Distance bends and twists the racing genre, bringing it closer to parkour and survival rather than focusing solely on quick laps. With the ability to race on walls and buildings, drive upside down, or even fly, it inspired players to find new routes in increasingly creative ways. The racing isn’t the only unique addition, as an unsettling atmosphere brings a new feel to the genre, and the game’s level creator ensures constant new challenges to those rushing through its mysterious locales.

Gamasutra spoke with Jordan Hemenway creative director at Distance developers Refract, to talk about taking racing in new directions, and building a game with a community over several years.

While we’re certainly inspired by a wide range of other racers and platformers, Distance’s gameplay is the result of eight years of iterative design. It started way back with the inception of our predecessor student game Nitronic Rush. The initial goal was to create a fresh take on 90’s arcade racers. Our team did weekly playtests to continually iterate on gameplay and track designs, and after 17 months we ended up with a neon racer that featured boosting, jumping, rotating, and flying.

Only at the very end of Nitronic Rush’s development did we realize the potential for parkour-style gameplay, despite our physics engine not really being built for it. Going into Distance, that was one of our dreams: to integrate wall and ceiling rides into the core gameplay and see where that takes us. It took quite a while to get it feeling like we wanted, but eventually we found something that worked with the wild track designs we had in mind.

With feedback from Distance’s beta players, we took that gameplay and expanded it as far as we could. Eventually, we even hired three of the most impressive level creators from our level-making community to help finish our main story campaign. Each of them brought a new perspective that I think strongly affected both the gameplay and aesthetic of the final experience.

 

“To get the most out of Early Access I think the biggest trick is understanding how to process the incoming feedback.”

Ignoring gameplay, aesthetics and atmosphere have always been important to us, and we knew they would be an integral part of the final Distance experience. I think our team is fairly unique in that everyone on the dev team has strong passion for aesthetics, so everyone is contributing to the art direction. Specifically, the “Arcade” portion of the game has allowed us to try out all kinds of visual styles and themes. We can go from a cyberpunk city to a desert oasis to a snowy fortress, and that variety makes sense since it keeps you on your toes.

When it comes to the story campaign, we started with a fairly straightforward dystopian sci-fi plot. Over time, I became fascinated with the horror genre and what opportunities it offers, emotionally. That was the motivation for me to write more “psychological horror” elements into the main campaign and see if it’s even possible to conjure up those uncomfortable feelings in a racing game.

Long story short, Distance branching into so many different directions was the result of continual experimentation and doing our best to follow our personal passions. We felt a duty to create something polished and refined, but above all, we wanted to create a personal experience that offered something fresh.

Yeah, it was about six and half years in total. There were a lot of motivating forces to press onward, one of the biggest simply being that we wanted to successfully live up to our Kickstarter promises from 2012. For better or worse, we promised a fairly monstrous final product (at least for our team size), so our work was cut out for us from the start.

Fortunately, we’ve had incredible support from our player community, our families, and our friends. For some reason, they never seemed to question that we would actually reach the end, and knowing that these people were out there rooting for us really makes such a difference. They give excellent feedback with each major update, and several times they’ve let us know if we’re slipping off the mark. It’s hard to imagine making Distance in a vacuum without that outside perspective.

Another massive motivator for me was continually seeing my teammates create incredible stuff. Knowing that they’re still in it, giving it their all and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in Distance, has always been a huge boost for me. Perhaps they made a new art asset or fancy shader that I could now use in my level, or they created a new level to which I could add music or sound effects. I just loved seeing it all come together and being a part of it.

As you can imagine it’s been both challenging and helpful at different times, but overall I’d say for Distance, [player collaboration] was very beneficial. Since this was our first project outside the safety net of academia, it was amazing getting feedback on all of our tweaks and changes, especially from a technical perspective. We went into v1.0 with little fear of releasing a buggy nightmare because we knew thousands of people had been successfully playing a fairly similar build. It’s also been helpful in that we’re getting such a wide array of perspectives, from people who just put in a few minutes to someone who’s put in thousands of hours in the level editor.

 

“Our level editor is probably the ‘feature’ that has surprised me the most. Not only because it’s enabled community creators to create incredibly varied content, but also because it’s so dramatically affected my workflow for the better. Certainly a lesson in the value of powerful tools.”

