Molding Breakers: An Inside Look At Hyper Light Breaker

Alx Preston corrects an important fact about Hyper Light Breaker early in our interview. I’d spent the first few minutes referring to it as a sequel, but he clarifies, “It’s not Hyper Light Drifter 2. It’s a follow-up, meaning that it’s an installment in the franchise of Hyper Light. So it’s a different game, different protagonists, different gameplay.” The distinction becomes more logical after learning about and seeing the game. It was inaccurate for me to refer to it as a “sequel” given how the two games are so different.

Breaker is an action-packed 3D Rogue-lite that puts a lot of emphasis on the multiplayer aspect. The Overgrowth is an area where players can explore, gather weapons, gear and battle monsters. Breaker, unlike the first Hyper Light, which had a predetermined protagonist, allows you to customize your own warrior. These are called Breakers. It’s a completely new direction – one the team is clearly excited about.

Preston, a creative person who likes new ideas says: “I’m the kind of person that is always looking for something different.” Preston says, “I would get bored if I just made sequels after sequels of the same things with small differences.” He expresses admiration for Image & Form, the developer behind the SteamWorld games, a series where each new entry is wildly different yet undeniably part of the same franchise. He says, “I don’t think it is any different for us.” In that we think of what it is to be in a world called Hyper Light.

The Ambitious Way

Heart Machine’s Hyper Light Breaker is a familiar game, but it has been re-imagined to feel new. After learning how to build 3D environments for Solar Ash, the team decided to take things a step further and create the Overgrowth: an open world that’s different every run.

Preston describes the design process as long and difficult. It’s essentially designing using math. Even though the world is procedurally generated, Heart Machine didn’t want it to feel that way. We’re making sure there are still good sightlines and the 3D environment feels great to explore. There are still hidden items, enemies, objects, and other things to find. It feels more handmade. That was the goal. Can you get good level design in a procedural world? “You can. It just takes some effort.”

The Overgrowth began as a set of separate biomes, organized stage by stage. However, midway through development, the Overgrowth team realized that it was possible to merge all the different stages together. The “Pangea Shift” is a new level-design approach that simultaneously opens up more opportunities and reduces the amount of work required for separate stages. Biomes still exist, but now they’re interconnected in ways that weren’t previously possible.

Preston says, “I believe we have done something special.” It’s just one element of the many that make it unique. It’s one of its unique elements.

Build a Breaker

To explore this varied world, you’ll need to create and customize your Breaker. Preston clarifies that the character creation process isn’t “in-depth”, but you’ll be able to pick a species and style the character how you like. Players will also be able to customize a loadout that fits their specific tastes; the gun and sword from Drifter return, but they’re one part of a much wider array of weapons to pick and choose from. Preston explains, “It is fast and high-energy.” “But at the same time, we have a lot more detail and depth to our combat systems than we’ve ever had before.”

You’ll have to pick your weapons carefully since you’ll be battling your way through the Overgrowth. Your character’s main goal is to defeat big bosses known as Crowns, with the ultimate goal of defeating the Drift King, the main source of evil in this world. But to reach any of these powerful foes, you’ll have to find and activate beacons guarded by mini-bosses. Preston said that the mini bosses were “still very dangerous, and they will be more random throughout all runs.”

Heart Machine showed us one of the bosses, The Last Master. The resurrected, dead Breaker has a similar look to the player character, but is noticeably taller.

“[The Last Master is]Preston is of the opinion that the game character is reflected in many ways. They’ll use a similar arsenal and loads of weapons as you but tailored and specific to the theme. The mini bosses can dash, jump and climb just as the players do. If you run away from them they will follow. They’re designed to be as scary as they are deadly.

Preston, after ruminating for a few moments on roguelikes says: “It is really interesting to sort of teach players via death.” With single-player or games without this kind of structure you are usually trying to save players, or provide some sort of escape. But with roguelikes, you’re kind of intentionally trying to kill the player in a lot of ways because you have that advantage of like, ‘Hey, runs are runs, and you’re gonna go back and inevitably have more runs.'”

That said, don’t expect Dark Souls-level difficulty from this game. Preston says, “I’m not sure we’ll ever make a game that’s easy, but I wouldn’t call our games super-hardcore.” We want accessibility as well as challenge.

Create A Community

Preston and the team aren’t just excited to make a rogue-lite because of the combat. Heart Machine is eager to work on Solar Ash “out in public” after years spent mostly secretly. Heart Machine can put its game on early access with a roguelite framework, engage more closely with the community and improve the product. Preston says the genre makes it “more accessible and offers a great deal of replayability.” It’s not a game you’ll play through once and put down; ideally, players can get together with a group of friends to play regularly.

As we talk, I’m struck by the importance of community. I ask Preston if it’s a response to the isolation the world dealt with at the start of the pandemic, but he shakes his head and says, “Not at all. This is stuff I’ve been thinking about forever.” The idea reminds him back of Glitch City. He was one of the founding members of this collective in 2013. At Glitch City, developers don’t necessarily work on the same projects, but it provides a space for them to coexist while working on individual projects. It’s within this atmosphere that Hyper Light Drifter was created.

Preston now says that community will be an important concept in Heart Machine’s future. The multiplayer features of Hyper Light Breaker is a great example. The game is playable with co-op enabled from start to finish, with multiplayer elements built into the game’s foundation. When I ask about the game’s inspirations, I expected Preston to list off a bunch of indie roguelikes, but he also brings up more social games like Destiny 2 and Phantasy Star Online.

“I think there’s a lot of sentiment lately that video games are like modern golf or other ways to just hang out,” he says. “The hope is that there’ll be some element here that feels like you’re hanging out with friends.”

Hyper Light Breaker is entering Early Access the following year. Preston has several answers to my question about what success looks like. Both responses are standard: He wants the lights to stay on and to earn enough money to continue making games. In the end, however, he offers one last marker of success. This one seems to reflect the core values and ethos behind the game.

I think [the game will be successful]If it is a hit and attracts an audience that’s not just Drifter core fans, then the game will be successful. Preston says that the game brings new players and connects friends with strangers to have fun online. Preston concludes, “If players are having a lot of fun, then that is an excellent indicator for the game’s success.”