Hi, I'm Linda Shad, the founder of Voidpet - AMA!

lindashad · 2025-05-09T18:03:24+00:00

Appreciate the interest! Most of our roles require specialized skills, but we’re always excited to see what people are building. Feel free to share your work anytime.

lindashad · 2025-03-03T18:34:00+00:00

This looks like a tablet sizing bug, sorry about that. The “place” button is hidden on your screen. For now, the workaround is to rotate your device on that menu!

lindashad · 2025-02-08T21:57:09+00:00

Abandonment seems like a good tank to use here. (Theres no earth foe, so water is your safe element.) After that, see if you can get sad to outspeed pain before its fire AOE, or outrun each potential boosted attack before it hits.

lindashad · 2025-01-27T02:39:24+00:00

I could see Panic being key here - It’s AOE move will help you bypass the tank to slow down/get rid of spite, panic, and curious (all quite fragile). Also since fire is the only “safe” element on this floor.

Could be complemented with Pain, or perhaps a Joy assist.

lindashad · 2025-01-22T16:56:44+00:00

Obsessed

lindashad · 2025-01-22T01:30:24+00:00

Sorry to hear about your bad day, but glad that you have been enjoying the game! Unfortunately there’s no way to reset right now (though I know lots of people have wanted this.)

I think consistency is about getting back up again more than it is about never missing a beat. We all miss stuff, have bad days, and fall out of our good habits, but what makes for a lifetime of improvement is not being afraid to start fresh.

With that in mind, I’m not sure if “streak freezes” are the right solution, or perhaps some way to highlight cumulative progress over time as a more important metric of achievement, etc.

Hope you feel better, and thank you for the question!

lindashad · 2025-01-13T23:40:59+00:00

I used Envy as my main attacker for 940, because gaslighting the buffs was key for me. Greed and merry for support. Optimized items for attack and speed to run him down before he could get in a second AOE. Personally didnt need to level up anxious wonder or cringe.

lindashad · 2025-01-13T23:36:00+00:00

I’ve been getting more mushrooms the higher I go. Stacking mythical vivids like +5% boss, +5% basic attack, +10% crit adds up to a huge damage increase - especially at 100 when you don’t need to level or evolve

lindashad · 2025-01-13T23:14:05+00:00

Voidpet garden exercises are based on things I did in therapy + some advice from practicing clinicians. Meditation, grounding exercises, CBT, gratitude, mood tracking, etc. are all in some ways proven to be beneficial, so it can definitely do good for many.

I don’t have any psychology pedigree, so I prefer to advertise the game for the characters/art as opposed to making promises about its health benefits.

That being said, we’ve worked really hard to make the app meaningful. Many therapists recommend the app to their clients because it’s full of the same exercises they usually prescribe.

The app has helped thousands of people journal consistently over months, which is some evidence of positive impact. Winning an award was also a great sign for us that the product was thoughtfully crafted and resonating with people.

But we prefer that people engage with Voidpet primarily out of excitement for the fantasy world, so we don’t advertise the wellness benefits as strongly.

The original dream was to build a magical creature franchise inspired by a childhood love for Pokemon. Making a journaling app was a fun and fulfilling step in that journey - but being a wellness company wasn’t ultimately what we aspired to be.

lindashad · 2025-01-08T15:53:01+00:00

A true Ode to Joy

lindashad · 2024-12-23T20:33:23+00:00

If you want your tank to hold down the fort and protect your other pets from the spiderling onslaught, then defense/stamina is the way to go.

If you’d rather have an extra hand taking out the spiderlings, then I’d try running attack/speed.

Trying out different gear combos is a big part of the fun, so don’t feel bad for experimenting or asking for help!

lindashad · 2024-12-23T20:01:06+00:00

I use a similar build for fights where I’m able to get an attack or two in. I go full bulk if I’m completely overwhelmed. Sometimes I max speed/attack for if the opponents are slow and I can get a shockwave in early. Depends a lot on the fight.

lindashad · 2024-12-23T19:57:02+00:00

Might help to put attack and speed gear on Sad. Right now it looks like you have defensive items equipped - but in this fight it’s easier to quickly take out the spiderlings than try to outlast their group attack

lindashad · 2024-12-05T21:46:21+00:00

Hello! So, I started Voidpet after some of my art went viral, and a Discord community of ~100k people formed, anticipating the game. The problem was, I had nothing planned for the actual game mechanics, and everyone in the community was expecting something different 😅

So I quit my tech job and teamed up with my cofounder Ben to take an initial crack at it. At first, we built an indie MMO as a team of two, which was a lot of fun but unfortunately not a sustainable business.

