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Binding of Isaac Rebirth features fully customizable controls, 60fps, seeded runs

http://bindingofisaac.com/post/93169913069/the-birth-of-rebirth

The Birth of Rebirth
Hello, I’m not Edmund McMillen. I’m Tyrone Rodriguez, part of Nicalis—the developer/publisher working with Ed on The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. I’ve taken over the blog for today’s update, which will have a focus on console along with new information seeds.

You probably don’t know who the hell I am. I’ve worked on other games like Cave Story and more recently 1001 Spikes.

To tell you what you should expect on PlayStation 4 and PS Vita I have to take you back to how we started. Isaac Rebirth was originally envisioned as a 3DS game back in 2012 by Ed and I. With that said, the native resolution of The Binding of Isaac was going to be 400x240. However, some things had to be changed once we increased the scope of the game and went the way of PlayStation 4 and PS Vita instead of 3DS.

For PlayStation 4, PS Vita and even PC the native resolution is 480x272. Why such an odd resolution? Aside from being the most versatile resolution across PC and most consoles with semi-16:9 screen, this resolution is a good fit for pixel art AND lets us we get everything we need on-screen in Rebirth.

The differences between the PS Vita and PS4 versions will be generally visual/superficial. The PS Vita DOES NOT have the CPU/GPU of the PS4 and that means not all the crazy special effects and shaders will be in the PS Vita version. Visually, there’s A LOT going on with Rebirth and on Vita we’ve prioritized the game feeling good and being fun. Anyone who’s played the flash version of Isaac can tell you trying to play at 10fps is anything but fun. That doesn’t mean the Vita version won’t look awesome, it just means that if you want all the visual effects, you’ll be play on PS4 or PC. If you want to play anywhere, you’ll be playing on Vita.

But what you will get with the PS Vita (and PS4) is a console version of Rebirth that will run at 60 fps (the original flash version was 30 fps) with analog/digital control support and fully configurable control mapping. So now everyone will be happy—even southpaws.

tumblr_inline_n9gb60qkzI1rq0wgw.png


PlayStation 4 Control
By default, you’ll move and shoot using both digital and analog controls. That way you can play with analog movement and analog firing, analog movement and digital firing or any combination. The pill, item and bomb are all, by default, set to the shoulder buttons.

tumblr_inline_n9gb69Kemu1rq0wgw.png


PS Vita Control
The PlayStation Vita is “missing” two additional buttons, but we’ve found a decent work around. The general configuration will be similar to PS4 in that, by default, both digital and analog input work for movement and firing. The shoulder buttons are used for Pill and Bomb and the Select button is used for Item.

Changing map size is handled with the front touch screen. We’ve put a border around the touch screen so that you don’t activate the larger map by accident. There is no use for the rear touch because it’s not precise.

NONE OF THIS MATTERS!

Because The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth has a fully configurable button setup. You can literally set the buttons as you like. And we’re certain that you’ll change them around almost instantly. For example, on Vita, if you know you only play with analog movement and firing, then you can move all the vital inputs to the face buttons and not have to mess around with the shoulder buttons.

———————————————-
SEEDS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O657yvvdn2o

So you’ve heard Ed and I mention unique seeds for Isaac Rebirth, but we haven’t told you everything, not entirely. As part of today’s update, let’s give you some more information on them

What you probably do know is that in the original Binding of Isaac (that is, the flash version), floors were produced randomly the moment you entered them. In Rebirth, the seed determines every floor layout, room, enemy and item in the run. There are 2^32 - 1 or 4,294,967,295 possible seeds—over 4 BILLION combinations.

And what this means is that if you’re playing and find a really fun or challenging run, you can find out the seed, write it down and replay it later or send it to your friends.
If you and your friend have a different set of items unlocked, you will mostly see the same items in the same places, but any items the seed generates which you haven’t unlocked will be replaced with one you do have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTWC37d9Qu0

However, you will not be able to unlock anything while you are playing a seeded run, so you can’t cheat to unlock everything easily.

Lastly, the seed is 8 characters in the format ABCD EFGH with all alphanumeric characters allowed except the letters I, O, U, and V—because those look too much like other letters.

Also, this video was hidden in the update:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSiZVruHA54
 

BinaryPork2737

Unconfirmed Member
I like the idea of seeded runs, could be great.

And I wonder what that could be for, since the number 3 and the letters D and S are where you can find the link to it..
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Sweet! Free for ps+ too!

Can't wait to try it.

