Lost Twins 2 News

[p]Hitting the playtesting phase is always a big moment in development. It's where all the internal decisions finally meet real players. We recently reached that milestone with our game and the feedback we received exceeded our expectations. Not only did players enjoy the experience, but many took the time to share detailed insights that helped us refine both design and mechanics. In this devlog, we’re sharing a behind-the-scenes look at some of the key changes we made based on their input.[/p][p]What truly stood out to us was how invested players were in shaping the experience. Thanks to their thoughtful suggestions, we were able to make several meaningful improvements.[/p][p]Here are a couple of the key adjustments we made:[/p][p]🌀 The Twin Gates Dilemma[/p][p]One level included two slow-moving gates, requiring each character to interact with an identical mechanic. While the concept made sense to us, players found it unclear or unnecessarily repetitive. To improve pacing and clarity, we removed one of the gates. This streamlined the experience but also made the level too easy. So, we rebalanced the challenge by adjusting obstacles and timing to maintain a satisfying level of difficulty.[/p][p]🐞 Dragonfly Logic Rework[/p][p]Originally, the dragonfly companion behaved differently depending on where the player dismounted. It would reset when dismounted anywhere except when left on a pressure plate an intentional but confusing quirk. Many players assumed it was a bug or oversight. To make things consistent and more intuitive, we updated the dragonfly behavior: now, no matter where the player dismounts, it disappears and resets to its original position.[/p][p][/p][p]Before:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]After:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]These updates were a direct result of the playtesters’ feedback, and we’re genuinely grateful for the time and insight they shared. It's been incredibly rewarding to shape the game alongside such a thoughtful community.

Till next time.[/p][p][/p][p]Regards,[/p][p]Playdew Team[/p][p]
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[p]When we started building Lost Twins 2, we knew we wanted to capture something special. The kind of connection you feel when playing a game with someone right beside you, especially a sibling.[/p][p][/p][p]For many of us on the team, our love for games began not in isolation, but on a couch, floor, or shared screen. Whether it was passing the controller back and forth or solving puzzles together, those early co-op moments with siblings are burned into our memories. They weren’t always smooth (someone always pressed the wrong button 😅), but they were ours. Messy, joyful, and unforgettable.

In Lost Twins 2, you guide Ben and Abi, a pair of lost siblings trying to find their way back to each other. You can play it solo by switching between them, but the game really shines when shared with someone else. It's not about frantic button-mashing or fast reflexes. It's about solving things together, taking your time, and enjoying the process. Just like those childhood co-op moments we grew up with.[/p][p][/p][p]So Now We’re Asking You:[/p][p][/p][p]What was the first game you played with a sibling?[/p][p]Was it chaotic? Was it magical? Did it end in laughter or a thrown controller?[/p][p]Drop your stories below. We’d love to hear them.

Best regards,
Playdew Team

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[p]Hi guys!

