Factsheet

Developer:
Refract Studios
Based in Seattle, WA

Founding date:
July 2012

Website:
refract.com

Press / Business Contact:
team@refract.com

Social:
Twitter
Facebook
Discord
Twitch

Releases:
Distance

Phone:
N/A

Description

Our goal at Refract is to expand the emotional spectrum of interactive experiences. Through crafting artistic experiences that are personal to us, we aim to share something new that intellectually and emotionally resonates with players.

History

Origins

Refract was founded by Jordan Hemenway, Kyle Holdwick, and Jason Nollan who met at the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, WA. They worked together on some of DigiPen’s most award-winning game projects, including Nitronic Rush and Solstice. After graduating they formed Refract Studios to continue creating deeply personal and engaging experiences.

Distance

Nitronic Rush attracted over 3 million players, leading Refract to launch a Kickstarter in 2012 to create a spiritual successor. They raised over $160,000 and released Distance on Steam Early Access in December 2014. Over the next few years, they worked with the community to develop the game, releasing dozens of updates on PC. Distance v1.0, featuring a complete story campaign and new arcade content, was released on PC on September 18, 2018. Since then, Refract has released 5 major updates on PC with additional features and content. Distance now races onto PlayStation with a PS4 and PS5 release on July 19.

Projects

Videos

Distance: Console Edition - Launch Date Trailer (PS4/PS5)  YouTube

Distance - Launch Trailer (PC)  YouTube

Distance – The Kinetic Update  YouTube

Distance - Adventure Campaign Story Teaser  YouTube

Images

download all screenshots & photos as .zip (55.7 MB)
distance_adventure_gameplay_1.png
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distance_arcade_gameplay_1.png
distance_arcade_gameplay_10.png
distance_arcade_gameplay_2.png
distance_arcade_gameplay_6.png
distance_arcade_gameplay_7.png
distance_arcade_gameplay_9.png

There are far more images available for Refract Studios, but these are the ones we felt would be most useful to you. If you have specific requests, please do contact us!

logo

Awards & Recognition

  • "Independent Games Festival "Excellence in Audio" Honorable Mention" - Distance, 2019
  • "MomoCon Indie Awards Winner" - Distance, 2017
  • "SideQuesting Team Choice Award (PAX East)" - Distance, 2017
  • "Curse Best Racing Game (PAX West)" - Distance, 2015
  • "BigSushi.fm Golden Sushi of Sophistication (PAX West)" - Distance, 2014

Selected Articles

  • "A Racing Game I'm Actually Really Excited About"
    - Nathan Grayson, Kotaku
  • "Videos and words don’t really do justice to Distance. It may be the most instantly exciting, absorbing game I’ve played all year."
    - Rob Zacny, PCGamesN
  • "It's rare that a racing game will fully command my attention, but Distance was difficult to ignore in the PAX Indie Megabooth."
    - Kyle Hilliard, GameInformer
  • "Arcade to the core, leave now if heavy car tuning, standard racing or anything remotely realistic is what you are wanting, because Distance about to blow your face off."
    - Owen Hibbert, Entertainment Buddha
  • "Being part of an independent studio doesn’t mean letting go of big ideas. One team is challenging the distinctions between indie and triple-A game quality in its approach to development."
    - Stephanie Carmichael, VentureBeat

Distance - Soundtrack and Art Book
The Distance Original Soundtrack (Vol. 1 + 2) features music by Jordan Hemenway and The Quiggles! 60 tracks in both MP3 (320kbps) and FLAC formats. Includes over 2.5 hours of original music from Distance with extended cuts and a few bonus tracks, all remastered exclusively for this release. Also includes the Digital Art Book which showcases the evolution of Distance's art direction throughout its 6 year development (55 page PDF). refract.bandcamp.com.

Distance Kickstarter Campaign
Distance was successfully funded on Kickstarter in the fall of 2012 thanks to the help of over 4,000 backers! kickstarter.com.

Team & Repeating Collaborators

Laura Borgen
Artist, Level Designer

Chin Fong
Concept Artist

Ellie Hemenway
Communications, Community Relations

Jordan Hemenway
Creative Director, Composer

Galen Heninger
Level Designer

Kyle Holdwick
Programmer, Designer

Kristian Bjerre
Level Designer

Andrew Nollan
Programmer

Jason Nollan
Technical Director

Eddie Peters
Artist, Level Designer

Katie Potter
Level Designer

M.J. Quigley
Additional Music

Contact

Inquiries
team@refract.com

Twitter
twitter.com/refractstudios

presskit() by Rami Ismail (Vlambeer) - also thanks to these fine folks