![HEPTAGON](https://img.itch.zone/aW1nLzIzOTI1MjgucG5n/original/NFQ7bg.png)
HEPTAGON
A downloadable game for Windows
HEPTAGON is a fast-paced and fluid action game, inspired by the legendary masterpiece Super Hexagon.
Aiming to provide a fresh challenge for veterans of the genre, HEPTAGON introduces perspective-shifting effects that bring a new layer of complexity, and also look pretty damn dope.
HEPTAGON has now released on Steam! You can get the game on Steam or here on itch (which will give you a Steam key).
The Steam version of the game gives you access to the following features:
- 7 Mind-bending levels to unlock
- Global + Steam friends leaderboard
- Steam achievements
The demo version can be played here for free, with access only to the first 3 levels, and no high score leaderboards.
For any enquiries, contact us at contact.coregames@gmail.com, or leave a comment below.
Status | Released |
Platforms | Windows |
Rating | Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars (2 total ratings) |
Author | CORE Games |
Genre | Action, Rhythm |
Tags | Abstract, chiptune, Fast-Paced, Perma Death, Pixel Art, Real-Time, Relaxing, Singleplayer |
Links | Steam |
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $4.99 USD. Your purchase comes with a Steam key. You will get access to the following files:
Download demo
Development log
- Steam Release is Here!Jul 15, 2020
- Steam Page, Release Date, New Trailer + Level 6Jun 16, 2020
- New Level 4Jun 01, 2020
- Small update - Balance, FixesMay 12, 2020
- New Music, Tutorial, FixesApr 20, 2020
- Level 4 is Here!Feb 18, 2020
- Balance, Score competition, SFX, Framerate fixes, and more...Jan 24, 2020
- Progression system, polishJan 15, 2020
Comments
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Recently played the Heptagon demo and man is it a trip. Much faster paced than I expected, especially on level 2. Seems like it'd be fun to watch a skilled player run through for the music and completions. Instead, I have a pile of deaths.
Good job, dev.Glad you liked the game. Nice video.
A couple of options that might make things easier for you:
HEPTAGON Steam Release Review:
Hey, I found this game out due to a friend. Funnily enough it was just the day of the Steam release, so naturally, I got it.
Been playing it for a good few 8 hours the last few days and I am enjoying the
frustratingexperience. Wasn't very good at the start but I'm slowly progressing and loving it. As of making this review I've beaten Level 1 Harder, Level 2 Harder, Level 3 Hard, Level 4 Hard (43sec), Level 5 Hard (69.40secs - big ripperoni), Level 6 Hard and Level 7 (on 90ish secs).However there are a few complaints I'd like to address. Seeing as a review with a few of them has already been made and are probably on their way to being addressed I'll try to not be a parrot:
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Level 1 Hardest - other than it being nice to have a bit more breathing time during transitions, 2 times now (in the span of 2 hours trying this level), I've had it spawning a full circle of a pattern in the normal hexagon stage (if it helps both times it was with one of the walls being a double). It's insta death and I can't escape it.
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Level 3 Harder - This level is driving me crazy ngl. Level 3 Hard seemed like it had wonky transitions from the inner to outer part (which I'll dub the 'plane transition' for ease). I thought it was a design decision, since it seemed like a cool mechanic at the time (that you had to look ahead of the transition to prepare in advance to nail the first hole) but with Level 3 Harder upping the speed it's become torture.
I'm not so sure it's a design decision anymore since it flat out kills me on multiple occasions due to me simply not being able to react fast enough. It's even worse when it does the backwards transition from normal to plane because I can't see how close I am to the holes and I can't prepare properly and it just spawns me in front of a wall.
What's worse, even if one is to get used to this (which I slowly am), sometimes the transition itself glitches, the camera starts spinning and it kills you off with the side walls during the transition. Sadly I don't have footage of that happening.
The normal to tower transition on the other hand is quite smooth, with ample time to prepare and it flows nicely.
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Level 5 Hard - This is more of a 'me' problem but it might affect more people so I'll throw it in - I legit have ptsd from the black/white part of this level. I feel dread when it comes. And that's for the sole reason that for the life of me, I cannot see the slightly transparent walls. 90% of my deaths are from the black/white colored part of the level. The transparent blocks aren't that common (thank god) but on top of that, the sheer intensity of the black/white color palette seems to strain the eyes a lot more than any other mix.
