Enter the Impossible World of RELATIVITY on PS4

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Enter the Impossible World of RELATIVITY on PS4

Hello! My name is Willy Chyr – I’m an artist and indie game developer based in Chicago. I’m happy to announce that my game Relativity will be coming to PS4 in 2015, and you will get to try it at PlayStation Experience next month in Las Vegas!

Relativity

Relativity is a game that re-imagines the laws of the universe. What if the normal rules of gravity no longer applied? The basic mechanic of the game is the ability to change gravity, allowing you to re-orient yourself to walk on walls and ceilings. In this world, up is down and down is up. It’s all relative.

Let’s take a look at what an early puzzle in the game is like. In the gif below, we need to get the purple block to stay on the purple square in order to unlock a door, but the block keeps sliding down. The solution: we lock the blue block in place while in the blue gravity, and then use it as a shelf to hold up the purple block.

What you just saw is the basic gameplay mechanic. But Relativity is more than just about stacking cubes – there is an entire world full of wonder and impossible architecture for you to explore.

For example, because there is no up or down, the world of Relativity is a floating platform. So what happens when you fall off? Instead of fading the screen to black and re-spawning you, the world actually wraps around on itself, so you simply land back where you fell off from.

This is just one of the many interesting elements that you’ll discover in Relativity. My goal is to create an experience that is both mind-bending and visually compelling. Each puzzle is carefully designed to challenge the player and be incredibly rewarding.

RelativityRelativity

I hope to see you at PlayStation Experience! If you want to be notified of Relativity’s release, keep an eye on PlayStation.Blog or sign up here.

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments, and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Comments are closed.

32 Comments

12 Author Replies

  • Wow, Game looks great.
    Which game would you say is your biggest inspiration for this title?

    • Thanks! There’s a number of games that I’ve drawn inspiration from, including: Antichamber, Starseed Pilgrim, Portal, Fract OSC, Kairo, and Braid. Skyrim was also an inspiration, but mostly with regards to level design – having a massive open world that you can explore, with very linear caves.

  • Wow, this looks so good both artistically and mechanically. This sounds right up my alley!

    Great concept for a puzzle game, looking forward to it.

  • Been following this since you first brought it to Indie City meetings. I can’t believe how far you’ve gotten on this awesome project. Keep up the good work!

    • It was actually one of the Indie City Meetings that inspired me to make my own game!

      I couldn’t have done it with the Chicago game dev scene. I’ve received so much support and feedback from the community.

  • Very cool! This is now one of my most anticipated games of 2015.

  • This looks crazy in a good way,very nice idea and concept…it can be a good game..looking forward to see more about it and hopefully a demo gets released for it.

    • Really glad to hear that! Will definitely be doing a lot of playtesting throughout the rest of development to make sure the design is on track. Stay tuned!

  • I got to play this at Indy Pop Con earlier this year. Cool game and I’m glad you’re getting it out on PS4!

    • Thanks for checking it out at Indy Pop Con! That was a lot of fun for me to show at, and I got a lot of very useful feedback that weekend.

  • The draw distance solution reminds me of Gravity Rush and that’s how you got me. Is the second gif likened to a level select? I’m imagining and open world puzzle with impossible architecture.

    • The second gif is actually not like a level select. What you’re seeing is one level, but repeated an infinite number of times. So if you fall of the world, you simply land on an exact replica (or the same one, depending on how you choose to look at it).

      There is actually another really cool mechanic for traversing between levels, but I don’t want to spoil that here :)

  • This game looks right up my alley. I look forward to hearing more.

  • Ps experience is going to be a huge letdown, i can tell already.

  • Any chance for a possible Vita version? :D

    • No plans for Vita yet. I’m just a one-man team, so I’m going to focus on getting the PS4 version down first before looking at other platforms so as not to spread myself too thin.

  • Hey Willy,

    That is a really cool art style. I will be looking forward to seeing more of your awesome game.

    I wanted to ask if you would consider on making “Dynamic Themes” and “Avatar Pictures” for the PS4. This game would look nice as the background on my PS4.

    Cheers!!

    Rob aka Graf

    P.S. Willy would you consider posting another entry here on the PS Blog when your game gets closer to launch to let us see how you have improved beyond how awesome it is now (I figure your still fine tuning it over the next few months).

    • Hey Rob! Those are pretty good ideas. I don’t know what the tech details involved are, but will definitely look into it and consider them.

      And yes, will definitely post another entry here closer to launch.

