It also involved growing Heart Machine from its core team of five during Hyper Light Drifter to around 25 people. The leap from 2D to 3D required a radical transition, not the least of which was learning Unreal Engine. "My goal is ultimately to create worlds that you can get lost in, and 3D is the best way to do that long-term." "I felt like we'd done what we wanted to do in 2D," he says. It's more than a change in perspective or genre - for one thing, Solar Ash is more focused on exploration and traversal than Drifter's combat - but a far more ambitious and technically challenging undertaking, and that change in direction was an obvious progression for Preston. While his next game is said to be set in the same universe, it couldn't be more different: Solar Ash is a 3D open world action platformer that takes more inspiration from the traversal of Super Mario 64 and Jet Set Radio, while its colossal bosses that inhabit the world conjure comparisons with Shadow of the Colossus.
The developer's acclaimed title Hyper Light Drifter was a 2D top-down action RPG reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past with a vibrant pixelated aesthetic. Heart Machine founder Alx Preston, however, wasn't going to stay in his comfort zone. It's not just because there's now a proven audience but the developer also has an opportunity to expand, improve, or refine a successful formula. Given the difficulties of shipping any game, when a developer lands on a hit, it's natural to want to follow up in the same style or genre if not an outright sequel. Game development is often about iteration as much as innovation.
0 kommentar(er)
