#phoenotopia

[phoenotopia]

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 the idea for our next project.

And now, in Star Iliad, we present to you: Blythe’s Rocket Dash!

(the tells of dash ability are built directly into her suit—no separate dash indicator bar needed!)

At first, I thought dash and double jump were functionally similar—so similar, in fact, that splitting them into two separate upgrades seemed redundant. Why not combine them into one cool ability: an 8-directional air dash? One upgrade, two functions!

Well, as it turns out, there’s a reason most games separate Dash and Double Jump. Giving the player too much aerial mobility too early drastically changes how levels have to be designed.

In Star Iliad, Blythe’s normal jump reaches 3.5 tiles. That means any platform 4 tiles up is out of reach, letting us create dense, puzzle-like platforming segments. But once you add a double jump—or in this case, a Rocket Dash—the vertical reach increases to 7.5 tiles. Suddenly, those once out-of-reach platforms are now trivially accessible, and the whole world has to expand to compensate.

Take these two areas as examples:

The Whale’s Blowhole (Pre-Dash): An early-game area with platforms spaced about 3 tiles apart, creating a tight, intricate route.

The Whale’s Stomach (Post-Dash): After acquiring the Rocket Dash, the spacing between platforms increases to account for the player’s enhanced vertical and horizontal movement.

Once the Rocket Dash enters the picture, moment-to-moment level design has to change significantly. It’s a powerful tool—and if not carefully balanced, it risks becoming the default solution to everything. Cornered by monsters or projectiles? Just dash away!

(Early on, this chest requires careful platforming on wobbly leaves and dodging enemies. But if the player comes here post-dash, they can just hop directly to the chest—bypassing the “intended” challenge)

My go-to methods for guiding or blocking players—tight walls, precisely spaced gaps—needed a full reevaluation.

You might be thinking: “Why not just make the walls higher and the gaps wider?” Sure, we can do that—to a point. But Star Iliad takes place inside the body of a giant space whale, and that carries anatomical limitations and caps how much space we have to work with. 

(Our very first step into designing the map was sketching out an internal anatomy cross-section—and we’ve been filling it in as we go. This early decision has had profound pros and cons)

As we continued building levels, I started missing the denser platforming possibilities from before the player got the dash. I even debated splitting Dash and Double Jump after all—or at least pushing the dash acquisition further back in the game. It’s hard to argue with the tried-and-true design of critically acclaimed games like Hollow Knight and Prince of Persia, which separate these upgrades for a reason. On the other hand, games like Ender Magnolia go the opposite route, offering powerful aerial mobility early and close together – and it works!

Conclusion: Embrace the Challenge!

Ultimately, there’s no “wrong” decision here 🤔

Rather, the designer makes their decision the right one with their ensuing design choices.

In the end, I decided to keep the dash as it was and embrace the challenge of designing around this early aerial maneuverability. They say the best creativity comes when your back is against the wall 💪

And, plenty of head-scratching and iteration later, I’ve since come up with some pretty ��novel” solutions that still make full use of the dash/double jump combo—without letting it overpower everything.

For example:

What if there was a dangerous sleeping monster? And loud noises (such as from your gun or dash) would awaken the monster?

Or, what if there was a “goo” mechanic? Contact with goo monsters or goo obstacles could inflict “goo status” on you, slowing your movement, jump, and dash…

Or, what if there were tons of spikes? (And the spikes were insta-kill or something)

And more! The possibilities are endless. Which ones will make it into the game?

Let’s say these surprises are best discovered… mid-dash 😎

That’s all for this update—thanks for reading!

