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Hey, over here!

I’m back, bitches

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Astronaut Girl Starset by Johalate

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Someone ban me from arting

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Came for Hex Maniac and stayed for the fucking mess.

official hex maniac art: 

y’all????:

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Found these flowers in my backyard, I'll make some space in my room for them, they're too pretty and calming to leave them there with my dog.

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Merry Christmas~

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This blog is Dedicated to anyone suffering from Anxiety! Please Follow Us if You Can Relate: ANXIETYPROBLEMS

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2017 September Update

Poster Art

Feast your eyes on this beautiful poster art by Pirate. I immediately took a liking to the previous top-left design, and then that idea was molded over the course of a couple weeks to create the design you see today. Debate was had over which characters were important enough to feature in the poster art, and how many. In the end we decided to err on the side of too crowded vs not crowded enough.

You’ll also see that the Phoenix logo is featured prominently in the design. Initially, I was really impartial to a Ringed Planet logo, but the Phoenix logo ultimately won out because it most effectively communicates the “Phoenix” in Phoenotopia. This should also help clue people in on the proper pronunciation of the title.

On the Trailer & Fishing

The past couple of weeks a lot of people crunched to make the trailer possible. At the last minute, Will was still adding precious seconds of music to the new theme song just so the montage could be longer. Clement made entirely new animations and Pirate touched an unlistable amount of art assets to bring them up to speed for the trailer.

So where is it? I have decided to delay its public debut, in favor of privately pitching it directly to some companies. You only get so many chances to do an unveiling, so I want to leverage it properly. I apologize for the delay. While we figure that out, here’s a video of fishing to tide you guys over. The fishing mini-game was finally implemented this past month. Like with cooking, the desire was there but the design and flow of the game wasn’t settled for a long time.

The trailer finally pushed me to implement it. Coming in, there were a few elements locked in place to help guide the design. I knew that fishing should be tied into the player’s character - it should get easier the more powerful the player became. I also wanted range - sometimes it’s relaxing, and sometimes it’s intense. The difficulty depends on the the fish type. Without further ado, here it is:

Fishing is a game of cat and mouse. Once the fish has bitten on the bait, the player (represented by the arrow), must chase the fish (represented by the smaller circular subsection). The subsection will dart away and try to elude the player. When the player’s arrow is outside the subsection, the player’s stamina depletes. When the arrow is inside the subsection, the fish’s stamina depletes. Whoever runs out of stamina first loses. As the fish get bigger and more difficult to catch, they have more stamina, and their subsection gets smaller and faster, amping up the difficulty.

It’s actually still a work in progress. The plan is to update the HUD further - the fish’s stamina bar will match the player’s style of stamina bar so that it’d be easier to see who’s ahead. And of course, there’ll be additional fish types - some of which will drop special collectibles.

Naming Contest Winners

For the robots, I’ve decided to go with the names “metal ghoul” and “wendigo” for the Zombot and Stalker respectively. Thank you to reddit user “thomar” for thinking of it! Thomar approached the names from how a “pre-industrial society in a post-apocalyptic wasteland of monsters would perceive killer robots.” And that’s a great approach since Phoenotopia is a meeting point between technology and fantasy/fairytales. And as some other users have pointed out, there is a precedent in the naming since the game contains Orcs, Harpies, and Kobolds. So we’ll continue that naming trend with these robots.

And a surprise winner has emerged for the Desert Dragon bandits! Recall their naming contest was suspended a couple months ago until I received a suggestion that I really liked. That has happened this past week via a private email submission. The name will be “Ouroboros”. The writer wrote an explanation:

“… The Ouroboros is a symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The dragon bandits are dedicated to protecting sand drakes so being named after a symbol of a dragon that represents the renewal of life would be appropriate for them. And since phoenotopia seems have the theme of rebirth with the phoenix symbol, I thought it would be cool if there was a reference to the Ouroboros symbol to add towards the theme of rebirth.

And also the Ouroboros lizard also known as the Armadillo girdled lizard is a real life lizard that closely resembles the sand drakes. The Ouroboros lizard have similar spiky armored scales to the sand drakes and can even curl up in a ball and bite their own tail to protect their vulnerable underside.”

When I image searched “Ouroboros lizard”, I was immediately sold on the name. Phoenotopia’s sand drakes do look like Ouroboros lizards, especially since they all roll around as a form of attack, which does look like they’re biting their tail.

I’ll be reaching out to both winners to get their preferred naming details.

New Naming Contest - the Boar series!

I’ll close this update with a new naming contest. We want to name the right-most green creature - the one marked with an arrow.

This green creature is found in the deep forbidden forest alongside Harpies and Orcs - the other creatures of yore. This plant-hybrid creature scavenges much like its distant boar cousin, but can additionally derive nutrient from the sun. It can also use its plant-like appendages to attack in new and creative ways (whipping vines and shooting seeds).

In the first game, the creatures were dogs, so I called them “dog” and “plant dog” respectively. This time around, the in-house placeholder name to beat is “plant boar”.

Also up for an optional renaming are the two boars to the left of the “plant boar”. The in-house name to beat for them is … “boar”.

Naming animal-like beasts is a bit trickier since there isn’t a clearly established rule set. On one hand, the game has animals with made-up names. Chickens are named “Perro” and the cow/sheep are named “Puki”. On the other hand, there are also just regular animals without made-up names (birds, dogs, cats, even a camel). Which category will the boars belong?

