Play
00:00
00:00

Explore a beautiful, vast and ruined world riddled with unknown dangers and lost technologies. Inspired by nightmares and dreams alike.

Drifters of this world are the collectors of forgotten knowledge, lost technologies and broken histories. Our Drifter is haunted by an insatiable illness, traveling further into the lands of Buried Time, steeped in blood and treasure hoping to discover a way to quiet the vicious disease. Echoes of a dark and violent past from the dead eras resonate throughout and he can't help but listen.

Hyper Light Drifter is a 2D Action RPG in the vein of the best 8-bit and 16-bit classics, with modernized mechanics and designs on a much grander scale.

Visions for this game have been fluttering in my skull for ages; something dark and fantastic, with giant forests to navigate, huge floating structures to explore, deep crumbling ruins to loot, massive throngs of enemies to rend, and behemoths both flesh and mechanical to overcome. I want it all to be as beautiful as possible, forging color with the dark and eerie wastes and intimidating landscapes. It plays like the best parts of A Link to the Past and Diablo, evolved: lightning fast combat, more mobility, an array of tactical options, more numerous and intelligent enemies, and a larger world with a twisted past to do it all in.

  • Rip through enemies with responsive, fun combat; engaging and brutal. Upgrade weapons, discover new equipment and trek deeper than ever.

  • Traverse a dark, detailed and interconnected world with alternate paths and secret loot. Miyazaki films have taught me that beautiful animation and design add life to a world. From characters to background elements, everything is lovingly crafted while I hum show-tunes and squint suspiciously at the flickering pixels until they perform as intended.

  • A challenge - The game is accessible and easy to pick up, but difficult to master and complete; enemies and hazards become more vicious and numerous, so players must use clever tactics to avoid death. (Some yell hurtful phrases at players simply to bring tears to the cereal bowl below.)

Core Mechanics

  • Primary weapon - Composed of phase shifted Hard Light (also known as Solid Light), your sword acts as the primary means of offense; it's quick, brutal, and can slash through most anything. Best of all it never runs low on energy.
  • Sprite Companion - An indispensable personalized drone, the Sprite manages your inventory virtually, maintains your shields, seeks out hidden paths and lights the way in the darkest of times. Functionality may be expanded with new modules.
  • Secondary items - You'll come across a variety of advanced weaponry, items and gear throughout your travels; Light Rail Pistols, Heavy Rifles, various hi-power explosives and enemy-aware Seeker Drones. All of these are powered by limited batteries, found scattered throughout the world. 
  • Defense System - A rechargeable Hard Light Diamond shield which offers total protection from attacks for a short burst of time. If timed correctly projectiles can be reflected back at enemies for extra damage. Can be upgraded to extend duration.
  • Dash Module - Multi-use gear that enables a triple speed dash; can be used to evade attacks, cut across gaps and chasms, break through certain blocks and rubble and even stun enemies.

Rifle

Roly Poly

Boss Reveals

Name: Rivan The Tamer

Attributes: User of searing RedShift light, causing great destruction when attacking. His companion beast adds to his already fierce tactics.

Domain: The Deep Red Keep, roaming the Barren Halls.

Stretch Goals

Notes on $160,000 Goal:

I want this game to shine. I want to fully indulge this vision, so I will use the funds to further the quality of the game rather than bolster any after-thoughts.

On $180,000 Goal:

There are so many great artists, illustrators, writers, wonderfully creative people that I'm surrounded by and I want them in on this! I plan to commission small pieces of art to flesh out the world; they can create new character that live in this world, write new lore, and punch out some rad art, all within the limitations of the history and style of this world. All work will be collected in the Companion Art Book and their pieces featured on our site once they start producing!

On $200,000 Goal:

The Companion Art Book is a physical compendium of knowledge and reference materials, high res unused art assets and never before seen art works for the project. It will also include commissioned pieces and extended lore for the world and characters within created by several artists throughout the community as well as a collection of some of the fan art that has been and continues to be posted. (Love it all!) this will be available for purchase after the campaign has ended, once everything has been commissioned and compiled. 