(Next update will drop at the end of July)

[montylont]

I just got In Stars And Time, and im wondering if theres any like, blind guides out there? Stuff that points me in the right direction or give hints on how to reach side content that i can possibly miss without outright telling me what it is or what it entails. Because knowing me, i will miss it, but i don't want to just play next to a guide which tells me everything about the event leaving no room for suprise.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[zerovsilver19]

[two-cat-hods]

Opening Writing Commissions

Hi!! Finally decided to start using a hobby that I've loved doing to give myself a few extra things to do on the side, whilst earning a few bucks too! Personally, I really like writing Yuri and romance in general but I don't find myself limited to that genre, dabbling a lot in horror and adventure before.

What's off Limits? Underage, NonCon, Necro, Incest, Sexualized Gore.

What's on Limits? Anything, even explicit, apart from those things and a few things listed below. If you're unsure about some stuff, just ask me, cause there might be things I'm uncomfy with that I forgot to put in there.

What franchises can I request? Anything! As long as you give me some time to take in the character and their worlds whilst asking you a few questions on the side. The franchises I am already deeply familiar with are: Games: Deepwoken, Phighting, All Project Moon Media, FNAF (but not the books), Ultrakill, UT/DR, Omori (Off Limits for Explicit), TBoI (Off Limits for Explicit), Team Fortress 2, Celeste, Hollow Knight, Rain World, Signalis, Hades, Awaria, Helltaker, Phoenotopia, Postknight, Genshin (though I stopped playing after Fontaine) Shows: Arcane, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls (Off Limits for Explicit), Chainsaw Man, Frieren, DunMeshi, DanDaDan, Mob Psycho (Off Limits for Explicit), Evangelion, RWBY My Portfolio (for now): https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenewedSanguineFaith/works Though, keep in mind that this is mostly a lot of old stuff, because more of the recent stuff I've done, are things I'd like to keep private. I'd also like to hope that the previews I give during writing will represent my current and proper writing style. What's your rates? Generally 1 USD every 150 words, with an upfront, unchanging 5 dollars if your request is explicit (this isn't 5 dollars per 150, just 5 dollars on top if it's a smut fic). So you're looking at about 10 USD for a 1500 word 5 page, 11 size Merriweather font, short lil fic, and another 10 USD for each chapter of similar size beyond that, priced accordingly if word counts differ, of course.

There's also always the negotiation of prices available at the first communication up to the midpoint preview for the fic, so we can always insure that you have a fair price for what you're getting for it That's It? That's everything! If you're seeing this after I talked to you about it on some other platform, then let's get to negotiations so I can send you my paypal and stuff! If you're someone who found this post through tags and are interested, first of all thanking for reading all of that, secondly you're free to DM me here on Tumblr (sorry if im ever late, i might be busy so sorry @_@) for any talks with me being free on Discord and Bluesky as well if you'd like to request to talk there instead. Toodles!

[mackerelphones]

"Game of the year," the coveted status one awards only to what video game one liked most of all the ones they played that year.

GotY 2023: Pheonotopia: Awakening. Tons of fun from start to end. Tens of hours of nonstop entertainment that kept me hooked for weeks. For comparison, most video games don't even lose my interest because they never gain it in the first place. Perhaps I should finish the video review I was making of it

GotY 2024: Dungeon Munchies. No contest. Unfortunately, the gameplay is just fine, and it is definitely not optimized for controllers. But the storytelling in this goes so much harder than anyone could possibly expect that I fell in love with it. Exactly the exhilarating mixture of farce, horror, and extreme sadness that I search for. One of those where whenever I wasn't playing it, I was chomping at the bit to get back to it

Honorable mentions for 2023 and 2024: Dead Estate and Anthology of the Killer

Dead Estate: Many hours (70!) of fun and entertainment. The final update came out this year, so it's finally complete. The new Steam thumbnail does sort of spoil the surprise that the cast of characters is larger than it first appears, though

Anthology of the Killer: This series of comedy-horror adventures has been trickling out episode by episode since 2020 but was only completed in 2024 with the final episode, "Face of the Killer." Because I've been playing each episode as it came out since 2021, I don't feel like this qualifies as my GotY 2024. Consistently clever and brilliant. Just one perfect line and memorable scene after another, for hours. Erudite, delightful, hilarious but also surprisingly haunting. I think about it often

