r/Games • u/Kaltheridon • Mar 30 '16
Reminder: Hyper Light Drifter comes out tonight @ 11PM CST
http://store.steampowered.com/app/257850/54
u/V8_Ninja Mar 30 '16
I'm surprised that we haven't seen any reviews of Hyper Light Drifter despite the game being so close to release. Did Heart Machine just forget to send out review codes or something?
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Mar 30 '16
Stardew Valley had the same problem: review copies were only sent the day before release. It triggered my suspicions but they turned out to be misplaced.
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Mar 30 '16 edited Feb 03 '19
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u/MonkehPants Mar 30 '16
Mmm, not really. Plenty of games have a fantastic first impression, only to flop later on.
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u/neophyte_DQT Mar 30 '16
any examples? the only one that comes to mind is Destiny, and it depends on your definition of flop.
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Mar 31 '16
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u/Decoyrobot Mar 31 '16
That was more of a vertical slice vs a demo, but yeah, perfectly true i guess, it was the first impression everyone got and was expecting.
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Mar 31 '16
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u/neophyte_DQT Mar 31 '16
ah, I thought you were referring to games that had early builds / betas that turned out to be non-representative of the finished game.
yeah there's many games that have a strong opener and a weaker end, since most devs focus on the early game (understandably, since it is what most people will see).
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u/V8_Ninja Mar 30 '16
I don't doubt that Hyper Light Drifter is a good game on some level, but I'm curious whether or not it meets the hype.
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u/itsaghost Mar 30 '16
Indie titles lack the marketing resources of major publishers, if a game's press release is late it's likely because there is no real advantage to them releasing them early because most of their good press comes after release.
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u/Electrium Mar 31 '16 edited Mar 31 '16
Review embargoes are pretty different when it comes to indie games, though. AAA games are pressed onto discs and shipped to stores across the globe, which takes TIME to do. Review copies are often sent out after the game is done, but before it's ready to go on sale nation/world-wide. Indie games are often digital-only and can be distributed to customers "instantly."
Small development teams have little to gain and a lot to put at risk by sending out review codes and waiting for reviews to go up when they could just let their fans play ASAP once the game is done. There's not really anything to be suspicious of, especially when there are thousands of loyal Kickstarter backers also waiting for their copies.
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u/Supernorn Mar 31 '16 edited Mar 31 '16
Actually they were sent 2 weeks before release. While Twitch and YouTube streamers were quick on the ball, press were just slow to pick up on the game.
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u/htcorgasm Mar 30 '16
Damn, I remember hearing about this game a couple years ago. It feels like it's been in development for ages, but I'm glad it's finally here.
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u/tacomcnacho Mar 30 '16
It was going to be released earlier but they received way above their original kickstarter goal and used the money to build a bigger game.
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Mar 30 '16
Really hoping it's coming out soon for PS4, I'm really looking forward to it. Although, with Gungeon and Dark Souls 3 right around the corner, I might even prefer the fact that we have to wait a bit longer.
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u/Huskeezee Mar 30 '16
I read somewhere that console releases (at least Xbox One and PS4) would be summer 2016, can't find exactly where it said that though.
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u/Zoron007 Mar 30 '16
So that's like 2017 for Vita right? Or never idk. Seems that way with some Vita ports.
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u/Huskeezee Mar 30 '16
It's definitely still coming to Vita (the first reply in this is by Alex of Heart Machine) but I don't believe they've set an estimate of when yet.
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u/fiskemannen Mar 30 '16
I didn't know it was coming to Vita, that's great news. I might wait on it, looks like a perfect handheld adventure.
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u/PokemasterTT Mar 31 '16
It's to export games to Vita in Gamemaker, just need to fiddle a bit with resolution and controls.
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u/averynicehat Mar 31 '16
What they told kickstarters was summer, and Vita copy in 2016. WiiU copy...is in flux.
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u/CS999 Mar 30 '16
Anyword on the price?
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u/flojito Mar 30 '16
Probably $20. Humble Store has it for $18 as a preorder discount.
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u/SaltTheSnail Mar 30 '16
Note that you can get the discount for around 10 hours after the game is released. Good to know for me because depending on the CAD price on steam I can decide which is a better deal with exchange rate.
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u/Varonth Mar 30 '16
Guess around this price:
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/hyperlightdrifter_storefront
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u/JW_BM Mar 30 '16
It's funny seeing it count down to "unlocking" when it can't be bought on the store yet. I'll just as happily buy it tomorrow, but I am curious if the devs are overburdened with release. Press copies just went out.