Of course, there are plenty of negatives to this style of development. Since we decided to keep almost all story content locked away until v1.0, we had to be extra careful not to leak stuff into the public build. We did have a few people decompiling the game to find spoilers, but I’m still a bit shocked that I didn’t accidentally leak something big.

Changing anything major partway through Early Access seems likely to create drama and you pretty much just have to deal with it. Players who are deeply enjoying the current build might have forgotten that it’s supposed to be in an experimental state, and they’ve put in hundreds or thousands of hours into mechanics which might be tweaked or removed. We had a couple of those scenarios come up, which were quite tricky to work through, but in the end we stuck with our gut and made tweaks that improved the experience for us.

To get the most out of Early Access I think the biggest trick is understanding how to process the incoming feedback. I love getting as much feedback as possible on basically everything I release, but I try to make it clear to players that I might not act on any of it. At the start, I do my best to identify my artistic goals with whatever I’m testing and see if the feedback positively or negatively contributes towards them. You obviously want to keep an open mind, but I do find that helps me from getting overwhelmed by the flood of data.

Overall, I think Early Access was quite helpful financially. It allowed us to bring more people on the team, and it’s hard to imagine what Distance would be like without that extra support. There is obviously a time sink involved with handling the storefront and customer support, but those are things we would have to deal with eventually. I don’t think Early Access makes sense for all experiences, but fortunately in our case I’m glad we found a way to make it work.

We were indeed able to build a strong community of players over the years. I think the simple answer to our success is just that we’ve continually invested in our community by listening to and interacting with players as much as possible. We’ve done our best to highlight and support player-run events like Distance Advent Calendar, Speedy Saturday, and several tournaments. We also have been supporting level creators however we feasibly can through our built-in level editor and Steam Workshop support.

I’d say most of our add-ons were well received by Early Access players, but the ones that worked best were probably surprises that we hadn’t previously promised. For example, I added a feature called Boombox Mode which pulsed in-game lights and other visuals to whatever music was playing. I basically just added it for fun because I thought it would be interesting to create, and it really surprised me how many players actively used it.

Another addition that had a rocky start, but was eventually well-received, was our “grip” mechanic. Holding a button allows the car to hug the road, walls, and ceilings by deploying all of the car’s rotational jets at once. At first, some thought it made certain tracks too easy since you could snap to any surface with ease. Over time, however, we started to see community level creators push the mechanic further and create levels that truly required it to complete. Now, it seems to be well received as a primary feature of your car.

Most of our other big add-ons came in the form of level editor features. Early in development, we had a community level creator repurpose various buildings, obstacles, and whatever they could find as building blocks for custom objects. In response, we added simple primitives which allowed creators to much more easily create complex objects from spheres, cubes, cones, etc. Eventually, level creators stretched this about as far as possible, so we revamped the system to optimize it and allow for tons of customization. Combine that with our custom particle and animation systems, the possibilities are kind of wild. Recently, I even saw someone create a 2D platformer playable on a TV within a Distance level. Level creators are constantly blowing us away with clever ways of using these tools.

I’m not massively surprised at how Distance turned out in the end, mostly because the outline for the game was set in place years back. We added plenty of features and tools that I couldn’t have expected at the start, but the overall package is basically what we hoped for. Fortunately, we weren’t forced to question our initial design too much, but if something wasn’t working, we somehow seemed to find a way around it without violating the overarching premise.

Our level editor is probably the “feature” that has surprised me the most. Not only because it’s enabled community creators to create incredibly varied content, but also because it’s so dramatically affected my workflow for the better. Certainly a lesson in the value of powerful tools.

What I’m probably most proud of is that we were able to experiment with atypical emotions in our story campaign. Focusing on atmosphere, mystery, and a sense of uneasiness in the racing genre was incredibly exciting to me, and I think players appreciate seeing new stuff like this brought to the table. I learned a lot about my own personal tastes and passions throughout development, and it was amazing being able to explore them through the process of creating our own narrative.

A thousand games have launched through the ID@Xbox program – hopefully, you’ve picked that up by now. My name’s Glenn and I’ve been doing marketing for the ID@Xbox program almost from day one, so I’ve been around for the launch of all but a couple of these. (And I have the grey hair to prove it. Seriously, I had no grey hair before I started working on ID.)