***

I barely played any video games released in 2024 itself. The only ones I can recall are Felvidek, the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake, and Psychopomp: Gold (and of course Anthology of the Killer, but since it began coming out in 2020, I do not consider it as "belonging" to 2024)

Felvidek is surprisingly difficult. The mistakes in the fake Early Modern English kept ripping me out of it so that I never got invested. I found it kind of embarrassing, and such a letdown when the graphics are so striking and the setting so unique. Maybe if I kept going it would have hooked me, but I think I'd have to start over for the challenge to be possible

PMTTYD remake has much nicer graphics than the rather ugly original, but the new OST is usually too noisy. Some of the new tracks layer it on too thick. But even so, it is PMTTYD, so it's 5/5. Something-something Vivian (the longest thing I posted online in 2024)

Psychopomp: Gold has a fantastic aesthetic, dark and pixely and grimy, but the narrative, such as it is, has little to offer, and the gameplay is also only serviceable. The story is far too concerned with "lore" to the exclusion of the characters or drama. I never cared about anything that was happening. But I can't knock that aesthetic! If you're as scared of the dark as I am, this is a very tense video game

***

I haven't posted much on any of my accounts lately because, given various events in the world, I feel there are certain things I should say, but also that they would be embarrassingly, shamefully useless to say besides my increasing fear of saying anything. So simultaneously I should say certain things before I dare say anything else, but also I shouldn't say those things at all. I don't know if I'll be more active in 2025, though I doubt it.

[ryunumber]

Gonna suggest my favorite with Gale/Gail (Phoenotopia/Phoenotopia: Awakening). I'm sure there's something since she was once riding the tankman tank and newgrounds stuff has fun connecting to one another sometimes. (though i wouldn't be surprised if it would need a LRN or ERN instead of (S)RN)

Gail/Gale does not have a Ryu Number.

[simplyghosting]

I will not stop talking about this game

[robotoooo]

Starting to notice a trend in the games I've been playing lately...

[ceramic-galanter]

Phoenotopia: Awakening is very pretty (and 60% off on Steam right now)

Phoenotopia: Awakening is a stunningly beautiful indie game

It's got a lot of everything - fishing and cooking minigames, puzzles, interesting NPCs to talk to, countless sidequests, great music, cute enemies, post-apocalyptic setting...

there's so many hidden secrets and small details that must have taken forever to implement. The world is really immersive, with some surprisingly meaningful moments where I least expected it.

the game doesn't have nearly as much attention as it deserves - it's a bit of a hard game (I really recommend choosing 1-star difficulty for the QoL changes) but a lot of the challenges that frustrated me starting out were actually entirely optional. It also took me embarrassingly long to notice enemies don't deal contact damage unless they have spikes.

(also make sure you get the fishing rod as soon as possible)

[the-bearer-of-bad-ideas]

bird girl doodles from class because now that ive figured out how to draw her im having fun doing it

theres context for the second one but i think its funnier without

[elric-murphy]

Drew an outfit swap, between two of my favorite Metroidvania(ish) games! Y'all should check out these titles if you're into the action-platformer genre.

[phoenotopia]

Introducing Star Iliad!

We’re happy to announce our next game, “Star Iliad”! Now in development.

Star Iliad is a retro-futuristically themed Metroidvania that takes place inside a giant star whale.

See the teaser trailer!

In the game, you’ll play as Blythe Braves, a Star Ranger who patrols a remote region of the interstellar frontier. Heeding a distress signal, she investigates to find a curious large rock formation in the shape of a whale. Shortly after landing and locating a couple of castaways, her ship is destroyed by unknown alien creatures. Stranded and surrounded, but not outgunned, she joins forces with other castaways in a bid to escape. A big adventure ensues!