      Take care!
      – Willy

  • omg. this is sooo sexy. i don’t know how anyone can bash on indie when we get amazing stuff like this. day-1 for sure. thanks willy!!

  • Looks very neat.

  • + yowzagabowza on November 11th, 2014 at 12:07 pm said:

    Ps experience is going to be a huge letdown, i can tell already.

    Took the words right out of my mouth. It’s like they’re not even trying anymore. I get the feeling all the people with positive comments on all these indie games are either friends of the devs or wannabe hipsters who automatically like anything indie without even caring about quality. These games are a step back – not a step forward. I wish they’d keep all these indies on PC/iOS/Android and off of dedicated game consoles

  • looks like antichaber, and antichamber was amazing, so I hope it is :)

    Is a vita version an option or its too much for the vita to handle?

    Again, looks great :)

    • Antichamber was definitely a major influence. I think if you enjoyed Antichmaber, you’ll enjoy Relativity as well, but ultimately it will be a very different game (can’t really repeat Antichamber). I haven’t looked into the technical details of Vita too much yet, but I wouldn’t be opposed to it if things work out. For now, my focus is on the PS4 version.

  • Interesting puzzle game. I will keep tabs on this game to see how it shapes up. I am in need of a puzzle game on my PS4. Got a Twitter that I can follow by any chance? Indie games are usually difficult to follow due to the lack of promotion they receive so what better way to follow a game than through the actual developer?!

  • I’d be all over this, except first-person games give me vertigo. Every time. I might risk it on my Vita, but not on a big screen.

  • looks like it might be fun

  • Hey Willy,

    I appreciate you looking into creating “Dynamic Themes” and “Avatar Pictures”!!!

    Cheers!!!

    Rob aka Graf

    P.S. Feel free to send me a friend request on PSN. It would be an honor to chat and game some time.

  • baumatisback – wow LOL you just went full hypocrite, conspiracy theorist, self-appointed expert, suppression advocate and control freak all in a few sentences. Good job LOL

  • @Bahamut, I don’t know the dev and I hate when people act like they like a game just because they think it makes them cool and edgy. However, I think Relativity looks awesome. As a big fan of Portal and Quantum Conundrum, it’s great that we’ll finally be getting a good puzzler like this on PS4. Sony made it very clear before the PS4’s launch that they wanted to give a ton of support to indie developers, so if that was going to bother you, maybe you should’ve just bought an Xbone instead.

  • @Willy, will there be a demo at launch? The whole “try before you buy” philosphy is a great one. Embraaace itttt! :)

    • Hey!

      I don’t know about a demo. The reason is not that I don’t want people to try it, but more that I’m not sure if puzzle games lend themselves well to demos, especially if it ends up spoiling the full experience.

      I think games like XCOM or Civ or work great as demos because they’re ultimately about systems and balance. I think if I did do a demo, I’d like to do something like the Stanley Parable, which gives a feel of the game, without spoiling the actual game. Will definitely look into it.

  • This game appears to be one of those games like Myst or Portal that blurs the line between mental exercise and a game. Thank you for your efforts, weird developer people.

  • Now this looks like this will be another outstanding game coming to the PS4!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Thanks for bringing this to the PS4! Really looking forward to it.

  • Positive comments – 24

    Negative comments – 2

    Haters lose, as usual. :)

  • One man team?…I just read that and I had to say….amazing work man for real,making a game all by yourself must be tough work.Really good job.

  • The only negative I can say about this is that it’s not coming out in 2014. Looks amazing!

  • support for 3DTVs?

  • Aghhhh, this game looks amazing! I can’t wait to see more!

  • love that you were inspired by Braid and Starseed Pilgrim, two of my favourite games! The other games are great too ( except Skyrim…. :) Looking forward to playing your game!

    • It’s really not at all like Skyrim :D

      Mostly, what I liked most in that game, and what I’d like to recreate in Relativity, is the sense of how open the world is. Prior to skyrim, most of the open-world games I played were along the lines of GTA, Assassin’s Creed, etc, which are open-world, but with a lot of limitations (many places are out of bounds at the beginning for example, and you can’t ever “leave” the city).

      With Skyrim, my first time playing it, I just remember being blown away by how big the world was, and that I could actually get to everywhere I can see. You see a mountain in the distance, and sometime later, you’re there. It was pretty incredible.

      One of the rules for me in designing Relativity, is that everywhere the player can see, the player can get to. There are no invisible walls blocking your path to prevent you from going places.

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