I got the opportunity to speak with Roman, a developer for Australian indie Games Team Bit Dragon, about the upcoming title, Hyper jam, a Neon-soaked brawler with a top down perspective.
The game looks amazing, packed with RetroWave synths and neon eye-candy, indulging on a colourful art style, pallet and soundtrack, with unique brawler mechanics involving powerup stacking and strategical hit placing.
Beats on the Battlefield
The map and character designs in Hyper Jam take creative influence in 80’s portrayals of the future, rather than specific throws to our favourite titles.
On Maps, Roman said that “they’re inspired by real world locations and then we’ve… (brought) …the 80’s flare to it after the fact”.
“They’re not necessarily throwbacks to any specific title… … it’s just more a throwback to the era, and, yeah, I guess… …envisioning of what the future could have been like as it was seen in the 80’s”.
“We didn’t start off with (the art style)” “We only adopted the neo-80’s theme… …6 months after it was developed”.
“it was about people basically fighting in hell for a chance of reincarnation… … So the aesthetic was very gritty, very grungy”
Roman discussed that this coupled with the gameplay, and was central to how the game would be played, and how it transferred into a Neo-80’s aesthetic.
“It’s quite fast and pretty chaotic… …One thing sets it apart from other top-down games, there’s a lot of physicality in the combat”.
“When you get hit by an explosion… your character would really like slide back and recoil in reaction to the hits”.
“The combat is very deliberate, very meaty… … we play a lot of fighting games and stuff so it is really important to us that the controls are really responsive and the actions aren’t without meaning”
Beats in the Background
“Hotline Miami… …that’s how we… …got to the Synthwave aesthetic I suppose”
Roman discussed that the team behind Hyper Jam are massive Retrowavers. “Artists like Dance with the Dead, Carpenter Brut… … Pertubator” were listened to during the development of the game.
“Often during development we’ll just like, put on like a Synthwave playlist on… …YouTube or something or just Spotify”.
Currently, Bit Dragon has confirmed music from Dance with the Dead to be featured in the game, with more artists yet to be confirmed.
“There is a variety of Synthwave artists that we listen to and do plan to reach out to… … to feature their music in the game”.
“Also if there are Synthwave artists that are… …wanting to be featured in the game… … I’d definitely also be interest in them approaching us and letting us know”.
Beats on the Screen
It’s a round-based, four player last man standing game, based around heavy hitting and fast pace action.
“After a round… … basically you’re given a selection of (random) powerups”
“Whoever is coming last gets first pick of it, and whoever’s coming first gets basically what’s left over”.
Roman discussed that the game has taken massive influence from brawlers, but also that the “perk drafting” mechanic is central to the game, using similar notions to The Binding of Isaac and Magic: The Gathering, interlaced with a multiplayer, four player systems.
It’s chaotic, its colourful, and there’s strategy to it. It’s Beautiful.
Beats on the Way
Hyper Jam is set for an “Early 2018” Release, with a Progress Update being released on the First of November, showing off a New level – Overpass, alongside improvements of previous maps such as Subway, Assembly (formerly, Hoghouse) and Hotel.
You can check out development and news of the game on hyper Jamgame.com, or through Steam, store.steampowered.com/app/556050/Hyper_Jam .
Groovy.
*Images obtained from the Hyper Jam Presskit http://hyperjamgame.com/press/
**Special Thanks to Roman Maksymyschyn & The Bit Dragon Team