Other than my impeccable grammar and stunning fashion sense, one thing I pride myself in is playing (nearly) all the ID@Xbox games. So, when we got to the 1,000 game milestone I thought to myself, “Hey, Self, I should write an article celebrating all the amazing, landmark, award-winning games in the ID@Xbox program!” And then I thought: “Meh – that’s exactly what everybody would expect, and ID@Xbox is about embracing all kinds of games – including new, unique and different games – from independent publishers.” And what I enjoy as much as anything else about working on the ID team is finding strange and usual games that you’d never see anywhere else.

So, here we go – some of the most unusual, strangest, and even flat out weird games that you can find on Xbox One, courtesy of the ID@Xbox program.

Anarcute – It’s cute anarchy. Get it? Your goal is to assemble a group of cute animals to take on the evil corporations ruling and ruining the world. As you march through the city wreaking havoc you recruit cute companions to join your cause Mob rule has never been so cute! And man is it cute. They make civil disobedience unbelievably cute. Even the music’s cute!

Goat Simulator – In this paradigm of sublime brilliance from the geniuses at Coffee Stain you play (as you might have guessed) as a goat. And you destroy things. And lick things. And when you lick things your goat tongue sticks to things. And can steal Deadmau5’s head. And jump on trampolines (so many trampolines). And you can morph into a tall goat (giraffe), or fancy goat (penguin), etc. And you earn points for doing things. And I guess there are missions – I don’t know, I was too busy licking things.

Headlander – Don’t lose your head over this one! In this 2D puzzle game with some light combat, you fly around as a head on a jetpack thing and suck off the heads of robots, then stick your head on their bodies, thereby gaining control of each robot’s specific abilities. While the “head sucking” premise alone would earn this game a spot on this list, the groovy sci-fi spin on “Austin Powers” kicks it over the edge – we would expect nothing other than something this unique from our friends at Double Fine, creators of Psychonauts, Broken Age, and others.

Level 22 – You’re late for work and you have to sneak to your desk without being seen by the boss or you’re fired! It’s a stealth game set in the world of work which sounds really simple, but it’s actually a pretty complex puzzle game with the addition of vents to crawl through, doughnuts to distract guards with, newspapers and coffee cups and all manner of office paraphernalia. And some of the achievements in this game are seriously meta. This was one of our earlier ID@Xbox releases and I played this thing into the ground. At work. While I should have been working. Don’t tell the boss!

Maize – I used to live in Iowa and I like corn. There I said it. I’m not sure if that’s why I was drawn to the game or if it was the incredible visuals and beautiful art portraying sentient corn exploring a farm and then a laboratory to unravel the mystery of why sentient corn exists in the first place. And along the way you pick up an obnoxious talking teddy bear robot companion who just simply cannot believe that he’s saddled with being a sidekick to a dumb corn stalk. I mean, can you blame him? If you like adventure games, and corn, and teddy bears, and hysterical writing, and corn, then this is the game for you. And if you don’t like all those things then you really need to put some time aside to reevaluate your life choices.

Roundabout – You’re a limo driver and for some reason your limousine is constantly spinning in circles. Sure, you probably could have stopped to get it fixed at any point – sounds like a transaxle (I have no idea what that means). But you just go with it. With your horribly broken car you pick people up, drop them off and undertake various missions. And it’s all intercut with full motion videos (FMV) of these wacky people you’re picking up being wacky. This one is worth playing for the FMV scenes alone, if not to simply try to find out why somebody would make a game like this.

Thomas Was Alone – Unlike a lot of the other games on this list, Thomas Was Alone isn’t a funny game. It’s a serious game about a group of characters, each with distinctive, well developed personalities and a sophisticated character arc that progresses throughout the story. And they’re blocks. Blocks of different colors and sizes, but basically squares are rectangles. But you really care about those squares and rectangles by the end of the story. You really do. It’s weirdly beautiful.

