Terry Cavanagh
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Joystiq Top 10 of 2012: Super Hexagon
Super Hexagon is about an insignificant speck squeezing through gaps in a concentric, never-ending sequence of ever-shrinking shapes. In other words, Super Hexagon is about:1. Escaping debt in a constrictive economy2. Escaping a prison made of lasers3. The inevitability of death and the hope of reincarnation4. Resilience in the face of constant adversity5. Maintaining individuality in an increasingly homogenous society6. Being in a relationship with a control freak6. Slipping past tourists who are walking too goddamn slowly6. Recognizing Satan's insidious grip on your soul7. Dodging awkward hugs8. Fitting through a coffee shop's door before it closes so you don't have to touch it9. Wearing multiple corsets at once10. Trying to reach a human being on FedEx's customer support line
Super Hexagon now out on Steam
Game developer Terry Cavanagh's great Super Hexagon has been tearing it up on iOS -- and your eyes have probably been tearing up if you've played it for any length of time, because it's both crazy and crazy hard. But it's also very fun, and now the game has made its way over to Steam, available for purchase on both Mac and PC. Now you can play the overwhelmingly frantic game (with those soothing female tones guiding you) on a big-screen monitor. Actually, maybe that's not such a good idea -- just thinking about seeing Super Hexagon's trippy graphics blown up that big makes our heads spin a little bit. Then again, there are certainly gamers out there who enjoy that kind of thing. At any rate, play at your own risk. Super Hexagon on Steam is on sale for US$3, which puts it right in line with the $2.99 price on iOS.
PSA: Super Hexagon on Steam today
In case the mobile version of Super Hexagon has left you with a criminally short attention span, we'd like to remind everyone that the PC and Mac version of Terry Cavanagh's brutally challenging game is now available on Steam.It's currently on sale for two measly dollars, a full dollar off the usual price of three measly dollars. Or, if you really hate your friends, you can snag a two-pack for $3.34, saving a buck and change on the usual price of $4.99.
Super Hexagon spins onto Steam next week
Super Hexagon is coming to Steam for PC and Mac on Tuesday, November 27, for $3 (with the potential for a discount at launch). That's the same price as the iOS version that we are extremely fond of, even though it's "an overwhelming experience – for a few seconds at a time."Super Hexagon prides itself on creating a challenge, with death generally a given after seconds of play, rather than minutes or hours – unless, of course, you're developer Terry Cavanagh, who can calmly complete his own game on the "Hexagonest" mode, in front of a room full of people. Like a wizard."I'm sorry this has taken so long," Cavanagh writes on his Steam announcement. "I appreciate your patience with me! I wanted to launch much sooner than this, but ultimately I just wasn't happy with the performance of the flash version." Cavanagh rewrote the entire game in C++, meaning the Steam version runs at a higher resolution than the iOS version, and it's "fast and silky smooth on every machine I've been able to get my hands on – a very important thing for a game like this."Super Hexagon on Steam won't support gamepads at the outset, though Cavanagh hopes to add that after launch, along with a Linux version once Steam Linux goes public. As Cavanagh says, "See you on the leaderboards!"
Super Hexagon cloned on PC, Cavanagh is pretty all right with it
Open Hexagon freely states that it is a clone of Terry Cavanagh's iOS mind-melter Super Hexagon, but on PC. The developer of Open Hexagon, Vittorio Romeo, says that he secured permission from Cavanagh to make a game inspired by Super Hexagon, and Cavanagh says he's "basically all right with it." He'd probably be totally all right with it if Romeo hadn't beaten him to a PC launch."I'm a little upset that he released it before I had a chance to release Super Hexagon on PC myself," Cavanagh tweets. But, overall, he says Open Hexagon is "not bad at all – the harder octagon stage was pretty cool. I also like the death effect."So, no harm, no foul. Cavanagh even posted Open Hexagon on his Free Indie Games blog, writing, "This is probably the closest I'll ever come to posting my own games on this site." Besides, Open Hexagon is free for PC. Check it out right here, or play Super Hexagon for $3 on iOS (or regular Hexagon for free).Cavanagh is "working flat out" to get Super Hexagon on PC and Mac soon, and those versions are almost done, he says.