So, naturally, during that part I have to focus really hard on the walls coming on top of losing all sense of direction. I'd suggest, if not change the colors entirely, to at least play around with the them to make 'em pop a bit more and make the whole thing a lot more readable. Like the green part. I like the green part of that level...
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Other than that, the game's been a pretty fun time killer and a pretty good challenge. Especially when you race with friends to beat a level ('bragging rights' achievement unlocked). The added mechanics of the plane and the tower are pretty neat. I'm generally having a fun time playing through it.
If anything else pops up, I'll be sure to take note of it.
Hi,
Really glad to hear you're enjoying the game and have played so much of it.
The first two points you mentioned are bugs we're aware of that should be fixed soon.
The third point I've not heard before. Do you mean the walls are actually transparent on that level? If so please send me a screenshot, they're definitely not supposed to be. I have had a few other people complain about the intensity of the black/white palette, so I think I might change it so that it only shows up in the tutorial.
Thanks very much for the detailed feedback. See you on the leaderboards.
Heya,
Can't really provide a screenshot because once I snap one, the walls look normal on it lol. Considering the problem hasn't been heard of before - I'm thinking it's highly likely the problem is actually on my end. Either it's something to do with the hardware or my eyes are percieving it as slightly transparent due to the colors and speed. Considering the fact that when I take the screenshot they look normal, I'd venture it's the latter. Not really sure.
At least I managed to beat the level right before posting here so there's that, I guess haha.
HEPTAGON v0.1.6 Review
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Hi, I haven't forgotten about you guys; in fact, I've kept tabs just about daily to see if there's an update to this page; however, I've experienced some issues that I believe should be addressed, primarily focusing on the hardest difficulties.
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(These minor complaints were made within 66 minutes of gameplay and 5 levels being completed)
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Level 1 Hardest - Transitions with 2D to Inside and vise versa feel like a complete reaction-based event + the delay makes it close to a perfectionist run, although this is beatable given enough time and luck. (~50 seconds though beatable / same guy for Level 4 Hardest beat this)
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Level 2 Harder - Awkward feel with this one with the speed change + the Barrage Spiral for Square I died on despite holding the button down the whole time at the center of the lane and apparently being "too slow" for this despite being perfect. Similarly to Box w/ Lid being too close delay wise. (Completed)
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Level 2 Hardest - Quite a lot of bullshit factors I noticed here.
Triangle -- Wonky 3D effect on 2D space makes the V with a cap (to complete a whole triangle) pattern too confusing.
Square -- Similar issues to Box w/ Lid and Barrage Spiral on Level 2 Harder.
Hexagon -- Alternating Barrage (Essentially Wall/Space/Wall/Space/Wall/Space & vise versa) pattern is WAY too short, I've cleared the pattern but that's too close delay wise even for Open Hexagon standards.
Transitions here are also quite unfair at times. (Not sure if this is beatable; if so, it's too luck based.)
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Level 4 Hardest (Harder?) - Transitions with Inside to Outside & vise versa are bullshit, sometimes total luck on the delay when this happens if you'd react in time to survive, otherwise it's just annoying quick gameplay. (Doable / someone completed this while writing this)
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Overall conclusion:
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Transitions - Would be nice if there was ~1-2 seconds worth of no patterns spawning to give you a moment to transition without the worry of dying immediately especially for the hardest difficulties available within the game. (I understand this may affect the flow of the game and the patterns, but it would be appreciated to an extent although I doubt this would be a setting.)
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Level 1 Overall - Might not see this level be changed around; but, it jumps the difficulty scale between Harder and Hardest marginally greater than the difficulty scaling between Hard to Harder. Alongside this, it still poses quite an issue beating Level 1 Hardest to an extent.
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Level 2 Overall - Maybe I'm being a bit bitchy with Level 2 Harder and I'm not fully used to the sudden shift in speed (As if this was Super Hexagon on Cheat Engine steroids); but, Level 2 Hardest is THE worst because of several issues explained above and the most busted difficulty, but of course Level 2 Harder has a couple reasonable ones.
