#refract studios

Today I have a very exciting announcement for everyone...

Distance: Console Edition has a release date for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5! You can get it July 19th on the PlayStation Store. Wishlist to get notified when it goes live!

Watch the exciting trailer with brand new music here:

Here's a quick overview of what you can expect in Distance: Console Edition:

Melding the intensity of arcade racing with the agility of parkour, Distance catapults you into a neon-soaked world shrouded in mystery. Adapt quickly using your car’s abilities to jump, flip, and fly to overcome deadly hazards and survive.

Campaigns: Dive into the Adventure campaign, an immersive single-player story that takes you into the heart of darkness. Afterward, return to Nitronic City in Lost to Echoes and take on a brutal challenge. Finally, visit the mysterious flying islands of Nexus (a short companion to the Adventure campaign).

Arcade Modes: Earn medals to unlock over 150 diverse tracks in modes like Sprint, Challenge, and Stunt.

Leaderboards: Race ghost replays to take on the leaderboards' best (both online and local).

Endless Tracks: With Trackmogrify, enjoy never-ending challenges with randomly generated tracks using advanced seed modifiers.

Couch Multiplayer: Challenge up to 4 opponents in high-stakes split-screen races, or try unique arena-based modes like Reverse Tag and Stunt.

Unlockable Cheats: Earning PlayStation trophies unlocks cheats like motorcycle mode, bubble car, and many more.

And a bunch of other cool features including…

Customizable controls

Level playlists

Multiple unlockable cars

Car paint job customization

Main menu level selection

And more!

What's new on PlayStation?

There are a handful of exciting new additions exclusive to PlayStation:

Haptic Feedback: The PS5 version features a completely new haptics integration. It allows you to feel the details of each impact, scrape, skid, and the abilities themselves in a whole new way. Since the haptics are largely audio driven I had a ton of fun working on this and it’s easily one of my favorite aspects of playing on PS5.

Activity Features: Easily track campaign progress from the control center, jump into a mode directly from the home screen, and see in-game help on campaign levels if needed.

Controller Lighting: On both PS4 and PS5 the controller lights with the glow color of your car. This helps to see overheat status as well as identify controllers during split-screen.

Regarding performance, Distance targets 60 fps across all single player content. On PS4 the game utilizes 1080p, and on PS5 it runs at 4K resolution. The PS4 Pro and PS5 version have both been enhanced with higher graphics quality and smoother performance. While there are dips here and there on the PS4, overall I think it runs pretty well, and it's even better on PS5 despite running at 4K.

Differences between PC and consoles

For those of you who’ve been enjoying Distance on PC, you’ll find that the core gameplay experience and overall features are extremely similar on PlayStation. There are of course some differences so I’d like to discuss them here.

I’ve talked previously about the technical limitations regarding Steam Workshop and the level editor, so at this time those aren’t available in Distance: Console Edition. Instead, we decided to officially include our favorite community-created levels directly into the base game for everyone to play. For example, our recent Kinetic Update (v1.5) on PC included 15 incredible new levels from the community and these will also be available on PlayStation!

Regarding online multiplayer, I completely understand that for some it might come as a shock to see it not included on consoles. While we have collectively spent a ton of time working on online multiplayer for PlayStation consoles, a series of unfortunate technical hurdles have led to it not being feasible for release at this time. Split-screen multiplayer is included however and allows for couch multiplayer in Arcade modes. For those curious about the behind-the-scenes technical info, please see below for a more detailed breakdown explanation.

With all that in mind, Distance: Console Edition is at a reduced price of $19.99 / €19.99. While it is possible that future updates will enable more content and features, please purchase with the assumption that the base game will not massively change in the future.

Getting into the technical details

If you’ve been following Distance for a while you’re probably aware that the PlayStation version has had a fairly long and tumultuous development. It was our first time developing anything for a console, and it’s been an incredible learning experience throughout.

Many years ago around the v1.0 launch we had a version of Distance using Unity 5 working somewhat reasonably on PS4 with several multiplayer features functional (though certainly not finished). After launching v1.1 I spent a lot of time implementing all of the various technical certification requirements for online play on PS4. This included things like parental chat restrictions, online ID consistency, etc.

As I was preparing to send a new build to Sony, I came to realize that to pass certification Distance needed to update to a much newer PS4 SDK version required by Sony. Unfortunately, this version of Unity 5.5 we used to develop Distance for years was locked to a very old PS4 SDK version, and the only option was to port Distance (yet again) to a much newer version of Unity. To comply with Sony's requirements, we needed to upgrade Unity from version 5.5 to Unity 2020. This unfortunately wasn’t negotiable and, as you might imagine, it took months to repair the various graphics and physics issues that came along with it.