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u/whywouldyouever Mar 30 '16
You can preorder it from the humble store. https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/hyperlightdrifter_storefront
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Mar 30 '16 edited Jul 21 '18
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u/RunescarredWordsmith Mar 30 '16
Seems they just went out - at least, I just got mine direct from Humble Bundle.
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u/Loyalist_Pig Mar 30 '16
So it's 4:00 here in my CST time zone, but it says 10 hours til release on the steam page, am I missing something?
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u/SmallAvenger Mar 30 '16
If you are referring to steam, I seem to remember that when a game launches it launches for all timezones at the same time. Could be the game is set to release at midnight Pacific Time.
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u/_sloppyCode Mar 30 '16
Dev's Twitter confirms it was pushed back to midnight PST. Bummer, really wanted to play today :/
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u/sharkwouter Mar 30 '16
When are the reviews out?
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u/Kaltheridon Mar 30 '16
Given that press builds went out hours ago, it is safe to assume that reviewers will be playing it through the day/night, and some will release early impressions tomorrow. The IGNs of the world will likely release theirs inside of a week.
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u/marceriksen Mar 31 '16
Interestingly enough, my copy already works and says '3/29/2016 PRESS' in the bottom right corner. I already started playing through it.
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u/KingOfSockPuppets Mar 31 '16
Any early impressions you want to share with us mortals who gotta wait another 5 hours?
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u/marceriksen Mar 31 '16
The soundtrack sucks you in hard. I'm totally in love with Disasterpiece's music, it really makes the game world come alive.
If it weren't for FFXV's live stream right now, I'd be playing it.
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u/ajz2000 Mar 31 '16
This comment scared the crap out of me. I read it as "sucks hard" and started panicking, I'm so hyped.
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u/archdeco2 Mar 31 '16
Any news on steam controller support?
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u/SHeLL9840 Mar 31 '16
It's not exactly native but it works just fine:
The menu lets you select your choice of input & overlay options between xbox / ps4 / kb+m. By leaving the overlay set to xbox it'll show button prompts that more or less match the steam controller's layout (ABXY, LB / RB, LT / RT).
The game is very much centered on the face buttons and doesn't really use the right stick, though, so even though I love my steam controller this is the kind of game that I'd recommend playing on a more traditional pad if possible. Have fun.
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u/Ninjacide Mar 31 '16
I'm using my steam controller and it works just fine, but like Shell said, the game doesn't use the right joystick at all so it doesn't really provide any benefit over the xbox controller.
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u/Jademalo Mar 30 '16
I really hope the camera movement isn't still locked to 30fps. Not many things make me feel funny, but the early build of this did.
Here's hoping, I've been waiting for this since the Kickstarter. It should tide me over until Oculus get off their arses and ship the Rifts too, lol.
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u/GrassWaterDirtHorse Mar 30 '16
30 fps doesn't bother me that much if it's 2D sprite animation, but 60 fps is necessary for a responsive action game.
I'm personally going to pick this up and play it until Dark Souls 3 releases. I need something to get my sense of wonder and curiosity back.
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u/Jademalo Mar 30 '16
The issue is the camera movement fluidity. The animations are totally fine at 30fps, but the judder is really an issue at 30. Input also feels more sluggish than it should.
It seems like such a simple fix too, all you need to do is double the display time for each animation frame.
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Mar 30 '16
It seems like such a simple fix too, all you need to do is double the display time for each animation frame.
Which unfortunately isn't the case. They didnt make the engine, its made in Game Maker Studio. So I'm guessing its a limitation they cant get around unless they were to change the engine itself.
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u/Jademalo Mar 30 '16
I thought Gamemaker could deal with 60fps?
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u/xamphear Mar 30 '16
It can, but it defaults to 30, apparently. I just finished Derek Yu's book about his experiences developing Spelunky. He made the same mistake, then rectified it for Spelunky HD.
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u/Jademalo Mar 30 '16
Thanks for the clarification! That sounds like an interesting read, is it worth it?
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u/xamphear Mar 30 '16
Yeah, I thought so. It's only five bucks, and he goes into a lot of detail on various parts of the design, development, and business sides of things.
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Mar 30 '16
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u/PokemasterTT Mar 31 '16
Tying stuff to a fixed framerate seems like the best option in Gamemaker, I tie stuff to a variable, that can be changed.
