#phogs!

Indie Game Spotlight: PHOGS! (@playphogs​)

This week’s Indie Game Spotlight takes you (and a friend, in co-op mode) on a double-ended dog adventure. Barking and stretching your way through three vibrant worlds filled with surprising characters, you will solve co-operative puzzles with the unique abilities of the Phog. You can play single-player for the added challenge of controlling both ends of the Phog at once, or play in local and online co-op to control one Phog each! Welcome to PHOGS!

We spoke with Henry, Douglas, and James, the developers at Bit Loom. Henry is the programmer and composer on PHOGS! Douglas is the lead artist and animator, and James is also a programmer. All three of them collaborate on the design. Read on!

What was the main inspiration for the game?

We love couch co-op games like Overcooked and Mario 3D World, and we’ve tried to create a similar feeling of playful teamwork with PHOGS!. With that as a starting point, the three of us bounced ideas back and forth, encouraging each other to delve deeper into strange and surprising scenarios, eventually settling on the concept of two players sharing control of a character joined by a long stretchy body…the PHOGS! Everything else came from the question, what would their world look like? Along the way, we have also found inspiration in unexpected places like the character stories of Dark Souls.

What was the process of creating the game like, from the beginning to now?

A big part of development for us was experimentation and prototyping, with lots of iteration. Since the uniqueness of the Phogs as a character creates a huge variety of potential mechanics and ways of interacting, we tried to never say no to an idea before we'd tried it out. Eventually, we hit a point where we had to start choosing and refining the ideas we had and turning them into more complete levels. We hope this process has resulted in the best and weirdest ideas filling out the game, and that it's given a massive amount of variety in the things you'll be able to find and do on your adventure.

What are some ways that we can solve puzzles?

We really tried to keep the ways that you can interact with the world fairly simple. As the dog, you can only grab onto things or stretch your body, but we wanted to make how the world responds to these actions as varied as possible. So, even though you’re doing the same basic actions throughout the game, there’s always the capacity within the world to be surprised. We have the dogs guiding light through their body to make blocks of solid shadow disappear, dragging huge watermelons around to create bridges, and you can even take part in carnival games to progress through the levels.

What other features does the game include?

Throughout the levels of PHOGS!, we’ve hidden collectible bones for players to find, which can be used to unlock and equip new hats for the dogs (don’t worry—you can’t spend real money to get bones!). There is an even more secret collectible, the Boingles, that we hope players will enjoy seeking out.

Who would rather have as a pet? Red and Blue or Cat and Dog from CatDog?

I think Red and Blue would be more fun to keep as pets. Even though Red is more excitable than Blue, they both love adventure, and I can tell you from experience that two dogs are much easier to walk than a dog and a cat.

Was either Red or Blue inspired by any particular doggo?

Henry always had at least two dogs growing up and, while Red and Blue aren’t influenced by any one dog in particular, they always tended to fall into the personalities of an excitable, energetic one and a calmer, quieter one.

🔵 Did you know that our full soundtrack is available now? 🔴 DU DU DU DU DU 🎶🎵 🔵 You could even sing along as Red does.

There were soooo many games I loved at PAX! If I had to pick I would say my favorite is a co-op puzzle game called Phogs! because it was just so damn cute. This pic is of me in the Phogs! booth 😊