The biggest hurdle was that our multiplayer system was completely dependent on the old Unity 5.5 version. The newer versions of Unity had fully abandoned their old multiplayer integration, meaning I basically had to start from scratch. One possibility was to attempt to replicate the custom RakNet backend we had relied on, but Unity’s version made several changes under the hood and without source code access it was challenging to emulate it. The other possibility was to simply rewrite everything from scratch and utilize an entirely new multiplayer system.

In short, I attempted both routes. After spending quite some time attempting to essentially rewrite all of Jason’s multiplayer tech, I realized doing this on my own will take an incredibly long time to get fully functional and properly tested. Between this issue, complications due to COVID, and my own personal issues with recovering from burnout, this was honestly a really frustrating time and one of the big reasons I decided to take a break from Distance development. As I mentioned in my September 2023 blog post I decided to go on a short hiatus to work on Project 2, and of course I enjoyed working on Project 2 so much that my short break soon became much longer.

Upon returning to Distance last year with a fresh perspective I made the incredibly tough call to disable online multiplayer for now. I would then focus on wrapping up all of the other features and content we have and get it into players’ hands as soon as possible. Of course it still took significantly longer than I expected to wrap up that last 1%, but at long long last we’re finally here.

Looking ahead

I really can’t say enough how much I’ve appreciated everyone’s patience and support during these challenging times. I’ve truly been blown away by the enthusiastic response to the Kinetic Update, and I’m so excited to keep creating and sharing stuff with you all.

To all of our new PlayStation players, welcome to the Distance community! I can’t wait to see which players take the top times on the new leaderboards. Please note that the best way to connect with other players is on the Distance Discord server.

You also might have noticed that there is a new remix of Isolation in the PlayStation release trailer. I’ve been developing a lot of new music for Project 2 and intend to release some songs officially soon, so please be on the lookout for more information about that. I’ll also be posting here and on social media when updates are released for PC and PlayStation.

Thank you all again!

Hey everyone! It's been a while.

I hope you and your families have been staying safe during this bizarre time. While I’m not exactly new to working from home, the quarantine has been a surprisingly introspective time for me. Now seems as good a time as any to get this devlog out there.

You’ve trusted me over the years to be transparent about what’s going on behind the scenes with Refract and I haven’t been doing a great job over the past year. Some have noticed that I've been extra quiet lately, and since I'm in charge of Refract’s social media that also means that Refract has been silent.

Before going further I should clarify that this post is mostly aimed at long-time supporters of Refract. I'm not really going to be discussing Distance updates or future projects, and this might not make sense if you don't know Refract’s history. This is just a personal catch up from me.

Alright, time to get the big news out of the way: Refract Studios was founded by myself, Kyle Holdwick, and Jason Nollan in 2012, and after shipping Distance v1.0 in 2018 the three of us came to an agreement where I would acquire the entirety of Refract and they would move onto other teams/projects. Kyle ended up moving to L.A. to work on Sky with thatgamecompany and Jason is now working on Halo Infinite.

I obviously can't speak for either of them, but from my perspective the split was as amicable as possible and these new opportunities were amazing fits for both of them. On top of that, both Jason and Kyle have continued to support Refract directly or indirectly after leaving which has been incredibly generous of them. We stay in touch as much as possible and it's been inspiring to hear about their new adventures.

At first their departures didn't seem like that big of a change. We had been talking about it for some time as Kyle and Jason wanted to make the transition as smooth as possible. It certainly was an adjustment to suddenly work alone at home (many of you now know what that’s like) but they were both helping here and there as we shipped v1.1 through v1.4. I had a lot of PS4 build stuff to wrap up and I wasn't thinking too far beyond that.

As the dust settled I realized that I didn't have a solid feeling on what Refract should look like after Distance. While we did have a mission statement for Refract early on, I believe we quickly devolved into just being "the team that makes Nitronic Rush and Distance." Once Distance is over what is Refract Studios? Do we make racing games? Do we make sci-fi story campaigns? The rest of our team is made up of contractors who are linked to just Distance, so moving onto a new project is in many ways a reboot for the company.

For better or worse we were going at a million miles an hour at the start of the project. Now that I’ve had some time to reflect I see how my personal desires and priorities have shifted over Distance's seven year development. I have no regrets about what we’ve done and created, but I see this time as the ultimate chance to start anew. It's a perfect opportunity to learn from mistakes, but it can be terrifying looking into the abyss without Kyle and Jason to lean on.

