Refract

We're creating Distance, an atmospheric survival racing spiritual sequel to Nitronic Rush. Available on Steam Early Access, coming to PS4 when it's ready.

[refractstudios]

Distance Launches on PS4 & PS5 July 19th!

Today I have a very exciting announcement for everyone...

Distance: Console Edition has a release date for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5! You can get it July 19th on the PlayStation Store. Wishlist to get notified when it goes live!

Watch the exciting trailer with brand new music here:

Here's a quick overview of what you can expect in Distance: Console Edition:

Melding the intensity of arcade racing with the agility of parkour, Distance catapults you into a neon-soaked world shrouded in mystery. Adapt quickly using your car’s abilities to jump, flip, and fly to overcome deadly hazards and survive.

Campaigns: Dive into the Adventure campaign, an immersive single-player story that takes you into the heart of darkness. Afterward, return to Nitronic City in Lost to Echoes and take on a brutal challenge. Finally, visit the mysterious flying islands of Nexus (a short companion to the Adventure campaign).

Arcade Modes: Earn medals to unlock over 150 diverse tracks in modes like Sprint, Challenge, and Stunt.

Leaderboards: Race ghost replays to take on the leaderboards' best (both online and local).

Endless Tracks: With Trackmogrify, enjoy never-ending challenges with randomly generated tracks using advanced seed modifiers.

Couch Multiplayer: Challenge up to 4 opponents in high-stakes split-screen races, or try unique arena-based modes like Reverse Tag and Stunt.

Unlockable Cheats: Earning PlayStation trophies unlocks cheats like motorcycle mode, bubble car, and many more.

And a bunch of other cool features including…

Customizable controls

Level playlists

Multiple unlockable cars

Car paint job customization

Main menu level selection

And more!

What's new on PlayStation?

There are a handful of exciting new additions exclusive to PlayStation:

Haptic Feedback: The PS5 version features a completely new haptics integration. It allows you to feel the details of each impact, scrape, skid, and the abilities themselves in a whole new way. Since the haptics are largely audio driven I had a ton of fun working on this and it’s easily one of my favorite aspects of playing on PS5.

Activity Features: Easily track campaign progress from the control center, jump into a mode directly from the home screen, and see in-game help on campaign levels if needed.

Controller Lighting: On both PS4 and PS5 the controller lights with the glow color of your car. This helps to see overheat status as well as identify controllers during split-screen.

Regarding performance, Distance targets 60 fps across all single player content. On PS4 the game utilizes 1080p, and on PS5 it runs at 4K resolution. The PS4 Pro and PS5 version have both been enhanced with higher graphics quality and smoother performance. While there are dips here and there on the PS4, overall I think it runs pretty well, and it's even better on PS5 despite running at 4K.

Differences between PC and consoles

For those of you who’ve been enjoying Distance on PC, you’ll find that the core gameplay experience and overall features are extremely similar on PlayStation. There are of course some differences so I’d like to discuss them here.

I’ve talked previously about the technical limitations regarding Steam Workshop and the level editor, so at this time those aren’t available in Distance: Console Edition. Instead, we decided to officially include our favorite community-created levels directly into the base game for everyone to play. For example, our recent Kinetic Update (v1.5) on PC included 15 incredible new levels from the community and these will also be available on PlayStation!

Regarding online multiplayer, I completely understand that for some it might come as a shock to see it not included on consoles. While we have collectively spent a ton of time working on online multiplayer for PlayStation consoles, a series of unfortunate technical hurdles have led to it not being feasible for release at this time. Split-screen multiplayer is included however and allows for couch multiplayer in Arcade modes. For those curious about the behind-the-scenes technical info, please see below for a more detailed breakdown explanation.

With all that in mind, Distance: Console Edition is at a reduced price of $19.99 / €19.99. While it is possible that future updates will enable more content and features, please purchase with the assumption that the base game will not massively change in the future.

Getting into the technical details

If you’ve been following Distance for a while you’re probably aware that the PlayStation version has had a fairly long and tumultuous development. It was our first time developing anything for a console, and it’s been an incredible learning experience throughout.

Many years ago around the v1.0 launch we had a version of Distance using Unity 5 working somewhat reasonably on PS4 with several multiplayer features functional (though certainly not finished). After launching v1.1 I spent a lot of time implementing all of the various technical certification requirements for online play on PS4. This included things like parental chat restrictions, online ID consistency, etc.

As I was preparing to send a new build to Sony, I came to realize that to pass certification Distance needed to update to a much newer PS4 SDK version required by Sony. Unfortunately, this version of Unity 5.5 we used to develop Distance for years was locked to a very old PS4 SDK version, and the only option was to port Distance (yet again) to a much newer version of Unity. To comply with Sony's requirements, we needed to upgrade Unity from version 5.5 to Unity 2020. This unfortunately wasn’t negotiable and, as you might imagine, it took months to repair the various graphics and physics issues that came along with it.

The biggest hurdle was that our multiplayer system was completely dependent on the old Unity 5.5 version. The newer versions of Unity had fully abandoned their old multiplayer integration, meaning I basically had to start from scratch. One possibility was to attempt to replicate the custom RakNet backend we had relied on, but Unity’s version made several changes under the hood and without source code access it was challenging to emulate it. The other possibility was to simply rewrite everything from scratch and utilize an entirely new multiplayer system.

In short, I attempted both routes. After spending quite some time attempting to essentially rewrite all of Jason’s multiplayer tech, I realized doing this on my own will take an incredibly long time to get fully functional and properly tested. Between this issue, complications due to COVID, and my own personal issues with recovering from burnout, this was honestly a really frustrating time and one of the big reasons I decided to take a break from Distance development. As I mentioned in my September 2023 blog post I decided to go on a short hiatus to work on Project 2, and of course I enjoyed working on Project 2 so much that my short break soon became much longer.

Upon returning to Distance last year with a fresh perspective I made the incredibly tough call to disable online multiplayer for now. I would then focus on wrapping up all of the other features and content we have and get it into players’ hands as soon as possible. Of course it still took significantly longer than I expected to wrap up that last 1%, but at long long last we’re finally here.