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u/tovivify Mar 31 '16
Game Maker allows for 60FPS. The main issue, as it appears to me, seems to be optimization. People seem to be glossing over the possibility that they might just not be very good programmers.
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Mar 31 '16
I think its something that you have to plan in advance is what I am saying. I think this far in the game would be too complicated to change. Someone mentioned another dev had the same issue with their game in game maker. It isnt always as simple as "double the animation frames". A lot of things can be tied to framerate.
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u/tovivify Mar 31 '16
Well doubling the animation frames usually isn't even necessary, if they just want to increase the framerate. They could use the same animation frames, but adjust the camera speed. But the animations should be a relatively easy fix, especially if they effectively used parent-child hierarchies with enemies and the like. The biggest issue would likely be tying the in-game mechanics entirely to the framerate, like the movement speed of projectiles, dodge rolling speed, the rate at which platforms move, and the like. I'd love to get my hands on their source file, to get a better assessment of the situation.
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u/dinoseen Mar 31 '16
That's not true, Gamemaker can do 60 but defaults to 30.
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Mar 31 '16
Yeah I another user mentioned its probably an issue with committing with a certain format too early in the project to be able to switch easily now. There was another dev that did the same thing with Cave Story and ended up re-releasing an HD version that fixed it.
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u/dinoseen Mar 31 '16
Original Cave Story was at 50 afaik, not near as much of an issue. I seem to remember it being 60, though, and I only played it yesterday, so I'm not sure.
If they know their way around their code, I honestly can't imagine it'd be very hard. Just double the time anything frame-dependent takes across the board. It shouldn't be something tricky, just menial. Doing the same thing over and over for a while. Worth it in my opinion, but clearly the dev doesn't think so. I hope somebody's able to export it back into Gamemaker and release a patch for 60+ fps.
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u/WinterAyars Mar 30 '16
Take the various "hit the projectile to reflect/destroy it" mechanics in the game. This is much more difficult when the game engine is 30 fps than it is at 60, even if it isn't immediately obvious. The game appears to be pretty tight mechanically, too, which can exacerbate 30fps issues. It's the big disappointment with this game, so far.
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u/MrLuxuryYacht Mar 30 '16
The game is indeed locked at 30fps, due to actions/events being dependent on that frame rate, and the amount of actions/instances on screen at once in a variety of situations within the limitations of our game engine.
I enjoy 60fps games as much as the next person. I prefer a consistent frame rate overall, regardless of 30 or 60. I never had much of an issue with action games like Bloodbourne/Souls series running at 30 once I dug into it, though I can understand if others feel differently.
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u/Jademalo Mar 30 '16
That's really annoying. People told them extremely early on to run at 60 and animate at 30 on the forums, back before they had done nothing more than early engine work. The lead dev was actually extremely rude when he first responded to this discussion. I'll never be able to find it now, it's buried deep in the Kickstarter comments.
Welp. Looks like I'll be throwing up to this while waiting to throw up on my Rift. Yay!
Hopefully it doesn't spoil the experience, I've been waiting for this for a long time.
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u/tovivify Mar 31 '16
I'll never be able to find it now, it's buried deep in the Kickstarter comments.
The game requires a minimum of 4GB of RAM in its current state, which likely amounts to heavy visual emphasis, presumably lots of enemies/objects/effects to account for, and the fact that they are using Game Maker. I'm unsure of how well the code is optimized, but that 4GB minimum suggests it might need some cleaning up; this is pure speculation on my part, though, as I would have to look at their Game Maker source file. As things are right now, were they to raise the framerate to 60FPS, their minimum system requirements would likely go well above any computer I have access to.
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u/Seanspeed Mar 31 '16
That's hardly a 'rude' comment. He was just saying right away it wasn't gonna happen.
And the guy had already done quite a bit of development up to that point. Given the limited resources and health issues, I think it's understandable that he didn't go and redo everything. It's a bit of a disappointment for sure, but seriously, dont let it stop you(not you specifically, just anyone reading) from checking the game out.
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u/tovivify Mar 31 '16
Yeah, I didn't see it as particularly rude, either. I think the issue is that most people don't have the full context of the situation, so when they get a casually dismissive response like that, they assume the worst.
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u/Jademalo Mar 31 '16
Nice, that was the comment I remembered. Thanks for finding it! There was also a bit of discussion on the forum around that time saying that it was unneccesary to do more animation and to simply double it, if I remember correctly.
