This is a Community Blog created by Saydmell Salazar, our Social Media director, my boss (and the best boss one could ask for I might add).

“Art isn’t only a painting. Art is anything that’s creative, passionate, and personal. And great art resonates with the viewer, not only with the creator.

Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn’t matter. The intent does. “

Quote from Seth Godin, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?




Art must be brave, insightful, creative and bold. It should challenge what you know, what it is. An artists takes it personally. A brush is nothing but a tool, but your dreams is all you need to make your future.

“Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another.”

The day I decided to go into business was because I knew I wanted to make a difference, the day I realized how everything I know can change someone’s day or someone’s life was the day I knew I just had to do this. Then I realized it became a personal goal to make people smile, it didn’t really matter how much I’d have to do or go through, as long as I could feel and see someone smile.

My dream is to be able to do something that matters. To make a difference.

It’s been years, a lot has happened but my heart truly belongs in the indie world. All this amazing talent, all this passion and all this strive needs some direction, needs some guidance, needs part of what I know. Therefore, I can only hope my art can fit in into my dream.

I can only hope my love is enough to measure up to my will.

I am nothing but proud to say that Phoenix Online Studios shares this dream too. Indie Support is no longer a dream now, it is a reality. We are sponsoring and supporting all these amazing talented indies that we manage to reach out in hopes to be able to help and integrate the indie world. It matters, we care and we are doing it.



We are currently sponsoring CBE Software http://www.cbe-software.com/ in their noble quest to fund J.U.L.I.A. Enhanced Edition. They had a very unfortunate situation happen to them (If you are unfamiliar with this please read so here http://www.adventuregamers.com/news/view/23982) and this is the reason why Phoenix Online Studios support is strong with our indie friends, because we know this IndieGogo will make a difference whether they stay in business or their talent disappears from the indie world.

So I would appreciate in behalf of Phoenix and CBE for you to please take 5 minutes of you day and please visit their campaign here http://igg.me/at/julia-enhanced, if all you can do is collaborate with $7 then please do so, if all you can do is just share it on your Twitter/FB then that is also very much appreciated. Anything at this point is welcome and we will be very thankful for that.

Personally, it has been a pleasure helping my dear friend Jan Kavan in this difficult time. He is one of the most talented individuals I have ever met and one of the kindest human beings there is. It’s been an honor to celebrate with him reaching out 20% milestone in less than 24hours, it is the best part of my day so far staying up with him up to 4am talking about what can we do, or just breaking that damn F5 button together (which for the record, we did crash Indiegogo last Sunday! Haha) So thank you Jan, for allowing me to be part of such important part of CBE Software history.

I guess I am very happy to be able to do my art into what I love, and therefore love what I do.



-Say

(On a personal note, working with Saydmell was the most rewarding experience I've ever had in my work life, I feel there's so much I've learned from her and at the same time, that I'm only at the tip of the iceberg, thank you Say.)

Gonçalo Gonçalves
Social Media Intern, Phoenix Online Studios

Designer Katie Hallahan tells us what's it like working with industry legend Jane Jensen (Creator of the Gabriel Knight series)


A question we often get is how we ended up teaming up with Jane Jensen on Cognition. Cesar has told the story how some of the directors first met Jane and Bob when they generously invited us to visit them at their beautiful farm, but what happened between then and the announcement of the Cognition Kickstarter?




When we first met with Jane in March 2011, we talked a lot about our plans for Phoenix Online’s future, and naturally the possibility of working together was part of those discussions. At the time, there wasn’t anything that fit what we were looking for, but when Cognition came up that summer, asking Jane if she was interested in working with us was one of the first thoughts we had! The timing and position of Story Consultant worked out perfectly for both her and us, and we got to work.

As Story Consultant, Jane reviews all of our design work, from feedback on the outlines to a full editing pass on the script, and her input has been helpful from day one in helping us to keep the game focused. When Cesar and I were originally outlining the game, we were considering two main plot arcs: the first was Erica’s powers, and the second was a series of killings with a Shakespearean theme. (We’ve got a habit of trying to do too much. We were once naively proud of the original full script for TSL being about 1500 pages long!) Jane’s suggestion that we stick to just one lead us to focus on Erica’s powers, the theme that we could potentially build a series on; maybe someday she’ll face that Shakespearean killer yet!




For me personally, one of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve learned from Jane is that every scene, character, and puzzle needs to support your story. Don’t waste any time — yours or the players — with things that don’t support that development.