Soda Drinker Pro – This is the crème-de-la-crème of weird games. This is the Mt. Everest of strangeness. This is the Mona Lisa of bizarre-o land. To describe this game in writing is an affront to the majesty of its absurdity, but with apologies I’ll give it a try. You drink soda. And you’re really good at it. And you drink soda on the beach, in a park, in a city and in various other locations appropriate to the activity of drinking soda. If you have mad skillz you can locate some bonus sodas. Sounds amazing, right? But wait, that’s not the half of it – literally. If you manage to stumble through some texture on one wall in level two you are transported to a completely different game. And that game is… also quite unique. There are some turtles and clocks and… who am I kidding I can’t possible describe it. If you have the chops to be a Soda Drinker – and not an amateur soda drinker – then check it out. (And if you’re from the Midwest and you say “Pop” I guess you’re out of luck.)

And so, that’s my list. There are many, many more strange and weird games that you should check out. Honorable mentions include: I Am Bread, Manual Samuel, Stay, The Magic Circle, Three Fourths Home and so many more. Please, go check out some of the weirdness that the ID@Xbox program delivers!

Given the success of Hollow Knight on the Switch eShop, it made sense for its developer Team Cherry to consider a physical edition in order to continue sales momentum. To make this happen, the talented people behind the title partnered with Skybound Games – a division of Skybound Entertainment – to make this happen.

The announcement was originally made in Variety way back in August, and at the time, the game was planned to be released in Spring 2019. In the latest update, Skybound Games has issued a tweet out of the blue, revealing it is “saddened” to no longer be bringing Hollow Knight to multiple platforms. Here it is in full:

Team Cherry followed up this tweet with its very own blog post explaining exactly why it wouldn’t be going ahead with this release and also mentioned how it would continue to investigate other ways to make a physical version of Hollow Knight a reality:

We’re regretfully announcing the cancellation of physical copies of Hollow Knight and our partnership with Skybound Games.

As a team of 3 people still in intensive production of Hollow Knight, taking the game into the retail space (even with the extensive assistance of Skybound) proved more work than we could reasonably manage.

In future we will investigate other ways to deliver physical versions of Hollow Knight, though likely that will be in smaller quantities.

We’d like to thank Skybound for the amazing opportunity they provided, and for their professionalism and enthusiasm the whole way.

Are you disappointed to hear Skybound won’t be releasing a physical version of Hollow Knight? Did you download a digital copy of this game? Tell us below.

The Armistice Steam Sale fundraiser is back, promoting peaceful gameplay in support of children still affected by war today. This year marks 100 years since the armistice that ended the First World War, so War Child has pulled together a bunch of the best-selling games to mark the occasion that are either non-violent or have been modified as part of this year’s Armistice campaign (Dick Wilde & Prison Architect).

Each game that is part of the sale is donating a % of developer proceeds to War Child UK & its US partner Children in Conflict to raise vital funds for children whose lives have been torn apart by war.

ABZ (505 Games) – Donating 50% of developer proceeds / Discounted by 50%
Broken Sword 5 (Revolution Games) – Donating 50% of developer proceeds / Discounted by 25%
Democracy 3 (Positech) – Donating 100% of developer proceeds / Discounted by 25%
Dick Wilde (PlayStack) – Donating 50% of developer proceeds / Discounted by 50%
Machinarium (Amanita Design) – Donating 60% of developer proceeds / Discounted by 60%
Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club) – Donating 50% of developer proceeds / Discounted by 50%
Prison Architect (Introversion Software) – Donating 50% of developer proceeds / Discounted by 75%
Scanner Sombre (Introversion Software) – Donating 50% of developer proceeds / Discounted by 75%
RiME (Six Foot) – Donating 50% of developer proceeds / Discounted by 50%
The Talos Principle (Devolver Digital) – Donating 50% of developer proceeds / Discounted by 75%
The Room (Fireproof Games) – Donating 100% of developer proceeds / Discounted by 75%

When I think back on a lifetime of giving holidays, I don’t always remember the exact presents or the pattern of the wrapping paper. What I recall clearly, though, is that smile, that laugh of someone unwrapping the perfect gift. For me – and from me – those gifts often had technology at the center, whether it was the latest gaming console I always wanted growing up, the perfect PC for my kids or the sold-out fitness wearable for my wife. Unwrapping a gift of technology always seems to generate a happy dance.

For this holiday season and one of my favorite times of year, I’m looking forward to celebrating with my family and loved ones, and to giving more than just gifts. I’m hoping to share new moments of wonder with others and look back on them fondly, years from now.