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Level 4 Overall - Never tried Harder more than just a few tries so I'm not sure if the complaints about Hardest apply for certain, but Hardest is only most annoying because of the transitional problems between Inside and Outside, I do want to clarify again someone I know did beat Level 4 Hardest so it's not that bad as it seems.
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For those questioning about Level 6 Hardest - Considering the level completion range with the only other 3 available levels and only 8 difficulties can be beaten out of ~18, I can't review said difficulty, neither can I review Level 6 Harder, so that'll be for the Steam release.
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I believe this will conclude this review of HEPTAGON v0.1.6, I hope this will help the team in terms of balancing the other Hardest difficulty modes for the levels we can't try as of this time. Personally, I feel like the Hardest mode was only designed for the top tier area of players for Open Hexagon (With the exception of Level 2, it feels like KammyKaze and/or hl.EINOS level gameplay), otherwise the rest of the game is okay, just needs some minor fixing here and there.
Here's the bloody demo being 100% beaten, this gave me a damn headache but it's well worth it I suppose.. enjoy the madness.
Woah nice, thanks for all this.
-Agreed that transitions need some extra delay time especially on harder/hardest difficulties, will adjust this.
-Level 2 square barrage spiral: This should always be beatable, unless there is a bug. You have to start moving right by the edge of the first ring, else you won't make it - it doesn't give you as much time as a full spiral, so if you start from further away you might fail and feel it was impossible. If you have footage of when you died to that pattern, we could determine if there really is a bug or not. I am unsure myself if there is something wrong here sometimes, but then I look at the code and it should be fine.
-Level 2 Hardest: Lol, I wasn't done balancing that level and meant to disable it in this build. It's completely broken. Well done beating it you madman.
-Level 6 Harder + Hardest were still unfinished so they're meant to be disabled.
Thanks for the help. I am gonna post a link to your video on here if you don't mind?
I don't mind at all, you can link my video! :)
The Level 2 Square Barrage Spiral is doable for me by all means, but there's some scenarios where I feel like completely holding the same button down would keep me alive since I once cleared 2-3 Barrage Spirals, a couple Inverses and I believe 1 Box w/ Cap pattern all in a single turn before, with back to back Barrage Spirals I might add.
I knew something wasn't right with Level 2 Hardest with how unbalanced and broken it was, not to mention the Alt Barrage on Hexagon spawned impossible variations that not even I could clear with perfect movement, it just seemed very luck heavy and I had an attempt that could've saved me a whole 30 minutes from recording if I didn't die last moment, it really got on my nerves.
I figured Level 6 Harder & Hardest were disabled since 20 completions from 7 levels overall is basically impossible since it'd be 19/21, so that I knew was on purpose for the demo, otherwise I don't know what I would've thought about doing that.
I like level 4 quite a lot more than the other demo level's I've tried. However, I still hold many nitpicks about the game, and I don't feel that it approaches the same level as Open Hexagon.
The difficulty factors aren't the most enjoyable. A slow cursor combined with slow, clumped walls does not bring me joy to play. Inverting controls is even more frustrating, but I support the decision to add more non-conventional ways to make it challenging
There's a lack of graphical options and functionality. When in the menu's, my GPU usage will instantly spike to 95%+ load (unnecessarily heating it up, and my GPU isn't a bad one), although it's less bad when you play a level.
I'm not a fan of how it looks either. The color of the shape's border in the middle is different than the cursor/walls, and the cursor is too close to the shape. However, this doesn't matter at all. I still plan on playing this game a lot once it releases on steam.
I played Open Hexagon again this week and I think I get where you're coming from. OH generally has faster walls and a faster cursor with more permissive gaps, whereas Heptagon currently has a much slower cursor but tighter reaction times, so it feels like you are moving through mud when you go from the fast game to the slow one.
I've balanced the new level 6 to feel much more like an Open Hexagon level, and I've also adjusted some of the existing harder + hardest difficulty levels to be more OH-like (this update will be out in a few days). The challenge now will be finding the right balance for each level. I think the slow cursor is better for new players, and I want both slow and fast cursor levels in the game, but I also need the difference between levels to not be too jarring, as it is currently when you go from Open Hexagon to this game.
We are planning on adding more graphics options eventually. Not sure why your GPU would be spiking in the options menu, will look into it.
