Long time no…blog! I’m writing in today because I wanna have a single space to yell about all the cool stuff that’s happening with my really good logic-puzzle game, HEXA, today. There are two major things, so let’s start with the biggest…

HEXA…now available on Steam!

I know, right?! My first release for personal computers, now on the leading platform for personal computer games. It’s kind of a trip! I even got to make a schmancy trailer for the occasion. You can watch that here:

…and if you haven’t yet, you should pick the game up on Steam as well! It’s a pretty good game, or so I’ve heard. (If you wanna wait for a sale or something, putting the game on your wish list helps a bunch too!)

Buy HEXA on Steam

The game is $8 USD — same as Itch.io, same as in Playdate Catalog; same as same as same. It’s gonna be really interesting seeing how things do on Steam as compared to Playdate; the original PC release of HEXA happened last October, but being on the new storefront’s honestly giving me a wicked little sense of “we made it”. Look ma, I’m on the computer! No hands!!¹

As always, it works natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux. I even have a nicer Linux-specific build that plays really nice with Steam Deck! (The game itself has been enhanced in a bunch of ways to make it run great on Deck, as well. No more clunky keyboard-typing in Mission Command, for example. Now, if anyone could help me figure out how to get my game Deck Verified…? 😅)

What’s new with HEXA (like, the game itself)?

Oh, yeah, there’s a new version of the game available today as well!

For one thing, the randomization engine for both platforms has now been fully SYNCHRONIZED! That means that things like Daily Run, and Missions (custom or stock) are now guaranteed to be the same between Playdate and personal computers. Existing owners may notice a little bumpiness in the Daily Runs today (as of writing), but it should all mellow out by tomorrow, so just ride the wave.

On top of that, there are a bunch of Steam-exclusive features made to bring it up to parity with the Playdate version. The Steam version supports official integration with Steam’s achievements system, on-line leaderboards for the Arcade Mode and Daily Run, and as a little bonus, it even supports rich presence! So your friends can see what you’re doing, and even a real-time score read-out when you’re in the middle of a heated round.

There are a whooole bunch more bug-fixes and tweaks that have been made in the latest version, v3.1.0. The update is available now on all platforms (Playdate Catalog, Itch.io, and Steam), so make sure you’re up-to-date for the latest in HEXA-matching technology! You can read more about the new update here:

HEXA Changelog

I might do another hot patch in a couple days, depending on how many new bugs people report. Honestly, I’ve already got a new little list of ones I’ve found since sending the build off, but there’s no way I’m rushing out another patch right now LOL.

This update’s got one more trick up its sleeve, though; and it’s a pretty big new feature for all owners²…

HEXA…now fully playable in Japanese!

Yeah! On top of English (my native tongue), and French (thanks again, Voxy), HEXA is now fully localized into Japanese! That’s the other big thing. Thanks to the efforts of the lovely Philemax, the game is now much more accessible to people who speak Japanese.

The translation was wonderfully done, and (of course) all handled by human hands; no machine junk here. I even hand-drew all the 2.3 metric tons of Kanji! Translating it to a pixel font that small was…woof. Thanks as well to the lovely proofreaders who helped me double-check, because I’d definitely not be able to myself haha.

I decided to rock ‘n’ roll with this because Playdate as a platform has a tentative priority to support Japanese as its second system language, and I figured it would be fun to have at least one game on the platform that supports it. Also, with the Steam release impending, it felt like a good idea to make the game just a bit more accessible to people outside the English sphere.

Hey, I already own the game somewhere else. What if I want it on Steam now?

I’ll always keep every platform up-to-date with the latest patches and tweaks, so don’t worry about missing out on anything like that! If you’re eyeing those Steam-exclusive features, however, you may be in luck…

If you’ve purchased the game on Itch.io, then check your Download page for the game! On that page, there’ll be a button for you to claim a Steam key, which will let you redeem a version of the game on Steam for no extra cost. This works for any Itch.io owners—past present or future—so feel free to snag a DRM-free copy of the game and still reap the benefits of steamy goodness! (It is worth noting that you need to have purchased the game to qualify. If you’ve received a free-game in the past, it won’t count. Sorry!)

If you’ve purchased the game in Playdate Catalog… unfortunately, there’s no way to claim a Steam key via ownership of that version. Itch.io has tools that let me offer up keys to owners on that marketplace automatically, but Catalog doesn’t have anything of the sort. Feel free to purchase the PC version on your platform of choice, and score it on Steam either way!

Anyhoo!

That’s all I’ve got to share. Thanks for listening, and for enjoying HEXA! I’m still surprised this game’s come so far, and that people who are into the same kind of freaky puzzle games that I am seem to really like it.

Bye now!³

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