Looking ahead

I really can’t say enough how much I’ve appreciated everyone’s patience and support during these challenging times. I’ve truly been blown away by the enthusiastic response to the Kinetic Update, and I’m so excited to keep creating and sharing stuff with you all.

To all of our new PlayStation players, welcome to the Distance community! I can’t wait to see which players take the top times on the new leaderboards. Please note that the best way to connect with other players is on the Distance Discord server.

You also might have noticed that there is a new remix of Isolation in the PlayStation release trailer. I’ve been developing a lot of new music for Project 2 and intend to release some songs officially soon, so please be on the lookout for more information about that. I’ll also be posting here and on social media when updates are released for PC and PlayStation.

Thank you all again!

Jordan

[refractstudios]

September 2023 Update

Hey everyone, I hope you all are doing well!

First off I want to express my gratitude for the continual support I've received since my last update. Over the past couple of years I've been wrestling with uncertainty about the direction I want to take Refract. I didn't want to make any premature announcements that could potentially confuse or mislead anyone regarding the future of the company. Your understanding and patience here means the world to me.

During this time I found myself in a fortunate position to contemplate the future, experiment, and slowly recover from burnout. While it's been great to step back after essentially grinding on Distance for years, it has made me realize just how much I miss interacting with all of you. Today, I want to step out of my shell a bit and provide a brief update on where things stand.

Since the last update I've dedicated quite a bit of time to working on the PS4 build, but I hit a few major roadblocks. I don't want to get too deep into those issues today, but for now I'll just say this led me to temporarily pause development again and stretch my creative muscles elsewhere. Much like I mentioned in my last update, ever since starting Refract over 10 years ago I haven't really given myself time to pause and check in with myself creatively. While I still love Distance, I quickly realized that there's so much with storytelling, music, and especially horror that I personally want to explore.

With that in mind I decided to briefly delve into a completely new project, which I'll refer to as "Project 2" for now. While this endeavor consumed a lot more time than I initially anticipated, I can certainly say Project 2 has breathed new life into my passion for the gaming medium. Since much of it is very different from anything I've created before, it required a bit of a mental reboot for me artistically. I'm incredibly excited to share it with you, but it's still too early to delve into the details. For now, my primary focus is seeing the PS4 version through to the finish line.

I'm aiming to complete the PS4 version by the end of October, and by "completion" I mean that I'll be sending it to Sony for approval. Once it passes certification, I'll be able to announce an official release date. And of course I've also been pursuing a PS5 version which I intend to release simultaneously (with fancy haptics and other PS5 features). I have a few ideas for solving some of these final issues, and once it's submitted I intend to discuss those hurdles in another devlog.

Speaking of Distance, it's been a while since our last update but the incredible community-made levels just keep coming (almost 5,000 of them)! I'm looking into doing another small Community Level update to feature some in game, and I could use your help in deciding what should be included. I've created a Google survey where you can nominate your favorite Workshop levels released over the last couple years. Please check it out here:

Nominate here: https://forms.gle/GtPYBu2AGM8BEBUU9

Once again, I appreciate your patience and support from the bottom of my heart. The Distance community has been a constant source of encouragement, and I keep the signed "Greetings from Sector 21" image you all created next to my desk. It's an amazing reminder on even the toughest days. I want to sincerely apologize for the extended period of radio silence, and I am genuinely grateful for the opportunity to work through these challenges on my own terms. Moving forward, I'm committed to staying more engaged and avoiding prolonged absences. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more soon!

- Jordan

[refractstudios]

The Next Chapter of Refract

Hey everyone! It's been a while.

I hope you and your families have been staying safe during this bizarre time. While I’m not exactly new to working from home, the quarantine has been a surprisingly introspective time for me. Now seems as good a time as any to get this devlog out there.

You’ve trusted me over the years to be transparent about what’s going on behind the scenes with Refract and I haven’t been doing a great job over the past year. Some have noticed that I've been extra quiet lately, and since I'm in charge of Refract’s social media that also means that Refract has been silent.

Before going further I should clarify that this post is mostly aimed at long-time supporters of Refract. I'm not really going to be discussing Distance updates or future projects, and this might not make sense if you don't know Refract’s history. This is just a personal catch up from me.

Alright, time to get the big news out of the way: Refract Studios was founded by myself, Kyle Holdwick, and Jason Nollan in 2012, and after shipping Distance v1.0 in 2018 the three of us came to an agreement where I would acquire the entirety of Refract and they would move onto other teams/projects. Kyle ended up moving to L.A. to work on Sky with thatgamecompany and Jason is now working on Halo Infinite.

I obviously can't speak for either of them, but from my perspective the split was as amicable as possible and these new opportunities were amazing fits for both of them. On top of that, both Jason and Kyle have continued to support Refract directly or indirectly after leaving which has been incredibly generous of them. We stay in touch as much as possible and it's been inspiring to hear about their new adventures.

At first their departures didn't seem like that big of a change. We had been talking about it for some time as Kyle and Jason wanted to make the transition as smooth as possible. It certainly was an adjustment to suddenly work alone at home (many of you now know what that’s like) but they were both helping here and there as we shipped v1.1 through v1.4. I had a lot of PS4 build stuff to wrap up and I wasn't thinking too far beyond that.

As the dust settled I realized that I didn't have a solid feeling on what Refract should look like after Distance. While we did have a mission statement for Refract early on, I believe we quickly devolved into just being "the team that makes Nitronic Rush and Distance." Once Distance is over what is Refract Studios? Do we make racing games? Do we make sci-fi story campaigns? The rest of our team is made up of contractors who are linked to just Distance, so moving onto a new project is in many ways a reboot for the company.

For better or worse we were going at a million miles an hour at the start of the project. Now that I’ve had some time to reflect I see how my personal desires and priorities have shifted over Distance's seven year development. I have no regrets about what we’ve done and created, but I see this time as the ultimate chance to start anew. It's a perfect opportunity to learn from mistakes, but it can be terrifying looking into the abyss without Kyle and Jason to lean on.

