The good folks at ICXM‘s TIC Podcast recently got the chance to speak to Alex Preston of Heart Machine. The ensuing discussion got right to the heart of why everyone’s excited for Hyper Light Drifter, Preston’s retro-styled action RPG.
But Preston also delivered some bad news. Because of the game’s ambitious scope (backers obliterated Hyper Light Drifter’s $27,000 Kickstarter goal with $645,158 in pledges), it may not make it out in 2015 as originally planned. According to the interview, Preston still wants to release the PC version this year, but the console launch of Hyper Light Drifter will likely be pushed into 2016:
TIC Team: With so many games releasing this year, we know it can be hard to find a perfect time to release.
Alex Preston: We have not yet announced the release date. We have only said 2015 for PC first. Consoles take some time so, for example, Xbox One has a certification process that you have to go through. There are hundreds of things on that list you have to make sure are good to go on that system. It takes time. We’re a small team to do that. We want to get it out the door on PC first and we will give ourselves the correct amount of time after. Sometimes it takes months, sometimes it takes much longer depending on the certification process. It’s all about getting it on the platform as quickly as we can, but doing it the right way. That stuff can be really intense and expensive.
TIC Team: It sounds like we will see it on the Xbox One in 2016.
Alex Preston: It’s possible. We’re trying to get it all out as quickly as possible. We can’t rush the certification process. We don’t want to release a broken game. We don’t want to release a bad game. We’ll take the time that we need to. Those are the realities of it and those are the goals.
After its PC release, Hyper Light Drifter will ultimately be released for the PS4, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One. However long the game’s development takes, it’ll probably be worth it. A closed beta was held last year for Kickstarter backers and we loved it.
