The Binding of Isaac Gets a Remake

[Timothy Chang]

The Binding of Isaac Gets a Remake

Limitations with Flash necessitate a complete rewrite of the game.

Edmund McMillen's The Binding of Isaac proves that you can turn a profit by making a game about a boy who kills horribly mutated, Freudian-esque creatures with his tears. The developer has revealed that his Flash-based success may soon undergo a full remake to be released on consoles and PC.

McMillen revealed his plans for the rogue-like dungeon crawler on formspring, stating that the remake will most likely be a "Wrath of the Lamb size expansion added to it + more and it wont be out till next year". The project is still in planning, but McMillen aims to release the remake on all consoles.

"The console version of Isaac will feature A TON of new modes, bosses, items, playable characters, co-op and a million other things we couldnt do in the flash version," he said.

McMillen also believes that the remake will be done by a publisher who will rebuild the game using a different engine other than Flash, as McMillen has run into several problems with Shockwave with a game of Isaac's scope. "The flash version cant be updated anymore," he explains. "The file size is so large that it takes 10-15 trys to export a functional swf file.. if we add or edit anything it gets worse and worse and is getting to the point where the fla becomes corrupted every other save.. we cant add anything without breaking EVERYTHING."

Unfortunately, McMillen has doubts as to whether the game's loyal fans will benefit from buying the original. "Seeing as it's a remake made by another company, you'll have to rebuy it. But it's a long way off so don't worry much about it now."

Source: sticktwiddlers [http://www.formspring.me/EdmundM]

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[Jhooud]

I'm getting old and slow, so I haven't managed to beat this one yet. But it's one of the more interesting titles I've picked up on Steam. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

Yeah, can't say I'd be too upset about buying a shinier new version either. Considering how many full price Game of the Year Editions AAA titles get with no new content other than bundled DLC you probably already bought, I can't rationally see much ferver over him asking for another $8 a year down the line

 

[Amaror]

That Flash is not a good engine to make a not browser based game, should be pretty obvious to everyone making a game.
I still don't understand why he used Flash in the first place..

 

[Roxas1359]

That Flash is not a good engine to make a not browser based game, should be pretty obvious to everyone making a game.
I still don't understand why he used Flash in the first place..

Binding of Isaac was an Indie game so he had to work with what he had at the time.
OT: I'm curious to see how this new one will be. I most likely won't get it, but it'd be nice for others to be able to play this game because it is fun. That being said, I hope it'd be around the same price as it was on Steam.

 

[Eruanno]

"We cant add anything without breaking EVERYTHING."

This should be the box blurb for Flash :3

 

[Mahorfeus]

I never did get around to picking this one up, even with the Steam sales and Humble Bundles.

Can't say I'll mind grabbing a pimped out version of the game.

 

[Andy Shandy]

I'm glad this is getting a remake for consoles as well considering how highly rated it seems to be here and in other places, so I'll definitely keep my eye out for this when it hits XBLA.

 

[NLS]

That Flash is not a good engine to make a not browser based game, should be pretty obvious to everyone making a game.
I still don't understand why he used Flash in the first place..

Binding of Isaac was an Indie game so he had to work with what he had at the time.
OT: I'm curious to see how this new one will be. I most likely won't get it, but it'd be nice for others to be able to play this game because it is fun. That being said, I hope it'd be around the same price as it was on Steam.

if we add or edit anything it gets worse and worse and is getting to the point where the fla becomes corrupted every other save..

Is it supposed to be flash?

No. The working document is saved as .fla by Adobe Flash before it's exported as .swf which is made ready for play. .fla is pretty much the source file, like Photoshop's .psd, while .swf is the final product that you can play in your browser.

 

[Roxas1359]

snip

Ah, thanks for clarifying that for me. I don't really know how Adobe Flash saves things as I don't usually use it much. Thanks again.

 

[Amaror]

That Flash is not a good engine to make a not browser based game, should be pretty obvious to everyone making a game.
I still don't understand why he used Flash in the first place..