Cavanagh's Don't Look Back now on iOS & Android, VVVVVV may follow
Terry Cavanagh is considering bringing VVVVVV to iOS and Android, after releasing his short 2009 game Don't Look Back for free on the App Store and Google Play today. The Super Hexagon creator posted on his blog revealing he saw the Don't Look Back port as a "trial run" for VVVVVV. While Cavanagh isn't promising an iOS and Android port, it's certainly a distinct possibility. Although Cavanagh tells Joystiq "it may not happen this year." So don't go pinning all your hopes on finding the iPad version of VVVVVV under your Christmas tree (especially since it'll be digital and your tree's probably physical).Cavanagh's chiptune-stuffed 2D platformer arrived on PC back in 2010, and then made the jump to 3DS last year. It didn't, however, use the console's touch screen controls. This may explain why Cavanagh wanted to try porting Don't Look Back first, a 2D platformer which he gave on-screen buttons to on iOS. As Cavanagh puts it, it's a "pretty simple port" of a game which is a bit rough around the edges. It's unlikely to be indicative of how VVVVVV would run on iOS, especially given how sado-nefariously intricate Super Hexagon is.
Terry Cavanagh goes inside Super Hexagon
Terry Cavanagh began his panel at Fantastic Arcade by playing his game, Super Hexagon, live on stage. Above, he easily gets through the "Hexagonest" mode, which is the hardest mode available from the start, and shows us one of the endings. It's inspiring.After that, he played through the absolute hardest level in the game, in order to show the attending fans the true ending. I didn't realize Super Hexagon had an ending, much less multiple ones. But now I and a small group in Austin have seen it. "Congratulations," he told us all. "Now there's a much larger percentage of people who have seen this ending." To see it yourself, you'll just have to practice.%Gallery-164642%
Super Hexagon has sold approximately 45,000 copies
Super Hexagon creator Terry Cavanagh estimates about 45,000 downloads to date for his iOS action game since its September 6 release."I still haven't really processed it yet," Cavanagh told me at Fantastic Arcade. "It is such a hard game, and such a niche thing. I didn't expect it to get the reaction it's gotten. I thought it would be cool if I made enough sales to pay for the phone I bought, it would be cool. I didn't see it doing what it's done. It's up to like 45,000 sold so far."Cavanagh admitted that "Zynga would be disappointed with those numbers. But me as an individual, I'm ecstatic. That's enough for me to live on. That's several years."The launch of Super Hexagon has even eclipsed that of his hit gravity action game VVVVVV. "If you actually look at the launch of VVVVVV and the launch of Super Hexagon," he said, "Super Hexagon's bigger. Way bigger. The launch of VVVVVV was like an unprecedented event that I thought I'd never experience in my life again. I'm really, really happy with the game's reception and its sales." I'll have more from my interview with Cavanagh soon, focusing on the design of Super Hexagon.
Super Hexagon sells 10K on iOS, ask Terry Cavanagh anything
Super Hexagon has sold "about 10,000 copies in three days and has been in the top 25 on the iPhone charts," developer Terry Cavanagh says on Reddit, where he's currently hosting an Ask Me Anything thread. Personally, we find Super Hexagon to be "beyond ideal for the mobile format," so its success isn't a huge surprise.Cavanagh is looking to make Android, PC and Mac ports of Super Hexagon, and maybe even one for Blackberry Playbook, since a friend of his has one of those. Sales on iOS have been "way beyond expectations" so far."I didn't see that coming at all – I'd really gone into this expecting the game to be a super niche thing that only a tiny handful of iPhone gamers would be interested in, and I'm really glad to be proven wrong," Cavanagh writes.In other news, Cavanagh is interested in board games and has built two, "but neither are very good yet." To learn more about this, Cavanagh's take on Steam Greenlight, or to ask your own question, hit up his Reddit AMA post.