Unfortunately there was another problem. Soon after Distance v1.0 shipped I had to accept that I was completely burned out. I think it actually started after a hectic 2015 where I had really reached my limit and then I just kept pushing through the pain for another three years to ship v1.0. Over those years my small gripes with the game industry started to build and under the surface I doubted if this was the right place for me. On top of working non-stop it didn't help that I was working/living in the same place for years with poor boundaries between work and home life. Basically everything related to game development slowly became frustrating to me.

In a previous post I also mentioned running into some health issues. After shipping v1.0 I thought things would finally get a bit easier, but that's when my body let its guard down and I really started to struggle mentally and physically. In short, I developed issues where I could only get a normal night of sleep once every 2-3 weeks on top of other confusing symptoms. After several desperate doctor visits it seems that burnout alongside years of bad habits finally pushed me over the edge.

Much of the past year has been me trying to recover. The good news is that slowly but surely I have been getting better, and my interest in games has slowly restored. One turning point for me was late last year when I was waiting on some hardware from Sony. I decided to bust out a quick prototype for something completely new. It was refreshing to finally step away from Distance after all these years and it helped me quite a bit mentally to see that I can create something radically different. While the prototype probably won't lead to anything concrete, it was a solid reminder that there's still a lot I want to do within the interactive space and I shouldn't give up yet.

Seeing Kyle and Jason flourish under new projects certainly opened my eyes to the prospect of leaving Refract and doing something else entirely. I went through several phases where I considered going AAA myself, joining another indie team, or even doing music full-time. For now I’ve decided to continue with Refract and give it another shot. Of course I’m scaling things back a bit and I have a lot to figure out regarding Refract as a company. While I love getting lost in the work, I know I need to take this stuff seriously to prevent myself or someone else at Refract from getting burned out down the road.

To those looking for an update on the PS4 release, I did effectively put it on pause at the end of last year. I clearly needed some separation from Distance to get my head and overall health back on track. Recently I have started up again and I’d like to make it my priority moving forward. Progress will likely be slow but I'll do my best.

I've been pushing off this devlog because I wanted to have a clear vision of Refract's future before writing this. Now I see that I've still got a ways to go before I'll have that, but I know people wanted an update since I've been quiet for so long. Being realistic I wouldn't expect any major Distance updates moving forward, though it's possible there could be minor updates and bug fixes. The PS4 build will be my focus for a while, and I wouldn't expect news about any new projects for quite some time.

While it's been a strange couple of years, I'm quite optimistic about Refract's future and the experiences we've yet to create. Thanks to our players, friends, and families who have always been so encouraging, and a very special thanks to my Distance teammates for being extra supportive and patient while I figure out Refract's future.

- Jordan

[refractstudios]

Distance v1.4: The Horizon Update

Has it really been a year since v1.0 launched? Seems like a good time for an update! The Horizon Update (v1.4) features new levels from Refract and community creators, a new Quick Join multiplayer feature, performance improvements, new editor tools, and more!

v1.4 Changelog (Build 6895):

General Improvements

Added new Refract levels:

Liminal (Sprint)

Serenity (Sprint)

Zenith (Sprint)

Added new Community levels:

Affect (Sprint)

Beta Echoes (Sprint)

Biotec 4 (Challenge)

Canopy (Reverse Tag, Main Menu)

Fiber (Sprint)

Fleeting Images (Reverse Tag, Stunt)

Gravity (Sprint)

Hardline (Sprint)

Mentality (Sprint)

Noir (Sprint)

Overdrive (Sprint)

Sender (Sprint)

Shallow (Sprint)

Shrine (Sprint)

Sugar Rush (Sprint)

Tetreal (Sprint)

Turbines (Sprint)

Wired (Sprint)

Online menu improvements:

Clicking "Online" now gives you the option to Quick Join, Browse, or Host

Quick Join feature automatically joins an open game, and if none are available it creates a new lobby

Improved how the loading UI handles various situations (connecting to server, refreshing server list, etc.)

Changed all instances of "Server" to "Game" or "Lobby" depending on the context

Max Players is now adjustable without having to type in a number

When unclicking Private on "Host a Game" the password field is now cleared

Removed "... has loaded!" chat message for all platforms

It now says "... has joined the lobby" or "... has joined the game" depending on the context

Host a Game: Pressing Enter while selecting the password input field now starts the server

Host a Game: All numbers 1 to 12 are options again (instead of multiples of 2)

Replaced "Back to Lobby" button in pause menu for online hosts with "Main Menu" (with added help text to clarify we're returning to the lobby)

Server Connection, Lobby Refresh, and Quick Join timeouts shortened to 15 seconds instead of 30 seconds

Changed default server name to just the name of current player so it's consistent across all platforms

Minor clean up to game lobby visuals

Now going back to the main menu as a non-host takes you back to the Online menu options

Main menu improvements:

Removed Workshop highlight section (since the Workshop area in Steam already does a fine job of this)

Removed Reddit button and gave more prominence to Discord button

The Garage button is now re-highlighted when returning from the garage in the main menu

White Lightning Returns: Improved building placement and decorations with minor track alterations in the second half

Improved graphics performance in many levels (especially in Lost to Echoes)

Re-ordered Sprint and Challenge sets to more closely match difficulty progression

Replay_Music_Playback_Speed RTPC is now reset after unloading each level

Level Editor

Added new foliage particles (textures 106 - 111)

Improved music track selection window (used in Level Settings, MusicZone, MusicTrigger, CutsceneManager, and AudioEventTrigger)

Improved Particles "Seed" tooltip text

Groups are no longer dissolved if "Ignore Culling" is on them

CinematicCamera: Setting "Trigger Time" to -1 now enables this component to not ever return to the chase camera

Added new level editor objects: HalcyonTri, HalcyonTriSingle, HalcyonTriCollision, and HalcyonTriSingleCollision

Here's a helpful reference sheet showing what's available with the new particle textures:

