It has been a long and challenging year for us here at Cipher Prime, which is why it is with overwhelming joy that we can finally announce the release of Fractal, our latest effort downloadable for both Mac and PC.
Fractal almost defies explanation; we’ve been working on it for 15 months and we still can’t sum it up in a sentence. As with Auditorium, it’s insanely complex to describe but incredibly intuitive to play.
Here’s a bit about the game:
Push on fractals. Arrange them into clusters of seven or more to make a Bloom. Watch the Bloom as it explodes with glory, gaining you seven or more clears. Progress through levels by gaining clears, using power-ups and specialized fractals to aid you along the way.
The most exciting part about this game is its diversity. There are different styles a player can utilize, each one having strengths and weaknesses. Best of all, there are three different modes of play, so varied that they feel like entirely different games:
Campaign Mode
This is the Grand Adventure. Each level has a different challenge you’ll have to face. You have a limited number of pushes which you can gain back in various ways. There’s no timer so you can play at your own pace — whether you choose to sit and think or click wildly is up to you. The levels are shaped by the way you play them — do well in one and the next might be forgiving; show off for a higher score and you might find yourself running out of pushes. This mode is all about going at your own pace and relaxing.
Puzzle Mode
Here’s where we test your cunning intellect. You’ll be handed a particular number of pushes in a very specific situation with concrete goals to achieve. Each puzzle forces you to push the limits of the rule system; some puzzles have ten solutions, others only have one. Aside from being tons of fun, puzzle mode will help you gain an acute understanding of what is possible in the world of Fractal, which will improve your gameplay considerably.
Arcade Mode
Here’s where we flip Campaign Mode upside down. You’ll be given infinite pushes — so go crazy, click all over the place — however the catch is that you’ll be timed. The clock starts with 20 seconds. Only special fractals with a clock symbol will give you time back, so you must choose where to click wisely. Choose from three different playing styles: Speed, Agility, and Confidence. Each one will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Like Auditorium, music is a crucial element in the experience. Our new MusicBox audio engine is capable of building songs on the fly, generating unique melodies based on the gameplay and adding or taking away elements based on progress and circumstance.
Fractal is our attempt to turn a simple concept into a rich audio-visual experience. The game seems to come to life, flourishing vibrantly as you progress and withering in fear when you fail. The environment serve as an indication of your position in the game; a seasoned player can sense danger without ever looking at the HUD.
We hope you’ll enjoy the game as much as we do. With local and global scoreboards in each mode, you can track your progress with other players around the world… Maybe you’ll even beat us some day.
Give the Fractal demo a try at www.playfractal.com. The full version, complete with all three modes of play, is available for $14.99 at https://store.cipherprime.com/promo/fractal.
You can also purchase the full-length Fractal theme, “Iterate!”, at https://store.cipherprime.com/purchase/15 for $0.99. If you preordered, you should see a free copy of the theme sitting in your CP Store account. This is just a small way for us to say, “Thanks!”
Weasel
May 26, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much Cipher Prime. Keep up the amazing work. (:
will
May 26, 2010 at 7:35 pm
I just saw a great picture of a friend being blown away by Fractal over on Space Whale's Studio Blog
Tonto
May 26, 2010 at 7:48 pm
So, one thing that can be said for Steam, patching is way easier on the user end. Instead of having to re-download the game, uninstall the old copy, then finally reinstall, patching is all done automatically. Anyways, I think some method of auto-patching the game is probably a good idea. Either that or make it possible to get rid of the screen asking you to update every time you start the game. Other than that, I love the game. I'm a particular fan of the train whistle. :)
Colapse
May 26, 2010 at 9:25 pm
More Fractal issues... 1. Manual: I notice that everybody is losing in 20th level! Am I the only one who don't know what does mean some pieces? Like ">" 2. There is a command to minimize or "command+tab"? I couldn't even with "alt+enter" - so it's something to work. For now I remember those... We keep in touch. HAH! At the moment I have the best score >=D
Chris
May 26, 2010 at 9:27 pm
When I first launched the game it looked like it was in high resolution (I have a 1680x1050 display) and I went to the options to check the resolution options...it seems like I selected a resolution option (1024) lower than when the program launched and now I can't get the resolution back to where it was (higher). Does this make sense? Is there a solution? Am I crazy?
Neil
May 26, 2010 at 10:32 pm
I like that dude's tshirt http://www.spacewhalestudios.com/2010/05/cipher-primes-fractal-goes-live/
yotam
May 26, 2010 at 10:57 pm
i pre ordered the game and its amazing as i gussed but why the program dont save my progress? i almost finish puzzle mode and when i close the game and started again it was reset also my user name please help yotam
Owen
May 26, 2010 at 11:04 pm
Cool! Can you make another post when you let us play it in windowed mode? I'll want to know.
Tim "Lord Gek" Jordan
May 27, 2010 at 9:36 am
I'm loving the game on Windows XP so far but have found one bug in Arcade, which is that all scores are posted to Speed Mode no matter which Arcade mode you earned them on.
Colapse
May 27, 2010 at 9:45 am
Am I the only one seeing exagonal things? hahahahaha I'm always thinking in Fractal puzzles! HAHAHAAHH! My first place has been ROBBED! Let's see @night! I must keep my best scores ahead! mwahahahah! AWESOME GAME btw!
Brandt
May 27, 2010 at 10:31 am
Why did you change the scoring in campaign mode? It seems that all things (chains, bloom size, etc) are now scored at x100. When before they were scored differently. Is this an intentional change from the demo, or a bug or? Also, can you make level one optional? It's a bore to have to step through each time.
Ether
May 27, 2010 at 2:07 pm
I have the same problem as Chris :( any help?
