TACS Systems has announced that its next Wii U eShop title will launch this month. Radiantflux: Hyperfractal is a unique combination of adventure, action and puzzle-solving all presented in a faux desktop computer environment. You assume the role of a “neo-hacker” who delves into “data-fractal hyper structures” after receiving a mysterious email.
Using various “forbidden tools” you must dig into the dark web to uncover a hidden world of secrets. As you can see from the gameplay in the trailer, your journey into the underbelly of the net takes various forms, including an intense shoot ’em up, a Game Boy-style puzzle title, a Doom clone and even a take on the classic Minesweeper game for Microsoft Windows.
Developer Thomas Hopper explains the story behind the game:
RF:HF was born from research I was doing into raymarching fractal structures on the Wii U’s GPU. I found that very complex fractals could be rendered in real time at decent speeds. Using spacial folding techniques the basic fractal structures could be morphed into a number of interesting symmetrical animated forms. Further optimisations of the technique allowed for a game to run at the same time as the complex fractal rendering on the Wii U hardware. The rotational nature of the fractals implied a cylindrical space and so a wrap-around playfield was designed. The infinite grid-like backgrounds, setting sun and complex fractals rendered in purple and pink are inspired by 90s computer generated graphics. So, naturally, the user interface had to reflect this too. I designed a fake 90s inspired operating system and a suite of applications which can be unlocked as rewards as the player progresses in the main game. Each represents an application I remember being obsessed with at some point in my youth.