This year Microsoft Store and our partners have some great options to give wonder with Black Friday deals for today’s digital lifestyle – from Xbox One bundles to the Surface family and Windows 10 PCs. Select deals will be available across regions, and pricing and timing may vary. Check out the full list of savings here.

Save up to $330 on Surface

Give inspiration with a new Surface this holiday and see, feel and hear the difference. Imagine what they’ll create with the Surface family: the better than ever, ultra-light Surface Pro 6 delivers even more speed and performance, the Surface Laptop is the ultimate in power and design, while the small, strong Surface Go is always adventure-ready.

Save up to $100 on Xbox One, Get Xbox Game Pass for $1

Give thrills this season for the gamer on your list with Xbox’s biggest Black Friday sale ever. With deals on Xbox consoles, accessories, Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold and must-have games, including the lowest price ever for Xbox One X at $399.99, there’s something for everyone.

Save Up to $740 on Windows 10 PCs

Give possibility with a Windows 10 PC and bring home gifts for work and play. Devices powered by Windows 10 provide you with all the latest features, and help you make the most of your time across work, home and anywhere in between.

• Nov. 10-30: Get $120 off the MSI GL63 8RE-629 NewEgg.com and save up to $100 off the MSI GV62 8RD-200 on Amazon.com
• Nov. 18-26: Get $400 off when you purchase the Odyssey Z ($1799.99) and the HMD Odyssey+ ($499.99) together on Samsung.com for just $1,899.99
• Nov. 18-30: Save $150 on the Huawei Matebook X Pro at the Microsoft Store and get $30 off the Huawei MateBook D 14 on Amazon.com
• Nov. 22-24: Get $200 off the Acer Nitro 5 Nov. 21-26 at BestBuy.com
• Nov. 22-30: Buy a Dell Inspiron 15for $499, save $200
• Nov 22-Dec.1: Save up to $100 on the Asus ZenBook 13 (UX331) at Amazon.com and get the Asus VivoBook Flip 14 (TP412) for only $399 at Walmart.com.
• Starting Nov. 22: Don’t miss great Black Friday deals from HP.com where you can save up to $740 on select ENVY, Pavilion, OMEN and Spectre PCs
• Starting Nov. 23: Buy the Lenovo X1 Carbon for just $899.99 while supplies last

Additional Black Friday deals include: 

Microsoft Store, whether shopping online, in a physical store, or through an Xbox or Windows 10 device, is the best destination for your holiday shopping. From getting tech recommendations from store associates, finding a standout gift at any price, trying out the latest devices, picking up a purchase you made online, or getting free shipping and returns for online purchases – Microsoft Store has you covered. Happy shopping!

*Select deals are available across markets. Timing and prices may vary by region. Visit your Microsoft Store location or online for more details on availability and pricing. 

Offers valid for a limited time, while supplies last. Not valid on prior orders or purchases; cannot be transferred or otherwise redeemed for cash or coupon code(s). May not be combinable with other offers. Refunds will take into account the discount. Price discount does not include taxes, shipping or other fees. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Microsoft reserves the right to modify or discontinue offers at any time. Other exclusions and limits may apply.

Updated November 10, 2018 3:28 pm

Earlier in the year we (finally) reviewed Carrier Battles 4 Quadacanal, a rare ‘serious’ iOS wargame that throws players into tWW2’s Pacific theatre, with gameplay and an aesthetic reminiscent of classic hex-and-counter wargames.

It’s a game that’s gone from strength to strength since releasing in 2016, and it recently went ‘Universal’ by being made available on iPhones. Now the game is making another big leap – Android!

Technically, it’s main focus is the jump to PC, but Carrier Battles latest Kickstarter seems to want to offer a wholly revamped experience across all platforms – PC, Android AND iOS. It’s going to have an improved AI, a new snazzy looking map, and you’ll even be able to play a Japanese campaign.

There will also be plenty of new scenarios plucked from the Pacific Theatre between 1941 – 44, including Wake Island and a new ‘What if’ campaign in the Hebrides.

We suggest checking out the Kickstarter page in full if you’re interested in supporting the game, and there’s also our review. At the time of writing, the project was at £4,300 out of a goal of £17,500, with 32 days to go.