As for changes to music selection in the editor I made this handy chart for converting from old IDs to the new names: MusicCueID Conversions

Bugs Fixed

Fixed bug where going from the level grid to the level set buttons could result in nothing being selected (e.g. after returning from Adventure)

Fixed bug where the diamond flare would appear with the "finished" medal image in the split-screen pause menu

Fixed bug where menu camera rotation/zoom could be affected while hovering over an input field

Fixed bug where the Visit Workshop button was visible on non-host game lobbies

Fixed bug where "No Servers Found" wouldn't appear if using server browser checkboxes

Restored missing texture links for HalcyonCoilgunInternal material

When in Steam offline mode it no longer tries to auto-search for replays upon level load

Fixed bug where entering a seed into Trackmogrify and pressing Enter wouldn't close the menu in the lobby

Fixed bug where you could access locked levels using the advanced level select menu (both Solo and Online)

Fixed bug where animation timing in Instantiation was off by a few seconds and the power poster wasn't counting down

Fixed bugs with button selection in the lobby after returning from Customize Car, Trackmogrify input, or level selection

Fixed bug where Legacy levels were locked even if you had the Gold Collector achievement

Fixed bug where replays using cinematic cameras (e.g. Variant Blue) wouldn't work with level triggers due to culling issues

Fixed bug where two cars were visible during the Collapse (Nexus campaign) cutscene

Fixed bug where deleting a profile wouldn't reload the main menu (and progress bars would be incorrect)

Fixed bug where having a checkpoint in a group could result in the entire group changing color

Congrats to the creators whose levels were selected for inclusion in the Horizon Update! Once again we're impressed by your ambition and creativity and we're excited to share your creations with players.

We're looking into hosting another dev stream fairly soon to play through v1.4 so stay tuned for news about that! I'm also working on a much longer write up that discusses the PS4 build, thoughts on Distance's development, and a peek into Refract's future.

Until then we hope you enjoy this update! Let us know what you think of v1.4 below!

- Jordan (with everyone at Refract)

[refractstudios]

Distance v1.3: The Electric Update

Today we've got another free content update for you! v1.3 features six new playable levels, a new speedrun timer, level editor improvements, and more! To celebrate, Distance and the soundtrack DLC are 50% off for one week! Check out the full changelog on Steam for more details:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/distance/announcements/detail/1594751498689797909

PS4 Development

Since I haven't talked about it in awhile I also just wanted to quickly mention the PS4 build of Distance. Not too much to say yet since we don't have the release date locked down, but from a technical perspective we're reaching the end of the tunnel. It's certainly taken longer to finish (which is probably not a surprise to many who know our track record with Distance releases) but it's coming along.

I'm hoping to have more news soon about exactly what's coming to PS4 and when, so stay tuned. In the meantime thanks again for your patience! This is our first time developing for a console and it's been a never-ending learning experience.

Nexus Soundtrack Update

Speaking of the PS4 build, between that and v1.3 I've certainly gotten distracted from officially releasing the new v1.1 Nexus music tracks, as well as releasing the soundtrack on streaming platforms like Spotify. I haven't forgotten, and in fact v1.3 contains remastered versions of my music from the Nexus update. Those full tracks are nearly done and just need a couple more tweaks before they can be appended to the existing OST. Also hope to have news about that very soon.

As always thanks for the support! From all of us at Refract we hope you enjoy the v1.3 update!

- Jordan

[refractstudios]

Distance v1.1: The Nexus Update

Hey all! Today we've got a special holiday treat for you. As our contribution to Distance Advent Calendar (DAC) we're going all out and releasing Distance v1.1: The Nexus Update! This is one of our biggest content releases yet with 12 new levels featuring 6 new music tracks and a new mini-campaign.

To celebrate, Distance is 35% off for one week! Check out the changelog for more details and see below for some fancy screenshots.

v1.1 Changelog (Build 6669):

General Improvements

Added holiday features (Options > General > Christmas Features)

Reindeer car decorations, snow on car screen, winter-themed main menu

Added "Nexus" mini-campaign (Campaign > Nexus)

Includes five levels with all new music

Unlocked after completing Lost to Echoes

Added new levels to Sprint

Station

Iris

Observatory (featuring new music from The Quiggles)

Precept

Projection

Eclipse

Added unique new level to Challenge

Variant Blue

Minor updates to community level "Past"

Bugs Fixed

Fixed bug with incorrect position/rotation of Archive audio visualizer

Fixed bug where Encryptor was always unlocked

Fixed bug with not being able to reset in Eye of the Storm

Fixed bug where levels' unlock statuses weren't being updated on game launch

Fixed bug where CarScreenImageTrigger would use a random delay before showing on car screen

DEV STREAM THIS SATURDAY 2PM PST

The fifth annual Distance Advent Calendar (DAC) is about halfway through, and we've already seen some absolutely incredible creations so far. Check out our video on social media for a recap of the first week: Twitter / Facebook.

This Saturday we'll be doing a special dev stream to play through the first two weeks of levels and (most likely) talk about the v1.1 update.

What: DAC + v1.1 Dev Steam

Where: http://twitch.tv/refractstudios

When: Saturday Dec. 15th, 2pm PST

Let us know what you think of v1.1 below and we hope to see you this weekend!

- Jordan (with everyone at Refract)

[refractstudios]

Distance v1.0 is Here!

It's finally here. 12 team members, 6.5 years of development, 4,174 Kickstarter backers, many many Steam Early Access players, dozens of patches, 2,500 workshop levels, 12 conventions, and probably around 10,000 cups of coffee have resulted in Distance v1.0!

Plenty of mixed emotions at Refract today as we say goodbye to Distance Beta and hello to v1.0. Something definitely feels strange about not seeing that beta watermark in the upper right corner.

Distance was our first project outside the safety net of academia and I think it's safe to say that for most of us at Refract it was an incredible (and intense) learning experience. While we did our best to stay true to what we outlined in our Kickstarter, this project has continually evolved due to our skills improving, our tastes expanding, and our players' continually fantastic feedback.

