YuiKannon[yuikannon.carrd.co], our lovely community member!

Animation: Studio CLICKBOOM (support animation studio for FATE/strange Fake and more!)

Trailer Music: SHIRAKUMO Nagi (original composer of CrossCode and Alabaster Dawn)

Pixel Art: Little Legendary (studio behind SHADE Protocol)

Hello everycabbage,

It has been about 2 weeks since EarlyAccess officially started with version 0.1.0 and the feedback, at about 1.5k reviews, has been (almost) Overwhelmingly Positive.

We’re incredible grateful for so many people joining Early Access at this early stage! And with how things have started, we’re confident that we can develop the game to its full potential!

Thank you so much!

And of course, we also received a lot of bug reports and feature requests. By now, most critical issues should hopefully be fixed and we’ll keep track of requested features as well to determine which can make it into the game.

We’re now at a point where we will focus on expanding the game and adding new content, so let’s talk more about that!

It’s time to share our roadmap for the remaining development of Alabaster Dawn

We currently plan with 8 major updates until the game will reach its full release with version 1.0.

Most of the updates will focus on gameplay content, adding new areas and dungeons, featuring new enemies, puzzles, boss battles and lots of content of explore. The story, on the other hand, will only be partially extended. Once the end of the plot is reached the game will switch into a gameplay preview, allowing you to play through more content without the story. We will try to keep any progress made within the preview (such as collected chests and solved puzzles) valid once the story is added in later updates, but in general we recommend replaying the content of the preview mode again once the story is added for the best experience. If you enjoy the gameplay of Alabaster Dawn and have no problem replaying content, we’d very much appreciate your feedback on all content available through the preview.

In turn, certain other updates (like version 0.5.0 and 0.8.0) will focus on the story, adding cutscenes and main-story quests for all available areas and dungeons. If you see yourself playing the game for the story, we recommend waiting for these updates as they allow you to experience all new content with proper context and close to the complete state.

Structuring updates like this helps us a great deal when developing the story, since it gives us more time to work out the finer details, avoid changing dialogs and re-doing scenes later during development. At the same time, we believe that delivering the plot in bigger chunks will give you a better experience, as it allows you to emerge yourself into the story for a longer time.

It should be noted that the roadmap might change. We might decide to change certain milestones, or add smaller updates in-between. Whenever the plan changes, we’ll let you know in advance!

Next up on the list after 0.1.0 would, by common logic, be 0.2.0!

The central focus of this update we will be an entirely new area, the swamp called Scala Moor, to the west of Sundalan.

Of course, as a new area, it will also contain various new enemies that have adapted to this wet environment, with their own unique attacks and behaviors.

Furthermore, your progress will be rewarded with another weapon, the Spear. Or is it a Lance...? Either way, it’s a long pointy stick, so it will serve as Juno’s first melee weapon with the Pierce attack type!

Now, with a new weapon incoming, you surely wonder if there will also be another elemental aspect. And yes, you will find one in the new dungeon within the new Swamp region. A new dungeon, containing new puzzle elements, enemies and maybe even a boss!

Aside from everything in the new area, we are planning to complete the missing quests and extra content in the already existing ones. This mostly means more quests in Sundalan and the Aurum Plains, but we should also finally get rid of the “Unfinished Content“ sign posts elsewhere…

Outside of the extended content, we are planning to extend the weapon skill trees, which, as you might have noticed, can be completed very quickly right now. In upcoming releases, you will also be able to unlock bonus effects related to the combo actions you unlock, giving you more varying paths to spend your skill points on.

Another highly requested feature is the ability to mark places on the world map with markers. “Map Markers”, if you will. Those have been around in CrossCode and will make their return in a the upcoming version of Alabaster Dawn!

Additionally, there will also be a new Dojo feature which’ll allow players to try out combos in a safe environment while receiving informative data about their damage and such.

Lastly, with extended content, the Roguelite Mode "Somu's Dream" will also continue to be extended in parallel, which means more floors and enemies for your runs!

As for the version’s release date, we are currently aiming for August of this year, so in about 3 months!


With the dust around our Early Access launch cleared, we decided to do an “Ask Me Anything” on the r/JRPG subreddit! It will start on Friday the 22th of May (so TOMORROW!) at 1pm CEST and will try to answer all the questions that show up for the hours (maybe days) to come!

Feel free to stop by and ask us questions about Alabaster Dawn or game development in general!


Now to something else entirely: A new collaboration!

CrossCode x Alabaster Dawn x [redacted]

We are not revealing the third game just yet, but we are leaving you clues all over!

Here’s your clue for this message:
both our studios love worlds and stories that cut deep!

The reveal is coming soon. Until then, feel free to speculate!
Or remind us to focus on development (we do).

And that’s all for today!
We hope to post things more frequently from now on to keep you updated.

Until next time!