We are back with another devlog. Game dev is full of big ideas and even bigger time sinks hiding in the tiniest details. Not every bug is game-breaking. Not every fix is flashy. But sometimes, it's the smallest visual details that demand the most time and care. This week, we dove deep into three deceptively simple tasks: shadows, scaling, and a tiny animation that turned into full-blown mini-projects.[/p][p]Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the kind of polish that nobody asks for but everyone feels when it’s done right.
[/p][p]Character Shadow:[/p][p]This was one of the key polishing tasks that required significant time and effort to resolve. [/p][p]Initially, we used Unity’s built-in projector shadow, which fades when the character is far from the ground. While it worked well at first, we later faced issues, specifically, it wasn’t casting shadows in the correct direction.[/p][p]Despite multiple attempts to adjust the projector’s settings, we were unable to achieve the desired result due to limitations in Unity’s projector implementation, which unfortunately still appears to be unresolved.[/p][p]After researching online, we came across a guy who created a solution that extended Unity’s projector system with custom scripts to better control shadow behavior.[/p][p]https://nyahoon.com/products/dynamic-shadow-projector/draw-target-object-component[/p][p]Even after integrating this solution, we spent additional time fine tuning the settings to enhance the visual quality. In the end, we successfully achieved a shadow effect that not only met our expectations but actually looked even better than before.[/p][p][/p][p]Pieces scaling down is considerably noticeable in HUB:[/p][p]While working in the HUB, we implemented scaling of the environment during zoom-in and zoom-out to ensure a smooth and seamless transition. We noticed that some background elements were behaving oddly during the scaling process. [/p][p]Although it seemed like a minor issue, we spent several hours resolving it by creating local pivots and assigning each element to its respective pivot. [/p][p]These pivots were carefully positioned at the bottom center of each object to maintain consistent scaling behavior. [/p][p]This approach allowed the environment to appear as if it was being subtly disabled during transitions. While the user might hardly notice this effect, we ensured that every detail was refined to deliver a polished experience.[/p][p][/p][p]Dome Breaking Animation:[/p][p]From the name alone, it might seem like a simple task that shouldn’t require much development time.[/p][p]However, we ended up spending several hours resolving the issue. Even this appears for a split seconds but still we wanted to fix this issue.[/p][p]Our artist created the animation in Maya, and we played it in Unity using the Animator component. It worked perfectly both in the editor and on the target device.[/p][p]However, during testing in some builds, we noticed occasional performance drops when the dome broke. It was surprising, as everything else functioned smoothly. We adjusted various settings and created multiple builds to identify the cause, but the issue persisted.[/p][p]Eventually, after some experimentation, we discovered that enabling and then disabling the animation in the Start() function resolved the lag. [/p][p]While the root cause remains unclear, this workaround proved effective, and we decided to move forward with it.


These kinds of fixes rarely make it into patch notes or trailers, but they’re what elevate a game from “functional” to feel-good polished. We know most players will never consciously notice the character shadow behaving perfectly or the HUB scaling seamlessly but that’s exactly the point.

Till next time.

Best regards,[/p][p]Playdew Team

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[p]Game development is intense. Long hours, lots of problem-solving, and even more coffee. But when we’re not debugging tile mechanics or debating level design, we’re gamers at heart, winding down (or firing up) with our favorite titles. Here’s a little window into what’s keeping us glued to our screens outside of Lost Twins 2.[/p][p][/p][p]Our dev is currently knee-deep in demon-slaying chaos with Doom: The Dark Ages. It’s loud, it’s brutal, and it’s everything he needs to blow off steam. He recently wrapped up some other heavy hitters too: South of Midnight , Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, and the new Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Apparently, he’s on a mission to play every game with a colon in the title. His backlog might be longer than our bug list, but hey, he’s making progress.[/p][p][/p][p]The QA guy, on the other hand, refuses to commit to just one game. His playlist reads like a gamer’s dream shelf: Battlefield , Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Rainbow Six Siege, FIFA, Arma, and Fortnite. Six games, all actively being played. We’re not sure how he finds the time, but we suspect he might be living in the Matrix.[/p][p][/p][p]Our CTO (just a title to scare us),  leans into the thoughtful, beautifully-crafted indies. His recent favorites include Bionic Bay, Little Nightmares, Portal, Ori and the Blind Forest, Baba Is You, and Braid. If it’s got atmosphere, clever puzzles, or a touch of melancholy, he’s all in. He says he plays games that make him feel things. We’ve caught him staring at the title screen of Ori more than once.[/p][p][/p][p]The artist been loving tactical and strategic titles. He’s working his way through Commandos Origins and Rivals, with Warhammer also on the rotation. He’s the kind of player who thinks ten moves ahead is perfect for someone who spends his dev hours anticipating player behavior.[/p][p][/p][p]And then there’s our other dev, who recently enjoyed Stray and some classic Assassin’s Creed titles. Sadly, his gaming life is slightly limited by the eternal struggle of being a Mac user. As he puts it: “Can’t play the majority of indie games."[/p][p]
And of course, there's our marketing lead, currently exploring Teyvat in Genshin Impact. They call it research,  studying character-driven engagement loops and live event strategies. We nod supportively while watching them wish for their 5-star waifu. And yes, pulling for Primogems totally counts as market insight.