We have the most patient and supportive backers, and the coolest player community on Earth. Thank you for believing in us to create something new and interesting in the racing genre! Your continued energy, excitement, support, and thoughtful feedback have kept this project going strong.

Speaking of which, remember that community press release we mentioned? It's going out to reviewers and content creators today! Thank you to anyone who took time to contribute. Out of the hundreds of responses here are a few of the quotes we included in the release:

What Players Had to Say about the Distance Experience

“Distance is practically the only game to tell a mysterious story with a very deep plot through racing, adrenaline-filled survival racing that can actually induce emotions totally outside the genre.” -Mad Max

“No other game captures to feeling of high speed driving quite the way Distance does. Turning a game about driving into, essentially, a puzzle game is maddeningly brilliant” -Jacob Odom

“The atmosphere makes this game more than just about racing. Some of the environments can bring out a range of emotions from sadness to joyfulness.” -Deumfides

What Players Had to Say about Distance’s Gameplay

“Burnout-boosting down a glass and neon highway that flips upside down while you ceiling-ride past hell's own road works equipment through an impossible cyberpunk nightmare city to a pounding electronic soundtrack.” -Jonas Emmett

“It's a game where your car can jump onto walls after getting cut in half by a laser, but actually keep going. Like yeah find me another game that has that and I'll eat my jorts.” -Chris

“The racing game where the map itself is trying to kill you with saws and lasers.” -Aida

What Players Had to Say about Distance’s Community

“If the vision of the creators of Distance is the heart of this game, the community certainly is its blood.” -João Felipe Brandão Jatobá

“It's not just a game anymore, it's something personal. The community is genuine, and all very active. It's got this kind of vibrancy and life to it, that never quite goes away. It's been going on long before the game ever officially reached Alpha, with the creation of the gem Nitronic Rush. Even then people knew there was something going on. It's not just the sum of its' mechanics, but something more. This game is alive.” -Nicholas

“The game is packed with kinetic excitement that makes it an exhilarating game to watch or play, with hours of replayability due to one of the most in-depth mapmakers I've ever seen and oodles of fan-made racetracks at your fingertips.” -Lukas P-Stylianides

To access Distance v1.0 simply update your build on Steam, or download the latest DRM-free build from your Humble library. You can also access the art book right now from Humble!

The soundtrack will be available in your Humble library later today, and the backer car will be distributed by Steam DLC keys that we need to send to applicable backers. Today will be a long day of rolling things out and it's mostly down to me getting that stuff finalized so please be patient while I work through it all.

Physical rewards are also going really well with many packages days away from shipment. I'm planning to give another physical rewards update as soon as things cool down from the launch.

Also, on a personal note I have to mention that Boombox Mode and custom MP3 support are indeed temporarily unavailable in v1.0. This is due to a tech limitation when upgrading our audio backend before launch. I do plan to re-integrate these features as soon as I can, so thanks for your patience while I figure it out.

We are looking to v1.1 and beyond, but for now I think we're going to take a bit of a break. Thanks again to our Kickstarter backers and Early Access players for being a crucial part of this development. Also thanks to my amazing teammates for inspiring me daily and pushing me to be my best. We all can't wait to see what you think of v1.0!

- Jordan (@torcht)

[refractstudios]

Introducing the "Lost to Echoes" mini-campaign!

We have another big announcement to share leading up to v1.0! The Adventure campaign isn't the only campaign coming to Distance v1.0... LOST TO ECHOES: RETURN TO NITRONIC CITY

Distance v1.0 will also feature the Lost to Echoes mini-campaign! Return to Nitronic City following the events of Nitronic Rush (our spiritual predecessor). Quite a bit has changed since destroying the CORE back in 2011. Check out the teaser above!

Lost to Echoes is unlocked after completing the Adventure campaign. It's a huge step up in challenge, so don't worry if Adventure mode isn't brutal enough for you. We've got you covered.

We're also excited to announce that M.J. "The Quiggles" Quigley has joined Refract to help create the soundtrack for this campaign! You might remember him from the original soundtrack for Nitronic Rush as well as projects like Mekazoo and Four Sided Fantasy.

I can barely believe we succeeded in keeping this a secret for so long. Can't wait to see what you think after playing it next week!

- Jordan (@torcht)

[refractstudios]

STE2 Round 3 Winners, Final Tournament this Saturday!

On Saturday we held our final editor competition for Survive the Editor 2! This week level creators were challenged to create Reverse Tag levels using the theme of "dreams." As usual some incredible levels bubbled to the top, and our top five were awarded live on stream!

Congrats to this week's Grand Prize Winner Sperzieb00n for their level Canopy!

Grand Prize: Canopy (by Sperzieb00n)

Second Place: Plateau (by Backgrounds')

Third Place: distant dreams (by fzeroman)

Fourth Place: Uncertainty (by pinesolofchaos)

Fifth Place: Built Among the Clouds (by Qubic (SolarisJT))

Like every week, each finalist will receive a poster and pin, with the top three also receiving a Distance t-shirt, and Grand Prize winner also earning our custom trophy!

Watch the full stream recording here:

ROUND 4: REVERSE TAG TOURNAMENT

This Saturday at 12pm PST we'll be hosting the epic conclusion to the month of madness, a Reverse Tag tournament using three levels submitted in the editor competition! These levels are:

Impact

Canopy

Built Among the Clouds

We were previously planning to keep these levels a secret until right before the tournament, but we eventually decided it's more fair to allow practice on these maps all week.

This is your last chance to win a physical award before v1.0 releases! To sign up simply join our Discord and let us know you'd like to enter via the #tournament_signup channel. See you this Saturday!

Sign Up: https://discord.gg/distance

Watch: https://twitch.tv/refractstudios

Learn More: http://survivethedistance.com/survivetheeditor

- Jordan (@torcht)

[refractstudios]

Distance v1.0 Wallpapers and Avatar Overlays

Happy Friday! Can you believe Distance v1.0 launches in less than 11 days? Seems like an excellent time to release a bunch of new wallpapers and profile overlays!