PSA: Terry Cavanagh's Super Hexagon out on App Store
Super Hexagon, the updated iOS version of Terry Cavanagh's psychedelic, pixelated musical-maze masterpiece of a flash game, Hexagon, is now available on the App Store. As in the original, players must navigate a series of concentric shapes by pivoting a cursor around a central point as said shapes grow and evolve toward the center.Additionally, chiptune artist Chipzel returns to lend new jams to the iOS version, which also happens to be an iPhone/iPad compatible Universal app. It should be noted that the game's $0.99 price tag is a special 66-percent off introductory price, so if impossibly difficult musical frustration is your bag, baby, strike while the iron is hot.%Gallery-164642%
VVVVVV creator's 'Super Hexagon' spins off on iOS next week
Hexagon, Terry Cavanagh's game of navigating infinitely spinning maze tunnels for as many seconds as you can handle, is, uh, something you should really play instead of trying to understand our description.And you'll be able to play the updated iPhone version, Super Hexagon, as soon as next week. "I'm hoping to release it in a week, on Thursday the 6th of September, as a universal app for iPhone and iPad," Cavanagh announced. The iOS release will be on sale for a buck for the first week "or so," and will settle at $2.99 afterward. "Although I'm focusing on the iPhone version for the moment," Cavanagh notes, "I'm definitely going to put it out on other platforms later. PC/MAC at the very least, and Android is a possibility too!"
VVVVVV hits European eShop on May 10
Terry Cavanagh's 2D excursion into the world of gravity control and chiptune excellence, VVVVVV, finally has a release date for its long-belated debut on the European eShop: May 10. The announcement comes to us via Twitter, where publisher Nicalis revealed that VVVVVV has passed Nintendo of Europe's certification process – implying immediately afterwards that the game will hit virtual store shelves on "MMMMMMay 10th."VVVVVV's European eShop debut will take place a little over two years after the game's original release in January of 2010, and while that may sound like a long time, fake scientific studies have shown that it takes at least four and a half years to get the game's phenomenal soundtrack out of your head. So, comparatively, the delay isn't really all that bad.
Free Indie Games does what it says it will, offers online and downloadable titles
It's easy to get bored of safe, monetized, mass-gaming fare -- even if it's set in space. Good news, then, that the indie game intellect behind the likes of VVVVVV and At a Distance, Terry Cavanagh, has curated a whole raft of free indie games, housing his choices at a site with the same name. We've dipped into the eclectic selection, which includes both downloadable and online titles, with current favorites including Socially Awkward Conversations and Wolfenstein level generator Meinstein 3D. However, given that all the games are gratis, there's plenty more to sample (and then drop) guilt-free. Check the source below for the full selection.
Free Indie Games is a lot of free indie games chosen by Terry Cavanagh
Terry Cavanagh, indie-game maniac behind VVVVVV, Chat Chat and At a Distance, has started a new website with a title to make an SOE enthusiast blush: Free Indie Games. Guess what it offers? Free indie games, as chosen by Cavanagh based on their newness, goodness, freeness, indieness and gameness.Currently, Free Indie Games "highly recommends" Wither, Game Title: Lost Levels and Dys4ia, but recent titles we find intriguing include Nausea and Socially Awkward Conversationalist. But they're all free, so really, every single one is quite intriguing to begin with.
'Hexagon' is Terry Cavanagh's latest jam
We hope you weren't planning on getting anything done for the rest of your entire life, because every waking moment of productivity you had in your future will be consumed by Hexagon, a browser-based twitch game by Terry Cavanagh of VVVVVV fame.You control a small triangle that orbits the hexagon in the middle of the screen. Various shapes and line segments fall toward the hexagon, and it's your job to avoid them in a frantic-yet-calculated, reverse Tempest-style gauntlet of adrenaline and frustration. You must last predetermined amounts of time in order to advance to the next level, at which point the game speeds up and the incoming shapes increase in complexity. The whole experience is set to a phenomenal chiptune track courtesy of Chipzel; it feels like we should be playing it in that rollerblade techno club from Hackers.The game was created yesterday morning for Pirate Kart V, a two-day event in which hundreds of programmers around the world attempt and create as many games as humanly possible in the short span of 48 hours. It's a wonderful example of game design in its purest form, and we challenge all of you to beat our best time of 35:23 at Level 4.
