Alex Preston underestimated things a little. His game, Hyper Light Drifter, was put on Kickstarter with a $27,000 goal; within 24 hours it had made four times that number, and after two weeks, ten times the modest sum he needed to finish the game. The slew of stretch goals reached will add a cooperative campaign, extra bosses, an extended intro cinematic and – having passed the $220,000 mark – PS4 and Vita ports of the art-driven action-RPG.
“It seems like the world I’ve crafted thus far has resonated with people in a bigger way than I had anticipated,” says the artist. “I think besides the visual hooks and hinted world, people enjoy the concepts behind it; there’s a deep love for action-RPGs and for grand adventures in general.”
But the real sell is that visual hook: pixel art so beautiful that you yearn to see it brought to life. “I’ve been designing games for myself and friends since I was a child,” Preston says. “I have no public exposure or studio track record. I’m fresh to this side of it all, which is kind of a beautiful thing for me.”
Samurai Gunn’s Beau Blyth is handling programming duties, while Disasterpeace (Fez) will compose the soundtrack. Preston is sticking to what he knows: art and game design.
“It’s a conjunction of fantasies, dreams, designs and childhood influences that have swirled around and meshed together, formed into something dark and moving with strikes of light.”
“I’m influenced by Secret Of Mana, Zelda, Final Fantasy VI, Journey, Fez, Spelunky and Super Smash Bros; by Akira, [Neon Genesis] Evangelion and anything from Miyazaki; classic Disney with its excellent use of colour and composition; and Pixar for its profound ability to tell a moving story without saying a word.”
“Hyper Light Drifter has only been in development at a code level for six months, but conceptually? For most of my life.”
The post Light sourced: Pixel-art RPG Hyper Light Drifter explodes on Kickstarter appeared first on Edge Online.
Source http://www.edge-online.com/features/hyper-light-drifter/
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