PROFILE OVERLAYS

Spice up your Steam, Discord, Twitter, Facebook, whatever profile image by adding a profile overlay! Simply download the pack below and add the layer on top of your existing profile image.

Distance Profile Overlay Pack (4 images)

WALLPAPERS

Distance v1.0 Wallpapers (12 images)

STE2 ROUND 3 REMINDER

Tonight at 11:59pm PST is the deadline for submitting your Reverse Tag level for Survive the Editor 2. Tomorrow we'll be playing through the entries and scoring them based on visuals, gameplay, and how well they match the theme. Don't miss out!

Learn more: http://survivethedistance.com/survivetheeditor

Watch live: https://twitch.tv/refractstudios

- Jordan (@torcht)

[refractstudios]

STE2 Round 2 Tournament Recap, Editor Competition This Weekend

This past Saturday we had our first tournament for Survive the Editor 2! Using levels submitted for the level editor competition in Round 1, several of the best Distance players in the world raced for the grand prize. Congrats to Seekr our Grand Prize Winner! Amazing skills on display by all of our competitors. It was incredibly close between all five of our finalists. Grand Prize: Seekr Second Place: KnightBane (Noah) Third Place: OMANEYE Fourth Place: Ferreus Fifth Place: pigpenguin Like every week, each finalist will receive a poster and pin, with the top three also receiving a Distance t-shirt, and Grand Prize winner also earning our custom trophy! Watch the full stream recording here:

ROUND 3: LEVEL EDITOR COMPETITION

With two weeks left before the v1.0 launch there are two rounds remaining in Survive the Editor 2. This weekend we'll be playing submissions for our second level editor competition, and the following week we'll be hosting another tournament. If you're interested in submitting a level there's still time! Create a Reverse Tag level using the theme "Dreams" and submit it by 11:59pm PT to enter! We hope to see you and your level during the stream on Saturday! Learn more: http://survivethedistance.com/survivetheeditor - Jordan (@torcht)

[refractstudios]

STE2 Round 1 Winners, Tournament This Saturday!

Congrats to our first round of winners for Survive the Editor 2! We gave community creators two weeks to create a Sprint level using the theme celebration, and after much deliberation we awarded five winners live on Twitch!

Grand Prize: Sugar Rush (by Pinapl)

Second Place: Tetreal (by Plasmawario)

Third Place: Celebration Island (by sperzieb00n)

Fourth Place: Sanctum (by Jay2a)

Fifth Place: Nitronic Celebration (by fzeroman)

Each winner will receive a poster and pin, with the top three also receiving a Distance t-shirt, and Grand Prize winner also earning our custom trophy! Also congrats to spaceburger0 and echance01, our two participation raffle winners who will receive a poster, pin, and copy of Distance.

You can watch the full stream recording here, and check out all of this week's submissions on Workshop.

ROUND 2: SPRINT TOURNAMENT THIS SATURDAY

This Saturday at 12pm PT we'll be using some of the levels submitted in Round 1 in a Sprint tournament! To keep things interesting we won't be announcing exactly which levels will be used until the day of the tournament.

Just like with the level editor competition we'll be awarding tons of physical rewards to the top slots, so there are plenty of chances to win something cool. To sign up simply join our Discord and let us know you'd like to enter via the #tournament_signup channel:

SIGN UP HERE: https://discord.gg/distance

ROUND 3: LEVEL EDITOR COMPETITION DETAILS!

Finally, today we're announcing the details for our next and final level editor competition leading up to the launch on Sept. 18th. You have two weeks to create a new level for Reverse Tag using the theme dreams!

Mode: Reverse Tag

Theme: Dreams

Deadline: Submit by Sept. 7th, 11:59pm PST

Learn more: http://survivethedistance.com/survivetheeditor

All of the other details for the editor competition can be found on the official website. We can't wait to see what you create!

- Jordan (@torcht)

[refractstudios]

Physical rewards update

Hey all! I want to give our backers a quick update on physical rewards, but first a quick reminder:

Survive the Editor 2: Saturday at 12pm PT

Tomorrow at 12pm PT we'll be awarding the first round winners of Survive the Editor 2! Can't wait to finally play these levels. Hope to see you there!

Watch: http://twitch.tv/refractstudios

Shirts and Posters

This week we received all of the shirts (backer-exclusive and bonus) from our printer! We spent quite a bit of time making tweaks to the final layout, but in the end I'm quite satisfied with the result.

We've also received the final version of the 18x24" posters and have started packing them into tubes. Next step will be to group the various rewards as needed into collective packages and print out shipping labels.

The Arcade Cabinets

Jason's full-time job this month has been to construct the two arcade cabinets for our two FULL TILT ARCADE MACHINE backers ($10,000 tier). He's making great progress, with cabinet #1 nearing completion.

- The process began by re-evaluating the previous cabinet design (created for use at PAX 2015) and making improvements. The original design was clearly well built as it withstood hundreds of players at conventions, but there were still several things that could be improved with minimal overhead.

After finalizing the new design in Blender, Jason ordered all of the parts required including seats, PC parts, carbon fiber wrap, etc. While waiting for those items he got to work constructing the frame.

This was a huge chunk of the work - cutting the wood, assembling all of the pieces, sanding as needed, etc. Once that was all in place the next steps were to attach the side panels, add T-molding for the LED strips, wrap everything with our carbon fiber vinyl, and attach the seats, monitor, steering wheel, speakers, etc.

We still have quite a few things to wrap up, but it's close. The PC is now functional inside using the steering wheel and I'm working on updating the LED strips to match the newest in-game music. If you want to see more work-in-progress shots of the cabinet I've been posting them on Facebook and Twitter. Hope to post some videos of the cabinet running with full lights and audio soon!

- Jordan (@torcht)

[refractstudios]

Help Us Create a Community Press Release!