As usual, submissions are possible on the reddit thread or privately via this email: phoenotopia@gmail.com

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B14-A01 (Two OCs for RP and future projects.) BOOP, it’s finally art time again.

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Happy family!

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Here is a little sneak peak at a concept of a room coming later in the winter, drawn by @sum-smoothie !

We can’t wait to show off this room, but for now have this little sneak peak ~

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Everyone was or is currently freacking out about the eclipse, meanwhile, I’m here, looking at my totally normal day through the window, with no darkness at all, just a plain normal boring day... -To be honest if the eclipse was here I would look at it for just a few seconds and then I would go back inside...but...you know...those would be some wonderful few seconds.-

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3 years already? I have to make something for this special occasion!

3rd year anniversary!

I was not planning on updating so soon, but a very helpful fan reminded me a few days earlier that today marks the flash game’s 3rd year anniversary! I had hoped to show off the new fishing feature to mark the occasion, but I didn’t implement the feature in time, so that will have to be rolled in with the next update.

Instead, I’ll take this time to do a little reflection… and thank the fans!

Special thanks to the fan group from China for presenting me with this lovely fanart of Gale. The slime on her head, and her expression! So cute!

Occasionally, I’ll wonder if making the first game in flash was a good idea since it basically made no profit. But then, I’ll hear from fans on the OTHER side of the globe, and be amazed at how far the game has reached. It makes me think going free with Flash the first time wasn’t so bad after all!

When I first named it, it had 0 results on Google. Now Phoenotopia sits at 47k!

Hard to believe it’s been 3 years already… If I had known it was going to take more than 3 years starting out, I would not have made this journey. I would have made another journey. But here we are. I don’t think there was ever a point in the game’s development, where I had myself convinced that it was another short 12 months from completion. Luckily, I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. There shall not be a 4th anniversary without this game seeing release! … I hope!

NAMING CONTEST - the “Stalker” and “Zombot”

We haven’t held a naming contest in a while!

There’s a new bigger threat in the Dreadlands - the “Stalker” has huge razor claws and is much more agile. It also sports cloaking technology - just when the player thinks they’re safe and alone, the Stalker can appear out of thin air and begin its relentless pursuit.

The Zombot too is no slouch. The Zombot is unique in that it’s, as far as I can recall, the only character to be carried over from the first game graphically untouched. Any stiffness in animation only aids the robot’s… robotic qualities.

Currently, the in-house names to beat are “zombot” and “stalker”. Send an email to phoenotopia@gmail.com or head over to the reddit thread to submit your naming suggestions!

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So...

 -For a long time now I’ve looking at a group of older teenagers (1 year or so older than me) that are in my school, seeing how they act between themselves and towards other kids...definetly no the kind of person I like to even have near me.   A few weeks ago, they started to act more aggresively with smaller kids, yelling and making fun of them, and always getting away with it, they even threatened one of the kids, pushing them outside school and repeating that they’ll beat him up if he ever tells them to “close their mouth” again, the intimidated kid just stayed silent and the bullies said “good dog, stay quiet.” before leaving. After seeing this situation with details, I started to wonder so many things about how they think, I’ve been thinking about how the mind of a “bully” works...I can’t find amusement in making others suffer...why do they?...   After talking with one teacher, I got to the conclussion that they all have problems in house...and?...That’s no excuse, I have problems in my house, but I don’t threat smaller kids...Is it a need to feel bigger? To feel superior to other people?...You have other meanings to have fun with your friends, there is no actual need to get your fun by ruining others’...Sometimes it’s understandable, if we’re talking about childs, they can be really mean, but they are childs, but, when you’re talking about someone who is one year ago from becoming a legal adult?...You’re in school, you probably have better things to do, things to talk or think about, but you decided to stare at that one kid walking through the gallery and yell your lungs out about how that kid is this or that, making everyone else in the gallery turn around....that same kid was trying to hold his tears minutes later, thinking about that same moment where everyone stared at him, a shy kid that prefers to stay unnoticed...do you know how much weight is that for him?... The school’s principal asked the bullies “Would you enjoy being bothered and yelled at in the same way you did with that boy?” - They all answered “No” and promised to never do that again. That same night, one of them insulted one kid with phrases like “Go kill yourself”, “You’re a fucking pussy” etc. Two days later the whole group went back to their routine of making fun of other kids. Those “two days later” is today.   I am confused. I am really confused. What is inside that mind of your’s. What makes you think that what you’re doing is fine? That you’re being “cool” and whatever for yelling at the younger teens in your school?...One year. One year ago from being an adult and you still act like a child that gets almost no consequences for their actions. YOU’RE OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW WHEN YOU’RE MAKING OTHERS GET HURT OR UNCOMFORTABLE, AND YOU DO, BUT YOU KEEP ON, YOU KEEP GOING AND MAKING IT WORSE. What annoys me the most is that the “leader” of this group of bullies, is the kind of guy that everyone likes and respects...WHY. Why on earth, this person who doesn’t deserve that attention, gets it, while rest have to remain afraid of even walking through the main gallery? OPEN YOUR EYES, you saw your friend threatening another student and you won’t do nothing about it? You still treat him like if he was some sort of harmless comedian?...I’m dissapointed. I’m dissapointed at everyone, even my own friends for doing nothing. Side note: Yeah, there are no kids, no more than one, it’s just me, I am the only one who is punished over and over by this group of empathy-lacking guys.

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An everyday situation

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Oh! Look at the hour! It’s OC time! Maverick the Time and Space wizard! ...hot wizard If I say so myself. So far he is my favourite original character. (Of my “collection ofc).