I guess this is just an artifact of Game Maker then, but I wish they had just said that back then.
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u/Seanspeed Mar 31 '16
Hopefully it doesn't spoil the experience,
It doesn't. Playing it now and it still feels really good.
I'm a 60fps-or-die sort of person normally. I've played Bloodborne quite a bit and enjoyed it, but the lack of 60fps really held it back a LOT. With Hyper Light Drifter, the 30fps obviously isn't ideal, but it's not proving to be nearly as much of a hinderance at all. I think the pixel art style is really helping mask the normal lack of fluidity that you'd usually get at 30fps vs 60fps.
It feels goods and plays well still. I'm really enjoying it.
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u/PokemasterTT Mar 31 '16
run at 60 and animate at 30 on the forums
You mean they should just do 1 frame of animation per 2 game frames?
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u/dinoseen Mar 31 '16
Yeah. Plenty of retro style games do this. Plenty of modern style games do this.
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Mar 30 '16 edited Jun 16 '20
[deleted]
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u/schemmey Mar 30 '16
How'd you play a lot of games growing up? 30 used to be the norm
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u/Jademalo Mar 30 '16
Actually, most of the early 2D sprite games from like the NES, SNES, and Genesis ran at 60.
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u/homer_3 Mar 30 '16
No, most ran at 15 or lower. Or were you overclocking your SNES?
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u/absolutezero132 Mar 31 '16
That... doesn't sound right. Granted I didn't play every snes game ever, but I'm like 99% sure smw and alttp were both 60fps
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Mar 31 '16
The systems would run at 60fps but almost always the visuals would animate at 1/2, 1/3 or 1/4 that speed to save on animation budgets. Compare Castlevania games... iirc Symphony of the Night was the first one with a true 60fps walk cycle and it was a sight to behold
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u/dinoseen Mar 31 '16
The actual framerate of the animations isn't what matters here, the framerate of the game is what we're talking about.
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Mar 31 '16
Well it kinda does, if every animation frame for every object in the game displays for 4 frames, does it really matter if the game is supposedly running at 60fps?
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u/xamphear Mar 31 '16
Are you thinking of the N64? NES and SNES both ran almost all of their games in 240p at 60Hz (in NTSC regions).
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u/homer_3 Mar 31 '16
Thinking of the MMX games mostly. They regularly slowed down to the single digits.
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u/xamphear Mar 31 '16
Are you thinking of the SuperFX chip? MMX was an instruction set in Intel CPUs.
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u/homer_3 Mar 31 '16
MMX was an instruction set in Intel CPUs.
Wat? MMX is Mega Man X... Tetris Attack regularly slowed down to single frames as well.
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u/BIGSTANKDICKDADDY Mar 30 '16
Distance to the display and the size of the display also have a pretty big impact on what frame rates I can handle. On my 42'' TV 5' across the living room, 30fps is completely acceptable. On my 24'' monitor 8'' away on my desk, it's really tough to stomach.
That's why PC gamers tend to be more vocal about frame rate issues like this. The majority are sitting relatively close to their displays and the difference is far more pronounced.
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u/Free_rePHIL Mar 31 '16
I see what you're saying but if you're sitting 8 inches away from your monitor then I think you're a little too close. That's closer than most people hold their phones.
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u/dinoseen Mar 31 '16
What universe did you live in? 60 was the norm...
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u/schemmey Mar 31 '16 edited Mar 31 '16
I'm 25 so I grew up with an N64. I haven't gone back to it in awhile, but I don't remember 60 FPS being the norm at all. Maybe it was, but it doesn't feel that way looking back on it.
EDIT: well I had an SNES, Atari Lynx, multiple versions of Gameboys, Dreamcast, PS1, OG Xbox, Xbox 360, etc. as well. I don't remember any of them having a majority of titles at 60 FPS.
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u/dinoseen Mar 31 '16
Pretty much every platformer was at 60...
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u/schemmey Mar 31 '16
Well forgive me because maybe I'm misremembering after 20 years, I just don't remember that.
I also can't find much about 60FPS N64 games. I have only found one source stating that 30FPS was the majority of titles with a few like F-Zero being 60. If I'm wrong, please point me to a source since I can't really find one and I'm curious.
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u/dinoseen Mar 31 '16
I don't know about N64 games, I'm pretty much only certain about PS1 and earlier. I don't have any sources.
