Phoenotopia September 2013 Build

***Phoenotopia September 2013 Build*** was an early version of the *Phoenotopia* flash game.

## Summary

This build of the game covers the first two areas - Panselo and A Bold Forest (Duri Forest in the final game), right until Gale is supposed to venture into Sunflower Road. Most graphics and sounds are placeholders, and many dialogues are different from the final game. Additionally, music and certain mechanics such as Ki charging are missing.

Many later areas and enemies can be found in the game's files, but they are mostly unplayable.

## Description

Upon launching, the player is greeted by a screen featuring a sunset and three buttons - New Game, Options and Credits, which can be navigated using a mouse. The latter two do not do anything, but New Game starts up the actual game. If it is not the first time the game was launched, New Game is substituted by Load Game, and an additional button is added below - Erase Data. However, it does not work.

Unlike the final game, there is no intro cutscene. The first thing that can be seen is Gale sleeping in her bed, in the Panselo orphanage, and we are prompted to press X to wake up. The building's interior has mostly a similar layout to the final one, with one difference - there is no door between the bedroom and the rest of the area, rather, the bedroom is simply placed on a floor below. Additionally, all walls are colored brown, rather than green. Proceeding onto a higher floor, Gale can talk to Granny (who, unlike final game's Nana, uses a generic sprite of an elderly woman in a blue dress), who mentions she made twelve Pumpkin Muffins, one for everyone in the orphanage, and gives Gale one. Upon climbing to the ground floor, a mandatory cutscene plays, in which Kiter (who uses a sprite of a green-haired girl in an orange dress) tells Gale to look for Alex. However, "he" (quotation marks added due to aforementioned ambiguity) does not know where she can find him, so "he" advises her to ask around in the village. Pestering "him" further leads to obtaining a Roasted Toad Leg.

After that, Gale can exit the orphanage, onto the west side of Panselo. All buildings are predominantly green, as they appear to be overgrown, with some brown accents. From there, to the left, Gale can find:

* Becca (blue-haired woman in a blue dress), who mentions she is looking for her sister Mia,
* Jon (tan brown-haired man), who mentions that harvest season is coming and asks Gale if she is going to help,
* Ari (blue-haired woman in a blue dress), who practices the Panselo greeting, and instructs Gale on saving,
* Bertie (male soldier), who instructs Gale on opening the gate and suggests obtaining a stick in the warehouse to the east.

Additionally, following buildings can be entered (from the orphanage to the west):

* Dojo, in which Gale can:
	+ Talk with Cadell (elderly woman in a blue dress) who advises her on combat,
	+ Purchase a Scroll of Rolling for $60 (this build does not use the Rai symbol), or a Chocolate Protein Shake for $6,
	+ Find a treasure chest with $20, right up the ladder,
	+ Find the only Iron Heart (a Heart Ruby's predecessor) by going up the ladder and then rolling, which upgrades her health from 25 to 30.
* Shop, in which Gale can:
	+ Talk with Tao (green-haired girl in an orange dress), who instructs Gale on purchasing,
	+ Purchase a Herb for $6, or a bottle of Puki Milk for $9.
* Barracks, in which Gale can:
	+ Talk with Farnith (male soldier), who mentions being tired after working on a night shift, asks Gale if asking out her sister Kaya is a good idea, and explains why he chose to work in Panselo,
	+ Find a chest with $TBA.

Additionally, a save statue can be found between the shop and the barracks.

To the east from the orphanage, Gale can:

* Talk to Gil (light-brown-haired male in blue clothes), who mentions that Alex went to the Eastern woods to check a shooting star with the kids (that interaction is mandatory to unlock A Bold Forest)
* Proceed to the next part of the village.

From there, Gale can talk to the following NPCs:

* Mia (young orange-haired girl with twin buns), who was punished with yard work and gives Gale a Herb (to which she refers as a "weed"), and expresses her distaste for "big brother's" (Kiter's) cooking,
* Stan (tan brown-haired male), who mentions that there have been many shooting stars recently, including one that fell into nearby "Abold woods" (that location's spelling is not consistent),
* Adar (blue-haired woman in a blue dress), who came from Atai to test out "his" Coconut Bombs in the Eastern mountains, mentions that "he" takes this trek yearly and tells Gale he cannot borrow her "his" bombs due to child endangerment laws, even if she is already of age,
* Nairi, who talks about her fondness of climbing and tells Gale she left something for her in Gale's house (unlike the final game though, nothing actually can be found there).

And enter following buildings:

* The warehouse (the only building in Panselo which is not covered with foliage), in which the Wooden Paddle, Gale's first weapon, can be obtained,
* Marie's house, in which Gale can:
	+ Talk to Marie (elderly woman in a blue dress), who mentions the moment when Abigail brought Gale and her brother to the village when the two were little,
	+ Find a breakable piggy bank with $15,
* An empty house with a gate that requires the slingshot.