Notes on PS4 + Vita support

REVISION! I'd like for everyone to be able to get the version they want. If you have already contributed at the $10 tier, simply pledge an additional $5 and I'll compose a survey after the campaign is over to determine which version you would like a key for. Cross-buy is undetermined for right now. If you have already contributed at $15 or more, you will be given the choice of PC, Linux, Mac, PS4 or Vita. That's as simple as I can make it for now!

The game is in a prototype phase, planned initially for PC, though I would love to expand to other platforms. 

Having worked with Beau Blyth of Samurai Gunn fame on the programming side, the framework for the game is in place - remaining mechanics and the body of the game will slot nicely into current systems. All will be refined until it feels sleek, satisfying and fun. 

The venerable and talented Disasterpeace (Rich Vreeland) has been gracious enough to jump on board to compose the soundtrack!

The bigger task ahead is asset generation; enemy sprites (which use dozens of frames of hand drawn art, including the major Boss encounters), new level designs (plus fancy lighting!), and sound design.

If I reach the $64,000 stretch goal, I will be able to hire a secondary animator/designer which will allow more time to sink into expanding the world.

The $75,000 goal will allow for an even deeper soundtrack with bonus tracks plus a SFX pro.

I have planned for a potential release date in mid 2014, with beta access at least two months prior, allowing time to tweak and bug-fix and adjust according to player feedback. A more solid schedule will become apparent for backers once resources have been assessed.

This project has rapidly evolved into a much larger world and story and needs the help of the community in order for it to thrive.

Completing this game by mid 2014 requires focus and time; the initial goal will afford me these two (current) luxuries.The higher stretch goals will allow a fully realized version.

  • Paying outside help - This is a passion project for me, but other friends and professionals (such as Beau and Rich) need to be compensated for their tremendous talents. Having a sound effects producer/musical talent as well as an animator to assist would lighten the workload considerably and allow me to concentrate on the overall structure and scope of the game, as well as fine tuning all of the time consuming little things.
  • Company and operation costs - In order to begin selling through any platform I'll need to establish Heart Machine as a full game company, which takes a fair chunk of money and time, plus licensing, living costs and bills factor in.
  • Improving and fixing - Getting testers, implementing community feedback, using every ounce of my soul to produce a game I've been dreaming of for decades.

Access to the Game 

I'm currently researching distribution methods. I'm striving for a release on Steam as well.

The closed Beta will surely hold some valuable insight, and in order to implement that knowledge delays may happen. I will do my best to keep Backers informed of progress on all fronts.

Concepts

Alex Preston (Heart Machine) -alxpreston.com, @HeartMachineZ

Lead Designer + Animator + Secondary Programming

I've been an illustrator and designer for a good long while now. Developing games has been a passion of mine since I was a child, though I've never had the courage and support until now to actually release something into the wild. Spread your neon wings you sweet pixelated bastard!

Beau Blyth (Teknopants) -teknopants.com, @Teknopants

Lead Programmer + Tremendous Hair

Developed loads of rad fast-paced arcade style games including the upcoming super bad-ass Samurai Gunn. A master of many disciplines and the man helping me code this beastly project. A massive thanks and unending high fives/hugs/punches go his way. Also payment.

Rich Vreeland (Disasterpeace) - disasterpeace.com/, @Disasterpeace

Musical Score + Piercing Eyes

This chip-blasting machine of a man has produced tons of fantastic game albums, most notably Fez. (Which completely wrecked my mind for a solid year.) I've been lucky enough to get him aboard on this project to develop the soundtrack; you know he'll deliver something special.

Will Wiesenfeld (Baths)- bathsmusic.com, @BATHSmusic

Contributor + Super Fantastic Beat-dropper

A supreme talent and fine craftsman of music and smiles, also known as the one-man pound-storm of deep beats and carnal wailing that is Baths, has produced the trailer track. I hope to pay the fellow to produce another track once the project is funded.

The Game

All copies sent to Backers are DRM-free, and will be sent out upon release 2014. Planned platforms are Windows, Linux and Mac OSX and now PS4 and Vita. Pushing for a Steam release ASAP with Greenlight in the works (soon!), so users will hopefully be able to choose which distribution method and platform they prefer. Everyone in the $10 tier will get the PC/Mac/Linux game on release, $15 and above will net you an option for PS4 or Vita, and the $25 tier receives a Kickstarter exclusive version of the game with bonus side quest.