I was hoping the rumors of this being on PS+ were false.
I don't want any of my money going to these assholes, even indirectly.
That "controller setup" screen in the original made me legitimately rage.
 

theytookourjobz

Junior Member
I was hoping the rumors of this being on PS+ were false.
I don't want any of my money going to these assholes, even indirectly.
That "controller setup" screen in the original made me legitimately rage.

You aren't going to make many friends in this thread. One of the greatest games I've ever played and cheap as shit. It was coded in flash therefore no controller support. Would it have been better if it didn't tell you what third party program to use?
 
I was hoping the rumors of this being on PS+ were false.
I don't want any of my money going to these assholes, even indirectly.
That "controller setup" screen in the original made me legitimately rage.

Sounds totally reasonable thing to "legitimately rage" about. Good priorities.
 
Better question...

What about eu? Nicalis and eu Don't get along.

With the game being a plus title I hope this comes out at the same time as the NA version.
 

lt519

Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSiZVruHA54

3DS confirmed? In the post in the OP, there are 3 instances of this video being linked to:
  • The 3 in "2^32"
  • The D in "ABCD EFGH"
  • The S in "shoulder"

I hope, I'd triple dip (already have it on PC) because of the free PS+. I like playing games on the 3DS in 3D better anyway. My guess is just 3D enabled though, somehow I don't think Nintendo is ok with aborted fetus with coat hangers stuck in them?
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
You aren't going to make many friends in this thread. One of the greatest games I've ever played and cheap as shit. It was coded in flash therefore no controller support. Would it have been better if it didn't tell you what third party program to use?

Quite a bit better, yes.
 
I hope, I'd triple dip (already have it on PC) because of the free PS+. I like playing games on the 3DS in 3D better anyway. My guess is just 3D enabled though, somehow I don't think Nintendo is ok with aborted fetus with coat hangers stuck in them?

Could just be being cheeky gits about it. Hope not, would love to have it on my 3DS.
 

Mumford

Member
I'm not quite sure on how exactly the low native resolution will work on PS4. I know they're going with a SNES look and all, but SNES's don't play well with modern TVs. There has to be a reason for this though. Can someone explain?
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
I'm not quite sure on how exactly the low native resolution will work on PS4. I know they're going with a SNES look and all, but SNES's don't play well with modern TVs. There has to be a reason for this though. Can someone explain?

There are already low-res games on PS4, like Mercenary Kings and 1,001 Spikes.
The existing ones are scaled to 1080p with nearest-neighbor sampling.
 

Kuroyume

Banned
Will be GOTY easily

Game version of crack

And, the seed idea is great.

Btw, what's going on with the character select? Why is the Lard there? Whatever it is next to Samson
 
Love the seeding idea. I could see some competitive challenges coming out of this.

There's been a Isaac speedrun type league called BOiLeR for a long ass time that's pretty much like this. Unfortunately with the flash version, there were no seeds so everything was 100% random. With this, they might be able to make the competition exact which is very very cool.
 

medze

Member
One of my most anticipated games of the year. I know I'll sink hundreds of hours into this. The original BoI was a lot less polished than this remake and it still was one of my most played games.

Gonna be weird playing with a controller though.
 

Valnen

Member
The original had a screen that said something to the effect of "Want to use a controller? Use Joy2Key".

Yeah that made me pretty much quit playing pretty quickly. I found it pretty condescending.

I'm not like, mad about it or anything though. I'll totally play this if I get it on PS+.
 

theytookourjobz

Junior Member
To be fair, they got lucky to even compile Wrath of the Lamb and could never hope to get that lucky again.

Yeah. Using a third party program for controller support didn't bother me. One of my most played games on Steam and I think I paid $5 for it and the expansion.
 

jblank83

Member
I hope, I'd triple dip (already have it on PC) because of the free PS+. I like playing games on the 3DS in 3D better anyway. My guess is just 3D enabled though, somehow I don't think Nintendo is ok with aborted fetus with coat hangers stuck in them?

I would buy Isaac on 3DS, hard. That QR picture has some beautifully layered 3d.
 

ChipotIe

Banned
Yeah that made me pretty much quit playing pretty quickly. I found it pretty condescending.

There has to be a reason for this though. Can someone explain?

The original game was made in flash (literally) using vector graphics and they pushed flash to the limit at that. As of Wrath of the Lamb there wasn't anything else they could add or change without destroying the game's ability to run and even then there are still bugs, crashes, and instances of severely low FPS... none of which could be fixed.

The solution to adding new content was to create their own engine and redraw assets using hard pixel art.
 
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