Michael Leuchtenburg
May 27, 2010 at 3:07 pm
When I started Fractal just now, it alerted me that there's a new version to download. I did, then went to install it, and the installer complained that I needed to remove the old one first. Not so great. What's changed from the release version? I assume there are some bug fixes, but what are they? And are there any other changes?
Michael Leuchtenburg
May 27, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Hm, I think the Campaign mode has been changed. Has the number of pushes been reduced somewhat?
will
May 27, 2010 at 3:18 pm
@Michael That update was a pretty major one that fixed a million and one issues with Windows XP. We'll be changing the upgrading system very soon. Hopefully, the next update you take will make like easier for you. I'm sorry for the inconvenience right now.
soran
May 27, 2010 at 3:43 pm
you said that at the launch of fractal a new bundle will come, does is starts ?
tang
May 27, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Same as chris, game started at my native screen resolution (1080p) ... and accidentally changed it in options. Cannot put it back to "high" resolution T___T How can I turn the resolution higher than 1024x768?
Craig
May 27, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Hey Guys, Well done on the release and I'm really happy to have the game now :) JUst one small issue.... The resolution is a bit iffy on my monitor(1680x1050 native), I mean the flash demo on the site looks a lot better than the app on my PC. Are you planning on making any changes to this by any chance? Thanks and keep up the good work ;)
Aerorae
May 27, 2010 at 11:44 pm
@Everyone- You can manually handle the resolution by going into your display settings dialog (alt-tab out, for win users) while the game is playing and turning up the resolution. Note this will have a detrimental effect to performance and the smoothness of the graphics.
Stardawn
May 28, 2010 at 12:46 am
@Azrorae : doing this doesn't make the game as beautiful as what the demo used to be in native resolution. The edge of blooms for example, are still much less detailed.
rASkalito
May 28, 2010 at 4:25 am
Due to your love of music, I hope your next game will be generate levels like in BeatHazard. ;)
Adam
May 28, 2010 at 5:45 am
Hey guys! I am loving this! You have completely ruined any chance i had of passing my exams in 4 weeks >< haha Only one slight problem for me. the text telling you what combo you just got hangs around a little too long covering the fractal grid. Maybe in an update make it a bit transparent, of put in at the side? Just a thought. Cheers!
Adam
May 28, 2010 at 5:49 am
also, though it can be altered by alt+tabbing out, i reckon more built in resolution support would be good. My screens are 1280x800 and 1440x900, so the hexagons look a bit weird Great game still though
will
May 28, 2010 at 10:31 am
We're working on resolution, that should be in the next update.
Brandt
May 28, 2010 at 11:13 am
I agree, the high-res version on the demo seemed more detailed! The demo allowed for a change in detail, not resolution. That would still be nice to have in the downloaded version, for when one is playing on a less powerful machine. (or wants to save battery) Also I agree, the pop up text tends to be more obtrusive than not. Especially the warnings about 10 and 5 pushes left.
Bennett
May 28, 2010 at 5:47 pm
I would buy this in a second for iPad. If you're programming with technologies that make that possible, I strongly encourage you to do it.
Kya
May 29, 2010 at 5:16 am
@Colapse Yes, I'm even dreaming of pushing fractals now. XD
Xenonym
May 29, 2010 at 6:58 am
Can we get the song in a higher quality please? (FLAC would be nice!)
Simon
May 30, 2010 at 11:14 pm
So, got this as a birthday present. I've got to say it's incredible!
Frank
May 31, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Since today, after downloading the new version, Fractal is hanging a lot at startup (WinXP pro SP3), just a black rectangle of 800x600 pixels and nothing happens until it crashes and wants to sent an error report. Also when I can start the game (every now and then) all my local Highscores are gone :(
Neil
May 31, 2010 at 7:53 pm
same here. local high scores gone. Also the game is a little laggy even though I've got a fast machine. Iterate! is awesome!
Neil
June 1, 2010 at 2:49 pm
there's a bug in the puzzle "clusterd's last stand" creating a single bloom lets you win even though the objective is creating a 3 bloom cluster
Frank
June 1, 2010 at 3:06 pm
I'm not playing that often anymore because my local scores are gone each time I manage to start fractal :(( Any news on these issues?
will
June 1, 2010 at 3:59 pm
@Neil We've fixed that for the next update. @Frank We've fixed the scoring for the next update as well. @All We're hoping to push the new update tomorrow. Thanks for bearing with us!
Colapse
June 1, 2010 at 9:27 pm
HAH! I found a bug on the score points. I sent do support with a screenshot. PS: OK... level 23 is... WHAT? IMPOSSIBLE? :rage: >.<***
Neil
June 1, 2010 at 10:47 pm
I'd really like to see more support for different resolution. I've got 2 computers, one is 1600x900 and the other is 1920x1200.
Aerorae
June 1, 2010 at 11:34 pm
@Will- YAY! UPDATE! @Colapse- I made it to 24! ^^ Of course it took me 9 tries... @Neil- I'd settle for windowed mode. I've been trying to find out a set of commands for the console in-game (access by pressing [~])
Neil
June 2, 2010 at 11:35 am
seriously? there's an ingame console? I need to check that out. I noticed something interesting. Fractal runs really smoothly on my mac but lags on my pc. The interesting thing is that my pc's specs are much better than my mac's. My pc has twice as much ram as the mac and the graphics card is waaaay better. To top it off, the mac is four years old and the pc is only 2 years old.
Chris
June 4, 2010 at 6:37 am
The game looks great in the new resolution. Cheers to you guys for the quick update! Also: the game is a ton of fun to play!
Logan
June 9, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Fractal is great. Would really REALLY love a windowed mode!!!