OCTAHEDRON: The Fast-Paced and Frenetic Brainchild of Marco Guardia

I think most attendees of Rezzed this year would agree that OCTAHEDRON was one of the most eye-catching games, and booths, of the entire event. With their pounding electronic soundtrack, disco backlighting and multicoloured colour-changing controllers it was hard not to spot them! They proved to be one of the most popular games of the weekend and, having played a few levels myself, it’s not hard to see why.

OCTAHEDRON is a fast-paced 2D platformer set to pulsing electronic music in a vivid neon universe. Easy-to-grasp controls hide a deceptively challenging game wherein players must create their own platforms in order to ascend the level to the end point. Be careful though, because player-created platforms last only a few seconds and each level limits the number of platforms a player can create before their ‘charge’ runs out and they can’t create anymore. This means the stick-man protagonist could face a long fall to a much earlier point in the level – something I experienced many, many times.

As players progress through the stages they unlock different kinds of platforms to use at their disposal, such as the laser platform, enabling players to eliminate certain enemies. The greatest enemy of them all however is simply timing; whilst not a rhythm game per se, timing is absolutely integral to successful completion of a stage and the soundtrack plays a huge part in this.

OCTAHEDRON is the brainchild of Marco Guardia of Demimonde Games. Whilst he’s had freelance contributions from others such as sound designer Jordan Fehr (Super Meat Boy, Hotline Miami) and illustrator Inna Hansen, it’s been his own baby for the past four years. With a background in sound engineering and music, Guardia has freelanced with gaming music label Brave Wave but has focuses solely on OCTAHEDRON for the past one-and-a-half years.

The game has changed a lot since its initial conception, and Guardia describes it as ‘gameplay above all else’. Originally designed around a character with an octahedral head that glowed, the aesthetic of the game started to take shape. Guardia worked the developing aesthetic into the use of electronic and dance music to create a dynamic environment, with backgrounds, visual effects and enemy movements that match the beat of the music. This means that the level can be incredibly fast-paced or more sedate, dependent on the tempo of the track playing.

Whilst inspired by classic platformers such as Megaman, Guardia wanted the same tight controls but also to provide a unique experience to standard 2D platformers. He toyed with the player creating their own platforms to propel the protagonist upwards from the very beginning, and quickly discovered the only way of implementing this mechanic was to create levels on an entirely vertical plane. All the stages in the game are only as wide as the screen, but reach extraordinary heights.

Currently Guardia has no future projects or plans for sequels to OCTAHEDRON, not yet anyway. ‘It’s a bit too early to be thinking about that,’ he says, although he does admit he would love to continue adding to the game in the form of additional content if possible.

OCTAHEDRON is set to release on PC, Xbox One and PS4, and although he can’t provide a precise date, Guardia hopes it to be released at some point this year. I’m sure I speak for every single person who played it at Rezzed when I say we’ll be waiting with bated breath!