Polynomial 2 Presskit

Factsheet

Game Name: Polynomial 2.
Developers: Dmytry Lavrov, Alexey Lavrov.
Genre: Space-shooter, simulation, music visualizer, action, arcade.
Releases: Early Access May 31, 2016.
Platforms: Windows, Linux.
Websites: Polynomial 2 Page | Steam Page | Development Twitter | Facebook Page | IndieDB Page

Description

Polynomial 2 is a 3D space shooter game developed by brothers Dmytry Lavrov and Alexey Lavrov that was released on Steam Early Access on May 31, 2016.
It features mostly procedural scenery with an infinite starfield and a multitude of nebula-like fractals scattered throughout. The game's name comes from its use of random polynomial equations to define its fractal shapes.
The player fights with different enemies and bosses, collects bonuses, and recharges health through fractal flowers.
One of the most mesmerizing features of Polynomial 2 is the music visualizer which affects some of the fractal objects. The sound engine supports "what you hear" sound capture and has a built-in music player that supports mp3, flac, and system codecs. This gives the player the ability to visualize his own music the way he listens to it: from files, streaming services, music player, or an external sound input.
As of the June 17th update, the game officially supports both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets in the seated configuration. The VR experience really expands the user's visual perception, creating a synesthetic adventure for the player.

History

Polynomial 2's predecessor, The Polynomial: Space of the Music, was released in October 2010. The original game featured 38 arenas with automatically generated gameplay, sound visualizer, and an innovative scoring system. The Polynomial was well received and gained positive reviews from GiantBomb, TotalBiscuit, RockPaperShotgun, KillScreen and Kotaku as well as a 76% review score on Steam.
More detailed information can be found on The Polynomial: Space of the Music website .

Engine

Polynomial 2 uses its own engine tailored to the game's unique visual style, which evolved over the years starting from a simple editor and viewer for fractals based upon a polynomial formula.
The game makes heavy use of on-GPU shaders for game effects, music visualization, and fast shader-based antialiasing. The engine implements an arbitrary-resolution screenshot function (bound to the F2 key by default) and allows customization of its many visual parameters, allowing the user to create abstract artwork.
The engine supports multiple stereographic modes including virtual reality headsets through the OpenVR API (OSVR support is planned) and even anaglyph (red/blue) colored glasses.
Object behaviors and game levels are scripted using an embedded Lua interpreter.