The game pays homage to 8-bit and 16-bit games, and is considered by its lead developer Alx Preston as a combination of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Diablo. Preston originally launched Kickstarter funding for the title for approximately US$27,000 to develop the title for Microsoft Windows,...
The game pays homage to 8-bit and 16-bit games, and is considered by its lead developer Alx Preston as a combination of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Diablo. Preston originally launched Kickstarter funding for the title for approximately US$27,000 to develop the title for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux computers, but ended up with more than US$600,000, allowing him to hire more programmers and artists, and expanding the title for console and portable platforms through stretch goals. The player controls the Drifter, a character that has access to technology that has long been forgotten by the inhabitants of the game's world and is suffering from an unspecified illness. The story concept was inspired by lead developer Alx Preston's heart disease, and has been likened by others to Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky, while Preston cites the studio's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind as inspiration for the game's world. The Drifter is equipped with an energy sword and can gain access to other modules that expand their weapon and ability arsenal. Preston's goal was to replicate the experience of playing on the SNES, noting that the unit had "amazing, almost perfect games designed for limited environments" which he challenged himself to simulate in Hyper Light Drifter. One feature of SNES games that Preston captured is that there is no spoken dialogue, placing more emphasis on the game's music and visuals to tell a story. Hyper Light Drifter is primarily based on the vision of its key developer Alx Preston. While in college, Preston had used the mediums of painting and film to illustrate his experiences with frail health and near-death conditions. Preston envisioned Hyper Light Drifter as a video game as a means "to tell a story can identify with, expressing something personal to a larger audience, so more connected and have an outlet for the many emotions that crop up around life-altering issues". Further, he had yearned to develop a game that combined the best elements of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Diablo for many years, which would feature world exploration and combat that required some strategy by the player, depending on foes they faced. The theme and story for the game, featuring a protagonist suffering from a terminal disease, is meant as a simile for his own health. Preston originally set out to make the game for Windows, OS X, and Linux computers and started a Kickstarter campaign in September 2013 to secure US$27,000 in funding to complete the title. He opted to develop the game under the studio name Heart Machine as an allegory for the various medical devices he often needs to track his own health, and to use for future projects following Hyper Light Drifter. The project funding was exceeded in a day, and quickly grew over US$100,000 within a few days of its launch.