Static Dev Blog #1: Abilities

One of the things I want to get right with Static is how The Listener interacts with the world. Abilities aren’t just a way to get from A to B. They’re how you’ll explore, solve puzzles, uncover secrets and gradually understand the world around you.

Inspired by the likes of Hollow Knight, Metroid and The Legend of Zelda, Static has a world built around exploration and discovery. But I also want to introduce a few mechanics that feel distinctly its own.

In this first dev blog, I want to introduce three of the abilities I’m building for the game: the Radio, Blink and the Chromatic Lamps.

The Radio

The Radio is the core mechanic of Static, and it’s one that has a personal connection for me.

Since retiring, my dad has developed a real passion for longwave and shortwave radio. He’s a member of the ++Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB)++ and holds a licence to operate on certain frequencies. It’s fascinating to see how much there is to discover in something as seemingly simple as tuning into a radio signal, and that interest has become the inspiration for one of the most important mechanics in the game.

The Listener can use their radio to tune into different frequencies found throughout the world. But these aren’t just signals to listen to. They can influence the physical environment around you.

Dormant ancient machinery can be brought back to life. Assembly-line robotics can be remotely controlled. Entire platforms can materialise out of seemingly nothing, opening up pathways that were previously inaccessible.

The idea is to make the radio feel like a tool for interacting with a world that operates according to rules you don’t yet understand.

Finding the frequency

I don’t want the radio to feel like a conventional switch that you press whenever you reach a puzzle. Instead, using it should be an act of observation.

You’ll need to watch, listen and pay attention to your surroundings. Environmental clues will suggest when a frequency might be available, encouraging you to stop, investigate and experiment.

Once you suspect something is there, you can pull out the radio, tune through the available frequencies and lock onto the signal.

The challenge isn’t always knowing what to do. Sometimes, it’s recognising that there’s something to do at all.

I want that moment of discovery, when you find the right frequency and realise what it can do to the world around you, to be a fundamental part of the experience.

Blink

Blink is a traversal ability that lets The Listener teleport through walls of radio static.

It’s a relatively simple ability in concept, but one that opens up some interesting possibilities for exploration. Radio static can block your path, concealing areas that you can’t reach until you’ve learned to Blink through it. As with any good metroidvania, gaining a new ability means looking at familiar places in a completely different way.

But Blink isn’t just about getting around.

I want it to be a vital part of combat, too. Enemies and bosses will use radio static as part of their behaviour, and being able to Blink through it will be an important strategy for surviving encounters. It’s one thing to recognise a new path through the environment, but quite another to make use of that same ability when something is trying to kill you.

The aim is to keep Blink straightforward to understand while making it useful in a variety of situations, from opening up new areas to finding opportunities during a fight.

The Chromatic Lamps

The Chromatic Lamps are perhaps the most unusual of the three abilities, and they’re closely tied to the world and its history.

In Static, the world has been drained of something fundamental. The Chromatic Lamps bleed colour back into the darkness, revealing glimpses of what life was like before the silence.

Where their light falls, the past becomes visible.

These aren’t simply decorative changes to the environment. The illuminated area reveals an earlier version of the world, one that The Listener can interact with. By manipulating objects in the past, you can influence the present, creating new possibilities and uncovering routes that would otherwise remain hidden.

The lamps themselves can also be directed, allowing you to control where the past becomes visible and which parts of the environment you can interact with.

This creates a different kind of puzzle. Instead of simply finding a way through the world as it exists, you’ll be able to reveal what came before and use that knowledge to change what’s possible now.

I love the idea that colour itself becomes a tool for discovery. Every illuminated patch of the world offers a glimpse into something that has been lost, while giving you a way to interact with the consequences of that loss.

Building the language of Static

These three abilities represent different ways of understanding and interacting with the world.

The Radio lets you listen for signals and influence the machinery around you. Blink changes how you move through the environment and gives you new ways to approach combat. The Chromatic Lamps reveal the past and allow you to use it to shape the present.

The goal is to make these abilities feel like natural parts of The Listener’s existence, rather than a collection of unrelated powers. As you explore further, I want you to become more familiar with the rules of the world and start recognising opportunities to use what you’ve learned in new ways.

There’s still plenty of work ahead, and I’ll share more about the individual mechanics as development progresses.

For now, that’s a first look at some of the ideas at the heart of Static.

More soon.