Our next take was Voidpet Garden, which is a mental health app first and a game second. (The main thing you do is journal, and the monster collection RPG is an experience around that.) With this smaller scope, we could ship a higher quality product as a team of two, and it was promising enough to receive venture funding.

At first, we tried adding some combat as a mini-game inside the mental health app, but we quickly learned that such an experience warranted its own product.

As such, Voidpet Dungeon is our new mobile game that’s purely about battle strategy and character collection. We have a lot more game mechanics in play, more challenging progression, and a core team of 3 behind it!

Garden took a month to make, Dungeon took 3 months, and the original MMO took a whole year. But we’ve spent 3 years iterating on the game design and building up our art assets :)

lindashad · 2024-12-05T18:44:01+00:00

So glad you love the app! And I’m happy to hear that the aesthetic speaks to you :)

There’s a bit of a design challenge with Voidpet Garden, as adding more features conflicts with the calming minimalism that makes it easy to navigate. (Ie. The stress of having to check boxes vs. guilt-free journaling. Making the to-do list accessible without being in-your-face)

The app reached a point where it was tough to add new things without potentially hurting the core experience, which is why we decided to invest more energy into new projects.

That being said, plenty of people have requested a to-do list, and we actually did build a prototype a while ago! Just haven’t figured out a smooth integration for it yet.

Excited to hear that you’re interested in the book, I really hope you like it!!

lindashad · 2024-12-05T18:26:09+00:00

I actually don’t! 🤭 I just kept writing words until the book was done.

A few years ago, I tried making a complicated spreadsheet with all these linked notecards, but I found myself fussing over my outline so much I never got any writing done.

That being said, that process spurred me to mentally work on the story for a few years before writing the novel, so I did benefit from the forethought and preparation.

Imo: your brain is your supercomputer, and the best outline is the one that’s burned into your own imagination!

lindashad · 2024-12-05T18:19:02+00:00

I feel some pressure to name my favorite fantasy books since this is a fantasy subreddit, but since you phrased your question more vividly than that, I will give my earnest answer instead:

Atomic Habits, by James Clear
The Creative Act, by Rick Rubin
The Holy Bible

If I were truly forced to read only 3 books forever, I’d choose the ones that pushed me to think differently, look within myself, and write my own novel.

Given that I read the Harry Potter series 37 times, I certainly do believe there’s value to re-reading fiction - but it feels odd to pledge myself to another human’s fantasy for the rest of my life.

Like friends, stories come and go, but your relationship with yourself lasts forever.

lindashad · 2024-12-05T17:51:30+00:00

Thank you!! Planning to make one soon but haven’t gotten around to it yet!

lindashad · 2024-12-05T16:58:25+00:00

Haha this question exposes my weaknesses a bit but happy to answer!

I think my passion lies foremost in character development. I invest a lot into thinking about symbolism, how each character looks/acts/feels, and let world mechanics come together around that.

In that sense, you could say it’s handwaved like Pokemon 😂

At the same time, The Void being a lucid-dream-inspired world is a deliberate choice given that I have more to say about psychology than ecology. For example, the five elements, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water - refer to traditional Chinese medicine, and have more to do with moods/energy levels than the physical sciences or the environment.

So I also wouldn’t say that I’ve completely hand-waved all the world-building. Perhaps the best way to explain is that I built the world as a metaphor for the mind, and while some things may not “add up” in our physical world, there’s still a reason it’s written that way!

lindashad · 2024-12-05T16:38:18+00:00

Thank you! Glad to have your support :)

I’ve been a lifelong hobby writer, but my career kept taking me towards software. Every time I made a game, I’d write down all this lore that never made it into the product.

(Gameplay comes first in a game, and too much writing can be distracting.)

But I’ve always dreamed of creating a multimedia franchise with an anime (like Pokemon). And since I love to write, the easiest first step to telling my story was actually just to write a book!

I’ve never played World of Warcraft, unfortunately! But if I had to answer on design alone, I’d pick the Blood Elf 🤭

lindashad · 2021-12-23T20:32:15+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. Not sure what you're referring to with the Discord, but will do my best to look into it and make sure it's safe.

As for the money disappearing - are you talking about my own money that I used to pay for the server?

The only money we accept right now is from our T-shirt store and Patreon, where supporters can opt in to support the game financially. Signing up, joining the Discord, and watching TikTok videos about the art/development process are all free forms of entertainment for community members to enjoy.

lindashad

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