By Andrew Smee on September 10th, 2012 at 10:00 am.
With his new iOS game, Super Hexagon, I’ve just realised that Terry “VVVVVV” Cavanagh has a plan, and it’s to achieve immortality through drinking the tears of broken souls, bent over electronic torture devices screaming his name in fear and fury. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. Super Hexagon will be coming out on PC. You will hate him too. Hate. There’s a trailer after the jump. Hate.
How’s your Monday morning going?
See that triangle in the middle? That’s you. Avoid hitting walls for high score.
Yeah.
Cavanagh took some time out of his busy schedule to answer questions from the reddit hivemind yesterday afternoon. In the IAmA subreddit, an informal interview arena where any redditor can field a question, Cavanagh revealed that Super Hexagon has been a success on the iPhone, selling 10,000 copies in three days, and that he has plans to bring the currently iOS-only hate generator to other platforms, including Android, PC and Mac, with the PC version coming in as soon as in a fortnight’s time.
That is two weeks. Two weeks to prepare.
Super Hexagon is currently occupying a frankly bizarre space in gaming as the game’s creator is currently highest on the leaderboard by a relatively large distance. With the infinite amount of time and talent the internet throws at these things, that may give some indication at just how challenging the task at hand is. After all my wittering, it’s still a fascinating thing to torture yourself with, the short form attempts perfect for an iPhone game – as long as you tap out before you snap the thing in half. It’s also one of those exercises in patience that rewards you through ace music, which as always is a good a carrot as any to keep playing.
One of the reddit questions, about the previously hate-inducing Veni, Vidi, Vici room from VVVVVV that drove Kieron to develop psychic powers all that time ago, has a particularly telling response:
Veni Vidi Vici had to exist, basically. I didn’t make it because I thought it would be fun, or because I thought anyone would honestly want to do it. I made it because the world demanded it; because it was a logical place for the design to extend. It’s funny; I kinda thought of it as the worst part of the game when I released VVVVVV. Now I think it’s probably the best.
I hate him again.
Super Hexagon is currently out on iPhone and iPad at the knock down price of $0.99.
10/09/2012 at 10:06 Jackablade says:
You can play the original Hexagon here. If you can last more than about 20 seconds you’ve got better spacial awareness than me.
http://distractionware.com/games/flash/hexagon/
10/09/2012 at 10:43 sassy says:
31:57 … I think my brain is now soup
10/09/2012 at 11:03 sabrage says:
31:49… I don’t really like the game, but I played a dozen rounds for the soundtrack.
10/09/2012 at 12:41 Csirke says:
61:24… Well, it actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be (I thought you could move around freely in 2D, that would’ve been brutal). It did take me ~20 mins to get this high though.
10/09/2012 at 13:04 barelyhomosapien says:
45.8 and I think the game is great!
10/09/2012 at 14:34 kwyjibo says:
169.59
10/09/2012 at 17:33 Grygus says:
7:59 and you’re all freaks of nature.
10/09/2012 at 22:11 anark10n says:
At 22.9, I agree with this sentiment. The spiral is now my arch nemesis. I will have my vengeance on the nearest staircase that conforms to this most distressing of patterns …
10/09/2012 at 10:11 bsplines says:
My god, just looking at the trailer makes me feel nauseous.
10/09/2012 at 10:28 baby snot says:
I think there might be a trick to it by relaxing your eyes if that makes sense. I wonder if part of the difficulty is in the choice of soundtrack that accompanies the gameplay.
10/09/2012 at 10:41 EPICTHEFAIL says:
No, the soundtrack was the least brain-melting part of it. I, a person who never gets motion-sickness, am now nauseous and have a horrifying headache. I think someone slipped a fractal basilisk into the trailer.
10/09/2012 at 10:38 EPICTHEFAIL says:
Andrew is so angry he can break physics. Andrew is therefore the Hulk. QED.
10/09/2012 at 10:45 Bhazor says:
Let me tell you about hate…
10/09/2012 at 11:08 DickSocrates says:
I played about 10 seconds of some version of this he linked to on his Twitter about 3 weeks ago. I thought “well, that wasn’t in the least bit fun” and wrote it off. Now the gaming press is trying to tell me it’s a work of genius.
