Changes: The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

Revision as of 23:52, 22 July 2014

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The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (Commonly referred to as Rebirth) is a remake based on the original Flash game, The Binding of Isaac. It will be developed by Nicalis with Edmund McMillen in a supervising position. It is set to be released some time in 2014, and is nearing the end of its development.

Rebirth features a new non-Flash-based engine and the same designs as the original, but with brand new 16-bit pixel graphics. The game will also include additional content in the size of the Wrath of the Lamb expansion, including things that had to be cut from the original game due to the limitations of Flash.

Edmund has released a TBOI: Rebirth dev website. The link can be found here.

Rebirth

Rebirth is a totally remade game based on the Flash version of The Binding of Isaac + Wrath of the Lamb.
The game is being produced and developed by Nicalis, the same people who produced the Cave Story remakes and the VVVVVV port.
- They are also porting the game to the PS4/PS Vita.
Edmund will be lead designer on the project, making sure things are as perfect as they can make them and as true to the original as possible, he will also be designing all the new content and features.
Edmund wants to release the game on the Nintendo 3DS. However, due to Nintendo's policies on religion in games, this is not possible, so there is virtually no chance for Rebirth to come to the 3DS.
Edmund went with Nicalis because it was the only development team he's close with and the only one he trusts with his intellectual property.
Edmund and Nicalis will try to provide a loyalty pre-order discount to anyone who owns the original game on PC.
The remake will feature all the content featured in The Binding of Isaac + Wrath of the Lamb but will also have new expanded content that will make the game feel fresh and new (150+ new items, 3 new playable characters, new final chapter, 16+ bosses, etc.).
- The remake will also feature content that was removed from the Flash version of the game due to the limitations of the engine.
The game has a "retro" art style because Edmund greatly disliked the original BoI's art style. He felt it was rushed and wanted pixel art graphics from the very start.
The remake will have much better performance compared to the original game.

New Features

The ability to save and return to a game session. This could not be done originally due to Flash limitations.
The remake will feature local two player co-op, but no online multiplayer as to avoid extending the development time any further (it will not be included in an online patch, either).The second player can join in at any time as a shooting Familiar by pressing "Start" on his/her controller, upon which Isaac will lose a heart container (which will be given to the new player). Subsequent presses of the start button will give more heart containers to the second player, and Isaac will lose them accordingly.
A feature that allows the player to export a picture of their Isaac after the end of the run will be included.
The game will have full-screen support and more resolution options.
There will be an "easy mode" for newer players and a "hard mode" for more experienced players, the latter giving away a few new rewards that are unattainable in other difficulties.
Rebirth will support all controllers that would normally work in a non-Flash game.
The various pictures shown of the game only display the basic art; new animated effects will eventually be added, such as fog, smoke, lighting, water drips, moving grass, etc.
Soul Hearts will be capped at the end of the health bar in Rebirth.
- Soul Hearts going off the screen in the original game was a bug. They were intended to be capped at the end like regular Heart Containers, but Edmund liked the mystery, and the bug was not patched.
It will be possible to have more than 6 Familiars at a time in Rebirth, which was not possible in the original game.
Rewards for completing bosses/floors/runs under certain times will be provided in order to give an incentive for "speed runs". Most of these rewards will be item unlocks.
The game will have more modding support than the original game, although Edmund is unsure as to how he can support modders.
The Polaroid trinket will be no longer be needed to go to The Chest, and will be changed into a passive item.
Edmund wants to balance unfair rooms and "ham-fisted" bosses that depend on the player's items rather than their skill. He said that he originally wanted The Binding of Isaac to be more of a bullet-hell style game, but it lagged Flash too much, resulting in the current Binding of Isaac.
The "Faith" stat will actually be in Rebirth, probably increasing the chance of an Angel Room appearing.
The PS4 and PS Vita will have multiple save slots available.

New Content

Items

About 150 new Items have been created, increased the total number of items in the game to 300+. 6 new Pick Ups have also been added.
A Skatole-like item for Spiders will be in the game.
Wiggle Worm has been turned into a Trinket, and is included in a set of 4-6 Trinkets that change how Isaac's tears move.
Familiars will have more interesting effects.
Two new items called the Tiny Planet and Champion Belt were teased. According to Edmund, Tiny Planet greatly increases Isaac's range stat, but makes all tears revolve around his body, similar to Attack Flies. The idea is that there will be multiple tears revolving around him, with each tear stopping after a certain amount of time passes (which depends on Isaac's current range stat). Champion Belt Increases attack power, but in return increases the chances of encountering champion enemies.
- Tiny Planet will also be affected by special tear-changing effects such as Technology.
The synergies between various tear-changing items will be improved, such as homing and Brimstone, which could result in a homing Brimstone laser in Rebirth. An example of a tear-changing item synergy is shown in the gallery below.
Edmund likes The Candle how it is, but he plans to move it into the higher-priced Shop item tier. It could also be balanced by increasing the cooldown time.
Edmund considers Lemon Mishap to be the joke item of the game, so he doesn't want it to be over-buffed. Still, its range and duration will be increased. It will also become a one room charge.
Brimstone's "Brimsnapping" glitch will be fixed.
The Kamikaze! glitch will be fixed, but the item itself will be buffed, probably by reducing self-damage.
Dr. Fetus and Epic Fetus will remain the same, but will simply be harder to find. Epic Fetus could be unlocked in a harder challenge, too.
An item that causes Bombs to explode in a cardinal cross pattern (similar to the Bomberman franchise) will be added.
The item Max's Head's name will be changed to "Cricket's Head" (one of Edmund's cats). The item's appearance will also be changed accordingly.
Another "Candle" item may possibly be added.
Edmund has stated that Best Friend will no longer kill Isaac upon explosion anymore, likely as a reference to the bugged hits (which can be instant death).
A jar item that can store hearts.