Meanwhile, our producer is busy mastering the dark arts of mobile gaming. One minute they’re deep into Candy Crush, the next they’re comparing monetization models between match-3s and idle clickers, all while somehow managing our sprint deadlines. If there’s a leaderboard, they’re on it. If there’s a daily reward, they’ve claimed it. At this point, we’re pretty sure they have a sixth sense for spotting a good gacha system.
[/p][p]So while Lost Twins 2 is always our main quest, these games help us recharge, get inspired, and occasionally trash talk each other (in good fun, of course). Got a favorite game recommendation for us? We’d love to hear what you’re playing too.[/p][p]
Best regards,
Playdew Team

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[p]In Lost Twins 2, we wanted players to dive straight into the world, no reading required. That led us to one of our most challenging (and rewarding) design experiments yet: a completely textless UI.
[/p][p]No labels, no instructions, no language barriers. Just icons. Here’s why we did it, what nearly broke us, and why we might just do it again. The decision to go completely icon-based in Lost Twins 2 wasn’t just a visual experiment. It was a deliberate design philosophy driven by a mix of accessibility, immersion, and practicality.

Why We Did It?[/p][p]The idea came from two main goals:[/p]

• [p]Language Independence – One of our core goals was to make Lost Twins 2 truly universal. A game that anyone, anywhere could pick up and play without language being a barrier. Whether you’re a kid in Japan, a parent in Brazil, or a teen in Germany, the experience should feel native to you. By relying solely on icons and visual cues, we skipped the need for translations and localization entirely. No lengthy localization pipelines. No concerns about mistranslations or awkward phrasing. No walls between players and the game. Icons, when done well, speak a language that crosses borders. And in a global gaming landscape, that’s powerful.[/p]
• [p]Clean, Immersive Design – Lost Twins 2 is crafted to feel like a dreamy, storybook world. Every screen, every moment is carefully illustrated and designed to pull players in. Text, no matter how well written, can sometimes pull players out.[/p]
• [p]And Honestly… Sanity[/p]

[p]Let’s not pretend we didn’t have selfish reasons too.[/p][p]If you’ve ever had to QA a game in eight languages while checking for font issues, line breaks, or missing context… you know the pain.[/p][p]Every new language brings its own technical and cultural quirks, not to mention the cost and overhead of managing updates across them all. By removing that layer entirely, we freed up time and energy to focus on polishing the core experience .
[/p][p]Challenges We Faced [/p][p]1. Making icons that actually make sense
A heart for "life" is easy. But how do you communicate “Save Game” or “Control Scheme” visually? Some icons went through 10+ iterations before we landed on ones that clicked.[/p][p]2. Player understanding
Our first playtesters? Confused. Some icons missed the mark entirely. We had to refine onboarding to teach through action, not explanation. It was all about learn-by-doing.[/p][p]3. No fallback
With no text, there was nowhere to hide. No hover-to-explain, no in-game glossary. If it wasn’t intuitive, it didn’t work. We had to rethink our UX from the ground up.
[/p][p]What Worked[/p][p]Once it clicked, testers LOVED it. The interface feels slick and universal. Some said it reminded them of early Nintendo-era games that relied on intuition over instruction.[/p][p]Works great across languages and age groups. We had kids and non-English speakers play it with no problem once they got used to the icon logic.[/p][p]It made us more creative as designers. No crutches. Everything had to be shown, not told.
[/p][p]What’s Next[/p][p]Still fine-tuning a few icons that aren’t as clear as we’d like. We’re also considering a super minimal tutorial area where players can “play-learn” the meaning of core icons without breaking the vibe.[/p][p]Going icon-only isn’t easy.  But it pushed us to design better, think globally, and build a game that speaks in visuals, not words. If you’re building a game where mood and accessibility matter, we can’t recommend this approach enough. Just be ready to test, test, and test again.[/p][p]Best,
Playdew Team

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