Tag: Phoenotopia
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Dev Log #8: HP vs Hearts
Star Iliad uses a “Heart” system to display player health – which is a marked change from Phoenotopia’s “HP”. Today, I’ll explore why that is. Did we consider other health systems? And is using Hearts simply a cosmetic decision or a major change that will shape the game design fundamentally? (Note: Chinese Translation of this…
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Dev Log #07: The META of Blog Posting
Happy New Year! New years invite reflection. Today, I’ll reflect on dev logs themselves. More specifically, why do we write them? What are they for? And why do I have writer’s block? (Note: Chinese Translation of this devlog is available! Courtesy of Baojie) A Quick History I started my first blog post about 12 years ago. At the time,…
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DevLog #06 : Expeditions for Tech
Spot the difference in this picture of two enemies at the moment of their demise. On the left, an enemy in Phoenotopia. On the right, an enemy in Star Iliad. Notice anything? The one on the right sports a “hit glow” FX. (Note: Chinese Translation of this devlog is available! Courtesy of Baojie) Phoenotopia surprisingly never had hit…
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DevLog #05: Map Designing
One common feedback we received for Phoenotopia was to add a map. Unfortunately, it was too difficult to do since Phoenotopia wasn’t designed with 2D geometric considerations in mind. Perhaps it’s best explained with this picture: (Note: Chinese Translation of this blog post is available! (Courtesy of Baojie) (The starting house. Some say the confusing layout was…
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DevLog #03: The True Weight of a Double Jump
One of the most common requests I received for Phoenotopia was to add a double jump. Of course, once the game was out, adding a new movement mechanic like that wasn’t feasible without dramatically altering the levels and puzzles. It’s one of those deceptively small changes that carries massive, far-reaching consequences. Still, I mentally bookmarked…
Star Iliad 