Characters

3 new playable characters. One of them is the Eden, while the other two are characters with Biblical names.
Eden starts with random, evenly balanced Stats and two random Items. To play as Eden, a token of some sort has to be paid, which can be achieved from defeating Mom (or possibly other final bosses). Edmund says that there will be some balancing mechanic preventing the player from rolling an extremely powerful (or extremely underpowered) character right from the start.
Ed has written up an idea for a possible playable character for Rebirth that fans of Loki will like.
Edmund says that he does want to balance the characters, but not in terms of their stats. Certain characters being harder to play is supposed to be a part of the game.
It will be possible to pick different starting item loadouts for different characters, with subtle visual changes.

Enemies & Bosses

25 enemies and 16 bosses have been completed as of 17 October 2013.
A boss known as "The Haunt" (shown in the Gallery below) was teased.
Three new enemies has been confirmed, the Fatty (shown in the gallery below) the Nest, and Bony. The Fatty are similar to Gapers as it has a chance to turn into another enemy when killed, the Nest is a Spider version of the Hive spawning a Butt Spider upon death, and finally the Bony who are remains of an unknown monster, it has an A.I identical to Knights but instead will stop and throw a bone in Isaac's direction then continuing to walk in whatever direction it was facing.
The Isaac and ??? boss fights will be less similar to each other in Rebirth.
Champion enemies will be more different in new ways.
All Champion enemies now drop specific items based on their suit of color and will have special abilities such as invisibility (Black), leaving a trail of green slime (Green), or attracting tears to themselves (Purple).

Rooms & Floors

New special rooms like the Curse Room will be added in Rebirth.
Rooms will come in different shapes and sizes, some being so large that the screen will scroll when Isaac walks around them.
More environmental hazards like Cobwebs and Spikes will be implemented, but no "slippery" hazards like ice, since Edmund dislikes them.
A new final chapter will be added, along with new endings.
Choosing between Sheol and the Cathedral will be more meaningful by making Sheol more interesting and difficult. Edmund also hinted at another "The Chest"-like level for Sheol.
Shops will be more important in Rebirth, although there will still be only 1 shop per floor. There will be 20 cent items, and various new items will be added to the Item Pool.
Edmund has said that Sacrifice Rooms will be more interesting in Rebirth.
More Curses and graphical reworks for already existing ones will be added.
Edmund might possibly add an angel counterpart of Krampus for Angel Rooms.

Other

Various new Challenges, such as an "All-Champion Enemies" challenge. No custom runs will be added, however.
Edmund wants to add new secrets that can be unlocked by performing certain actions. For example, using the We Need To Go Deeper! item in Sheol does nothing in the original game, but doing this in Rebirth could uncover new secrets.
There will be a lot of changes to the effect of the "Everything's Terrible" secret achievement.
Edmund might "do a bestiary like spelunky did", but he will never add detailed item descriptions.
When asked about promotional items for Team Fortress 2, Edmund said that he will try and see how Valve responds.
A new type of Beggar.

Misc. Info

A majority of the game's bugs have already been fixed, even ones that Edmund was not aware of.
Arcades will be retooled to make them less time-consuming, although Edmund did not specify how this will be done. The probability of the machines blowing up will be increased.
In general, there will be a greater incentive to spend less time on floors. Some new items will somehow be sensitive to time, which was impossible in flash. Edmund's goal is that the average run time in the remake will be a little shorter than in the current game.
Steam's "Early Access" feature will not be available for Rebirth.
Choosing between going to Sheol or the Cathedral will be more meaningful.
"Breaking" the game with extremely powerful item combinations will still be possible, especially with the large number of new items. Edmund wants to avoid "breaking" the game in terms of crashing, however.
The Stats in the pause screen will not be any more detailed than they are currently, because Edmund does not want players to see the exact stat numbers. The bars themselves will be less confusing, though.
There will be no items referencing famous people in the Binding of Isaac community, because Edmund doesn't want people to feel left out for not getting the reference. He also says that it feels like breaking the fourth wall, and is unnatural.
Some item pick-up quotes will be re-written so they are more understandable.
Some graphical updates will be added so items will look better when stacked on top of each other.
A blurry livestream of rebirth.

Gallery

At first, Edmund presented four different possible styles for the remake. The GBA look was the most voted on. After some tweaks, the graphical style from rebirth is now set. Edmund releases periodical gifs and updates on the game. Any images released will be posted here. In case of .gifs, click the image in the gallery to show them animated.

@@ Line 76: / Line 76: @@
 *The item [[Max's Head|Max's Head's]] name will be changed to "Cricket's Head" (one of Edmund's cats). The item's appearance will also be changed accordingly.
 *Another [[The Candle|"Candle"]] item may possibly be added.
 *Edmund has stated that [[Best Friend]] will no longer kill Isaac upon explosion anymore, likely as a reference to the bugged hits (which can be instant death).
+*A jar item that can store hearts.
 ===Characters===