Not planning on changing the colour scheme, but the cursor is definitely too close to the shape (sometimes even overlapping it) on some levels, which we'll fix soon.
Tried out the newer update. I think the thinner walls look much nicer and make the game much nicer. Still a couple of spacing issues on some of the patterns (such as the pattern I'd like to call the "lid on the box") where you barely have the time to maneuver through the pattern. But overall, much better than before.
I don't think the alternate swapping mechanics are like I wanted. It's still like the default swapping mechanics with just an added delay. You are making sure that it stops at the first normal wall, right? Just like how it activates when it is at the first red wall? I'm fine with the swapping turning off when the perspective changes, because I can get time to adjust. You're making progress, but the alternate swapping mechanics are inconsistent at the moment. (It seems to work best on the tunnel vision, and it still turns off a hair too early. The normal view it seems to have the most problems with)
And wow, the tunnel view with 8+ sides is very difficult, and I'm saying this as a fairly decent Open Hexagon player. Feels like I'm not getting a whole lot of room with each side, hahaha.
I enjoy the progress being made. With the progress you're making, you'll definitely have a very polished game.
Version used: Demo - v0.1.5.1
I like this game, it's a super well made spiritual successor to Super Hexagon, but it's a bit too hard. Emphasis on too. Here's some of my nitpicks.
1. There's a large gap between casual and hard. Casual is very slow, while hard is OH GAWDD for a good-ish hexagon player (such as myself). It's like putting a slowed down version of Pointless next to Second Dimension.
2. Setting preferred inversion controls bugs out when restarting. Say i set "inside" to inversed. I go to level 2, i die on the inside perspective, and get put on 2D normal mode when i restart. Bam, my 2D controls are reversed.
3. The level restarts go way too quickly. When you first start, you're given a short tutorial or warmup period which lets you get ready. But when you restart, it's riiiight back into the action with a wall directly going for your pointer. Can't even say "let's try again" without needing to move out of the way.
4. Restarting a level is confusing. Every time you restart a level, you go to a random shape and a random perspective. Highly confusing when combined with point 3 as you frantically dodge the triangle spir- dead. I'd want the level to start at hexagon and wait a short bit for me to get ready before throwing literally everything at me.
This is a really great game, despite the nitpicks that i had, and i keep trying and trying over and over. It's addicting!
Hi, thanks for the detailed feedback.
1. You're right that the difficulty curve is a bit whack. I'm thinking of increasing the speed of the casual levels from Level 2 onwards, or else just removing them entirely. Originally, they were made just as very slowed-down versions of the hard levels so that newer players would have somewhere to start, but now Level 1 is doing that job. L1.1 -> L1.2 -> L2.2 is a much smoother progression than L2.1 -> L2.2, currently.
2. Thanks for this, will fix.
3. For me, I like the feeling of having almost no break between restarts, especially if I am playing a long session where I restart 50+ times. But I get that not everyone plays like this - I'll add an option to put a delay between restarts (that won't affect score).
4. The game used to work as you describe and always restart at the same pattern, but I changed it because I think random resets are more fun on longer sessions. You don't feel like you're back at square one every time you hit space. I might change it back to be this way on Level 1 though, to make it easier for people to acclimatise.
Extra point 5 for level 5.
5. The red wall inverses controls mechanic feels unfun. There's no room to adjust yourself, the moment you go through the red wall there's a second red wall going right at you, and you accidentally go the opposite way you want to and die. The mechanic itself is cheap, too, unlike the perspective changes. Any game can be made harder by messing with the controls.
Addendum to 4. Instead of restarting at a hexagon on the 2D perspective, stay at the shape and perspective before the restart? That'd prevent confusion, while not giving you the thought that you're starting on square 1 again, you're just continuing from where you died.
Alright, I had this nagging question that I just have to ask (and a couple others brought this up as well) because there's been a recent uptick in interest for your game here.
- Will there be any sort of a chance that the users can create their own levels where they can customize everything to their hearts content and ability?
I'm curious to know because we don't know exactly the process it takes for you to make each specific level in the game.
What's your opinions on this?
Currently we have no plans to make a level editor. The levels are all written directly in C#, there's no scripting language or anything that we could easily make available. If the game does decently well and there seems to be sufficient interest, we might add one sometime after release.
Failing that, I expect I will eventually release the source code anyway, which people can do what they want with.