As you may have noticed we’re incredibly excited about the upcoming v1.0 launch! One of the best things to come from this experience has been seeing how players have made Distance their own. From user-created levels, to community-run tournaments, to charity streams, it’s been amazing for us to see such great support! Since the community is such a driving force for us, we wanted to give you an opportunity to be part of the release. Our PR team is going to put out an announcement for us when the game launches, and we’d love to use some of your thoughts to tell the world about Distance. Please help us out by answering these questions:

FILL OUT: Distance Community Press Release

Thanks for being a part of this amazing journey with us!

- Jordan (@torcht)

[refractstudios]

Survive the Editor 2: Month of Madness has begun!

Survive The Editor 2 is a multi-stage Distance competition leading up to the launch of Distance v1.0 on September 18th!

STE2 fuses two level editor competitions with two tournaments over 5 weeks. We'll be taking the top submissions from each level editor competition and utilizing them in each tournament!

Every Saturday from 12pm to 2pm PT we'll be running a special live stream on Twitch for each stage of the competition!

Watch STE2 live: http://twitch.tv/refractstudios

August 18th: Devs play Distance

August 25th: Level submission judging #1

September 1st: Tournament #1

September 8th: Level submission judging #2

September 15th: Tournament #2

We’ll be giving away an incredible, one-of-kind, 3D-printed trophy to each week’s grand prize winners (seen above), as well as t-shirts, posters, and glow-in-the-dark pins to the runners-up!

Whether you like to create levels, race with others, or just watch on Twitch there’s something for you. We hope to see you join!

Learn more: http://survivethedistance.com/survivetheeditor/

- Jordan (@torcht)

[refractstudios]

Distance v1.0 Coming to PC on Sept. 18th, New Trailer!

After 6 years of development, it’s finally ready. Distance v1.0 is coming to PC on September 18th! This massive update features tons of new content including Adventure v1.0, our mysterious single-player campaign. Check it out in our new trailer!

Month of Madness (Distance v1.0 edition)

Distance v1.0 comes with much more than just Adventure v1.0. Take a look at our previous blog post for an overview of what’s coming on Sept. 18th. Over the next month leading up to the launch we’ll be unveiling more content and hosting several events. Watch out for the upcoming rules for an elaborate level editor competition x tournament fusion!

Speaking of events, we’ll be starting up a weekly stream this weekend! Join us this Saturday August 11th at 12pm PT to watch the team play Distance and answer questions about v1.0!

Refract Twitch Stream:

Aug. 11th @ 12pm PT / 3pm ET / 7pm GMT

http://twitch.tv/refractstudios

Distance v1.0 is increasing to $24.99

To accompany the final increase in content, we’ve decided to set the final price of Distance to $24.99. This change will begin in one week on August 15th, 2018, so if you’d like to pick up Distance at it’s current price of $19.99 you have one week to do so.

When is the PS4 version being released?

While we were previously aiming to release v1.0 simultaneously on PC and PS4, we’ve made the tough to call to separate the two. Instead we want to fully concentrate on each launch at a time, starting first with PC to get the game into the hands of early backers. Afterwards we’ll be wrapping up the few remaining tasks required for the PS4 and lock down that release date.

Once again we appreciate our PS4 fans’ patience as we wrap up v1.0. We want Distance to shine on each platform equally, and we believe this will be the best way to achieve that.

So yeah, this is really happening

Cutting together this new trailer was incredibly enjoyable for me – not just because I love mysterious cinematic stuff, but more because it was an excuse to show off the amazing work of my teammates. And trust me when I say the coolest stuff in Distance v1.0 is not in that trailer. There are still plenty of secrets yet to uncover, and today is just the beginning.

Let us know what you think of the news on Discord and Steam!

- Jordan (@torcht)

[refractstudios]

Your First Look at Distance v1.0

Hey, everyone! As it's been said many times over the years, when we go dark something big is usually brewing under the surface. You probably can tell from the title, but after many grueling months we're finally ready to unveil what we've been creating.

Thanks for everyone's patience as we bring this insane 6+ year project to its conclusion. This year we've been fully focused on wrapping up the large bundle of content to all be released in Distance v1.0. It's essentially a huge DLC pack with several surprises inside. Since the start of early access, expanding upon our shipped level content has always been the plan, right alongside implementing the long list of promised features from our Kickstarter campaign (e.g. Trackmogrify, ghosts/replays, stunt mode, announcer, etc).

We're still working with our business partners to determine the release date, so we’re not yet able announce that in this devlog. In the meantime I’d like to cover some of what you can look forward to in Distance v1.0, as well as a few personal notes about the development process.

ADVENTURE

First up, Distance v1.0 includes a full featured Adventure campaign. This final campaign is a reworked and extended version of the campaign currently available on Steam Early Access. To achieve our original vision for Adventure the entire experience is receiving visual, audio, story, and gameplay upgrades.

(example of an upgraded Adventure level; new version above, old below)

In fleshing out the final narrative my goal was to create a unique experience by utilizing emotions not usually found within the racing genre. To achieve that we pursued a minimalist narrative that focuses heavily on atmosphere, mystery, and flow. Some loose story threads remain from the early access version, but in the end it’s a whole new beast.

The campaign in total is about 1 to 1.5 hours long depending on your skill level, so don't go in expecting an epic. It's a minimalist narrative experience, with gameplay focusing on the core abilities of your vehicle. The story is simple on the surface, but the deeper you look into it the more you may uncover.

Alongside the visual and gameplay upgrades, I've also worked hard to improve the overall soundscape with lots of new sounds, several new music tracks, and dynamic transitions. For a taste of some new stuff, here's a fresh new track from about halfway through the campaign.

As you’re probably aware I tend to prefer silence over accidentally spoiling something. It's probably overkill most of the time, but in talking about such a short campaign I'm not excited to give too much away. Hopefully these screenshots will hold you over until we can finally release a proper teaser trailer.

ARCADE

I'm also excited to say that the Arcade portion of Distance is also getting a large overhaul. Not only will we be releasing several brand new Arcade levels with v1.0, but we've redesigned the Arcade experience from the ground up. My aim with this redesign was to improve the sense of progression, give more value to earning medals, and make it more interesting to traverse the wide variety of included content.

