Hey everyone, Andrew here!

Phoenix the Chicken is probably the game I least expected to catch on, but people really seem to enjoy it. So, it’s taken on status as my flagship game. As a result, I’ve made some plans for it.

The Way Forward
A few things have to be considered when making a game, and my thoughts on them are as follows.

First - there needs to be more game. The test level in and of itself can be fun, but a little more variation is needed not only for my attention span, but yours. The path I’ve decided to go with is to make Phoenix the Chicken more akin to an adventure game. One of the key themes I designed the prototype around, is survival, so I’m going to play that theme as much as I can. The ‘phased’ aspect of the player means I have to pay careful attention to how I design the world of Phoenix the Chicken…but, I’ve got a rough outline of how it’s going to work. And, no, you don’t want to see it.

Next - there needs to be more humans. Humans are the enemy in Phoenix, and I want the human hunters to be every bit as varied as real humans are, but just as ridiculous as in the prototype.

If you notice, the humans in the prototype run around with huge wrenches! Those were supposed to be forks, though. Still, such things add character, and new variants of Human should be just as ‘unique.’

I’ve got some really ridiculous ideas that I’m figuring out how to make happen, including a bow-wielding Huntard - his ammo of choice is rocks. The Dork Knight will also make an appearance to periodically harass you far more ruthlessly than other humans with his +5 Combat Umbrella of Chicken Eatery. Of course, not all humans are bad, either - Vegetarians who find you will throw out a Chicken doll to distract any attackers, letting you make a swift getaway in Chicken form.

Third - The artistic side of the game suffered due to prototyping. I originally created this game in ‘seven’ days of development, spread out over three weeks due to external issues. I got a game out for people to tell me about, but there isn’t a lot of music or sound effects. I intend to fix that, and also improve the GUI.

Lastly - Mechanics. The feedback around Phoenix has been curious and thought-provoking. On the one hand, people love this game because it’s refreshingly unique and unafraid to be itself. On the other hand, people keep asking for the ability for Phoenix to fight back against humans. As a core gamer, I understand where these ideas come from, but due to the vision I had…I’m not taking the game in that direction. Here’s why.

Phoenix the Chicken is like Pac-Man in a key sense - the underlying point of the game is ‘The Hunter becomes the Hunted.’ Humans flee Phoenixes, but hunt Chickens for food. There is violence inherent in killing and eating another living being - whatever it is, but that’s the thing you’re avoiding. Phoenix the Chicken is a chicken whose purpose is life - you can see this by his actions, by guiding him to survive against mankind’s urge for hot wings (ironic given that they run away from his hot wings.)

So, let’s imagine what it would mean for Phoenix to kill a human opponent. The game’s other aspect is the silliness in it. This would go away; humans play video games, and frankly, there’s enough games out there with human vs. human combat. Phoenix would cease to be the special title it is - it would be everything else. Next, the Phoenix is a nice chicken. Killing dudes isn’t nice…ever. Lastly, it’s a skill this sort of game isn’t intended to teach. This game is all about situational awareness.

So, that’s not the direction I’m going. But you can see where I will go.

One thing that keeps coming up is pickups - those are getting in, as they make sense. To become a Phoenix, Phoenix must eat a little bit. This encourages dangerous situations, which admittedly my demo doesn’t really push you to enter and overcome.

Next, environmental effects will matter. There will be marshes that slow humans, but have paths a chicken can traverse (a Phoenix just flies over anyhow.) Chickens however must avoid deep water - Humans just take a really huge movement speed penalty. Tall grasses that cloak Human movement can be burnt to ashes by being flown into in Phoenix form. I have more ideas, but that will do…for now.

So, there you have it.
Phoenix has high hopes and big plans made. Over the next few weeks, I’ll start implementing some of these plans, and playtest them to see what effect they have. Thanks for paying attention to this game…see you when I make the next release!