Where Phoenotopia had more Zelda-style leanings, Star Iliad dives deeper into Metroid territory with a larger, interconnected map and a stronger focus on gun combat. We’ve learned the correct lessons from Phoenotopia— which is… Guns are Good 👍 Bats are Bad 👎 (joking!)

The story won’t be taking a backseat. While Phoenotopia featured a large ensemble cast, Star Iliad narrows its focus to a smaller group of more thoroughly explored characters.

(Characters can leverage expressive portraits to drive emotionally charged scenes)

Some additional in-development pics. We have both very finished & very unfinished looking areas.

Legacy of Phoenotopia

Since Phoenotopia’s development concluded, we’ve received some really encouraging emails from fans expressing how much they enjoyed it and even sharing their concern about whether we were doing alright. This meant a lot, especially considering Phoenotopia was not a strong seller.

For a while now, I’ve felt the need to allay those fears and let everyone know that we’re alive and hard at work on something new. With Steam’s fourth anniversary for Phoenotopia approaching, it felt like the right moment to finally share an update.

True, Phoenotopia was not a strong seller, but it would not turn out to be as bleak as I previously believed. Long after sales should have dwindled to zero, the game found a small, but steady threshold—a lifeline that has kept us funded. We’ve also been able to rely on family (and the occasional side job or two) to stay afloat.

Lastly, I think the game got some organic word of mouth, so there would be random times here and there where a youtuber or renowned streamer covered Phoenotopia and we’d get an unusual sales spike out of nowhere.

So, to all the fans who supported us, whether by buying the game, spreading the word, or just sending us kind messages—thank you! You’ve sustained us in ways you may not even realize, and we’re incredibly grateful 🙇

Chronicling Star Iliad’s development with a new Dev Log! (on wordpress)

After Phoenotopia, there was a bit of wandering around and thinking about what was next.

I wanted to settle into a quieter pace of development for a while. With Phoenotopia, I had been doing long form dev log updates. I wanted to try something different – a smaller, but more frequent form of dev logging. And it appeared that the new dev blogging meta was social media like Twitter & Instagram.

But there was no point in starting right away. Because 4 years back, we didn’t know what we were working on. It would take about a year of exploring & feeling around before “Star Iliad” developed enough shape and form that it could be talked about. Then we started twitter (@StarIliad) and instagram (@StarIliad), and started posting. Not as regular as I thought I would it turns out – short form updates have their own unique challenges and dev logging is always easy to neglect.

Still, if you’re curious, you can look at the StarIliad twitter account and enjoy the past 3 years of short form dev log posts (it may keep you entertained for all of 10 minutes).

As for the instagram account, it never quite took off, basically dying right out the gate >_>

In any case, we’re in the midst of development. It’s difficult to see the finish line from here, so I can’t announce a release date. What I can announce is the return of the dev log, where like times of yore, I will be chronicling our thoughts and tribulations until we reach the finish line. I invite you to join us by subscribing to the new dev log on wordpress.

(Also, please wishlist on Steam! It helps with the algorithm)

[yourfaveisfriendshaped]

Gail from Phoenotopia Awakening (which i guess also includes Gale from the original phoenotopia too)

Gail is friend-shaped!

[zoishi]

Una Gran aventura de plataformas | PHOENOTOPIA: AWAKENING

[honeybearbi]

okay goals for today:

1. play video games

2. sign up for halloween murder mystery event

3. buy costume for said murder mystery event

4. play more video games

5. survive work

[cannondisabledcharacters]

Today's disabled character of the day is Balo from Phoenotopia Awakening, who is an amputee and uses mobility aids

[Image Description: Pixel drawing of a man using brown crutches. He is scratching the back of his head with his left arm. He is shirtless and is wearing green pants, brown belt with gold buckle, a brown shoe on his left foot, and bandages on his right wrist. He has bandages on the end of his right leg where his foot was amputated. He has short brown hair and a brown beard. Lastly he has a medium skin tone, black eyes, and is muscular.]