With that goal in mind, the team came together to create new menus, improve existing ones, and logically group Arcade content as best as we can. After trying a few different progression systems, we settled on something simple and straightforward. Within Arcade there are level sets which can be unlocked by earning medals. We've also meticulously gone through each track and updated the bronze, silver, and gold times to be as accurate and consistent as possible.

As I mentioned above, several new arcade levels are being released with v1.0. These levels push our editor technology to its limit and explore completely different visual themes and gameplay than what’s found in the Adventure campaign.

(“Chroma” created by Kristian)

(“Virtual Rift” created by Galen)

Along those lines, I'm also pleased to announce that several of our favorite community-made levels will be directly included in v1.0! Not only does this allow us to highlight some amazing community levels directly from within the game, it's also our way to share these levels with PS4 players as we won’t have a Steam Workshop replacement at launch. Kristian, Brent, and Galen have also taken time to revamp several of their own levels from Steam Workshop to be directly included in v1.0.

(one example of an included Workshop level, “Inferno” by Backgrounds’)

(Brent upgraded his Workshop level “Neo Seoul” exclusively for v1.0)

By the way if you liked the old menus, don't worry because they're still included as the "Advanced" level select menu. It's even been improved further to include a search feature.

(the Advanced level select menu)

Much like the “Old Levels” in Nitronic Rush, a Legacy level set has been included. It features all of the classic levels from early access, as well as a few levels cut from the final version of the Adventure campaign. Since the changes between the old iterations and the final ones were substantial enough we figured they would be worth including as a fun bonus.

(the Legacy level set in Sprint mode)

In addition to the new unlockable levels in Arcade, we also spent time creating a few cheats that affect appearances or gameplay when enabled. Unlock them by earning various achievements/trophies. We thought this would be a fun way to give achievements more value instead of just being arbitrary tasks to complete. And yes, a few more achievements will be added to v1.0 on top of what already exists in the early access build.

(a few cheats to unlock in v1.0)

Finally, a quick comment on the unlockable cars. Yes, there will be a few bonus cars to unlock by earning achievements. You can change the colors if you like, but no, they do not affect gameplay at all. Here’s a look at the Archive.

(the unlockable “Archive” car)

Hundreds of other smaller improvements have been made across the board, including improvements to the car's damage system, the cockpit view, etc. Instead of dissecting each one it'll be more fun to just find those yourself.

LEVEL EDITOR

For all of our lovely level creators, just a quick note on the v1.0 editor. Don't expect a big v1.0 level editor overhaul but there will be several new features added. This includes access to the features and many new assets used to create new level content, plus a few new addable components.

For example, you can add an Animator Audio or Animator Camera Shake component to your animations. Regarding the new v1.0 assets mentioned above, you’ll have to wait a bit longer since showing them here would give too much away from the campaign.

(some example addable components coming to v1.0)

PS4 DEVELOPMENT

As it’s been for a while now, the PS4 side of development has eaten up a substantial amount of our time. Fortunately we’ve pushed past most of the scariest hurdles, and at a quick glance the PS4 build looks nearly identical to the PC build.

(one of the new Adventure campaign levels running on PS4)

One the biggest challenges we had to overcome was simply hitting our goal of 1080p at 60fps. After some impressive technical wizardry led by Jason, we’ve made substantial improvements to performance across the board for both the PS4 and PC builds.

More than anything we’ve smoothed out most of the rough spots in levels that were pushing the hardware to its limit, so the experience is quite a bit more consistent in each level. This was really important to us from the gameplay perspective because our fairly “twitchy” gameplay really feels subpar at even 30fps, so one way or another we think everyone will benefit from the work poured in here.

(performance graph showing frame rate over time in a new Arcade level running on PS4)

Beyond that, it’s just been a lot of work to support features like leaderboards with replay uploading/downloading, and the various technical certification requirements to allow us onto the PS4 in the first place. There’s still quite a bit of work to do there, so we’re currently evaluating how we can improve our process to wrap those up sooner.

NOTES ON THE DEVELOPMENT

Simultaneously managing public and private builds over the past few years has been a growing challenge for us, so to reach release as soon as possible we’re simplifying things by putting all of our energy into v1.0. Unfortunately that means that there will be no more updates to the Steam build until v1.0 is released.

We ended up taking a long and unorthodox approach to early access, and I understand if there’s been any confusion as to how v1.0 fits into the overall picture. We did our best for a long time to balance the development of both public and private builds, but it eventually became unsustainable to keep that up. Over the past year we’ve gradually transitioned to just focusing on v1.0 content (and tools to create that content), as well as solving the various technical challenges required to release on PS4.

As a result I haven’t had much to say publicly since everything we’re creating is secret, spoiler-filled content. Regardless, I fully acknowledge that I could have done better in terms of communication. The deeper I fell into creating “secret” content like the Adventure campaign, the harder and harder it became to break out of that world and maintain an external perspective of the project.

The reality of Distance as a project is that it’s been fairly overscoped from the start (at least for our team size and skill set). On top of that we do feel a duty to provide something innovative with artistic merit. For us it’s been a continual battle to not only live up to external expectations, but also live up to the standards we have ourselves. Instead of conceding defeat and scaling things back, we’ve continued to face each artistic and technical challenge until we’re satisfied with the final product. I’m not saying this was necessarily the wisest approach, but I hope you can understand how we ended up investing so much time into Distance.

It's been a long and bumpy process for all of us, but the v1.0 release is in sight and I think you’ll really like what we’ve cooked up. Distance has always been an extremely personal project for us, and as a result I think that you can see our personal passions shine through the final product. I’m extremely proud of my hard-working and dedicated teammates for pushing through endless barriers to reach this milestone. I’m also endlessly thankful to our faithful and extremely patient players who’ve been cheering from the sidelines from the start.

My next blog post will likely be the release date announcement. There also may or may not be a few secrets I neglected to mention here… so stay tuned. Thanks as always for the support!

- Jordan (with everyone at Refract)