Cavanagh's ChatChat teaches the finer points of feline life
ChatChat would be an entirely sensible game if not for the second half of its one-sentence description. We were totally on board through "ChatChat is a game about being a cat," but we threw up our hands in incredulity at "and talking to other cats." We'll be a cat, sure, but a talking cat? Too far, Terry Cavanagh. Too far.Cavanagh is the (mad)man behind VVVVVV and At a Distance, and ChatChat (we assume pronounced "Chat cat," with the second "h" as a soft "whipped" sound) is one of a few smaller projects he's working on this year. It involves running around various forests, "mush rooms," alleyways and secret areas, and figuring out the ways you can interact with the environment and other cats. Yes, you can talk to the other cats in your room, but you can also meow, purr, screech and turn into a dog to play tag with your cat friends.You can play ChatChat on Kongregate right now and learn why cats seem to find it so amusing to lurk around abandoned alleyways, kill mice and, as the game's instructions suggest, "be a cat."
Portabliss: VVVVVV (3DS eShop)
Did you know that you can download handheld games now? That's amazingly convenient! The only inconvenient part of it is finding the right games to buy -- and that's where we come in, with our Portabliss column. In each installment, we'll tell you about a downloadable game on the iPhone, iPad, Android device, DSi, 3DS, PSP, etc. Today: VVVVVV. VVVVVV for 3DS is the best version of Terry Cavanagh's insanely difficult platform game I've ever played. But that's only because I don't have a good controller for my computer. As far as I can tell, the 3DS version is identical to the PC release in almost every way: the same C64-style graphics, featuring monochrome smiley-face people against (optional) flashing geometric backgrounds; the same fully explorable world of vast expanses of space, impossible mazes, and so many spikes; the same brilliant chiptune soundtrack. The differences include, on the downside, the lack of a level editor (though Nicalis has said it is considering adding that), and, on the upside, 3D. Other than that, it's the familiar gauntlet of physically impossible rooms that you really should have played already. Though the specifics of the nostalgia element elude me (not being a C64 person), the style of gameplay is absolutely perfect for me: a series of self-contained platforming challenges that require both dexterity and forethought. Oh, and lots and lots of patience with repeated failure. Though the level editor isn't present, a selection of user-created levels is included in the download, including the giant "Dimension 333333" by Sendy and a level by Minecraft creator Notch. So when you get through the main game, and collect all 20 of the "trinkets," then you won't have to use those wizard powers you apparently have to generate new content. VVVVVV is available for $7.99 on the 3DS eShop. We're always looking for new distractions. Want to submit your game for Portabliss consideration? You can reach us at portabliss aat joystiq dawt com.
VVVVVV arrives on the 3DS eShop on December 29
Terry Cavanagh's great platformer VVVVVV is heading to a 3DS near you as promised: The game has been set for release on the Nintendo eShop next week. Starting December 29, you'll be able to grab the game (published by Nicalis, the company behind Cave Story and its various iterations) for a price of $7.99 on your 3DS, and take on the game's many frustrating yet ingenious challenges for yourself. Or, if you've never played the title before, you could go try out the free Flash version, or play it on PC or Mac as you wish. It's a great and well-made experience for sure, but bring all of the patience you have. You'll need it.%Gallery-136044%
VVVVVV dev releases cerebral, really local-multiplayer title, At a Distance
Terry Cavanagh, developer of indie frustration machine VVVVVV, has released a new game that encourages intense, quasi-telepathic local multiplayer, titled At a Distance. The game is available for download on Windows and Mac for free, but make sure to read the installation instructions before diving into this one. First, you'll need a friend. Second, you'll need half a brain. We know these may be difficult to come by, but maybe try reversing the order and see what happens. We believe in you. At a Distance was developed for NYU Game Center's 2011 No Quarter Exhibition and is meant to be played on two computers side-by-side -- each screen runs its own unique game with no instructions on how to explore the neon, geometric world, but apparently the two players come together brilliantly in the game and in real life. This sounds like the beginning of something beautiful. %Gallery-141542%
VVVVVV coming to 3DS in late 2011
Terry Cavanagh's topsy-turvy challenge, VVVVVV, is coming to the Nintendo 3DS courtesy of Nicalis. It'll be available on the 3DS eShop later this year, complete with "full 3D awesomeness." VVVVVV's cheerful 8-bit aesthetic will stretch across two screens now, with a real-time map on the bottom screen offering some direction in the action platformer that takes great pleasure in eschewing basic navigational rules. The 3DS version will also feature new levels and "future content updates." If you want to play VVVVVV's new incarnation before it launches, head to the ongoing Indiecade in Culver City, California, and ... track down Terry Cavanagh. Remember, it's pronounced with six Vs.%Gallery-136044%