It’s been wonderful having her help on Cognition, and we’re highly enjoying working with her in a different capacity on Moebius — but the details of that will be for a future blog from Cesar!


If you'd like to know more about Cognition, feel free to visit the Phoenix Online Studios Homepage.

Gonçalo Gonçalves
Social Media Intern, Phoenix Online Studios

Yes that's right, Cognition is being featured on the Indie Royale Bundle! If you've ever wanted to get Episode 1 for cheap than this would be the perfect opportunity and you'll even get a nice shiny Desura key to boot.

On a different subject matter, yes, I know that it's been a while since we've posted a Developer's Diary, but worry not, our next blog post will be just that! :)


Gonçalo Gonçalves
Social Media Intern, Phoenix Online Studios

Today I'm breaking norm from our regular blog entries to bring you a very personal story of an Indie Studio who's struggling, no, I'm talking about Phoenix Online (though we do have our fair share of struggles), this is the story of CBE Software, creators of J.U.L.I.A. and J.U.L.I.A. Untold.

Last January, CBE Software announced it had terminated its publishing agreement with Lace Mamba Global, citing a breach of contract relating to payments owed for the previously mentioned games, to which LMG claimed these accusations were "false statements" and "inaccurate", at first it seemed this would delve into a "he said, she said" sort of argument.

Check the back of your box, does it say Lace Mamba Global?

As it turns out, CBE isn't the only developer feeling cheated by Lace Mamba Global, as now we have Amanita Design (Botanicula, Machinarium), Daedalic Entertainment (Deponia, The Whispered World) and Colibri Games (The Tiny Bang Story) announcing they've also failed to receive payment due from Lace mamba Global.

Banding together, all of the developers have written an open letter as a cautionary tale to all those who wish to do business with Lace Mamba Global, I'm not going to copy and paste the letter, instead,I'll link it to where I first read it.

The world indie games is fraught with dangers, sometimes from those who we least suspect

If you've been reading the gaming news and media you might think this is where the story ends, but I'm afraid there's more to it, you see currently CBE software is on the verge of closing down and is currently its fans to support them through crowdfunding on Indiegogo, asking for the humble sum of $5000, to which I'm glad to see they've nearly reached 90% of the target quota.

As you might have guessed however, $5000 is the absolute bare minimum they need to stay open and every little bit helps! We here at Phoenix Online have been doing our best to spread the word and support our indie friends.


We believe that games can and should be considered art and J.U.L.I.A. is as much of the former as it is the latter and we can only hope that this isn't the last we've heard of it or the studio behind it.

Gonçalo Gonçalves
Social Media Intern, Phoenix Online Studios

That's right! Destructoid's very own Fraser Brown reviewed Cognition, rating it a 7.5/10.

One of the most common and prevalent problems a lot of Indie Studios have, is attracting media coverage from some of the most recognizable outlets, in that regard we like to think we're blessed as we've always had several websites and magazines review Episode 1, but Destructoid is without a doubt one of, if not the largest website that has ever graced our game with a review!

We'd also like to thank Moderator Elsa for linking users to our little corner of the Destructoid community blog in the comments section, thank you Elsa! You're awesome!

Gonçalo Gonçalves
Social Media Intern, Phoenix Online

From Designer Cesar Bittar, a little insight into the creation and development of Erica Reed:

I get the question a lot of who inspired me for Erica Reed. Erica ended up being a little bit more foul-mouthed than my original source of inspiration for her, but to this day, every time I see Olivia Dunham in Fringe, I tend to smile. She’s gorgeous and Anna Torv is a really gifted actress, and she makes Fringe one of my favorite shows in our current TV spectrum.




Jane once told me that Erica didn’t seem much like an FBI Agent. The Erica she was seeing is the Erica that opens up the game in the cemetery. The thought stuck in my mind, and I wanted to have Erica seem more like an FBI Agent. Dana Scully from the X-Files came to mind, but she was too “formal” for our likings. Debra Morgan, from Dexter, also didn’t do it for me and she really wasn’t FBI — although Erica’s bad language certainly comes from Deb!

And then there was Olivia Dunham. I started googling for pictures of her and I came across a few. There was a particular one that really set it for me. If you spot any similarities, it’s a complete coincidence. Really. Walter Bishop is my alibi!

If you'd like to know more about Cognition, feel free to visit the Phoenix Online Studios Homepage :)

Gonçalo Gonçalves
Social Media Intern, Phoenix Online