Instruction Booklet

A nifty little booklet to bring you back to the days when manuals meant something; revealing a little known move, a secret passage, or simply bolstering the story and context of the world outside of the game. This particular Instruction Book will include all of those items and more, with illustrations to accompany important sections.

Companion Book (Art and Stories)

This beauty will contain tons of concept illustrations, sprites, sketches, notes on characters and the world, plus revealing knowledge of the finer details of this realm. This process has already generated a lot of assets that won't be used in game, so I'd like to provide a look behind-the-scenes of a project like this. Plus silly drawings of cat creatures and Pork-Peoples will be stuffed into the pages for pure entertainment purposes. Much mocking of lowly creatures shall be had!

Original Soundtrack

The master Rich Vreeland (Disasterpeace) will be composing the eerie OST for this game! I'm jazz-handin' all around this room with excitement at this very moment, nearly unable to continue typing! The full OST will be included in digital form at the $40 Tier with bonus tracks. Boom!

Alternate Drifter

Receive a Kickstarter-only alternative main playable character to destroy and explore with. He might have a variant weapon, glowing eyes, and sinister intentions.

Resplendent Print

A 18x24 archival quality print of the main character posing in a fantastic manner (probably with creature parts flying about) will be yours to man-handle or gently place in a frame. Hand signed and numbered, with a lovely thank you note on the rear to haunt you in your sleep.

Immortal sprite

Your name will be translated to the in-game rune system, thus immortalizing your very being into this world beyond. These symbols will be used in special locations. Real names only, please. (No, Crack McButtson is not a real name.)

Design a dastardly enemy

Put your skills to use and help design the look, behavior, name and location a new enemy will appear. This is no fools errand; you'll be creating (digital) life itself, and thus comes the responsibility to nurture the sad heap until it's of age to brutalize Drifters every moment it can.

Design a mid-boss creature

Have you always wanted an angry spider to lob shells at you? Well we can help bring your vision to life! Together we will build an entire mid-boss encounter, with behavior patterns, chamber layout, the look of the creature and it's rewards. As above, choose attributes wisely.

T-Shirt Special

The $60 tier will net you a snazzy design from Casey Hunt in small, medium, large or XL. This will be available to purchase sometime after the Kickstarter as well, so those who have already donated won't be left without something to wear.

Party in the city

You'll join us (a bunch of goofy independent developers) for a wrap party evening of hangabouts, Smash Brothers (plus other multi-player games) and general raging at Glitch City, the Culver City Indie game space. You'll also receive a hand-signed print, a few high fives, and some great big smiles. Your name will be listed in the credits under the Major Thank-You section. 

Risks and challenges Learn about accountability on Kickstarter

After months of planning and writing and drawing and programming the vision for the project became vivid and succinct. That was the biggest hurdle to overcome. The second was exposing this to the public eye, as that can be a terrifying prospect; and here it is.

Creative endeavors like this are difficult and often unwieldy beasts with many mouths to feed and razor-tipped claws to bind. I've written and planned as much as I possibly could up to this point, and with the framework in place I have the bulk of the more difficult obstacles conquered. Issues will come, as they always do in any long-term project, but I feel thoroughly prepared; I have the proper tools and skills and a large support network through our shared community space Glitch City which is bursting at the seams with excellent developers with vast wells of knowledge and years of experience prototyping, building, and releasing games. I feel incredibly lucky to be tapped into this community and to have such reliable friends willing to lend a hand with resources I may need in the future to complete this game.

I've done what I can to get this far through some rather extreme health struggles, and I don't plan to stop. Heart and soul have been etched into this project and I hope it shines through. Stay with me, all will be well in the end.

FAQ

Ask a question
9,266
Backers
$216,569
pledged of $27,000 goal
 
 

Funding period
Sep 12, 2013 - Oct 12, 2013 (30 days)

Hm_icon.medium

See full bio