Unfortunately there was another problem. Soon after Distance v1.0 shipped I had to accept that I was completely burned out. I think it actually started after a hectic 2015 where I had really reached my limit and then I just kept pushing through the pain for another three years to ship v1.0. Over those years my small gripes with the game industry started to build and under the surface I doubted if this was the right place for me. On top of working non-stop it didn't help that I was working/living in the same place for years with poor boundaries between work and home life. Basically everything related to game development slowly became frustrating to me.

In a previous post I also mentioned running into some health issues. After shipping v1.0 I thought things would finally get a bit easier, but that's when my body let its guard down and I really started to struggle mentally and physically. In short, I developed issues where I could only get a normal night of sleep once every 2-3 weeks on top of other confusing symptoms. After several desperate doctor visits it seems that burnout alongside years of bad habits finally pushed me over the edge.

Much of the past year has been me trying to recover. The good news is that slowly but surely I have been getting better, and my interest in games has slowly restored. One turning point for me was late last year when I was waiting on some hardware from Sony. I decided to bust out a quick prototype for something completely new. It was refreshing to finally step away from Distance after all these years and it helped me quite a bit mentally to see that I can create something radically different. While the prototype probably won't lead to anything concrete, it was a solid reminder that there's still a lot I want to do within the interactive space and I shouldn't give up yet.

Seeing Kyle and Jason flourish under new projects certainly opened my eyes to the prospect of leaving Refract and doing something else entirely. I went through several phases where I considered going AAA myself, joining another indie team, or even doing music full-time. For now I’ve decided to continue with Refract and give it another shot. Of course I’m scaling things back a bit and I have a lot to figure out regarding Refract as a company. While I love getting lost in the work, I know I need to take this stuff seriously to prevent myself or someone else at Refract from getting burned out down the road.

To those looking for an update on the PS4 release, I did effectively put it on pause at the end of last year. I clearly needed some separation from Distance to get my head and overall health back on track. Recently I have started up again and I’d like to make it my priority moving forward. Progress will likely be slow but I'll do my best.

I've been pushing off this devlog because I wanted to have a clear vision of Refract's future before writing this. Now I see that I've still got a ways to go before I'll have that, but I know people wanted an update since I've been quiet for so long. Being realistic I wouldn't expect any major Distance updates moving forward, though it's possible there could be minor updates and bug fixes. The PS4 build will be my focus for a while, and I wouldn't expect news about any new projects for quite some time.

While it's been a strange couple of years, I'm quite optimistic about Refract's future and the experiences we've yet to create. Thanks to our players, friends, and families who have always been so encouraging, and a very special thanks to my Distance teammates for being extra supportive and patient while I figure out Refract's future.

Has it really been a year since v1.0 launched? Seems like a good time for an update! The Horizon Update (v1.4) features new levels from Refract and community creators, a new Quick Join multiplayer feature, performance improvements, new editor tools, and more!

v1.4 Changelog (Build 6895):

General Improvements

Added new Refract levels:

Liminal (Sprint)

Serenity (Sprint)

Zenith (Sprint)

Added new Community levels:

Affect (Sprint)

Beta Echoes (Sprint)

Biotec 4 (Challenge)

Canopy (Reverse Tag, Main Menu)

Fiber (Sprint)

Fleeting Images (Reverse Tag, Stunt)

Gravity (Sprint)

Hardline (Sprint)

Mentality (Sprint)

Noir (Sprint)

Overdrive (Sprint)

Sender (Sprint)

Shallow (Sprint)

Shrine (Sprint)

Sugar Rush (Sprint)

Tetreal (Sprint)

Turbines (Sprint)

Wired (Sprint)

Online menu improvements:

Clicking "Online" now gives you the option to Quick Join, Browse, or Host

Quick Join feature automatically joins an open game, and if none are available it creates a new lobby

Improved how the loading UI handles various situations (connecting to server, refreshing server list, etc.)