After that, the village ends with a wall.

To proceed with the story, Gale needs to talk to Gil, obtain the wooden paddle, go to the western gate, and flip the switch. After that, she can exit Panselo freely, and head to A Bold Forest.

Proceeding through the forest, Gale goes on to find enemies in form of Slimes, Toads and Scabers. The landscape, outside of lower quality graphics, is mostly the same as in the final game, with some larger differences - the small water pond is not present, Duri fruit do not come in bunches, and do not drop anything (either the small healing particles or proper fruit). Additionally, she can meet children from the village, all using the sprite of a young orange-haired girl with twin buns:

* Felix, who is tired of climbing and thinks Ellis is mad at him,
* Ellis, who tells Felix to hurry up and Gale that Alex went further ahead,
* Amanda, who tells Gale what Scabers are called, that Kaya said they are not natural, and that Alex went further ahead,
* Seth, who says that this forest can be dangerous.

After that, she finds a cliff with a save statue (that does not have any healing vases, unlike the final game) and a group of children, including Alex (who uses his own unique sprite - he sports the same hairstyle as in the final game, but a different, yellow-and-orange outfit). In a mandatory cutscene he proceeds to tell Gale about a shooting star he thinks is ahead, and asks for help. It is possible to try to refuse, but ultimately Gale will come to agree, and receive the slingshot. Once that happens, the player may talk to Ella, who asks Gale if she thinks the "space rock" is going to be worth a lot of money, Shelby, who ponders on the origin of the ruins, and Alex once again, who will describe how to equip the slingshot.

Proceeding, Gale will now walk through the ruins inhabited by the enemies she met in the forest, along with Bats. The biggest differences in terrain from the final game include the lack of the mid-temple save point, Duri fruit, and keyed gates.
TBA

## Controls

This version of the game primarily uses the control scheme used by the final one:

* Mouse - Start menu navigation
* ← - Walk left
* → - Walk right
* ↓ - Duck
* ↑/↓ - Climb up/down (on ladders)
* ↑ - Go through a door
* Z - Jump
* X - Attack/Talk/Interact/Lift a small box
* C - Tool
* 1/2/3/4 - Specific tools
* S - Inventory
* ↓ + Z - Roll (requires Scroll of Rolling)

However, it also introduced three unique ones:

* Left Shift - Speed up

All entities (Gale, enemies, NPCs) become faster, as long as the key is held. It does not affect the speed of dialogue.
* W - World Map

Teleports the player directly to the World Map, from any spot.
* ` - Debug menu

It can be used to move entities. Select an entity (or multiple) by dragging a rectangular area with your mouse, and move it either with directional arrows or with Left Shift + Mouse.
Unlike the final game, it does not feature Space/Enter as a pause button. The controls are also not rebindable.

## Unused content

While not directly accessible in normal gameplay, multiple enemies, items and areas can be found within the .swf file.

### Enemies

* Spiders (identical with final appearance)
* Bees (using a completely different sprite from the final game)
* Axe projectiles used by Desert Bandits in the final game
* Baby Sand Dragons (identical with final appearance)
* Bubbles (colored dark blue, rather than orange)
* Koi (identical with final appearance)
* Big Robot (using a completely different sprite from the final game)
* Guard Dogs and Plant Dogs (identical with final appearance)
* Lance Guards (colored like regular NPC soldiers with an orange/grey palette, rather than a red one like in the final game)
* Cave Toads (colored brown - in the final game, they are blue)
* Cave Beetles (colored brown - in the final game, they come in three different colors)
* Megaliths (identical with final appearance)
* Harpies (identical with final appearance)

### Items

Not a single item sprite made it to the final game.

* Honeycomb
* Bombs (colored red rather than black)
* Lamp
* Rocket Boots (colored black as an item, brown-and-gray in the HUD)
* Javelin (colored blue)
* Ocarina (based on its placement, it was likely the Artifact's prototype)
* Iron Hammer
* Morning Star
* Jar of Honey
* Talkinator Juice
* Green-colored bottled liquid (Lilac Honey took its place in the final game]])
* A scroll (most likely the Ki Spear Technique Scroll)
* Floatation Donut (colored white and red)
* Small Baton
* Vague orange-and-yellow blob (High Quality Silk took its place in the final game)
* Pooki Jerky
* Vague green-colored blob (Cheese took its place in the final game)

## References

1. ↑ Kaya does not appear in this build herself, but a blog post from Quells showed her in the orphanage, using a blue-haired woman sprite.
2. ↑ In the final game, Lita, rather than Amanda, tells Gale that it was Ruth who claimed they were "remnants of ancient tek-no... something"