Review Fix Exclusive: Katie Hallahan Discusses ‘Cognition’

Review Fix chats with Game Designer and Public Relations Director at Phoenix Online Studios Katie Hallahan, who discusses the multifaceted iOS game, “Cognition.”

Review Fix:
What makes this game different from other games on the iOS?

Katie Hallahan: I’d say it’s bigger and more complex than a lot of iOS games. Being an adventure game, there’s a lot of story in Cognition, and a lot of interactions and puzzles–Episode 1 is about 5 hours of gameplay, and that’s just the first episode out of four. It’s something that you can play in chunks over time as you continue to find more clues and figure out what’s going on. Also, while the interface is based on tapping like any iOS interface, there are different options for what to do–looking at things, picking them up, manipulating them, or using Erica’s powers to learn more.

Review Fix: What has the development team learned during the creation process and how will it affect the game moving forward?

Hallahan: From development in general, we’ve learned to keep things focused on the story–make sure what you’re asking the player to do fits and supports the story’s progression. We never made any puzzles that were out of nowhere or completely unrelated, but on some we got feedback that they felt out of place, so we’ve taken that into consideration as we’ve moved forward. Also some more technical things, like improving load times, which we’ve put effort into fixing as well in later episodes.

Review Fix: What’s your favorite aspect of the game?

Hallahan: Well, I love the story and I love Erica as a character, but since I’m one of the designers, that’s no surprise. I really like how the implementation of her powers works in the game, and I love the artwork, especially in the cutscenes. They look fantastic and the graphic novel effect is perfect for the game.

Review Fix: What has the feedback for the game been so far?

Hallahan: Overall, very good and positive. Players are really enjoying the story, the characters, the art and music, all of it! We have gotten some feedback about things that can be improved, as I mentioned earlier, and we’ve taken that into account both for the later episodes and for future games.

Review Fix: Are you expecting any changes moving forward?

Hallahan: For Cognition, no drastic changes–improvements, as I’ve said, but we haven’t made any major changes. Some of the things we’d like to work on we can’t really implement in the middle of this game, they either wouldn’t work or it’s just not something we can do when we’re in the middle of an episodic game. In regards to iOS development, we’re aiming to, in the future, have that interface more in our minds when we make other games. Point & click can port over to iPad very well, but there are ways we could make it work even better and more intuitively.

Review Fix: What are your goals and/or expectations for the title?

Hallahan: Our goal with Cognition was to really show what we can do and make a strong start as a company. We worked on The Silver Lining for years and learned a lot, and it’s always been given credit for being good “for a fan-made game.” While we’re very proud of that, we wanted to show we can do even better. We expect that it’ll be the kind of title that has more long-term success than short-term, since it is our first commercial game, but having a strong opening with Cognition was a big goal of ours. Both on PC & Mac as well on iOS.

Review Fix: How do you want it to be remembered?

Hallahan: Personally, I hope it becomes known as a must-play modern adventure game. Adventure games are getting a renaissance, comeback swing right now, and we want Cognition to be remembered as being a part of that. I think we’ve done well taking steps towards that, so time will tell.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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