Changed all instances of "Server" to "Game" or "Lobby" depending on the context

Max Players is now adjustable without having to type in a number

When unclicking Private on "Host a Game" the password field is now cleared

Removed "... has loaded!" chat message for all platforms

It now says "... has joined the lobby" or "... has joined the game" depending on the context

Host a Game: Pressing Enter while selecting the password input field now starts the server

Host a Game: All numbers 1 to 12 are options again (instead of multiples of 2)

Replaced "Back to Lobby" button in pause menu for online hosts with "Main Menu" (with added help text to clarify we're returning to the lobby)

Server Connection, Lobby Refresh, and Quick Join timeouts shortened to 15 seconds instead of 30 seconds

Changed default server name to just the name of current player so it's consistent across all platforms

Minor clean up to game lobby visuals

Now going back to the main menu as a non-host takes you back to the Online menu options

Main menu improvements:

Removed Workshop highlight section (since the Workshop area in Steam already does a fine job of this)

Removed Reddit button and gave more prominence to Discord button

The Garage button is now re-highlighted when returning from the garage in the main menu

White Lightning Returns: Improved building placement and decorations with minor track alterations in the second half

Improved graphics performance in many levels (especially in Lost to Echoes)

Re-ordered Sprint and Challenge sets to more closely match difficulty progression

Replay_Music_Playback_Speed RTPC is now reset after unloading each level

Level Editor

Added new foliage particles (textures 106 - 111)

Improved music track selection window (used in Level Settings, MusicZone, MusicTrigger, CutsceneManager, and AudioEventTrigger)

Improved Particles "Seed" tooltip text

Groups are no longer dissolved if "Ignore Culling" is on them

CinematicCamera: Setting "Trigger Time" to -1 now enables this component to not ever return to the chase camera

Added new level editor objects: HalcyonTri, HalcyonTriSingle, HalcyonTriCollision, and HalcyonTriSingleCollision

Here's a helpful reference sheet showing what's available with the new particle textures:

As for changes to music selection in the editor I made this handy chart for converting from old IDs to the new names: MusicCueID Conversions

Bugs Fixed

Fixed bug where going from the level grid to the level set buttons could result in nothing being selected (e.g. after returning from Adventure)

Fixed bug where the diamond flare would appear with the "finished" medal image in the split-screen pause menu

Fixed bug where menu camera rotation/zoom could be affected while hovering over an input field

Fixed bug where the Visit Workshop button was visible on non-host game lobbies

Fixed bug where "No Servers Found" wouldn't appear if using server browser checkboxes

Restored missing texture links for HalcyonCoilgunInternal material

When in Steam offline mode it no longer tries to auto-search for replays upon level load

Fixed bug where entering a seed into Trackmogrify and pressing Enter wouldn't close the menu in the lobby

Fixed bug where you could access locked levels using the advanced level select menu (both Solo and Online)

Fixed bug where animation timing in Instantiation was off by a few seconds and the power poster wasn't counting down

Fixed bugs with button selection in the lobby after returning from Customize Car, Trackmogrify input, or level selection

Fixed bug where Legacy levels were locked even if you had the Gold Collector achievement

Fixed bug where replays using cinematic cameras (e.g. Variant Blue) wouldn't work with level triggers due to culling issues

Fixed bug where two cars were visible during the Collapse (Nexus campaign) cutscene

Fixed bug where deleting a profile wouldn't reload the main menu (and progress bars would be incorrect)

Fixed bug where having a checkpoint in a group could result in the entire group changing color

Congrats to the creators whose levels were selected for inclusion in the Horizon Update! Once again we're impressed by your ambition and creativity and we're excited to share your creations with players.

We're looking into hosting another dev stream fairly soon to play through v1.4 so stay tuned for news about that! I'm also working on a much longer write up that discusses the PS4 build, thoughts on Distance's development, and a peek into Refract's future.

Until then we hope you enjoy this update! Let us know what you think of v1.4 below!

- Jordan (with everyone at Refract)

It's finally here. 12 team members, 6.5 years of development, 4,174 Kickstarter backers, many many Steam Early Access players, dozens of patches, 2,500 workshop levels, 12 conventions, and probably around 10,000 cups of coffee have resulted in Distance v1.0!

Plenty of mixed emotions at Refract today as we say goodbye to Distance Beta and hello to v1.0. Something definitely feels strange about not seeing that beta watermark in the upper right corner.

Distance was our first project outside the safety net of academia and I think it's safe to say that for most of us at Refract it was an incredible (and intense) learning experience. While we did our best to stay true to what we outlined in our Kickstarter, this project has continually evolved due to our skills improving, our tastes expanding, and our players' continually fantastic feedback.

We have the most patient and supportive backers, and the coolest player community on Earth. Thank you for believing in us to create something new and interesting in the racing genre! Your continued energy, excitement, support, and thoughtful feedback have kept this project going strong.

