Hello everyone -- Open Hexagon 2.02 is now available!
This is the first official update since the Steam release, and it includes some nifty new features and changes. Keep on reading to discover what's new!
Update Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr519sn4pSA
- Curving walls no longer kill when hit from the side - they push the player instead
- Implemented new "immediate replay" feature
- Implemented achievements for the Hypercube level pack
The biggest change is the behavior of curving walls - they used to immediately kill the player on contact, even if hit from the side! Such behavior was inconsistent with normal walls, and made levels using curving walls artificially more difficult. Thanks to Zly, the collision system has been revamped and now both normal and curving walls should behave consistently and not kill the player when hit from the side.
Another one of the new major features is immediate replays. This is a huge stepping stone to a fully-functional replay system, which in turn is a prerequisite for online leaderboards with score validation. However, the feature is also useful as it is! If you get an unexpected good score, or if you forgot to press record on your screen/game recorder, you can press 'Y' after you die in a level to replay your last run, giving you a chance to record your gameplay.
Full Changelog
- Implemented achievements for Hypercube pack
- Fixed bugged "Cube Master" achievement
- Added some new functions for beat pulse
- Improved beat pulse in every "Cube" level (it should now match the music beat more closely)
- Fixed mouse cursor being visible in fullscreen mode
- Improved Steam/Discord rich presence performance and formatting, now displaying difficulty multiplier
- Greatly improve pack development online documentation (https://openhexagon.org/workshop)
- Implemented reproducible random number generation, prerequisite for online leaderboards (pack developers, you might have to update your levels!)
- Implemented "immediate replay" feature, which allows you to watch a replay of your last run; prerequisite for full replay system and online leaderboards
- Tweak the difficulty some Hypercube achievements, they're easier now
- Fixed some potential security vulnerabilities in Lua scripts
- Added hidden achievement regarding swap
- Curving walls no longer kill when hit from the side - they will push the player instead
- Tone down Commando and Labyrinth achievements (now require level 7 instead of 8)
- Add new `l_getSwapCooldownMult` and `l_setSwapCooldownMult` Lua functions
- Rebalance Reppaws and Slither
- Automatically synchronize `config.json` with Steam Cloud
- Add "key icons" overlay feature that displays pressed keys during gameplay, useful for videos
- New Lua get/set functions: BGRotationOffset, BGColorOffset, and BGTileRadius
- Add 3D Required as a toggleable requirement for score eligibility on 3D-reliant levels
- Add "Timescale" debug setting which allows to speed up or slow down the game simulation speed (useful for testing feasibility of hard levels)
- Strip some less commonly played or impossible difficulty multipliers from "Cube" levels
For Pack Developers
Pack developers need to update their script to remove any call to `math.randomseed`. See https://github.com/SuperV1234/SSVOpenHexagon/commit/abb07adf19592674735647803eb2abc58049319f#diff-8f9005dd80876b671987e8979111a337 for an example. Feel free to ask on Discord for help!
The level packs published on the workshop will have to be uploaded. Apologies for the inconvenience, but while we still are in Early Access you should be prepared for this to happen. The new changes are necessary to improve the game and eventually enable leaderboards with server-side score validation.
Growing The Community
Open Hexagon is a game that shines with a large community of players and content creators. Let your friends and family know about the game, especially if they are "creative" people who are looking for a warm community eager to try out their creations.
If you are a content creator or if you know any content creator that might be interested in streaming/playing/reviewing Open Hexagon, please get in touch with @vee on the official Open Hexagon Discord: https://discord.me/openhexagon
Also, if you have been playing Open Hexagon for a while, please leave a honest review on Steam! It improves the visibility of the game and provides important information to possible new players -- thanks!
Public Beta Branch
Do you want to keep up with the game's development and provide feedback and bug reports on upcoming features? You can now switch to a beta branch on Steam. Right-click on "Open Hexagon", go to "Properties", then "Betas", and you will be able to opt-in.
You can provide your suggestions, bug reports, and/or criticism on the official Discord:
https://discord.me/openhexagon
Workshop Highlights
The game has not been out for long yet, but there are some really cool levels on the workshop already. Some of them are using the new Lua scripting features to build really creative experiences.
I personally like Newxagon. (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2168730663) and Babagon (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2174131954) by Baba -- some really interesting ideas in there.
Troll's Experiments, by trollbreeder, (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2167356935) also has some novel concepts.
For more "classic" levels, check out Rotationality Remastered by Morxemplum (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2169170656) or Hardcore Hexagon Classic by TheQuantumMadness (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2173700108) -- they're fun levels.
Thank you so much for contributing to the workshop!
Try Out Heptagon!
If you haven't seen it already, there's yet another game for polygon-lovers. Heptagon, created by CORE Games, is a brand new twist on the genre that introduces changes in perspective throughout a level, while keeping the gameplay simple and tight.
If you like Super Hexagon and Open Hexagon, you'll like Heptagon as well! The 3D mechanics are definitely a fresh twist on the formula. Absolutely worth the price!
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the following open-source contributors, who contributed immensely to this (and prior) builds of the game:
- John Kline
- Zly
- AlphaPromethium
- Misa "Info Teddy" Elizabeth
Also many thanks to Maniac, Hunter, and the other folks hanging out in the #level-balancing Discord channel for providing valuable feedback on the game's levels.