For any readers who are archiving the successful games of 2018, it's worth paying attention to the story of CrossCode. It's an RPG Maker-inspired game that rallied a successful Indiegogo campaign and ventured through the waters of Steam Early Access before finally releasing back in September.

Its success is surprising in part because single-player RPGs have not known much success in the Early Access waters, and in a sea of similar 2D games, it's managed to stand out with solid mechanics and a charismatic sense of charm.

So today on the Gamasutra Twitch channel, we took the time to stream CrossCode with two of the game's developers: Felix Klein, who's been working on the game in some form for seven years, and Deniz Akbulut, who composed the music and claims to have suggested the game's "stupidest" ideas.

If you want to know more about succeeding with single-player RPGs on Early Access, you should click on the video above to watch our full conversation. And while you're at it, be sure to follow the Gamasutra Twitch channel for more developer interviews and editor roundtables.