10/09/2012 at 11:43 Terragot says:
Yes, and why are RPS promoting Iphone games. Is reading Reddit Journalism now?
10/09/2012 at 12:00 baby snot says:
Because it’s coming to PC in two weeks?
10/09/2012 at 12:00 Crazy Horse says:
The game is coming to Pc. And a new game by Terry Cavanagh easily is worth a youtube link at the least.
That said this game looks like less fun than poking ones own eye out with a stick. I loved collecting all the trophies in VVVVVV but this is just… no.
10/09/2012 at 13:20 chiefnewo says:
I give it an eh out of eh personally, but due to Terry being a big name it’s not really unsurprising that RPS would mention it. Were it someone else’s 1982 arcade game (exaggeration and hyperbole alert) it’d probably be a different story.
I do wonder how much it will cost on the PC though.
10/09/2012 at 18:29 razorramone says:
So what you’re saying is that when someone famous does a thing, it gets more coverage than when someone unknown does a thing? Interesting, please tell me more…
11/09/2012 at 04:49 chiefnewo says:
Sure, other interesting information: the sky is blue, it’s safer to look both ways before crossing the street, always check which reply button to use on RPS comment thread to avoid looking like you’re talking to the wrong person, and always always remember it’s not worth your time to pooh-pooh an indie darling’s latest less-than-interesting efforts.
10/09/2012 at 11:40 aepervius says:
That video should have come with an epilepsy warning…
10/09/2012 at 12:15 Raiyan 1.0 says:
*sees trailer*
Fuck you Terry. Just… fuck you.
10/09/2012 at 14:04 Fazer says:
Super Hexagon soundtrack can be bought from the current Game Music Bundle – http://www.gamemusicbundle.com
Don’t know why RPS didn’t write about it yet, unless I missed something.
10/09/2012 at 14:54 misterT0AST says:
Nice work Terry. NOW GO BACK TO WORKING ON INTERESTING STUFF!
*Whip crack sound*
10/09/2012 at 15:30 Urthman says:
I thought I saw a review that said the controls were analog. Is that true? If so, how will it work on PC?
10/09/2012 at 15:44 Andrew Smee says:
Mouse?
10/09/2012 at 20:52 HilariousCow says:
Nope. Digital. Zero momentum.
My first thought trying it at a bar was “maybe there should be a liiitle momentum, it’s quite twitchy” and terry was like “NO.”.
I was a little taken aback, but now that I’m at 77:16, i think he’s totally right, and I’m glad he knew so clearly what he wanted from it.
10/09/2012 at 16:15 DeathCarrot says:
Veni, Vidi, Vici did something strange to my brain. I spent ages on it during my first playthrough, but on my second playthrough half a year or so later I got it first time :S Muscle memory I guess.
I always thought the trinket right after VVV where you have to avoid the checkpoints was more annoying as it took a lot longer to complete a single attempt; VVV just took a few seconds per attempt.
I hope Super Hexagon gets a demo as it looks pretty cool but I might end up rage quitting after a few attempts.
10/09/2012 at 16:37 Pliqu3011 says:
“the trinket right after VVV where you have to avoid the checkpoints”
O god I spent ages trying to get that one. Possibly the hardest part of the game.
10/09/2012 at 16:35 Pliqu3011 says:
I loved Veni, Vidi, Vici, and it’s mostly the only reason I replay VVVVVV once in a while.
While it was bloody hard, I thought it felt fair, because if I died, it was because of my own mistake, not because of the game.
If I were to replay the game right now I think I could get through V,V,V in 5 tries or less. It’s been hard-wired into my brain I think…
10/09/2012 at 19:16 Metalfish says:
ALT Text gold medal there.
11/09/2012 at 02:24 hamburger_cheesedoodle says:
I paused listening to Machinae Supremacy to watch that video- weird going from SID chip to SID chip.
That said, I rather like the sound in it! I can’t ever imagine getting to hear much of the soundtrack due to deathyness though.
11/09/2012 at 10:12 eleven0911 says:
screw oil press
Glad to be here and see this.