Binding of Isaac was an Indie game so he had to work with what he had at the time.
OT: I'm curious to see how this new one will be. I most likely won't get it, but it'd be nice for others to be able to play this game because it is fun. That being said, I hope it'd be around the same price as it was on Steam.

Maybe, but Flash is from Adobe and it's not really a cheap engine, that's what i am confused about. It's good for, well, flashgames, but it's not cheap, it's not efficient and we have a lot of cheaper more efficient program languages. Expecially if you're not making a browser - based game.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

I'm getting old and slow, so I haven't managed to beat this one yet. But it's one of the more interesting titles I've picked up on Steam. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it.

I'm also working on "old and slow", at least compared to most people on this site (in my 30s, anyway), and I made it through the base game when it came out without too much trouble. I was actually surprised that it wasn't a lot harder, based on everything I kept hearing about it. I haven't had a chance to play any of the expansion stuff yet though, so that might take some work.

That Flash is not a good engine to make a not browser based game, should be pretty obvious to everyone making a game.
I still don't understand why he used Flash in the first place..

Sometimes people aren't expecting a game to take off like this and just use something quick and easy that they're familiar with. If that's what they're most comfortable working with and it's just a small project, it's more efficient than learning something new or using something they don't know as well. It's when it grows into something where the tool doesn't meet their needs anymore and ends up with a situation like this that it's a problem.

VVVVVV also was first written in Flash and had to be rewritten at some point too, but the original version of the game before that worked just fine until it outgrew the tools it was created with. As much as I can't stand Flash, it does work pretty well for stuff like that as long as it stays below a certain level of complexity.

 

[Twilight_guy]

It bothers me that he;'s just referring to "a company" that is remaking the game. Which company? Does he know? Why is he not doing it himself or with his team? This strikes me as odd. It also bugs me how he is talking, as if he's not quiet sure how programming the thing really works, but I can't put my finger on why.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Great game, I'm about 120 hours into it. I'll be happy to buy it again unless it is made by a big evil corporate publisher.

The game very heavily luck based, particularly the expansion bosses. If you are unlucky and get a recolored boss early when you are under-equipped you will lose. And if you don't make it to the final bosses with a good kit and a decent amount of life no skill will save you.

My one piddly complaint is that burning through coins at the gambling machines takes a long time. I wish there was an option to pop in coins 5 at a time and have 5 different outcomes automatically spawn. It wouldn't change anything in game mechanics but it would shave up to 15 minutes off every game.

 

[varulfic]

Couldn't they just make it a sequel?

 

[SenseOfTumour]

It bothers me that he;'s just referring to "a company" that is remaking the game. Which company? Does he know? Why is he not doing it himself or with his team? This strikes me as odd. It also bugs me how he is talking, as if he's not quiet sure how programming the thing really works, but I can't put my finger on why.

I have hopes that he's looking for a small team in need of a break to do the other versions, and he's not doing it himself because, well, I think he only knows Flash and he's quite happy to stay there, instead of learning a whole new way to code.

Sounds like a limitation but BoI could have been a disaster if he'd had the option to do it as a FPS

Many creative people say, if you let them do anything, they'll sit there and come up with nothing, but limit them in a few ways and the gold will flow.

I won't buy I think, well, I will, but for other people, I'll consider the cost of a few more copies to be what I still owe him (I bought it, but I've had way more out of it than I paid for )

Lastly, what about Sony/Nintendo/MS's views on the content of the game? The whole God/Satan/abortion/matricide thing might get stuck on their rulings about content for their consoles...

Not to mention what would happen if FOX News actually found out about a game that GENUINELY had some content they could comment on, instead of just having to make shit up

 

[The_Echo]

Couldn't they just make it a sequel?

I don't think the plot for Isaac really facilitates a sequel.

OT: I'm already very excited for this. Seriously, I would buy this remake just for the co-op feature. All the other additions are just icing on the cake. (I am hoping they don't change the visual style, though.)