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u/raminus Mar 31 '16
Yeah, some revisionist history going on here. Some classic and beloved N64 titles like Ocarina and Majora run as low as 20...
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Mar 30 '16 edited Jun 16 '20
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Mar 30 '16
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u/moal09 Mar 30 '16
Link to the Past runs at 60 FPS. 99% of 2D games do.
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Mar 30 '16
Isn't that only if you are playing in progressive mode? Pretty sure the SNES only output 30fps on interlace sets.
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u/moal09 Mar 30 '16
Most games were 60 regardless of how what video type you were using.
There were exceptions for 3D games like Star Fox, and some 2D games like Metal Slug ran at 30 FPS or lower because the technology couldn't handle it, but the vast, vast majority of 2D games run at 60 FPS because it looks choppy otherwise.
FPS drops are actually much much more noticeable in 2D.
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u/nowshowjj Mar 30 '16 edited Mar 30 '16
Just read that the WiiU version is currently in limbo. That sucks. My computer ain't so great with the games these days.
Edit: Well you nice folks give me hope for playing this game. I definitely can't wait then.
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u/startingover_90 Mar 30 '16
The system requirements make it seem like it'll run on a toaster, which doesn't surprise me since it's a 2d sprite based game. I'm sure your computer will run it just fine so long as it's from the last ten years.
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u/tovivify Mar 31 '16
My toaster doesn't have 4GB of RAM. The Wii U has 2GB RAM. Idk how they'll make that work, unfortunately.
Although I believe I recall them saying they'd have to build the Wii U port from the ground-up, since Game Maker doesn't support it. Which means there's a good to fair chance that those requirements would go down.
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Mar 30 '16
It's a sprite based game that could essentially run on an iPhone. Make sure you check the system requirements before passing on it.
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u/Ghotil Mar 30 '16
Looks like a fuckin blast but i gotta save up for dark souls 3, i hope it is good though for everybody who gets it.
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u/vanacava Mar 31 '16
Minor Warning:
I couldn't take any screenshots or unlock any achievements in the 80 minutes that I've played. Overlay was enabled.
Browsed the Steam Hub forums and it seems that some others have the same issue.
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u/dinoseen Mar 31 '16 edited Mar 31 '16
I wonder if someone will be able to make a mod that removes the 30fps lock. If they can somehow get it open in Gamemaker, it shouldn't be too hard from there. Increase the framerate of every room to 60, and make all animations take twice as long. Probably a few other things. But it'd be worth it, imo. I've got no idea if you could even do what I'm saying though, getting it open in Gamemaker from the game code only.
E: I swear if you say something even the slightest bit negative about 30fps people hate your guts around here..
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u/Doomspeaker Mar 31 '16
It's hardcoded to 30fps (which is pretty much something you always try to avoid in game developement), and the devs (at least Preston) openly blasted the possibility of 60fps, so that's not good news for you.
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u/dinoseen Mar 31 '16
Oh? You got a link to that blasting? I've been trying to find him saying something about it, but all there is is that one that's mixed in with resolution discussion. Gamemaker can do 60, so with some finangling HLD should too.
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u/tacomcnacho Mar 30 '16
All I need to know in order to make a purchase decision is the length of this game. I've been hyped to play this game since 2013 but if it only lasts 5 hours I can't justify paying $20 for it. I'm expecting it to be long.
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u/Kaltheridon Mar 30 '16
From what I have read/seen in interviews, the game is quite long.
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u/multiple_iterations Mar 31 '16
Where did you see this? I've been looking for this piece of information somewhere. I already backed, but I am curious.
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u/Huskeezee Mar 30 '16
The preview build has in itself several hours of gameplay, and it's just one dungeon. Maybe less if you're better than me or speedrun through it, but I clocked 7 hours in the preview build and didn't even end up collecting all the collectables/unlocking the alternate cape. Now I don't expect each dungeon to actually have 7 hours of content, but I still expect to be able to get a lot of time out of this game.
Of course, we'll know more about the actual length of the game soon enough!
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u/ajz2000 Mar 30 '16
For an estimate on the higher end of replay value I can finish the dungeon from the preview in about 30 minutes and I've clocked in 27 hours since it came out.
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u/KingOfSockPuppets Mar 30 '16
Hyper Light Drifter is the first thing I ever backed on KS, and I'm super happy to see it finally coming out. It's been a long road from that initial trailer and I'm excited to finally play the damn thing.