So I heard of this game for the first time because someone in a discord server pointed this game out and it looked somewhat interesting.
To keep it short, I enjoy the new mechanics that the game has implemented. I just kind of dislike how the "inverse" walls were implemented initially because it ends as the inverse walls end, which I thought was weird, but I guess it takes some time getting used to.
One major improvement I think this game needs is to help space out the patterns. When playing the levels I felt the walls were way too thick and you barely get any space to navigate between patterns, which I can barely handle on the normal view. On the tunnel view it looks like a bullet hell nightmare and it's the spacing that makes it difficult for me to determine where to go. I wouldn't mind trading off the walls to be faster if it means we get better spacing between patterns, or if the walls were to be more thin I'd think that'd be nice.
There's some bugs in the game such as the music all of a sudden not playing anymore and the obvious lag when trying to go the menu, and I do think there is a lack of polish in the aesthetics. Overall a good game and I see potential in it. Keep it up!
Hi. Thanks very much for the feedback.
To be clear, when you talk about the 'inverse' walls, you're referring to the differently coloured wall patterns on Level 5 that swap the controls?
Do you think the walls are too thick throughout the game, or just on Level 1?
On which levels did you notice the music suddenly stopping?
And yeah, we are aware of the crappy loading lag, will try and fix that in the next update.
Yeah. I refer to the red walls on Level 5. I call them "inverse" walls due to how they invert the controls. It's weird because I expect the controls to go back to normal when I come across my first normal wall, and not the last "inverse" wall. Again, I guess this is something I'll have to get used to.
The pattern spacing I notice is something throughout the whole game. It's not too big of a deal on the first level, but when speed picks up it starts to become a much bigger deal. I think the wall thickness is fine for spiral patterns. Just for barrages, I think the walls could half their thickness and it'd be perfect. Same spacing and it'll be good! :)
What happens for the music glitch is that whenever you leave the application out of focus for too long, the music doesn't loop and stops completely, and this prevents any additional music from playing until you leave the level.
I see what you mean with the red walls. I think I'll add an option so that people can play with the mode you describe instead if they want.
Walls feeling too thick is not something I've noticed myself or heard from other people who have played the game a lot. But the way you write about it sounds convincing. I'll experiment with reducing them and maybe make some alternate thin-wall versions of levels for people to try in the next update.
And thanks for identifying what causes the music bug, that's very helpful. Will fix.
I just want to say from a player who's play Open Hexagon for 3 years and has thoroughly pushed to exceed limits and only downloaded this game 2 days ago, I present to you Mr. dev Level 1's Hard Mode completely destroyed with 1393.86 Seconds, can definitely push farther if I wanted to. ;)
Lol nice. We will definitely have some much harder levels in future to push you further :)
I was successful in beating Level 2's Hard Mode, albeit the transitions are getting me more as well as the new camera trick, level 4 with the alt barrage (The pattern that has half walls half gaps 1-1) on Octagon is very tricky and to me personally it's awkward, but maybe it's due to me having a lot of trouble with the current gimmicks of the level, but I'll hopefully do more with Level 2 and Level 4 when I can.
bugs aside I LOVE this game. the fact that there are different modes while they also interchange make this game so much better. Open hexagon 2.0 added a lot of unnecessary features that just didn't feel like they really belong, but your game still has the same charm as the original super hexagon while adding a lot of features to keep good super hexagoners on their feet.
After playing a lot more, I've noticed problems on transitions if one of the controls are inverted. if I move while a transition happens (from one mode to another) the game shows me moving the opposite direction and once I let go it reveals that I have not moved at all. this also happens when you hold down a move button while restarting but ONLY if the keybindings are not the default keybindings. I also found that the restart keybinding doesn't work on level 4.
Thanks again, this kind of detailed info is really helpful for us. We'll try and get them fixed for you in the next update :)
Hey, i've noticed a bug where you can set your mouse buttons as a keybinding but when you start the game it doesn't actually work
Thanks, we'll look into it.
Expect an update with new content + fixes in a week or so.
WoW, just WoW! It's something new... Geometry dash is nervously smokes on the sidelines
this gameplay is insanely rad thank you
i bless the project and your life \(o.0)/
Thanks!
Keep an eye out for more levels coming soon!