Speaking of which, remember that community press release we mentioned? It's going out to reviewers and content creators today! Thank you to anyone who took time to contribute. Out of the hundreds of responses here are a few of the quotes we included in the release:

What Players Had to Say about the Distance Experience

“Distance is practically the only game to tell a mysterious story with a very deep plot through racing, adrenaline-filled survival racing that can actually induce emotions totally outside the genre.” -Mad Max

“No other game captures to feeling of high speed driving quite the way Distance does. Turning a game about driving into, essentially, a puzzle game is maddeningly brilliant” -Jacob Odom

“The atmosphere makes this game more than just about racing. Some of the environments can bring out a range of emotions from sadness to joyfulness.” -Deumfides

What Players Had to Say about Distance’s Gameplay

“Burnout-boosting down a glass and neon highway that flips upside down while you ceiling-ride past hell's own road works equipment through an impossible cyberpunk nightmare city to a pounding electronic soundtrack.” -Jonas Emmett

“It's a game where your car can jump onto walls after getting cut in half by a laser, but actually keep going. Like yeah find me another game that has that and I'll eat my jorts.” -Chris

“The racing game where the map itself is trying to kill you with saws and lasers.” -Aida

What Players Had to Say about Distance’s Community

“If the vision of the creators of Distance is the heart of this game, the community certainly is its blood.” -João Felipe Brandão Jatobá

“It's not just a game anymore, it's something personal. The community is genuine, and all very active. It's got this kind of vibrancy and life to it, that never quite goes away. It's been going on long before the game ever officially reached Alpha, with the creation of the gem Nitronic Rush. Even then people knew there was something going on. It's not just the sum of its' mechanics, but something more. This game is alive.” -Nicholas

“The game is packed with kinetic excitement that makes it an exhilarating game to watch or play, with hours of replayability due to one of the most in-depth mapmakers I've ever seen and oodles of fan-made racetracks at your fingertips.” -Lukas P-Stylianides

To access Distance v1.0 simply update your build on Steam, or download the latest DRM-free build from your Humble library. You can also access the art book right now from Humble!

The soundtrack will be available in your Humble library later today, and the backer car will be distributed by Steam DLC keys that we need to send to applicable backers. Today will be a long day of rolling things out and it's mostly down to me getting that stuff finalized so please be patient while I work through it all.

Physical rewards are also going really well with many packages days away from shipment. I'm planning to give another physical rewards update as soon as things cool down from the launch.

Also, on a personal note I have to mention that Boombox Mode and custom MP3 support are indeed temporarily unavailable in v1.0. This is due to a tech limitation when upgrading our audio backend before launch. I do plan to re-integrate these features as soon as I can, so thanks for your patience while I figure it out.

We are looking to v1.1 and beyond, but for now I think we're going to take a bit of a break. Thanks again to our Kickstarter backers and Early Access players for being a crucial part of this development. Also thanks to my amazing teammates for inspiring me daily and pushing me to be my best. We all can't wait to see what you think of v1.0!

Refract Studios ha lanzado Distance: Console Edition en PlayStation 5 y PlayStation 4 por 19,99 euros. Combinando la intensidad de las carreras arcade con la agilidad del parkour, Distance te catapulta a un mundo empapado de neón y envuelto en misterio. Adáptate rápidamente usando las habilidades de tu auto para saltar, voltear y volar para superar peligros mortales y sobrevivir. Trayectoria de…

Today we've got another free content update for you! v1.3 features six new playable levels, a new speedrun timer, level editor improvements, and more! To celebrate, Distance and the soundtrack DLC are 50% off for one week! Check out the full changelog on Steam for more details:

https://steamcommunity.com/games/distance/announcements/detail/1594751498689797909

PS4 Development

Since I haven't talked about it in awhile I also just wanted to quickly mention the PS4 build of Distance. Not too much to say yet since we don't have the release date locked down, but from a technical perspective we're reaching the end of the tunnel. It's certainly taken longer to finish (which is probably not a surprise to many who know our track record with Distance releases) but it's coming along.

I'm hoping to have more news soon about exactly what's coming to PS4 and when, so stay tuned. In the meantime thanks again for your patience! This is our first time developing for a console and it's been a never-ending learning experience.

Nexus Soundtrack Update

Speaking of the PS4 build, between that and v1.3 I've certainly gotten distracted from officially releasing the new v1.1 Nexus music tracks, as well as releasing the soundtrack on streaming platforms like Spotify. I haven't forgotten, and in fact v1.3 contains remastered versions of my music from the Nexus update. Those full tracks are nearly done and just need a couple more tweaks before they can be appended to the existing OST. Also hope to have news about that very soon.

As always thanks for the support! From all of us at Refract we hope you enjoy the v1.3 update!