If you are reading this, you are probably aware of the on going resolution wars between PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Almost every game these days is expected to run at 1080p, even indie games. But Hyper Light Drifter, an upcoming indie game will run at 480p. For those who are unaware, Hyper Light Drifter is an upcoming 2D action role-playing game developed by Heart Machine releasing across a ton of platforms including PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
Developer Alex Preston believes resolution does not matter for 2D games and he gives a pretty good reason to justify his statement. When asked whether his game will run at 1080p resolution, he had the following to say:
“Not at all ,our game is 480p, so. Yeah, it’s low resolution, and very intentionally so. I mean, it is pixel style, so why would we make it 1080p?,” he said to GamingBolt.
“I don’t think anybody actually cares about this with 2D games. It’s always more of a question of 3D games. I mean, resolution actually matters in that case. But in 2D games, it’s just the resolution you draw your sprite at. I don’t think that question has ever been a point of interest for anybody on 2D games, really.”
And for people who care about higher resolution in 2D games, Alex had the following to say. “And people who care about that, I mean, okay, great, that’s silly, I can’t help you.”
Alex definitely has a reasonable point here. Very few indie developers have the budgets of AAA game publishers and as such they work under very limited resources. Under such a situation, making a title with engaging gameplay should and must be a priority for them. And if the gameplay of Hyper Light Drifter below is anything to go by, Heart Machine are surely putting their limited resources to use in the right direction.