If you know anything about our studio's history or the personal story of Alx Preston, our founder / creative director, you'd know that our flagship title Hyper Light Drifter is a true Labor of Love.

Hyper Light Drifter is based on the vision and inspired by the life of its lead dev, Alx Preston. Alx was born with a congenital heart disease, and throughout his life has been hospitalized with digestive and immune-system issues relating to this condition.

Alx conceived of Hyper Light Drifter as a means "to tell a story [he] can identify with, expressing something personal to a larger audience, so [he feels] more connected and have an outlet for the many emotions that crop up around life-altering issues." (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/02/hyper-light-drifter-heart-disease-inspired-alex-preston)

Alx and a talented team of friends and collaborators Beau Blyth, Teddy Dief, Casey Hunt, Rich Vreeland, Akash Thakkar, Sean Ward, Lisa Brown, and Cosimo Galluzzi, together formed the studio Heart Machine, and successfully released Hyper Light Drifter in 2016.

It is now 2022. Heart Machine has grown to a much larger studio with a new title Solar Ash under its belt and another project well underway: Hyper Light Breaker, the 3d multiplayer roguelite spiritual successor to Drifter. But we still haven't forgotten our humble, heartfelt beginnings with Drifter.

Still now we are actively troubleshooting, responding to feature requests / inquiries, and making improvements and additions to Hyper Light Drifter and its world.

If you loved this indie game, or feel moved by our studio's journey, please consider nominating us for this award!